Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/796,938

INFORMATION PROVIDING SYSTEM FOR VEHICLES, INFORMATION PROVIDING METHOD FOR VEHICLES, AND RECORDING MEDIUM

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Aug 07, 2024
Examiner
POON, KING Y
Art Unit
2617
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Panasonic Automotive Systems Co. Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
33%
Grant Probability
At Risk
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 9m
To Grant
89%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants only 33% of cases
33%
Career Allow Rate
3 granted / 9 resolved
-28.7% vs TC avg
Strong +56% interview lift
Without
With
+55.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 9m
Avg Prosecution
15 currently pending
Career history
24
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
10.6%
-29.4% vs TC avg
§103
71.2%
+31.2% vs TC avg
§102
13.6%
-26.4% vs TC avg
§112
3.0%
-37.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 9 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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 (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. 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. Claim(s) 1, 6, 7, 10, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kamiya US 2024/0042858 in view of Fujioka US 2023/0300476. Regarding claim 1, 10, 11: Kamiya teaches an information providing system (fig. 2, paragraph 0009; also see storage medium storing a vehicle display program of claim 6 on page 9 for the CRM claim of claim 11) for vehicles (fig. 1A) that controls a display mode of an application image (fig. 9, image paragraph 26) to be displayed in a first display area (R1, fig. 6) and a second display area (R2 fig. 6)(two display units, paragraph 0026) provided in a vehicle, the information providing system for vehicles comprising: a display change determiner (the control unit/software that control the dividing process of paragraph 0026, 0071, also see abstract) that determines dividing areas for dividing the application image that is zoomed out (change the scale, …enlarge paragraph 0049), to obtain blocks (R1, R2, fig. 6, fig. 9) that correspond, respectively, to the first display area and the second display area (two display units, paragraph 0026), such that the dividing areas have an aspect ratio equal to each of a resolution of the first display area and a resolution of the second display area (note: inherently each dividing areas has an aspect ratio and each of the display unit has its own resolution; since the aspect ratio can be equal to or different from the resolution of the display unit (2 possibility-finite possible solutions), it would have been obvious to person of ordinary skill in the art to try to modify Kamiya to include: the dividing areas have an aspect ratio equal to each of a resolution of the first display area and a resolution of the second display area); and a display controller (display processing unit, paragraph 0046) that adjusts and displays the blocks divided in accordance with the dividing areas to correspond, respectively, to the first display area and the second display area (fig. 7-10). If the above argument for the limitation “the dividing areas have an aspect ratio equal to each of a resolution of the first display area and a resolution of the second display area” is not convincing, Fujioka further teaches to have the divided image’s aspect ratio to match the display area resolution (paragraph 0039 generate split images at the resolution of the units constituting the display wall 500…the aspect ratio of the image IMG_D is the same as that of the resolution of the entire display wall 500….). Therefore, it would have been further obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kamiya to include: the dividing areas have an aspect ratio equal to each of a resolution of the first display area and a resolution of the second display area. The reason of doing so would have prevent display artifact/image distortion and to ensure display image quality in both the first and the second display area. Regarding claim 6: Kamiya teaches the information providing system for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein when at least one of the first display area or the second display area corresponds to a display restricted area reserved for displaying driving related information (See Ra of fig. 13 can be read as the display restricted area for displaying a sign) related to safety of traveling of the vehicle (all the traffic sign on the street is related to safety of traveling of a vehicle), the display change determiner determines the dividing area in a display target area other than the display restricted area (see fig. 13, and the display area for divided area R1 and R2 and does not include displaying R1 and R2 in Ra). Regarding claim 7: Kamiya teaches the information providing system for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein when the display change determiner obtains a setting instruction (fig. 7, the instruction of the processing unit inherently include what area of image belong to R1 and what area belongs to R2 whether R1 is to be displayed at the right or the left display and vice versa for R2) for executing determining of the dividing area, the display change determiner executes the determining of the dividing area. Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kamiya US 2024/0042858 in view of Fujioka US 2023/0300476 and Takahashi US 2012/0050468. Regarding claim 2: Kamiya teaches the information providing system for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein the display change determiner determines the dividing areas for dividing the application image to obtain the blocks that correspond, respectively, to the first display area and the second display area such that the dividing areas have the aspect ratio equal to each of the resolution of the first display area and the resolution of the second display area, (see rejection of claim 1) Kimiya does not teach to obtain the blocks in accordance with a frame rate estimated based on processing information pertaining to each of the first display area and the second display area. Takahashi teaches to display image in accordance with a frame rate estimated based on processing information pertaining to display area (paragraph 0158, input image….to be displayed…determine aliasing…paragraph 0159 ….display frame rate estimated to prevent aliasing….) Note: process image to a specific frame rate for display is processing information pertaining to display area. Since both the first and second display area inherently has a display frame rate for displaying, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kimiya to include: obtain the blocks in accordance with a frame rate estimated based on processing information pertaining to each of the first display area and the second display area, The reason of doing so would have to prevent aliasing in displayed image. Claim(s) 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kamiya US 2024/0042858 in view of Fujioka US 2023/0300476 and further in view of Notsu US 2011/0267452. Regarding claim 3: Kimiya teaches the information providing system for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein the display change determiner: determines, from among the first display area and the second display area (paragraph 32, plurality of displays 2a), one or more display target areas for displaying the blocks (R1, R2, fig. 6-12) , and determines the dividing areas for dividing the application image to obtain the blocks that correspond, respectively, to the one or more display target areas determined (fig. 6-12), such that the dividing areas have the aspect ratio equal to each of the resolution of the first display area and the resolution of the second display area (see rejection of claim 1). Kimiya does not teach : determines, from among the first display area and the second display area, one or more display target areas for displaying the blocks, based on driving information pertaining to traveling of the vehicle. Notsu teaches determine display target area for displaying image block (adjusts the amount of dimensional change in each of the divided area, paragraph 0185) based on driving information pertaining to traveling of the vehicle (paragraph 0185, depending on the detected traveling speed). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kimiya to include: determines, from among the first display area and the second display area, one or more display target areas for displaying the blocks, based on driving information pertaining to traveling of the vehicle. The reason of doing so would have increase the safety for the user for displaying more important information to the user during a high speed traveling in a larger dimension to alert the user. Regarding claim 4: Notsu teaches wherein when the driving information indicates a driving state of the vehicle by a user, the display change determiner determines the one or more display target areas to reduce an area that displays the block of the application image. (paragraph 0185, …detects traveling speed, and change the dimensions of the respected divided region, fig. 18; note: the change of dimension would either be increase or decrease an area (finite possible solution), therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to try to reduce the area in case the speed decreases to a safe speed such that other information useful information can be emphasis) Regarding claim 5: The information providing system for vehicles according to claim 3, wherein when the driving information indicates normal traveling of the vehicle, the display change determiner determines the one or more display target areas to increase an area that displays the block of the application image. (paragraph 0185, …detects traveling speed, and change the dimensions of the respected divided region, fig. 18; note: the change of dimension would either be increase or decrease an area (finite possible solution), therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to try to increase the area in case the speed increase as it is common sense that a larger displayed image would alert a user more) Regarding claim 8: Kamiya teaches the information providing system for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein the display change determiner: determines the dividing areas for dividing the application image to obtain the blocks that correspond, respectively, to the one or more display target areas determined, such that the dividing areas have an aspect ratio equal to each of resolutions of the one or more display target areas (see rejection of claim 1). Kamiya does not teach redetermines one or more display target areas for displaying the block from among the first display area and the second display area in accordance with a traveling speed of the vehicle; and Notsu teaches: redetermines one or more display target areas for displaying the block from among the first display area and the second display area in accordance with a traveling speed of the vehicle (paragraph 0185, …detects traveling speed, and change the dimensions of the respected divided region). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kamiya to include: redetermines one or more display target areas for displaying the block from among the first display area and the second display area in accordance with a traveling speed of the vehicle. The reason of doing so would have increase the safety for the user for displaying more important information to the user during a high speed traveling in a larger dimension to alert the user. Regarding claim 9: Notsu teaches wherein the display change determiner redetermines the one or more display target areas to increase an area (paragraph 0185, …detects traveling speed, and change the dimensions of the respected divided region, fig. 18; note: the change of dimension would either be increase or decrease an area (finite possible solution), therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to try to increase the area in case the speed increase as it is common sense that a larger displayed image would alert a user more) that displays the block of the application image that is zoomed out (see rejection of claim 1) as the traveling speed of the vehicle increases (paragraph 0185, …detects traveling speed, and change the dimensions of the respected divided region, paragraph 0183, acceleration..). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KING Y POON whose telephone number is (571)270-0728. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alfred Kindred can be reached at 571-272-4037. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /KING Y POON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2617
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Prosecution Timeline

Aug 07, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 25, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Mar 31, 2026
Interview Requested
Apr 13, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Apr 13, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
33%
Grant Probability
89%
With Interview (+55.6%)
3y 9m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 9 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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