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, 3, 5-7 are pending.
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 plurality of terminal devices are electronic keys configured to transmit a signal to unlock a door lock of the mobile object or start the mobile object, [0294],
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 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 the setting device, [fig. 2, 0240, 0242] one or more profile data 252, associated with user devices 212, 248, in an initial state of the mobile object, [0447] at initial registration time,
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.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ricci in view of Gould et al. [US 20170369071].
As to claim 5. Ricci fails to disclose The mobile object setting system according to claim 1, further comprising the following steps. However, Gould teaches a dynamic assignment of driver identifiers of vehicle settings comprising a plurality of driver profiles [0028]; associated with a user settings for the vehicle, [0028], stored in a database 130, [0029]; wherein key fob 1 is assigned to driver ID 1 and key fob 2 is assigned to driver ID 2 in the driver profile during manufacturing, [0032]; wherein mobile devices can be used as key fobs with a mobile device identifier, [0020]; wherein the driver ID can be reassigned in the database using associated key fob codes, [0016, 0025];
wherein when a third user account among the plurality of user accounts is further registered in the setting device, [0032] two drivers assigned to two key fobs, and [0027, 0048] a new driver ID 3 is added to the database, which reads on the claimed third user account, and wherein, when the third user account is selected in the setting device after the setting device acquires the first terminal information from the first terminal device or the second terminal device, reassign user profiles to driver IDS by reassigning a mobile device identifier to driver IDS, [0032], after receiving a key fob code from the key fob, [0033],
the terminal device, which has transmitted the first terminal information to the setting device, replaces the first terminal information stored in the terminal device with second terminal information to associate the terminal device with the third user account in the setting devices, [0048] reassign key fob 2 to driver ID 3, wherein the first terminal information is a first user id for identifying a user account associated with the terminal device which has transmitted the first terminal information to the setting device, and the second terminal information is a second user id for identifying the third user account, [0032, 0048].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Ricci with that of Gould so that the system can have a method to transfer \the vehicle to new owners without requiring new key fobs.
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
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENYAM HAILE whose telephone number is (571)272-2080. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 AM - 5:30 PM Mon. - Thur..
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/Benyam Haile/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2688
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