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 Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks
Amendments and Remarks filed on 03/13/2026 have been fully considered and are addressed as follow:
Regarding the Claim Rejections Under 35 U.S.C. § 103: Applicants “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered. Applicant has amended the independent claim and these amendments have changed the scope of the original application and the Office has supplied new grounds for rejection attached below in the non-final office action and therefore the prior arguments are considered moot.
However, since the examiner is using the same cited prior art for the claimed subject matter, the examiner will address the remarks that remain relevant.
On page 9, applicant submits the prior art fails to teach “acquiring the location information of the parking location from the GPS receiver of the target vehicle.” Upon further consideration, Van Wiemeersch does teach this limiation. Van Wiemeersch teaches the use of sun load sensors and/or a current location being associated with a garage or other indoor structure (¶ 0040) for confirmation of a rain condition (¶ 0030). The current location is determined by a global positioning receiver on the vehicle (¶ 0030). Therefore, the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 are upheld.
Applicant further remarks that the other independent claim 4 which recite
similar features are allowable and the dependent claims are also allowable since they depend
on allowable subject matter and the examiner respectfully disagrees. It is the examiner’s stance that all of the claimed subject matter has been properly rejected; therefore, the examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’ arguments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 3-5, 7-8, and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Wiemeersch (US PGPub 2017/0016266) in view of Farooq (US PGPub 2017/0114584) and in further view of Sirvastava (US PGPub 2021/0293072).
With respect to claim 1: Van Wiemeersch discloses An information processing device comprising a processor configured to [Van Wiemeersch, Figure 1A Body Controller 108]
acquire (i) location information of a parking location of the target vehicle [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “may send a current global positioning location of the vehicle 102”], (ii) information on an open and closed state of the open and close roof [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “the current windows status (e.g., which windows/vents/roofs are open) to the backend server 122”], and (iii) weather information around the parking location from the target vehicle [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0039 “The weather service 126 may be configured to provide information regarding forecasted weather conditions,” and ¶ 0040 “the telematics control unit 114 of the vehicle 102 may send a current global positioning location of the vehicle 102” ],
determine whether there is a roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location based on the location information in a case where the acquired weather information indicates rain or snow is predicted around the parking location and the open and close roof is open [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “ information indicative of whether the vehicle 102 is identified as being parked outside or inside (e.g., determined based on onboard vehicle 102 sun load sensors to identify the sun load presented to the vehicle 102, based on the current location being associated with a garage or other indoor structure).” And ¶ 0030 “the controller 108 may implement a two-stage process to determine the onset of a rain condition” --- The “smart-wipe sensor”, “sun-load sensors”, and other capacitive sensors on the vehicle, used as rain sensors, help gather surroundings information that can be used to determine if the vehicle is parked under a roof or not. If the vehicle is parked under a roof, the rain sensors would determine there is no rain and therefore, no alert would be sent to the user.],
send inquiry information inquiring whether to close the open and close roof to a user of the target vehicle in a case where the processor determines that there is no roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0041 “When the weather forecast indicates a potential for rain, the backend server 122 may be configured to optionally send a notification to the mobile device 118 of the driver for instructions, e.g. close windows now, close right before rain, etc. When the weather service notifies about approaching rain the backend server 122 may sends an alert or other communication to the vehicle 102 to perform rain auto close actions”]
close the open and close roof by remote control in a case where the processor receives an instruction to perform close control of the open and close roof in response to the inquiry information [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0084 and Figure 8 step 810],
the target vehicle acquires the location information of the parking location from a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver included in the target vehicle [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0030 “location information available to the vehicle (e.g., according to a navigation system or global positioning system receiver)”]
the processor unit does not send the inquiry information in a case where the processor determines that the location information of the parking location acquired from the GPS receiver of the target vehicle indicates the parking location provides the roof covering the target vehicle [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0030 “the controller 108 may implement a two-stage process to determine the onset of a rain condition … However, use of sun load sensors for confirmation of a rain condition may be limited to use during certain time periods, e.g., day time as determined according to onboard vehicle 102 date and time information, potentially supplemented by location information available to the vehicle (e.g., according to a navigation system or global positioning system receiver).” And ¶ 0040 “the telematics control unit 114 may send to the backend server 122 information indicative of whether the vehicle 102 is identified as being parked outside or inside (e.g., determined based on onboard vehicle 102 sun load sensors to identify the sun load presented to the vehicle 102, based on the current location being associated with a garage or other indoor structure).”].
Van Wiemeersh does not teach determine whether there is an occupant in a target vehicle with a remotely controllable open and close roof, in a case where the processor determines that there is no occupant in the target vehicle.
However, in a related field of invention, Farooq does teach determine whether there is an occupant in a target vehicle with a remotely controllable open and close roof, in a case where the processor determines that there is no occupant in the target vehicle [Farooq ¶ 0037 "Similarly, an occupancy sensor 58 is positioned within the passenger compartment of the vehicle 10 and generates an output indicating the presence of an occupant within one or more seats of the vehicle. If the occupancy sensor 58 determines the presence of an occupant, then the sensor provides an output via the communications network 32 to the sunroof control module 34. In the instance where an occupant is determined to be present, the sunroof control module 34 will forego closing the sunroof 22. " and ¶ 0038 "In the described embodiment, the occupancy sensor 58 (shown in FIG. 1) is a motion sensor sensing movement within the passenger compartment. Alternate embodiments, however, may include an infrared sensor, a thermal sensor, or even load cells/sensors positioned within one or more of the vehicle seats."].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the rain onset detection auto-close system as taught by Van Wiemeersch with the conditions of detecting an occupant as taught in Farooq in order to create a more effective system that only performs actions when conditions warranted such action [Faroo q ¶ 0004].
With respect to claim 3: Van Wiemeersch and Farooq discloses the information processing device according to claim 1. Van Wiemeersch further teaches wherein the processor is further configured to acquire surroundings information indicating surroundings of the target vehicle detected by a sensor mounted on the target vehicle, and [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “determined based on onboard vehicle 102 sun load sensors”]
the processor determines based on the location information and the surroundings information whether there is the roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “Information indicative of whether the vehicle 102 is identified as being parked outside or inside (e.g., determined based on onboard vehicle 102 sun load sensors to identify the sun load presented to the vehicle 102, based on the current location being associated with a garage or other indoor structure)”].
With respect to claim 4: Van Wiemeersch discloses A system comprising:
a target vehicle that is equipped with a remotely controllable open and close roof [Van Wiemeersch, Figure 1A window actuators 110] and that includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0030 “location information available to the vehicle (e.g., according to a navigation system or global positioning system receiver)”];
user equipment associated with a user of the target vehicle [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0031 “mobile device 118”]; and a processor, wherein processor is configured to [Van Wiemeersch, Figure 1A Body Controller 108]
acquire (i) location information of a parking location of the target vehicle [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “may send a current global positioning location of the vehicle 102”], (ii) information on an open and closed state of the open and close roof [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “the current windows status (e.g., which windows/vents/roofs are open) to the backend server 122”], and (iii) weather information around the parking location from the target vehicle [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0039 “The weather service 126 may be configured to provide information regarding forecasted weather conditions,”],
determine whether there is a roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location based on the location information in a case where the acquired weather information indicates rain or snow is predicted around the parking location and the open and close roof is open [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “ information indicative of whether the vehicle 102 is identified as being parked outside or inside (e.g., determined based on onboard vehicle 102 sun load sensors to identify the sun load presented to the vehicle 102, based on the current location being associated with a garage or other indoor structure).” And ¶ 0030 “the controller 108 may implement a two-stage process to determine the onset of a rain condition” --- The “smart-wipe sensor”, “sun-load sensors”, and other capacitive sensors on the vehicle, used as rain sensors, help gather surroundings information that can be used to determine if the vehicle is parked under a roof or not. If the vehicle is parked under a roof, the rain sensors would determine there is no rain and therefore, no alert would be sent to the user.],
send inquiry information inquiring whether to close the open and close roof to the user equipment in a case were determination is made that there is no roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0041 “When the weather forecast indicates a potential for rain, the backend server 122 may be configured to optionally send a notification to the mobile device 118 of the driver for instructions, e.g. close windows now, close right before rain, etc. When the weather service notifies about approaching rain the backend server 122 may sends an alert or other communication to the vehicle 102 to perform rain auto close actions”],
close the open and close roof by remote control in a case where the processor receives an instruction to perform close control of the open and close roof in response to the inquiry information [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0084 and Figure 8 step 810], and
wherein the target vehicle acquires the location information of the parking location from the GPS receiver of the target vehicle [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “may send a current global positioning location of the vehicle 102”]
the processor does not send the inquiry information to the user equipment when the processor determines that the location information of the parking location acquired from the GPS of the target vehicle indicates the parking location provides the roof covering the target vehicle [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0030 “the controller 108 may implement a two-stage process to determine the onset of a rain condition” and ¶ 0040 “Additionally or alternately, the telematics control unit 114 may send to the backend server 122 information indicative of whether the vehicle 102 is identified as being parked outside or inside (e.g., determined based on onboard vehicle 102 sun load sensors to identify the sun load presented to the vehicle 102, based on the current location being associated with a garage or other indoor structure).”].
Van Wiemeersch does not teach determine whether there is an occupant in the target vehicle, in a case where the processor determines that there is no occupant in the target vehicle.
However, in a related field of invention, Farooq does teach determine whether there is an occupant in the target vehicle, in a case where the processor determines that there is no occupant in the target vehicle [Farooq ¶ 0037 "Similarly, an occupancy sensor 58 is positioned within the passenger compartment of the vehicle 10 and generates an output indicating the presence of an occupant within one or more seats of the vehicle. If the occupancy sensor 58 determines the presence of an occupant, then the sensor provides an output via the communications network 32 to the sunroof control module 34. In the instance where an occupant is determined to be present, the sunroof control module 34 will forego closing the sunroof 22. " and ¶ 0038 "In the described embodiment, the occupancy sensor 58 (shown in FIG. 1) is a motion sensor sensing movement within the passenger compartment. Alternate embodiments, however, may include an infrared sensor, a thermal sensor, or even load cells/sensors positioned within one or more of the vehicle seats."].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the rain onset detection auto-close system as taught by Van Wiemeersch with the conditions of detecting an occupant as taught in Farooq in order to create a more effective system that only performs actions when conditions warranted such action [Faroo q ¶ 0004].
With respect to claim 5: Van Wiemeersch and Farooq disclose the system according to claim 4. Van Wiemeersch further discloses wherein
the processor is further configured to acquire surroundings information indicating surroundings of the target vehicle detected by a sensor mounted on the target vehicle; and [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “determined based on onboard vehicle 102 sun load sensors”]
the processor determines based on the location information and the surroundings information whether there is the roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location [Van Wiemeersch ¶ 0040 “Information indicative of whether the vehicle 102 is identified as being parked outside or inside (e.g., determined based on onboard vehicle 102 sun load sensors to identify the sun load presented to the vehicle 102, based on the current location being associated with a garage or other indoor structure)”].
With respect to claim 7: Van Wiemeersch and Farooq disclose the system according to claim 1. Farooq further discloses wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the target vehicle is parked, and
in a case where the processor determines that there is no occupant in the target vehicle and the target vehicle is parked, acquire the location information, the information on the open and closed state, and the weather information [Farooq ¶ 0040 "When the state of the engine changes from the “ON” state to the “OFF” state, then a state of at least one accessory 48 is determined at Step 64. If the state of the at least one accessory 48 is “ON,” then the sequence returns to Step 62. If there is more than one accessory being monitored, an “ON” state for any one accessory would result in the state of the at least one accessory to be considered “ON” for all accessories. In this instance, the utilization of an accessory indicates an occupant in the vehicle 10 and the sequence will not automatically close the sunroof 22 under such circumstances even if the engine is off."].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the rain onset detection auto-close system as taught by Van Wiemeersch with the conditions of detecting an occupant and the vehicle being parked as taught in Farooq in order to create a more effective system that only performs actions when conditions warranted such action [Farooq ¶ 0004].
With respect to claim 8: Van Wiemeersch and Farooq disclose the system according to claim 7. Farooq further discloses wherein the processor is configured to determine that the target vehicle is parked in a case where a start switch of the target vehicle is OFF [Farooq ¶ 0029 "The circuit 30 further includes a second control module 42 for monitoring a state of an engine (not shown) of the vehicle 10. More specifically, the second control module 42 monitors the status of an ignition switch 44 in order to determine whether the engine is in an “ON” or an “OFF” state."].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the rain onset detection auto-close system as taught by Van Wiemeersch with the conditions of detecting an occupant and the vehicle being parked as taught in Farooq in order to create a more effective system that only performs actions when conditions warranted such action [Farooq ¶ 0004].
With respect to claim 10: Van Wiemeersch and Farooq disclose the system according to claim 4. Farooq further discloses wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the target vehicle is parked, and in a case where the processor determines that there is no occupant in the target vehicle and the target vehicle is parked, acquire the location information, the information on the open and closed state, and the weather information [Farooq ¶ 0040 "When the state of the engine changes from the “ON” state to the “OFF” state, then a state of at least one accessory 48 is determined at Step 64. If the state of the at least one accessory 48 is “ON,” then the sequence returns to Step 62. If there is more than one accessory being monitored, an “ON” state for any one accessory would result in the state of the at least one accessory to be considered “ON” for all accessories. In this instance, the utilization of an accessory indicates an occupant in the vehicle 10 and the sequence will not automatically close the sunroof 22 under such circumstances even if the engine is off."].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the rain onset detection auto-close system as taught by Van Wiemeersch with the conditions of detecting an occupant and the vehicle being parked as taught in Farooq in order to create a more effective system that only performs actions when conditions warranted such action [Farooq ¶ 0004].
With respect to claim 11: Van Wiemeersch and Farooq disclose the system according to claim 10. Farooq further discloses wherein the processor is configured to determine that the target vehicle is parked in a case where a start switch of the target vehicle is OFF [Farooq ¶ 0029 "The circuit 30 further includes a second control module 42 for monitoring a state of an engine (not shown) of the vehicle 10. More specifically, the second control module 42 monitors the status of an ignition switch 44 in order to determine whether the engine is in an “ON” or an “OFF” state."].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the rain onset detection auto-close system as taught by Van Wiemeersch with the conditions of detecting an occupant and the vehicle being parked as taught in Farooq in order to create a more effective system that only performs actions when conditions warranted such action [Farooq ¶ 0004].
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Wiemeersch in view of Farooqand in further view of Sirvastava (US PGPub 2021/0293072).
With respect to claim 2: Van Wiemeersch and Farooq disclose the information processing device according to claim 1. Van Wiemeersch does teach ¶ 0040 “based on the current location being associated with a garage or other indoor structure”. Van Wiemeersch and Farooq do not explicitly teach wherein when determining based on the location information whether there is a roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location, the control unit determines that there is a roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location when the parking location overlaps a location of a building with a roof on a map.
However, in a related field of invention, Srivastava does teach wherein when determining based on the location information whether there is a roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location, the control unit determines that there is a roof covering the target vehicle at the parking location when the parking location overlaps a location of a building with a roof on a map [Srivastava ¶ 0041 “The air management system 100 may provide the current location of the vehicle 102 to the external database 108 and obtain the locations of the one or more structures or objects near the current location of the vehicle 102.” And ¶ 0022 “The external database 108 may be a map or transportation database that tracks various structural features near roadways. The map or transportation database may include the locations of various structural features or overhead structures, such as parking structures, covered garage, trees, bridges, overpasses or other overhead structures that may form a shaded or covered area.” --- It is known in the art to use a map database to determine the postion of various structural features in relation to the location of the vehicle.].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the rain onset detection auto-close system as taught by Van Wiemeersch and Farooq with the map database as taught in Srivastava in order to more accurately determine the presence of a roof over a vehicle.
Claims 6 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Wiemeersch in view of Farooq and in further view of Tanaka (US PGPub 2005/0154517).
With respect to claim 6: Van Wiemeersch and Farooq disclose the information processing device according to claim 1. Farooq does teach load cells/sensors to be used as occupancy sensor [Farooq ¶ 0038 “load cells/sensors positioned within one or more of the vehicle seats”]. Van Wiemeersch and Farooq do not explicitly teach wherein the processor is configured to determine whether a seat load applied to each of a plurality of seats in the target vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, and in a case where the seat load applied to each of the plurality of seats is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value, determine that there is no occupant in the target vehicle.
However, in a related field of invention, Tanaka does teach wherein the processor is configured to determine whether a seat load applied to each of a plurality of seats in the target vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, and in a case where the seat load applied to each of the plurality of seats is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value, determine that there is no occupant in the target vehicle [Tanaka ¶ 0026 "it is determined whether a vehicle occupant is seated with a seat sensor through checking, for example, whether a seat load-cell detects a weight greater than a threshold value. When it is determined that a vehicle occupant is not seated, the operation stops."].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the rain onset detection auto-close system as taught by Van Wiemeersch and Farooq with a predetermined threshold value as taught in Tanaka in order to more accurately determine the presence of an occupant in the vehicle.
With respect to claim 9: Van Wiemeersch and Farooq disclose the information processing device according to claim 4. Farooq does teach load cells/sensors to be used as occupancy sensor [Farooq ¶ 0038 “load cells/sensors positioned within one or more of the vehicle seats”]. Van Wiemeersch and Farooq do not explicitly teach wherein the processor is configured to determine whether a seat load applied to each of a plurality of seats in the target vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, and in a case where the seat load applied to each of the plurality of seats is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value, determine that there is no occupant in the target vehicle.
However, in a related field of invention, Tanaka does teach wherein the processor is configured to determine whether a seat load applied to each of a plurality of seats in the target vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, and in a case where the seat load applied to each of the plurality of seats is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value, determine that there is no occupant in the target vehicle [Tanaka ¶ 0026 "it is determined whether a vehicle occupant is seated with a seat sensor through checking, for example, whether a seat load-cell detects a weight greater than a threshold value. When it is determined that a vehicle occupant is not seated, the operation stops."].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the rain onset detection auto-close system as taught by Van Wiemeersch and Farooq with a predetermined threshold value as taught in Tanaka in order to more accurately determine the presence of an occupant in the vehicle.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPHINE RICH whose telephone number is (571)272-6384. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5pm.
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/J.E.R./Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/SCOTT A BROWNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666
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