DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-7 are pending.
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 1-7 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.
The term “in advance” in claims 1. 6. 7 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “in advance” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The originally filed disclosure fails to provide a specific definition to the term to allow one of ordinary skilled in the art to determine when the terminal device is provided. There is no clear time point provided in the originally filed disclosure before which the terminal device is provided. Is the time before the delivery of the mobile object to the dealer? Is it before the sale of the vehicle to a customer? Is it before the first use of the vehicle by the user? Is it before the registration process of the terminal device?
The remarks filed 01/08/2026, page 7-8, argue that “... the portable wireless terminal 10 is an example of an "electronic key," which is typically provided in advance. Specifically, the specification as filed states that "predetermined user accounts" (which are associated with the portable wireless terminals 10) are registered in the in-vehicle device 30 of the initial state by the manufacturer, car dealer, or the like”. The originally filed disclosure, [0022] of the published application indicates that “The portable wireless terminal 10 may have the above-described function by installing an application program in a portable phone such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or the like.” Is the above argument and disclosure indicating that the current invention cannot be used to register a device that is purchased after the user purchased the mobile device (vehicle) and wants to use a different terminal device (electronic key/smartphone) acquired sometime after the purchase of the vehicle, as the terminal device is not provided in advance?
The originally filed disclosure does not provide a clear scope to the above limitation and the Examiner is unable to determine the scope of the claims. The claims are considered indefinite.
Note: for the purpose of the art rejection below, the limitation is interpreted to not include the limitation “in advance”.
Claims 2-5 are rejected for being dependent on a rejected claim.
Claim 5 is 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. It is not clear what the claim is claiming. Is the third user user/account that is being selected associated with a third terminal device? Is it associated with one of the first or second terminal devices? Is it associated with both first and second terminal devices/information? It is not clear how the third user/account is associated with the first and second terminal devices/information. The scope of the claim could not be determined and is considered indefinite.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 6, 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ricci [US 20210232642].
As to claim 1. Ricci discloses A mobile object setting system including a setting device configured to perform a process of setting equipment provided in a mobile object and a plurality of terminal devices capable of communicating with the setting device,
wherein the setting device, [fig. 2, 0237] vehicle control system 204, includes a storage device configured to store a program, [figs. 2, 3, 0255, 0257], and setting information of the equipment, [fig. 2, 0241, 0242], and a hardware processor, [fig. 3, 0254] a processor 304,
wherein, by executing the program stored in the storage device, [0255, 0473] processor 304 runs programming implementing functions of the vehicle control system 204, the hardware processor
manages a plurality of user accounts corresponding to the plurality of the terminal devices, [fig. 2, 0240, 0242] one or more profile data 252, associated with user devices 212, 248, which are specific devices provided in advance to one or more users of the mobile object, [0366] users bring their own devices 212 to the vehicle 104 for use with the various systems disclosed,
manages the setting information of the equipment, [fig. 12A, 0262, 0429-0432] settings information for a plurality of users managed by the control system 204, in association with the plurality of the user accounts, [fig. 2, 0240, 0242] one or more profile data 252, associated with user devices 212, 248,
identifies a user account among the plurality of user accounts based on a termina information received from the plurality of terminal devices, [0474] determine if a person is in a zone/area; [0293, 0294] wherein determining a presence of the user in a predetermined area/zone based on communication with user devices 212, 248; [0364] wherein user profile is associated with the user devices 212, 248, and
acquires the setting information of the equipment associated with the user account from the storage device, [0364, 0476] identify user profile from the database that is associated with the user’s device 212, and
performs the process of setting the equipment based on the acquired setting information, [0364] load one or more preferences, settings based on the user profile, and control components of the system, [0476] retrieve the identified settings,
wherein the plurality of user accounts correspond to each of the plurality of terminal devices that are registered in advance in the setting device,
the setting device stores multiple sets of setting information for each piece of the equipment, [fig. 12A] multiple settings for each user; [0364] wherein each user is identified using user device 212, or for the plurality of the terminal device in the storage device, associating the multiple sets of setting information with corresponding user accounts, [fig. 12A, 0241, 0432] a plurality of vehicle settings for each identified user,
wherein the plurality of terminal devices include a first terminal device and a second terminal device, [fig. 2, 0240] user devices 212, 248,
when the number of users registered in the setting device is one, [0241, 0242, 0247] the stored data 232 can include one user, [fig. 12B] and one user User1 can be associated with two devices Device1 and Device2, and a first setting information of a first user and a second setting information of the first user are stored as the setting information of the equipment in the storage device, [fig. 12B, 0432] each user can have a different set of settings based on the device, the hardware processor manages the first setting information in association with the first terminal device for the first user, [fig. 12B] Device1 of User 1 with a first set of settings 1, 2, 3, and manages the second setting information in association with the second terminal device of the first user, [fig. 12B] Device2 of User1 with a second set of settings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [0442] wherein a device can be associated one user, and
when the number of users registered in the setting device is plural, [0241, 0242, 0247] the stored data 232 can include one or more users User1 with Device1 and User2 with Device2, [fig. 12B], and the first setting information of the first user in the plurality of users and the second setting information of a second user in the plurality of users are associated as the setting information of the equipment in the storage device, [fig. 12B] each user can have a different set of settings, the hardware processor manages the first setting information in association with the first terminal device for the first user, [fig. 12B] Device 1 of User 1 with a first set of settings, and manages the second setting information in association with the second terminal device of the second user, [fig. 12B] Device 2 of User 2 with a second set of settings.
As to claim 3. Ricci discloses The mobile object setting system according to claim 1, wherein a first user account among the plurality of user accounts and a second user account among the plurality of user accounts are registered for one user in the setting device, [0241, 0242, 0247] the stored data 232 can include one user, [fig. 12B] and one user User1 can be associated with two devices Device1 and Device2, and wherein the first user account is associated with the first terminal device and the second user account is associated with the second terminal device, [0241, 0242, 0247] the stored data 232 can include one user, [fig. 12B] and one user User1 can be associated with two devices Device1 and Device2 having different profile information.
As to claims 6, 7 are rejected using the same prior arts and reasoning as to that of claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/06/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Argument 1: The prior arts do not teach the newly amended scope of the claims.
Response 1: The Office Action is amended to address the newly added limitations as detailed above.
Conclusion
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/Benyam Haile/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2688