Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/589,474

VEHICLE INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE AND STORAGE MEDIUM

Final Rejection §102§103
Filed
Feb 28, 2024
Priority
Mar 13, 2023 — JP 2023-038708
Examiner
KENDALL, CHUCK O
Art Unit
2192
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Toyota Motor Corporation
OA Round
2 (Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
4m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allowance Rate
810 granted / 933 resolved
+31.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
955
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
12.9%
-27.1% vs TC avg
§103
22.2%
-17.8% vs TC avg
§102
50.6%
+10.6% vs TC avg
§112
1.4%
-38.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 933 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 2. This is in response to Application filed 07/02/26. Claims 1 – 7 has been Examined and are now pending. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 3. 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. 4. Claim(s) 1 - 3, 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takatsuna US 20220066768 A1. Regarding claims 1 and 7, Takatsuna anticipates a vehicle information processing device comprising a processor configured to perform download by receiving update software for an electronic control device mounted on a vehicle [0008, “…A software update device … is configured to control software update of an electronic control unit mounted on a vehicle….”]; perform installation [see 0041,]by causing the electronic control device to store the update software [0008, shows downloading update and storing/storage; also see 0041]; perform activation by validating the update software [0041 - 0042, “…and a phase of activation in which the updated version of the software installed in the update-target electronic control unit is activated…”, also see in 0042 performed and verified i.e. validating]; and make a notification of which stage among the download, the installation, and the activation a trouble has occurred in when update to the update software is not successfully completed, wherein the update to the update software is completed when all of the download, the installation, and the activation are completed [0058, see “… a function of notifying the server 1 of completion of downloading, and a function of transmitting error information to the server 1 when an error occurs], also refer to 0061 showing activation process and downloading and 0074. Regarding claim 2, the vehicle information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the notification includes information that indicates the electronic control device for which the update to the updated software is not successfully completed [0058, shows both transmitting notification when completed and when there’s an error], also see [0080, which also teaches, “… notifying that the software update process has been suspended..”]. Regarding claim 3, the vehicle information processing device according to claim 1, wherein: the processor is configured to perform a verification as to whether the update software is compatible with the vehicle when the update to the update software is performed; and the notification includes information that indicates a result of the verification [0055, see update confirmation]. Regarding claim 6, the vehicle information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to make the notification using an error code allocated in advance to each of the download, the installation, and the activation [0058, shows transmitting error information]. 7. Claim(s) 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takatsuna US 20220066768 A1. as applied in claim 1 and further in view Okamoto et al. US 20220365772 A1. Regarding claim 5 Takatsuna doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the notification includes information that indicates a state of a battery mounted on the vehicle when the update to the update software is performed. However, Okamoto in a similar configuration and analogous art discloses in 0031, meeting installable conditions by “…determining that the remaining battery level of the in-vehicle battery is equal to or greater than a predetermined capacity…”. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to filling the invention to be able to determine battery conditions prior to installation by combining Takatsuna and Okamoto because it would enable being able to perform updated under installable conditions as suggested by Okamoto [0031]. Response to Arguments Claim 4 is still rejected as depending upon a rejected based claim And regarding Applicants’ arguments filed 07/02/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues on the first page of his arguments that, “…Takatsuna only discloses general error handling, such as transmitting the error information to the server when an error occurs in completion of downloading (and) …fails to identify "which stage among the download, the installation, and the activation a trouble has occurred in when update to the update software is not successfully completed" as recited in the independent claims…”. Examiner disagrees Taktsuna clearly discloses transmitting errors to the server as well a notifying if and when completion is done in 0058 and in addition to that in 0074 denotes when an error has occurred in the OTA software (OVER THE AIR) this clearly is directed to transmission and downloading errors. 0074 also shows “…The control unit 38 may determine that the state is not the state where the data is downloadable when the control unit 38 detects at least one of an event …”. Applicant’s claims doesn’t preclude or exclude this inclusive definition. Conclusion THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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. Correspondence Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Chuck Kendall whose telephone number is 571-272-3698. The examiner can normally be reached on 10:00 am - 6:30pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hyung Sough can be reached on 571-272-6799. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only [0060 – 0080]. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). /CHUCK O KENDALL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2192
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 28, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 07, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103
Jul 02, 2026
Response Filed
Sep 22, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12748850
Application Aware Software Asset Inventory
4y 9m to grant Granted Sep 29, 2026
Patent 12730623
EXECUTION OF MEASURE COMMAND FOR FIRMWARE UPDATE AND FIRMWARE UPDATE
2y 9m to grant Granted Sep 08, 2026
Patent 12724607
AUTOMATED CODE DOCUMENTATION
2y 7m to grant Granted Sep 01, 2026
Patent 12724598
PREDICTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR AND AUTOMATIC ADJUSTMENT OF NETWORK POLICY GENERATION FOR EDGE INFRASTRUCTURE
2y 11m to grant Granted Sep 01, 2026
Patent 12705040
UPGRADING AN EXISTING STANDARD ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) CHARGER FROM GRID TO VEHICLE (V1G) TO V1G PLUS VEHICLE TO GRID (V2G) OPERATION
3y 7m to grant Granted Aug 11, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

Strategy Recommendation AI-generated — please review before filing

Get a prosecution strategy drawn from examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Typically takes 5-10 seconds — AI-generated, attorney review required before filing

Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+8.0%)
2y 11m (~4m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 933 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month