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 .
Response to Amendment and Argument
Applicant’s amendment and argument with respect to pending claims 16, 19-23 and 27-29 filed on 12/15/2025 have been fully considered but the argument regarding the independent claim 16 is rendered moot in view of a new ground(s) of rejection necessitated by the amendment of the claim. Independent claim 29 is indicated as allowable.
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 (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.
(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) 16, 19, 21, 23 and 27-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Do (US 20100085171 A1).
Regarding claim 16, Do teaches the claim as follows:
A center device comprising: a controller configured to: receive an OFF signal of a vehicle-inside camera (¶0135: a person can deactivate an activated camera) Note that this interpretation is consistent with the disclosure of the current application. See current application ¶0087 stating “a vehicle-inside image of in OFF setting”; receive acceleration data of a vehicle (¶0114: controller 190 may determine the crash or falling by using …a speed change amount sensed by the speed sensor); confirm the acceleration data equal to or exceeding a threshold (¶0118-0119: the controller 190 may activate the camera according to whether camera activating events have occurred or not…The camera activating events include at least one of receiving a signal indicating image capturing by the camera from a server through the wireless communication unit 110…exceeding a preset value by a speed of a vehicle); dispatch an occupant call message to an on-vehicle device for checking occupant safety (¶0007, 0059, 0083: Vehicle telematics may be applied to various fields…communications between a call center and a vehicle or between vehicles equipped with telematics terminals…) Note that this interpretation is consistent with the disclosure of the current application. See current application ¶0087 stating “controller 103 of the server device 100 causes the operator terminal 200 to make a call using communication via the dashboard camera 10”) from the dashboard camera 10”; confirm that an audio reply message by the occupant is not detected from the on-vehicle device within a predetermined latency (¶0119: detecting an absence of a passenger's voice included in audio signals sensed through the microphone 132 within a predetermined time); request the vehicle-inside camera to transmit a vehicle interior image regardless of an operation mode of the vehicle-inside camera (¶0121: When the abnormal events are consistent with the camera activating events, the controller 190 may automatically activate the camera in the occurrence of abnormal events); and acquire the vehicle interior image from the vehicle-inside camera (¶0122, 0137: The camera 131 may be mounted to capture the interior or exterior of a vehicle…the camera 131 may capture visual information such as an accident spot, a passenger's injured status).
Regarding claim 19, Do teaches the center device according to claim 16,wherein the controller is further configured to: execute a safety confirmation in which a priority of privacy protection in a case where the controller receives the OFF signal of the vehicle-inside camera is higher than a priority of privacy protection in a case where the controller receives an ON signal of the vehicle-inside camera (¶0134-0135: the controller 190 determines whether a passenger has authorized image capturing by the camera (S35). If there is no authorization from the passenger, the camera 131 is not activated. On the contrary, if there is an authorization from the passenger, the camera 131 is activated (S33)…Determining whether the passenger has authorized image capturing by the camera 131 provides greater privacy protection).
Regarding claim 21, Do teaches the center device according to claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to: in a case where the controller receives the ON signal of the vehicle-inside camera, receive the vehicle interior image from the on-vehicle device (¶0134: if there is an authorization from the passenger, the camera 131 is activated (S33). Images captured by the camera 131 are transmitted to the server through the wireless communication unit 110 ¶0137: the camera 131 may be mounted to a front side or a rear side of a vehicle, or may be mounted to a side mirror...so as to capture the interior of the vehicle); and transmit, to the on-vehicle device , a calling message for the occupant by using at least a sound by a communication connection and the vehicle interior image (¶0059: The mobile communication module 112 transmits or receives wireless signals to/from at least one of a base station, an external terminal, and a server on a mobile communication network. The wireless signals may include voice call signals, video call signals).
Regarding claim 23, Do teaches the center device according to claim 22, wherein the controller is further configured to: determine possibility of interaction with the occupant using a sound via a communication connection or interaction with the occupant using the interactive operation; and in a case where determining that the interaction is possible, execute a safety confirmation using the sound via the communication connection or the interactive operation (¶0118-0019, 013-0135: According to another embodiment of the present invention, once abnormal events are sensed by the sensing unit, the controller 190 may activate the camera according to whether camera activating events have occurred or not.. The camera activating events include at least one of receiving a signal indicating image capturing by the camera from a server through the wireless communication unit 110, inputting a passenger's authorization for camera activation through the user input unit 140).
Regarding claim 27, Do teaches the center device according to claim 23, wherein
the controller is further configured to: in a case where determining no availability of interaction, to the on-vehicle device (¶0028-0030: a sensor configured to sense occurrence of abnormal events or camera activating events…The controller may determine absence of receiving normal event inputs within a predetermined time, as camera activating events. ¶0031: The sensor may include a microphone to generate audio signals by sensing interior or exterior sound of a vehicle. And, the controller may determine absence of a passenger's voice among the received audio signals, as camera activating events. ¶0144: The controller 190 may be configured so that when signals are sensed below a predetermined threshold at a preset frequency band (V) of a passenger's voice after occurrence of abnormal events, the controller 190 may activate the camera 131), transmit a control signal for forcibly turning the vehicle-inside camera into an ON state (¶0028-0030: a sensor configured to sense occurrence of abnormal events or camera activating events; a controller configured to activate a camera according to whether the camera activating events have occurred in the occurrence of the abnormal events; a camera activated by the controller. ¶0120-0121: When the abnormal events are consistent with the camera activating events, the controller 190 may automatically activate the camera in the occurrence of abnormal events); The term “forcibly” interpreted as “automatically”. This interpretation is consistent with the disclosure of the current application. See ¶0109; receive a vehicle interior image from the on-vehicle device; and execute the safety confirmation using the vehicle interior image ( ¶0116, 0122, 0137: The camera 131 may be mounted to capture the interior or exterior of a vehicle…the camera 131 may capture visual information such as an accident spot, a passenger's injured status).
Regarding claim 28, Do teaches the center device according to claim 18, wherein
the controller is further configured to: to a request destination system, transmit an arrangement request in accordance with confirmation result of the safety confirmation process (¶0009: a telematics terminal capable of effectively providing visual information relating to emergency conditions to a server in the occurrence of abnormal events. ¶0126-0127: As shown in FIG. 2, once abnormal events are sensed by the sensor (S10), the controller 190 transmits an audio signal to the server through the wireless communication unit 110 (S11). The server determines, based on the received audio signal, whether or not to obtain visual information relating to the abnormal events. The server may be implemented as a call center, and so on).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 20 and 22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 29 is allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 29, Do teaches the following limitations: An on-vehicle device configured to communicate with a center device, the on-vehicle device comprising:
a controller configured to: include setting of whether or not transmitting a vehicle interior image to the center device (¶0134-0136: the controller 190 determines whether a passenger has authorized image capturing by the camera (S35)…Referring to FIG. 5, the camera 131 may be mounted to a front side or a rear side of a vehicle, or may be mounted to a side mirror so as to capture the exterior of the vehicle. The camera 131 may be also mounted to a rear mirror, a dash board, or a ceiling of a rear seat of the vehicle so as to capture the interior of the vehicle).
Siann et al. (US 20100141762 A1) at para. [0192] discloses a camera activation or deactivation can also be manually set by an operator. Deactivation can be overridden under certain circumstances either automatically (such as an alarm trigger), or manually (locally or remotely). Additionally, initiating and overriding of the modes of activation/deactivation of cameras can be operated from a hand-held remote control. Siann at para. [0049], [0054]-[0055], [0174] further discloses the camera may be mounted on a vehicle.
However, the cited prior arts fail to teach the feature of “in a case where a setting is selected in which a user does not transmit a vehicle interior image to the center device, receive a conversation request with respect to an occupant of a vehicle from the center device; in a case where the controller is not able to transmit a response of the occupant of the vehicle, receive a control signal transmitted from the center device; and change setting into that for transmitting the vehicle interior image in accordance with the control signal,” as recited in claim 29.
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 NATHNAEL AYNALEM whose telephone number is (571)270-1482. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5:30 PM ET.
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/NATHNAEL AYNALEM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2488