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 Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/20/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive, specifically regarding claim 16.
Regarding the vehicle provided login service, Penilla teaches a (vehicle based) logging in/authentication in [0150] “ FIG. 1 shows various methods a user can interact with a vehicle login system, in accordance with one embodiment. The user may use any network-connected device ranging from a mobile computer, mobile phone, mobile network device all connecting to a remote converged or distributed network cloud system. The user may also interact with the vehicle login system directly on or near the vehicle. The user supplies login credentials to a vehicle login interface which are sent to the remote distributed or centralized user login authentication system or onboard vehicle authentication system. The processing logic receiving the login credentials processes the data and returns an authentication response to the user attempting to log in.” Thus while Penilla does teach embodiments where the login service is remote (cloud based) it also teaches that this login service/authentication can be performed via an onboard vehicle authentication system, i.e. the login is via a means of the vehicle
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 14-15, 19-24, 31-34 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: No prior art was found to teach or render obvious at least public vehicle identifier and functioning of it as recited in the independent claims 14 and 31.
The closest piece of prior art to such a feature in the examiner opinion is US 20200162914 A1, Chun.
This reference teaches a vehicle seating login system which includes generating a vehicle identifier number (understood to be equivalent to the public vehicle indentifier) as part of an authentication service between the vehicle and a mobile terminal/user for login to a seat [0105] “In more detail, the vehicle 100 may display an initial log-in screen image according to the selected connected vehicle service, and may receive an input signal associated with a personal account from the user. ….” [0106] “If the personal account is selected, the vehicle 100 may execute the authentication method….”; “[0108] As described above, the vehicle 100 may perform independent authentication per seat according to which seat is occupied by the user, such that the transmitted authentication information may include not only authentication information related to the connected vehicle service, but also seat number information (SeatNum) indicating the position of the seat occupied by the user.” … “[0109] ”In accordance with authentication information for the conventional connected vehicle service, only specific authentication information, for example, a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) or an Integrated Circuit Card ID (ICCID), has been transmitted to the authentication server 70 according to service types.” … [0110] “The authentication server 70 may perform authentication using the received authentication information, and may retransmit the result of authentication to the vehicle 100. In the instant case, the vehicle 100 may determine that authentication has been completed.”
Chun however varies from the applicant’s claimed invention in that the authentication is done/requested via the vehicle, it is not the user/mobile terminal device which requests and receives authentication (from a backend server) that the vehicle identifier is authentic. Thus while first appearing similar to the claimed invention; Chun recites authenticating that a user is valid for the vehicle, whereas the applicant’s claims are reciting detecting/determining that the vehicle (public vehicle identifier) is valid (authenticated) for the user. Thus the claimed invention is distinct from the teachings of Chun.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 16 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Penilla ,US 20200249822 A1, and further in view of US 20170313426 A1, “IN-VEHICLE POSITION DETECTION AND CONFIGURATION OF VEHICLE COMPONENTS” and further in view of DE102019131232A1 (cited in IDS, NPL of Spec with paragraph number provided with previous office action)
Regarding Claim 16, Penilla teaches “A method for logging a user into a vehicle, the method comprising: detecting a mobile terminal belonging to the user, wherein the mobile terminal belonging to the user is detected using a wireless communication protocol; “([0160] Once the user has located a proximate vehicle, such as car 200, the user may approach the vehicle so as to utilize the vehicle 200. In one embodiment, when the user approaches the vehicle, and comes in close proximity to the vehicle as detected by the geo-location of the users mobile device, a pairing request can be detected. The pairing request may be triggered once the proximity zone of the car 200 and the proximity zone of the user substantially or partially overlap. The proximity zones may overlap when the user comes in close proximity to the vehicle, such as within a few feet, within a mile, or the user has touched or bumped the vehicle.; “ +
“[0271] In one embodiment, the vehicle may detect that a mobile device is present in the vehicle. The vehicle can then communicate a notification to the mobile device, a text to the mobile device, and e-mail to the mobile device, or some other communication or signal to the mobile device identifying that the vehicle can allow access to vehicle systems, when the passenger device is present in the vehicle, or substantially near the vehicle.
[0272] “In some embodiments, detecting whether a mobile device is within the vehicle can be performed by sensors within the vehicle that exclude invitations to mobile devices that are outside of the vehicle.” Here teaches that the vehicle sends invitation messages for nearby devices to login/pair i.e. detects nearby devices through a wireless communication protocol);”determining a seating position of the user in the vehicle “([0069]” FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a user accessing vehicle electronics, so as to access the vehicle controls and settings that pertain to the vehicle, and which may pertain to the seat location in which the passenger is located, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.” + as seen in figure 20 posted below in the lower right section of the example display screen teaches a seat/other seat selection option button, logically this would include a display of some fashion which allows for selecting other seats (e.g. a dropdown list) which teaches a interaction between the user on the display screen of the mobile application/mobile terminal and the vehicle computer to reassign the seat should the user select the option);”and logging in the user at the determined seating position in the vehicle by means of the vehicle; “([0150] FIG. 1 shows various methods a user can interact with a vehicle login system, in accordance with one embodiment. The user may use any network-connected device ranging from a mobile computer, mobile phone, mobile network device all connecting to a remote converged or distributed network cloud system. The user may also interact with the vehicle login system directly on or near the vehicle. The user supplies login credentials to a vehicle login interface which are sent to the remote distributed or centralized user login authentication system or onboard vehicle authentication system. The processing logic receiving the login credentials processes the data and returns an authentication response to the user attempting to log in. If the authentication is a success, the vehicle the user attempted to log into has vehicle settings applied to it and the user is allowed to operate the vehicle. If the authentication is a failure, the user is presented with a failed access notification on the login interface.”);”“providing a vehicle-specific seating position display on the mobile terminal, wherein the is visibly displayed to the user on the mobile terminal in the ( [0069]” FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a user accessing vehicle electronics, so as to access the vehicle controls and settings that pertain to the vehicle, and which may pertain to the seat location in which the passenger is located, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.” + as seen in figure 20 posted below in the lower right section of the example display screen teaches a seat/other seat selection option button, logically this would include a display of some fashion which allows for selecting other seats (e.g. a dropdown list) which teaches a interaction between the user on the display screen of the mobile application/mobile terminal and the vehicle computer to reassign the seat should the user select the option.)
Penilla however does not teach determining a seating suggestion by means of the vehicle and the subsequent displaying of the seating suggestion.
Morin teaches a vehicle seat assignment system which includes teachings for displaying a “vehicle-specific” seat assignment display as part of the seat assignment/selection process. ([0011] In some embodiments of the method and/or system, the method and/or application also comprises displaying on the personal device a floor plan of the vehicle, and displaying an indicator showing the position of the device in relation to the first location and the second location. In some embodiments, displaying on the personal device a floor plan of the vehicle comprises updating the position of the personal device when it has been determined that the position of personal device has moved out of proximity of the first set of vehicle management components and into proximity of the second set of vehicle management components.
[0012] In some embodiments of the method and/or system, the user selection is provided on the personal device.
[0016] In some embodiments of the method and/or system, associating a first seat in the floor plan with the personal device comprises assigning passenger settings to the first seat on a basis of a user selection on the personal device.” Here [0011]-[0012] teaches displaying a vehicle specific display (floorplan) on a user personal device (mobile terminal) and [0016] teaches that the user selects a seat via the personal device via associating the mobile device and floorplan + see figure 3 posted below which shows an example of a floorplan display)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the application to modify Penilla to include the vehicle floor plan display (“vehicle-specific”) display for informing the user of the seat selection/for seat assignment as part/option in the display of figure 20 of Penilla. One would be motivated to implement a vehicle specific display/floor plan system of Moris to improve the easy of swapping seat assignments and providing an intuitive understanding of the current seat assignment/location to the user. Morin teaches this improvement in (Morin background section: “These settings are generally linked to each passenger's seat or position in the aircraft. In order to determine the passenger's seat position, an on-screen layout of passenger accommodations is presented to the passenger. Each passenger is asked to select the seat in which they are currently sitting manually. When a passenger changes seats, the process of manually selecting a seat must be repeated.
[0004] Improvement is therefore desirable.” Here teaches that the vehicle-specific display is an improvement over the state of the art which is a manual selection of the seat (i.e. the seat selection process of Penilla))
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The above combination however still lack teachings for a “seating suggestion” as recited in the claim.
DE102019131232A1 teaches a vehicle seating assignment system which includes determiinign a seating suggestion for a passenger”( [0014] According to one embodiment, it can be provided that at least some or all of the seat reservation devices are mobile terminals of the passengers, which are configured such that, when a passenger enters the mass transport means at a corresponding access point, this access point is automatically assigned to the mobile seat reservation device of the passenger. The assignment of the respective access point can be effected, for example, by electronic communication systems, such as Bluetooth or WLAN. The electronic communication systems arranged in the mass transport means emit electronic signals which can be received by the terminal. In the application (app) running on the mobile terminal, the respective access point is determined and displayed on the basis of the electronic signals transmitted by the electronic communication systems, wherein the preferably nearest free seat can then be selected and reserved by communicating with the accounting system. The communication with the accounting system can also take place via the electronic communication systems of the mass-transport system. In this case, it is preferably provided that such an electronic communication system is provided at each of these access points, so that respective mobile terminals can automatically and independently ascertain the respective access point” Here teaches automatically assigning based on preferences a seat (i.e. giving a seat suggestion, interpretation that the automatic reservation=suggestion comes from at least page 3 of applicant’s specification in which the suggestion is auto logged into if not overwritten thus reservation/assignment=suggestion when it is the vehicle/computer auto assigning a seat)); and communicating that suggestion for display on the passenger’s mobile terminal ([0034] Alternatively or additionally, it can be provided that the seat reserved by the booking system 13 is displayed in the application (app) running on a mobile terminal, which has access to the information of the booking system 13.)
One would be motivated to implement the automatic reservation assignment / suggestion system of DE102019131232A1 in order to allow for dynamic assignment of seats based on the currently available/detected seat availability, better ensuring the ability to give reservations (improve utility/amount of seats which have a current reservation) while also maintaining seat assignment flexibility on mass transit as opposed to a static pre-reservation system DE 232 A1 teaches this motivation in. ([0007] It is therefore the object of the present invention to specify an improved method and an improved system for reserving seats in such a mass-transport means, which is distinguished by a high degree of flexibility and the best possible utilization of the available seats.)
Regarding Claim 18, Penilla teaches “wherein the determination of the seating position of the user in the vehicle comprises: receiving an operating interaction of the user with the ([0069]” FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a user accessing vehicle electronics, so as to access the vehicle controls and settings that pertain to the vehicle, and which may pertain to the seat location in which the passenger is located, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.” + as seen in figure 20 posted below in the lower right section of the example display screen teaches a seat/other seat selection option button, logically this would include a display of some fashion which allows for selecting other seats (e.g. a dropdown list) which teaches a interaction between the user on the display screen of the mobile application/mobile terminal and the vehicle computer to reassign the seat should the user select the option via interactive with the mobile terminal display)
Penilla however does not teach that the display is “vehicle-specific” nor does it teach that the initial assignment/seat is a “suggestion”
Morin teaches a vehicle seat assignment system which includes teachings for displaying a “vehicle-specific” seat assignment display as part of the seat assignment/selection process. ([0011] In some embodiments of the method and/or system, the method and/or application also comprises displaying on the personal device a floor plan of the vehicle, and displaying an indicator showing the position of the device in relation to the first location and the second location. In some embodiments, displaying on the personal device a floor plan of the vehicle comprises updating the position of the personal device when it has been determined that the position of personal device has moved out of proximity of the first set of vehicle management components and into proximity of the second set of vehicle management components.
[0012] In some embodiments of the method and/or system, the user selection is provided on the personal device.
[0016] In some embodiments of the method and/or system, associating a first seat in the floor plan with the personal device comprises assigning passenger settings to the first seat on a basis of a user selection on the personal device.” Here [0011]-[0012] teaches displaying a vehicle specific display (floorplan) on a user personal device (mobile terminal) and [0016] teaches that the user selects a seat via the personal device via associating the mobile device and floorplan + see figure 3 posted below which shows an example of a floorplan display)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the application to modify Penilla to include the vehicle floor plan display (“vehicle-specific”) display for informing the user of the seat selection/for seat assignment as part/option in the display of figure 20 of Penilla. One would be motivated to implement a vehicle specific display/floor plan system of Moris to improve the easy of swapping seat assignments and providing a inuitive understanding of the current seat assignment/location to the user. Morin teaches this improvement in (Morin background section: “These settings are generally linked to each passenger's seat or position in the aircraft. In order to determine the passenger's seat position, an on-screen layout of passenger accommodations is presented to the passenger. Each passenger is asked to select the seat in which they are currently sitting manually. When a passenger changes seats, the process of manually selecting a seat must be repeated.
[0004] Improvement is therefore desirable.” Here teaches that the vehicle-specific display is an improvement over the state of the art which is a manual selection of the seat (i.e. the seat selection process of Penilla))
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The above combination however still lack teachings for a “seating suggestion” as recited in the claim.
DE102019131232A1 teaches a vehicle seating assignment system which includes determiinign a seating suggestion for a passenger”( [0014] According to one embodiment, it can be provided that at least some or all of the seat reservation devices are mobile terminals of the passengers, which are configured such that, when a passenger enters the mass transport means at a corresponding access point, this access point is automatically assigned to the mobile seat reservation device of the passenger. The assignment of the respective access point can be effected, for example, by electronic communication systems, such as Bluetooth or WLAN. The electronic communication systems arranged in the mass transport means emit electronic signals which can be received by the terminal. In the application (app) running on the mobile terminal, the respective access point is determined and displayed on the basis of the electronic signals transmitted by the electronic communication systems, wherein the preferably nearest free seat can then be selected and reserved by communicating with the accounting system. The communication with the accounting system can also take place via the electronic communication systems of the mass-transport system. In this case, it is preferably provided that such an electronic communication system is provided at each of these access points, so that respective mobile terminals can automatically and independently ascertain the respective access point” Here teaches automatically assigning based on preferences a seat (i.e. giving a seat suggestion, interpretation that the automatic reservation=suggestion comes from at least page 3 of applicant’s specification in which the suggestion is auto logged into if not overwritten thus reservation/assignment=suggestion when it is the vehicle/computer auto assigning a seat)); and communicating that suggestion for display on the passenger’s mobile terminal ([0034] Alternatively or additionally, it can be provided that the seat reserved by the booking system 13 is displayed in the application (app) running on a mobile terminal, which has access to the information of the booking system 13.)
One would be motivated to implement the automatic reservation assignment / suggestion system of DE102019131232A1 in order to allow for dynamic assignment of seats based on the currently available/detected seat availability, better ensuring the ability to give reservations (improve utility/amount of seats which have a current reservation) while also maintaining seat assignment flexibility on mass transit as opposed to a static pre-reservation system DE 232 A1 teaches this motivation in. ([0007] It is therefore the object of the present invention to specify an improved method and an improved system for reserving seats in such a mass-transport means, which is distinguished by a high degree of flexibility and the best possible utilization of the available seats.)
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Penilla as applied to claim 16 and further in view of DE102019131232A1 and further in view of US 20130238241 A1, “INELLIGENT DESTINATION RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON HISTORICAL DATA”, Chelotti et al.
Regarding Claim 17, Penilla does not teach a seat suggestion and that with if there is no manual changing then after a predetermined amount of time the user is logged into the seat as the seat suggestion position.
DE102019131232A1 teaches a vehicle seating assignment system which includes determiinign a seating suggestion for a passenger”( [0014] According to one embodiment, it can be provided that at least some or all of the seat reservation devices are mobile terminals of the passengers, which are configured such that, when a passenger enters the mass transport means at a corresponding access point, this access point is automatically assigned to the mobile seat reservation device of the passenger. The assignment of the respective access point can be effected, for example, by electronic communication systems, such as Bluetooth or WLAN. The electronic communication systems arranged in the mass transport means emit electronic signals which can be received by the terminal. In the application (app) running on the mobile terminal, the respective access point is determined and displayed on the basis of the electronic signals transmitted by the electronic communication systems, wherein the preferably nearest free seat can then be selected and reserved by communicating with the accounting system. The communication with the accounting system can also take place via the electronic communication systems of the mass-transport system. In this case, it is preferably provided that such an electronic communication system is provided at each of these access points, so that respective mobile terminals can automatically and independently ascertain the respective access point” Here teaches automatically assigning based on preferences a seat (i.e. giving a seat suggestion, interpretation that the automatic reservation=suggestion comes from at least page 3 of applicant’s specification in which the suggestion is auto logged into if not overwritten thus reservation/assignment=suggestion when it is the vehicle/computer auto assigning a seat)); and communicating that suggestion for display on the passenger’s mobile terminal ([0034] Alternatively or additionally, it can be provided that the seat reserved by the booking system 13 is displayed in the application (app) running on a mobile terminal, which has access to the information of the booking system 13.)
One would be motivated to implement the automatic reservation assignment / suggestion system of DE102019131232A1 in order to allow for dynamic assignment of seats based on the currently available/detected seat availability, better ensuring the ability to give reservations (improve utility/amount of seats which have a current reservation) while also maintaining seat assignment flexibility on mass transit as opposed to a static pre-reservation system DE 232 A1 teaches this motivation in. ([0007] It is therefore the object of the present invention to specify an improved method and an improved system for reserving seats in such a mass-transport means, which is distinguished by a high degree of flexibility and the best possible utilization of the available seats.)
The above combination however would still lack teachings for automatically logging the user into the seat suggestion (reserved seat of DE 232A1) if no manual change interaction is performed by the user within a predetermined amount of time.
Chelotti et al teaches a route guidance system for guiding a user to a destination via their mobile device (mobile terminal), wherein the destination is automatically selected as the suggested destination when no manual override/change is received by the user. ([0030] FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of one embodiment of a method 300 for providing intelligent destination recommendations. At block 301, a processing device (e.g., mobile device 100) determines an estimated mode of transportation. In one embodiment, the Navigation Module 200 calls the TEE 203 to determine the mode of transportation. [0033] At block 304, the processing device selects a stored destination based upon a confidence rating. In one embodiment, the IDRE 204 returns a destination recommendation based on one or more of confidence, estimated mode of transport, current location, current time/date, mobile device trajectory, or other factors.
[0034] At block 305, the selected destination is displayed in a manner that a user can accept or reject the selected destination. In one embodiment, the Navigation Module 200 calls the User Interface Engine 201 to display an option to accept or reject a selected destination. The selected destination is an estimation of the destination of the mobile device 100. “ Here teaches the automatic setting of a destination (i.e. suggested destionation) + read in light of [0099]” At block 725, if the highest confidence destination is confirmed, the routing calculation 715 is displayed on the mobile device 100. In one embodiment the User Interface Engine 201 displays the routing information or provides audio routing (e.g., device spoken turn by turn guidance). In other embodiments, the highest confidence destination does not need to be explicitly confirmed with a direct user action. After a timeout period, the User Interface Engine 201 can automatically display the route and directions to the destination. In one embodiment, the timeout period is user configured or can be turned off completely.” Here teaches that the automatic suggestion is implemented (set) after a timeout period (if no user override or confirmation either way) occurs within a predetermined timeout period.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the application to modify Penilla as modified in view of De232A1 to include the automatic destination (in the context of Penilla/DE232A1 destination would be the seat suggested/reserved by DE232A1) being implemented/shown to user after a timeout period as taught by Chelotti. Such a combination would be obvious under the KSR rational of “Use of Known Technique To Improve Similar Devices (Methods, or Products) in the Same Way”. (I) Penilla (in view of DE232) teaches the base device, however it lacks the improvement of the automatic implementation (automatic logging in at the suggested/automatically reserved seat if no manual override/change is received in a period of time) (II) Chelotti teaches a similar but different device (route destination recommendation instead of seat recommendation) which has been improved in the same way in that the system automatically suggests a destination (akin to the seat in context of Penilla+DE232/applicant’s invention) and automatically implements (“logs-in”) the suggestion as the destination if no manual override is received (after a timeout period has elapsed) by the user of the mobile device. (III) The improvement of Chelotti could be implemented (i.e. the automatic confirmation of the suggestion after a timeout) in that Penilla already teaches the requesting of a confirmation of the seat prior to logging in the user (Penilla [0274] “This process initially pairs/connects of the device to the vehicle, and may be omitted if the device has been previously paired/connected to the vehicle. Once jack is seated within the vehicle, one optional screen can request Jack to confirm that he is indeed sitting in seat number 3.”) as such the automatic confirmation (after a timeout period) is a straightforward improvement of the concepts already disclosed by Penilla.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20200162914 A1.
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 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 KENNETH MICHAEL DUNNE whose telephone number is (571)270-7392. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs 8:30-6:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Navid Z Mehdizadeh can be reached at (571) 272-7691. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KENNETH M DUNNE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669
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