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 .
Claims Status
Claims 1 and 8 have been amended.
Claims 2-3 and 9-10 have been canceled.
Claims 1, 4-8 and 11-14 are currently pending and rejected.
Response to Arguments
35 USC 101 Rejection
Applicant's arguments, filed 12/8/2025, with respect to the previous rejection of claims 1-14 under 35 USC 101 have been fully considered and are persuasive, in view of the accompanying amendments.
Additionally, in view of MPEP 2106.07(b) which states that “a claim is eligible because the claim as a whole integrates the judicial exception into a practical application or amounts to significantly more than the judicial exception when the additional elements are considered both individually and in combination… [and] the additional element may be enough to integrate the judicial exception into a practical application or to qualify as "significantly more" if it meaningfully limits the judicial exception, e.g., it improves another technology or technical field, improves the functioning of a computer itself.” As is the situation in this case, additional elements have been reevaluated and are considered “significantly more” as they meaningfully limit the judicial exception and are therefore eligible.
Accordingly, the previous rejection under 35 USC 101 has been withdrawn.
35 USC 102 Rejection
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejection of claims under 35 USC 102 have been fully considered and are partially persuasive, in view of the accompanying amendments.
Applicant's amended claim 1 now requires “a rain sensor configured to sense information related to rain” and “control the vehicle to display…”. These limitations had not been previously been recited and change the scope of the invention.
Applicant’s amendments have therefore necessitated the new grounds for rejection, explained in further detail below.
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 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 of this title, 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, 4-8 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grossman et al. (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2022/0405725 A1) (“Grossman”), in view of Kobayashi (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2021/0272188 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 8, Grossman teaches a system (and related method) for providing information, the system comprising:
a controller (Fig. 1; para [0022], ASM network management system 150 is a network-enabled processing system configured for communication with one or more account holder user devices) configured to
determine a car washing pattern based on car washing performance information of the vehicle and weather information (para [0066], service need processor 254 is a network enabled computer processor configured for determining or estimating a service need for a particular account holder/user; para [0067], user may have an established history that suggests they use an automated car wash approximately every two weeks during the summer months; para [0093], Even factors like weather variations could be added),
determine an estimated time when a next car washing will be performed based on the car washing pattern (para [0066], service need processor 254 may use the user's behavior pattern to establish criteria for the need for the particular service), and
[provide] information of interest regarding at least one car washing place to be displayed when the estimated time is reached (para [0066], service need processor 254 may transmit an instruction to the user's user device 210 to transition the beacon monitoring application from its inactive state to its active monitoring state; para [0067]; para [0075], notification may also provide information about and/or directions to the service location); and
an output device configured to display the information of interest (para [0067], service need processor 254 transmits an instruction for the user device 210 to go to the active beacon monitoring state. It can also send a notification to the user suggesting the need for a car wash).
Although Grossman teaches car washing pattern (para [0066]-[0067]), Grossman does not explicitly teach a rain sensor configured to sense information related to rain; control the vehicle to display information; and wherein the controller is configured to collect the car washing performance information of the vehicle based on one or both of i) usage information of an in-vehicle payment function provided in the vehicle or ii) sensing information of the rain sensor and the weather information, and wherein the controller is configured to determine that a car washing was performed when the rain sensor collects sensing information for more than a preset reference time when it does not rain according to the weather information.
In a similar field of endeavor, Kobayashi teaches
a rain sensor configured to sense information related to rain (para [0022], rainfall sensor; para [0024], detecting unit includes the rainfall sensor, and the maintenance determining unit includes a vehicle washing determining unit (90) configured to determine that each user has washed the shared vehicle based on a signal from the rainfall sensor);
control the vehicle to display information (para [0048], each onboard terminal 4 is a vehicle navigation device (car navigation device)…a maintenance notifying unit 19 configured to give a notification to the user when maintenance of the shared vehicle 3 is required);
wherein the controller is configured to collect the car washing performance information of the vehicle based on one or both of i) usage information of an in-vehicle payment function provided in the vehicle or ii) sensing information of the rain sensor and the weather information (para [0024], detecting unit includes the rainfall sensor, and the maintenance determining unit includes a vehicle washing determining unit (90) configured to determine that each user has washed the shared vehicle based on a signal from the rainfall sensor; para [0026], user information including a vehicle washing history of each user, and the maintenance determining unit is configured to select a user to notify that the maintenance is required), and
wherein the controller is configured to determine that a car washing was performed when the rain sensor collects sensing information for more than a preset reference time when it does not rain according to the weather information (para [0024], detecting unit includes the rainfall sensor, and the maintenance determining unit includes a vehicle washing determining unit (90) configured to determine that each user has washed the shared vehicle based on a signal from the rainfall sensor; para [0026], user information including a vehicle washing history of each user, and the maintenance determining unit is configured to select a user to notify that the maintenance is required; para [0094], maintenance determining unit 31 refers to the weather information server 83. When the rainfall sensor 77 detects a prescribed rainfall, the maintenance determining unit 31 determines whether the rainfall is due to rain or the vehicle washing).
Since each individual element and its function are shown in the prior art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the noted limitations as taught by Kobayashi in the system of Grossman, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable. Namely, an improved system for managing vehicles by appropriately performing maintenance such as vehicle washing and interior cleaning (See Kobayashi: para [0004]).
Regarding claims 4 and 11, Grossman and Kobayashi teach the above system and method of claims 1 and 8. Grossman also teaches wherein the controller is configured to determine the estimated time by combining the car washing pattern and the weather information (para [0066], service need processor 254 is a network enabled computer processor configured for determining or estimating a service need for a particular account holder/user; para [0067], user may have an established history that suggests they use an automated car wash approximately every two weeks during the summer months; para [0093], Even factors like weather variations could be added).
Regarding claims 5 and 12, Grossman and Kobayashi teach the above system and method of claims 1 and 8. Grossman also teaches wherein the information of interest includes at least one of a location information of the at least one car washing place or a discount information of a car washing fee (para [0067]; para [0075], notification may also provide information about and/or directions to the service location; para [0047], wireless beacons for triggering the communication of advertisements).
Regarding claims 6 and 13, Grossman and Kobayashi teach the above system and method of claims 5 and 12. Grossman also teaches wherein the controller is configured to:
determine a current location of the vehicle when the estimated time is reached (para [0030], location monitoring server 159 is configured to continuously or periodically receive location information from a mobile user device; para [0066]-[0067]); and
provide the information of interest corresponding to the current location of the vehicle to be displayed (para [0064], service notification information may also include information about the services available at the location 290 and the anticipated need for one or more of these services; para [0067], [0075]).
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Grossman and Kobayashi teach the above system and method of claims 6 and 13. Grossman also teaches wherein the controller is configured to:
receive the information of interest corresponding to the current location of the vehicle from an external server (para [0030], location monitoring server 159 is configured to continuously or periodically receive location information from a mobile user device; para [0066]-[0067]); and
provide the information of interest, received from the external server, to be displayed (para [0064], service notification information may also include information about the services available at the location 290 and the anticipated need for one or more of these services; para [0067], [0075]).
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANAND LOHARIKAR whose telephone number is 571-272-8756. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marissa Thein can be reached at 571-272-6764. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANAND LOHARIKAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3689