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 .
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
ART REJECTION:
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 1-17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hari et al(USPGPUB 2023/0112004 A1) in view of Chen et al(USPGPUB 2025/0222746 A1) and Gonzalez Bautista et al(USPGPUB 2023/0294733 A1).
-- In considering claim 1, the claimed subject matter that is met by Hari et al(Hari) includes:
1) at least one memory is met by the data storage(701) including memory(see: Hari, sec[0009]);
2) at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory is met by the one or more SoC(s)(1604) which may include any number of processor(1610), and computer system(900) including processor formed with a system-on-chip, and includes embedded software(see: sec[0119]);
3) the at least one processor configured to:
i) obtain an indication of a set of parameters associated with the vehicle is met by the processors(1610) including system settings with dedicated processor subsystem to handle safety management for automotive applications(see: Hari, sec[0234]);
ii) determine that at least one parameter in the set of parameters is greater than or equal to a threshold level is met by the management functions of the processor(1610) determining if temperatures exceed a threshold(see: sec[0231]).
- Hari does not teach:
1) the set of parameters comprising a pump status of the vehicle;
2) output an indication of the determination that the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold level.
Although not specifically taught by Hari, use of systems, which monitor pump status of a vehicle, is well known. In related art, Chen et al(Chen) teaches a self-heating management of processors in autonomous vehicles, wherein vehicle temperature sensors(908) senses the temperature of processor(906). And wherein a control processor executes instructions that cause temperature tracker(910) and regression profiling and/or prediction(912)(see: Chen, secs[0077-0080]). And wherein, when necessary, compensation(914) identifies one or more compensation actions that help to lower the temperature of the processor(see: Chen, sec[0084]). The compensation actions include sending commands to the vehicle cooling control to reduce the temperatures and cause a cooling to the processor(see: Chen, sec[0091]) such that an increase on a vehicle pump(not shown) flow rate of the coolant flowing over the processor, is used to provide a reduction of heat for the processor(see: Chen, sec[0054]). This would have constituted the claimed parameter including a status of the vehicle pump, since the compensation would have been required to know the status of the pump, in order to increase the flow for the purpose of cooling the processors.
Since the use of pump status parameter monitoring is well known, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the compensation and pump of Chen, into the system of Hari, since this would have helped ensure the longevity of the system, by providing an efficient system for protecting the processors from overheating.
With regards to the claimed output indications for alerting of a warning in vehicles, in related art, Gonzalez Bautista et al(Gonzalez) teaches a system for managing an autonomous vehicle, wherein when a safe stop mode is activated for a vehicle, the system warns a driver using a visual warning system to alert the driver(see: Gonzalez, sec[0090]).
Since the use of warning systems which output indications is well known, as taught by Gonzalez, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the warning system of Gonzalez, into the system of Hari, since an output indication to notifying that a safe mode is activated would have provided benefit to the system, by alerting the driver of the vehicle, that the vehicle is in a safe stope mode.
-- With regards to claim 2,
1) wherein the set of parameters are associated with at least one of a system-on-chip(SoC) of the vehicle or an electronic control unit(ECU) of the vehicle is met by the SoC(s)(1604);
2) wherein the threshold level is associated with a threshold impact on at least one of the SoC of the vehicle or the ECU of the vehicle is met by the Soc(s) using ring oscillators to detect temperatures of the CPU’s(1606) to determine if temperatures are exceeded(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 3,
1) wherein the threshold impact on at least one of the SoC of the vehicle or the ECU of the vehicle is at least one of:
i) a minimum time for the vehicle to perform a safe harbor maneuver
or
ii) the threshold impact on a trend of a temperature of at least one of the SoC of the vehicle or the ECU of the vehicle is met by the temperatures being determined to exceed a threshold by the use of ring oscillators used by the SoC(s)(1604)(see: Hari, sec[0232]).
-- With regards to claim 4,
1) the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is further configured to: output an indication to perform a safe harbor maneuver for the vehicle based on the determination that the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold level is met by the SoC(1604) determining if temperatures exceed a threshold, and the power management processor enters a temperature fault routine which includes a safe stop mode to bring the vehicle(1600) to a safe stop(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 5,
1) the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is further configured to: reduce, based on the indication to perform the safe harbor maneuver, a functionality of a portion of at least one of a system-on-chip(SoC) of the vehicle or an electronic control unit(ECU) of the vehicle is met by the processor entering a temperature fault routine and puts SoC(s)(1604) into a lower power state(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 6,
1) wherein to reduce the functionality of the portion of at least one of the SoC of the vehicle or the ECU of the vehicle, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to: initiate, based on the determination, a power saving mode of at least one of the SoC of the vehicle or the ECU of the vehicle is met by the SoC(s)(1604) being put into a lower power state(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 7,
1) to reduce the functionality of the portion of at least one of the SoC of the vehicle or the ECU of the vehicle, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to at least one of:
i) reduce a functionality of a graphics processing unit(GPU) of the SoC;
ii) reduce a functionality of a central processing unit(CPU) of the SoC;
iii) reduce a functionality of software associated with the SoC; or reduce a functionality of Hardware associated with the SoC is met by the fault routine putting SoC(2)(1604) into a lower power state, which would inherently reduce functionality of software and hardware of the SoC(s) because lower power would limit their functionality.
-- With regards to claim 8,
1) the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is further configured to: initiate the safe harbor maneuver for the vehicle based on the determination that the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold level is met by the temperature fault routine putting the vehicle(1600) into a chauffeur mode to a safe stop mode, which brings the vehicle(1600) to a safe stop(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 9,
1) the indication to perform the safe harbor maneuver, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to: send, to a driver of the vehicle, the indication to perform the safe harbor maneuver based on the determination that the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold level would have been met upon incorporating the warning system of Gonzalez, into the system of Hari, which would have provided indication to the driver of the vehicle, that a safe mode had been activated.
-- With regards to claim 10,
1) the at least one processor, individually or in any combination is further configured to: measure the at least one parameter in the set of parameters to determine whether the at least one parameter in the set of parameters is greater than or equal to the threshold level is met by the SoC(s)(1604) utilizing ring-oscillators to detect temperatures so as to determine if the temperature threshold is exceeded(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 11,
1) wherein to measure the at least one parameter, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to: i) calculate one or more of at least one time parameter associated with the vehicle or at least one temperature parameter associated with the vehicle is met by the SoC(s)(1604) using ring oscillators to detect temperatures(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 12,
1) to measure the at least one parameter, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to: measure one or more parameters associated with at least one of a system-on-chip(SoC) of the vehicle or an electronic control unit(ECU) of the vehicle is met by the one or more parameter associated with the SoC including temperature of the CPU(1606)(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 13,
1) to determine that the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold level, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to: detect, via at least one sensor at the vehicle, that the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold level is met by the ring oscillator, whose output frequency is proportional to temperature, and is utilized by the SoC(s)(1604) to detect temperatures and temperature being exceeded(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 14,
1) the set of parameters are parameters that influence a temperature of at least one of a system-on-chip(SoC) of the vehicle or an electronic control unit(ECU) of the vehicle is met by the temperature of the CPU(1606)(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 15,
1) the parameters that influence the temperature of at least one of the SoC of the vehicle or the ECU of the vehicle include one or more of:
i) a set of temperature parameters,
ii) a pump status of the vehicle,
iii) an actual temperature of the SoC of the vehicle,
iv) an actual temperature of the ECU of the vehicle,
v) a temperature of a liquid in a cooling system for the vehicle,
or
vi) a flow rate of the liquid in the cooling system for the vehicle is met by the temperatures of the CPU(s)(1606) being detected(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- With regards to claim 16,
1) the vehicle is a fully autonomous driving vehicle, a partially autonomous driving vehicle, or a manual driving vehicle is met by the vehicle(1600) being automated(see: Hari, sec[0203]).
-- With regards to claim 17,
1) the set of parameters is at least one of a set of time parameters or a set of temperature parameters, and wherein the threshold level is at least one of a time threshold or a temperature threshold is met by the temperature being determined to exceed a threshold(see: Hari, sec[0231]).
-- Claim 19 recites a method that substantially corresponds to the subject matter of claim 1, and therefore, is met for the reasons as discussed in the rejection of claim 1 above.
-- Claim 20 recites a method that substantially corresponds to the subject matter of claim 1, and therefore, is met for the reasons as discussed in the rejection of claim 1 above, as well as:
1) a computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, the code that is executed by at least one processor is met by the non-transitory compute readable storage medium that utilizes code for executable instructions(see: Hari, sec[0290]).
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hari et al(Hari) in view of Gonzalez Bautista et al(Gonzalez) and Chen et al(Chen) as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Tsai et al(USPGPUB 2019/0204826 A1).
-- With regards to claim 18,
1) at least one of an antenna or a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor is met by the wireless antenna(s)(1626);
- Hari in view of Gonzales and Chen do not teach:
1) wherein to output the indication of the determination that the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold level, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:
i) transmit, via at least one of the antenna or the transceiver, the indication of the determination that the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold level;
or
ii) store the indication of the determination that the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold level.
In related art, Tsai et al(Tsai) teaches a sage warning system for a vehicle that is in a safe warning mode, wherein the indication of the safe warning mode is stored in vehicle data, wherein the warning unit(700) stores the warning signal to the driver according to interface warning datum(see: Tsai, sec[0023]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the warning unit(700) of Tsai, which stores warning indications, into the system of Hari in view of Gonzales and Chen, since this would have provided a record of vehicle warnings and notifications, to better analyze the causes of the warnings.
REMARKS:
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/23/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that the prior art to Hari, Gonzales, and Tsai do not read on the amended claimed subject matter, which includes the limitation that the set of parameters associated with the vehicle comprises a pump status of the vehicle. The examiner introduced the prior art to Chen, which teaches the claimed subject matter with regards to the pump status of the vehicle, as discussed in the art rejection of the claims as recited above. In view of this, applicant’s arguments are deemed moot, since the subject matter in which the applicant bases his arguments, have been addressed in the art rejection.
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 DARYL C POPE whose telephone number is (571)272-2959. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM - 5PM M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, BRIAN ZIMMERMAN can be reached at 571-272-3059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DARYL C POPE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686