DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
Claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
(1) Regarding claim 1:
Lines 9-10 recites “information on an at-home status of the target person”; since “at-home status” is mentioned on line 4-5, the examiner suggests changing lines 9-10 to “information on the at-home status of the target person”.
(2) Regarding claim 10:
Claim 9 and claim 10 both depending on claim 8, and the recited limitations of claims 9 and 10 are exactly the same.
Applicant is advised that should claim 9 be found allowable, claim 10 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
(1) Regarding claim 1:
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the estimated moving direction" in line 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-2, 5-7, 11-12, and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NPL (JP 2012-224465 A, the quoted pages and paragraphs are from the attached translated copy of the NPL) in view of Kwon et al. (US 12,495290 B2).
(1) Regarding claims 1 and 14:
NPL discloses an information providing system, comprising:
at least one memory storing a set of instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the set of instructions to (FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the external appearance of a computer that executes the program and realizes the home delivery information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. The above-described embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on the computer hardware. In FIG. 13, a computer system 900 includes a computer 901 including a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 905, an FD (Floppy (registered trademark) Disk) drive 906, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, a monitor 904, and the like. Is provided, page 29, 5th and 6th paragraphs):
detect a target person whose at-home status is to be managed among persons passing through a public area (the deliverer position determination unit 108 determines whether or not the position indicated by the acquired deliverer position information is within a range designated in advance with respect to the position indicated by the acquired delivery position information, page 10, 2nd paragraph; customer location determination unit 109 uses the customer location information corresponding to the customer identification information included in the delivery schedule information, and the customer indicated by the customer identification information is the location where the delivery item corresponding to this customer is the delivery destination. Judge whether it is in the delivery position or not, page 11, paragraphs 1-3);
identifies identify a moving direction of the target person (the customer position determination unit 109 acquires the position (for example, coordinates) indicated by each of two or more pre-designated numbers of customer position information that are acquired for one customer and whose acquisition order is close to the present, and the arrangement position information. It is determined whether the distance to the indicated position (for example, coordinates) is decreasing sequentially as the acquisition order approaches the present, and if it is decreasing sequentially, it may be determined that the distance is approaching the delivery position. Also, for example, a vector indicating the moving direction is acquired with the position indicated by the customer position information closest to the current acquisition order as the end point and the acquisition order starting from the position indicated by the previous customer position information. It may be determined whether or not the vector has a component indicating the delivery position direction. If the vector has a component, it may be determined that the vector is moving toward the delivery position, page 12, last paragraph – page 13, 1st and 2nd paragraphs);
update information on an at-home status of the target person based on the estimated moving direction (In addition, the change time acquisition unit 110 acquires the scheduled delivery time from the delivery schedule information corresponding to the customer that the customer position determination unit 109 determines is not at the delivery destination, and the delivery schedule indicating a time later than the acquired delivery scheduled time Get the scheduled change delivery time, page 14, last paragraph; the examiner interprets the change of delivery time as an indication of at-home status of the target person); and
output the information on the at-home status of the target person (The change time transmission unit 111 acquires contact information corresponding to the customer determined by the customer position determination unit 109 not to be in the delivery position from the deliverer information, and acquires the change time in the contact indicated by the acquired contact information. The changed scheduled delivery time acquired by the unit 110 is transmitted, page 16, 3rd paragraph, the examiner interprets the change of delivery time as an indication of the at-home status of the target person).
NPL discloses the home delivery information processing apparatus 1 comprises customer location information receiving unit 104 that receives customer location management information (page 7, 3rd paragraph) from the customer terminal device 2, the customer terminal device 2 comprises customer location information acquisition unit 201 acquiring current location of the customer terminal 2 similar for a process for detecting the position of a mobile phone or RFID tag (page 17, 4th paragraph), but fails to disclose the current location information is based on information acquired from a device installed in the public area.
However, Kwon discloses that a UE 120 may receive the location of the UE 120 from the base station 100 (col. 5, line 64 – col. 6, line 11; the examiner interprets the base station 100 is a device installed in the public area).
It is desirable to acquire the current location information from a device installed in the public area such as a base station because it reduces work load of the UE and reduce power consumption of the UE to perform the locating function by the base station. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Kwon in the system of NPL for the benefit of reducing power consumption of the UE.
(2) Regarding claim 15:
NPL discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes a computer that can acquire information from a device installed in a public area (FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the external appearance of a computer that executes the program and realizes the home delivery information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. The above-described embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on the computer hardware. In FIG. 13, a computer system 900 includes a computer 901 including a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 905, an FD (Floppy (registered trademark) Disk) drive 906, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, a monitor 904, and the like. Is provided, page 29, 5th and 6th paragraphs), to perform processing for:
detect a target person whose at-home status is to be managed among persons passing through a public area (the deliverer position determination unit 108 determines whether or not the position indicated by the acquired deliverer position information is within a range designated in advance with respect to the position indicated by the acquired delivery position information, page 10, 2nd paragraph; customer location determination unit 109 uses the customer location information corresponding to the customer identification information included in the delivery schedule information, and the customer indicated by the customer identification information is the location where the delivery item corresponding to this customer is the delivery destination. Judge whether it is in the delivery position or not, page 11, paragraphs 1-3);
identifies identify a moving direction of the target person (the customer position determination unit 109 acquires the position (for example, coordinates) indicated by each of two or more pre-designated numbers of customer position information that are acquired for one customer and whose acquisition order is close to the present, and the arrangement position information. It is determined whether the distance to the indicated position (for example, coordinates) is decreasing sequentially as the acquisition order approaches the present, and if it is decreasing sequentially, it may be determined that the distance is approaching the delivery position. Also, for example, a vector indicating the moving direction is acquired with the position indicated by the customer position information closest to the current acquisition order as the end point and the acquisition order starting from the position indicated by the previous customer position information. It may be determined whether or not the vector has a component indicating the delivery position direction. If the vector has a component, it may be determined that the vector is moving toward the delivery position, page 12, last paragraph – page 13, 1st and 2nd paragraphs);
update information on an at-home status of the target person based on the estimated moving direction (In addition, the change time acquisition unit 110 acquires the scheduled delivery time from the delivery schedule information corresponding to the customer that the customer position determination unit 109 determines is not at the delivery destination, and the delivery schedule indicating a time later than the acquired delivery scheduled time Get the scheduled change delivery time, page 14, last paragraph; the examiner interprets the change of delivery time as an indication of at-home status of the target person); and
output the information on the at-home status of the target person (The change time transmission unit 111 acquires contact information corresponding to the customer determined by the customer position determination unit 109 not to be in the delivery position from the deliverer information, and acquires the change time in the contact indicated by the acquired contact information. The changed scheduled delivery time acquired by the unit 110 is transmitted, page 16, 3rd paragraph, the examiner interprets the change of delivery time as an indication of the at-home status of the target person).
NPL discloses the home delivery information processing apparatus 1 comprises customer location information receiving unit 104 that receives customer location management information (page 7, 3rd paragraph) from the customer terminal device 2, the customer terminal device 2 comprises customer location information acquisition unit 201 acquiring current location of the customer terminal 2 similar for a process for detecting the position of a mobile phone or RFID tag (page 17, 4th paragraph), but fails to disclose the current location information is based on information acquired from a device installed in the public area.
However, Kwon discloses that a UE 120 may receive the location of the UE 120 from the base station 100 (col. 5, line 64 – col. 6, line 11; the examiner interprets the base station 100 is a device installed in the public area).
It is desirable to acquire the current location information from a device installed in the public area such as a base station because it reduces work load of the UE and reduce power consumption of the UE to perform the locating function by the base station. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Kwon in the system of NPL for the benefit of reducing power consumption of the UE.
(3) Regarding claim 2:
NPL and Kwon together disclose all subject matter of claim 1, and NPL further discloses the at least one processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to transmit the information on the at-home status of the target person to a predetermined terminal (deliverer terminal device 3 comprises modified time receiving unit 303 receives the modified delivery scheduled time transmitted from the home delivery information processing apparatus 1, page 13, paragraph 5).
(4) Regarding claim 5:
NPL and Kwon together disclose all subject matter of claim 1, and NPL further discloses detect the target person based on information on the target person received from a terminal of a predetermined company (The customer identification information may be a customer's e-mail address or telephone number, page 5, last paragraph, mobile phone or smartphone, page 6, 3rd paragraph).
(5) Regarding claim 6:
NPL and Kwon together disclose all subject matter of claim 1, and Kwon further discloses a base station the base station forward the location of the UE 120 with respect to a request from the UE based on a subscription procedure (col. 5, line 64 – col. 6, line 11); the examiner interprets the process based on subscription procedure of UE 120 as the claimed process of exclude a person whose attribute match a predetermined condition (not matching the subscription procedure of the UE 120)).
(6) Regarding claim 7:
NPL and Kwon together disclose all subject matter of claim 1, and Kwon further discloses a base station the base station forward the location of the UE 120 with respect to a request from the UE based on a subscription procedure (col. 5, line 64 – col. 6, line 11); the examiner interprets the process based on subscription procedure of UE 120 as the claimed process of selecting a person whose attribute match a predetermined condition (matching the subscription procedure of the UE 120)).
(7) Regarding claim 11:
NPL and Kwon together disclose all subject matter of claim 1, and NPL further discloses transmitting a delivery route that is used the information on the at-home status of the target person (the change time acquisition unit 110 has the delivery order of the customer determined not to be the delivery destination based on the delivery schedule information, for the remaining customers who have not completed the delivery associated with the delivery person in charge of this customer. You may acquire change delivery scheduled time so that it may become a later order. You may acquire the time after the set time, or time as change delivery scheduled time. In addition, the total of the travel time when the delivery position corresponding to all the remaining customers is visited and the corresponding time for each customer is acquired, and this acquisition is performed from the current time or the time before and after it. You may acquire the time after the set time, or time as change delivery scheduled time. In addition, the process which acquires the time concerning a customer's delivery position is acquirable using what is called a route search technique. Since the route search technique is a known technique, a description thereof is omitted here, page 14, 3rd paragraph; and the changed scheduled delivery time acquired by the unit 110 is transmitted. For example, the change time transmission unit 111 acquires delivery person identification information corresponding to the customer determined to be not at the delivery position by the customer position determination unit 109 from the delivery schedule information, and a contact address associated with the acquired delivery schedule information is obtained from the deliverer information, page 16, 3rd paragraph).
(8) Regarding claim 12:
NPL and Kwon together disclose all subject matter of claim 1, and NPL further discloses to transmit the information on the at-home status of the target person to a terminal of a related person (deliverer terminal device 3 of a deliverer, page 18, 2nd paragraph) who has been registered for each of the target person in advance (The delivery person position information transmission unit 302 reads out delivery person identification information stored in advance in a storage medium in the delivery terminal device 3, and reads out the delivery person identification information and the delivery person position information acquisition unit 301. The delivery location management information having the delivery location information acquired by is transmitted to the home delivery information processing apparatus 1. The configuration, operation, and the like of the deliverer location information transmission unit 302 are the same as the configuration, operation, and the like of the customer location information transmission unit 202, and thus description thereof is omitted here. The modified time receiving unit 303 receives the modified delivery scheduled time transmitted from the home delivery information processing apparatus 1. The change time receiving unit 303 is usually realized by a wireless or wired communication means, but may be realized by a means for receiving a broadcast, page 18, paragraph 4-5).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Oishi (US 2022/0358460 A1) discloses delivery path generation system, deliver path generation method and non-transitory computer readable medium storing program.
Mains, Jr. et al. (US 12,047,715 B2) discloses systems and methods for automatic recognition of vehicle information.
Raut et al. (US 2018/0341918 A1) discloses system and method for dynamic fleet management.
Ricci (US 2014/0306833 A1) discloses providing home automation information via a communication with a vehicle.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIU M LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-1083. The examiner can normally be reached M-T 8:30-7:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SIU M LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632 12/12/2025