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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/05/2024 was filed before the first action on the merits of the application. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because:
Fig. 1 is objected 1 as it is a unlabeled flowchart, the rectangular boxes should be provided with descriptive text labels of their corresponding step/functions. (from 37 CFR 1.83 section (A))
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because: The first sentence is language known from the title and/or can be implied “is disclosed therein”. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 24-30 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because:
Claim 24, and by extensions its dependents claims 25-30, is directed to a “computer-readable medium”, which under broadest reasonable interpretation this includes purely transitory computer readable mediums such as electro-magnetic waves.
As such claims 24-30 encompass purely transitory media, purely transitory media do not fall within the statutory categories, and therefore claims 24-30 are rejected as signals per-se.
This rejection can be overcome by amending the preamble of claims 24-30 to instead recite “non-transitory computer readable medium…”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 29, its preamble recites that it is a “method” of claim 24, however claim 24 is directed to a computer readable medium, not a method. As such it is unclear if claim 29 is intended to recite a method, or if it is a typographical error and claim 29 is instead meant to claim a computer program product.
As claim 19 already recites a method equivalent to claim 29, (and claim 19 depends on method claim 14) it will be assumed that claim 29 was intended to claim a computer program product like claim 24.
Claims 17-18, and 27-28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
To summarize the below 112(b) rejections, they all lack antecedent basis for limitations in their claims.
Antecedent basis can be provided either (1) inherently from previous limitations (e.g. “a sphere” provides antecedent basis for “the surface of the sphere” in that sphere inherently has a surface, this is not applicable to the current rejections claims), or (2) is explicitly provided by introducing a component/limitation in an indefinite form (e.g. “a/an X”) the first time it is referenced; however this explicit referencing can only provide antecedent basis to limitations of that claims and to claims which further depend from that claim.
In the below rejections the claims lack antecedent basis as the at issue limitations, while properly introduced in other dependent claims, do not have dependency to the other dependent claims which would provide antecedent basis for those limitations. (e.g. if claim 17 was dependent on claim 16 it would have antecedent basis for the seating position suggestions, however as it currently depends on claim 14 (independent claim) is lacks antecedent basis for the seating position suggestion as it cannot inherit antecedent basis for a claim on which it does not depend).
Claim 17 recites the limitation "the determined seating position suggestion" and “the seating position suggestion” in lines 2-4 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
While Claim 16 properly introduces/provides antecedent for “a seating position suggestion”, however claim 17 does not depend on claim 16 and thus does not inherit antecedent basis from claim 16. Neither claim 17 nor claim 14 reference “a seating position suggestion” to provide antecedent basis to “the seating position suggestions” of claim 17.
Regarding claim 18 it recites “the vehicle specific display” and “the seating position suggestion”, neither of which have antecedent basis earlier in claim 18 or claim 14.
Regarding Claims 27-28 they have the same antecedent issues as claims 17-18, “the seating position suggestion”, “the vehicle specific display” and recited in those claims lack antecedent basis from earlier in claims 27-28 (or by extension claim 24).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 14, 19-22, 24, 29-31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20200249822 A1, “VEHICLE PASSENGER CONTROLS VIA MOBILE DEVICES”, Penilla et al.
Regarding Claim 14, Penilla et al teaches “A method for logging a user into a vehicle, the method comprising: detecting a mobile terminal belonging to the user”( [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. In some embodiments, a user may have previously connected to a vehicle and the vehicle may detect the presence of mobile device even when user has not yet become a passenger in the vehicle. In the illustrated example, the vehicle computer can have communication with seat hardware, climate hardware, audio hardware, windows hardware, camera hardware, and other hardware/software components.);” wherein the mobile terminal belonging to the user is detected using a wireless communication protocol;”( [0095] In one example, detecting the location of the device in the vehicle can include requesting that the user identify his or her seat via a user interface, as provided by the vehicle electronics and software. In other examples, sensors in the vehicle identify proximity of the device to certain seats. The sensors can sense the WiFi signal, Bluetooth signal, or wireless cell signal. The detection of where the device is in the vehicle can also include using sensors in the seats themselves, which can identify if a person is seated in the seat.” + [0117] The wireless communication can include cellular tower communication that couples and communicates through various networks to the Internet, to provide access to cloud processing 120. Other methods can include providing Wi-Fi communication to local Wi-Fi transmitters and receivers, which communicate with cloud processing 120. Other types of communication can include radio frequency communication, such as 802.11.ac, 802.11ad and subsequent wireless networking protocols, Bluetooth communication or combinations of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It should be understood that vehicle electronics can communicate with cloud processing 120 via any number of communication methods, so long as exchanges of data can be made with cloud processing 120 from time to time. + The pairing and confirmation process of [0272]-[0274] is performed through a wireless communication protocol; additionally as jack’s mobile terminal is not wired to the vehicle and is exchanging and receiving information (settings and such) from the vehicle implicitly there is a wireless communication protocol being used as can be seen in figure 22 posted below the dotted lines/lightening bolts show the wireless communication/exchange between the and communication through bluetooth, cell signal, and/or wifi (internet) it is standard to use the corresponding protocols);” determining a seating position of the user in the vehicle; and logging in the user at the determined seating position in the vehicle by means of the vehicle.”( [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. Once Jack selects his seat, Jack may be requested to verify if wants to access his previous settings. In other embodiments, sensors within the vehicle can identify occupied seats to provide Jack with an identification of which seats are occupied and which seats are not occupied. For instance, only seats 3 and 2 are presently occupied with passengers. Here, Jack has selected seat 3. If Jack determines that he wishes to adjust settings to his previous settings, additional screens can ask Jack if he wishes to revert to previously set temperature settings, adjust certain temperature settings, or Jack can manually navigate to other settings he wishes to access.)
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Regarding Claim 19, Penilla et al teaches “The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the logging-in of the user at the determined seating position in the vehicle by means of the vehicle comprises: the vehicle providing the mobile terminal belonging to the user with a log-in information message for logging in the user at the determined seating position in the vehicle; the mobile terminal receiving from the user a confirmation in response to the log- in information message for logging in the user at the determined seating position; transmitting the received confirmation from the mobile terminal to the vehicle; and logging in the user at the determined seating position in the vehicle by means of the vehicle after the user's confirmation has been received.”( [0273]” Once the mobile device of Jack has been detected, the vehicle computer may provide a welcome screen to the mobile device of Jack. The welcome screen can request Jack to confirm if he wishes to be a passenger and access controls of Dave's car. “… +[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. Once Jack selects his seat, Jack may be requested to verify if wants to access his previous settings. In other embodiments, sensors within the vehicle can identify occupied seats to provide Jack with an identification of which seats are occupied and which seats are not occupied. For instance, only seats 3 and 2 are presently occupied with passengers. Here, Jack has selected seat 3. If Jack determines that he wishes to adjust settings to his previous settings, additional screens can ask Jack if he wishes to revert to previously set temperature settings, adjust certain temperature settings, or Jack can manually navigate to other settings he wishes to access.” Here teaches the passenger (user) confirming with their device (mobile terminal) the seat From figs 22-23 Jack’s device is a mobile terminal) (i.e. displaying a confirmation message and then logging them in (settings and confirms of user preferences) to the determined seat in response to confirmation of the message), )
Regarding Claim 20, Penilla et al teaches “The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the log-in information message comprises an individual button of a graphical interface of the mobile terminal, with which the user can log in at the determined seating position in the vehicle.”( [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.” Here teaches the passenger (user) confirming with their device (mobile terminal) the seat From figs 22-23 Jack’s device is a mobile terminal with touch screen buttons, i.e. touch screen)
Regarding Claim 21, Penilla et al teaches “The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the confirmation comprises an individual operating interaction of the user with the individual button of the graphical interface of the mobile terminal.”( [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.” Here teaches the passenger (user) confirming with their device (mobile terminal) the seat From figs 22-23 Jack’s device is a mobile terminal)
Regarding Claim 22, Penilla et al teaches “The method as claimed in claim 14, the method also comprising: configuring the determined seating position in the vehicle, after the user has been logged in at the determined seating position, on the basis of a user-specific profile.”( 0212] Some of the inputs and results 2102 that an APP can take and produce locally or remotely include but are not limited to the set 2104 that can receive an action, react to an action, control an action, manipulate data models, report changes to a view or GUI, record events or incidents, learn the types of requests being submitted, learn the times of request being submitted over time, learn the days of the year the requests are being submitted over time, generalize and interpret requests, assume user intent in order to automatically invoke changes, automatically and pre-emptively act on behalf of a user, fine tune learned user behavior etc.
[0213] The learned behavior (e.g., learned settings that provide for automatic programming) can be assigned to particular applications, particular sub-features of applications, to particular native system features of the vehicle, or combination of one or more thereof. The learned settings can also be managed via an interface, which shows to the user settings that have been learned and provides the user with options to modify learned settings.” Here Panilla teaches learning and automatically implementing features/learned settings via the vehicle systems which read in light of [0285] (Fig 23C) teaches specific seating adjustments/configurations (Sports mode, Normal, Relax) thus teaching the automatic implementation of seat adjustments based on the user preference/learned preference.)
Regarding Claim 24, it is a computer readable medium equivalent to the method claim 14, it has the same grounds of rejection.
Regarding Claim 29, it method (computer readable medium) equivalent to the method claim 19, it has the same grounds of rejection.
Regarding Claim 30 it is equivalent to claims 21 + 22 above it has the same grounds of rejection as those two claims.
Regarding Claim 31, it is a vehicle (controller configured) equivalent to the method claim 14, the physical components claims are taught by Penilla, “a seat” and “a mobile device” ” and “a controller:”( “[0020] In one embodiment, a method is provided that includes receiving a request to access a vehicle computer of a vehicle using a mobile device of a passenger of the vehicle. The method also includes identifying a seat in the vehicle that is associated with the passenger and providing a user interface to the mobile device…” Here teaches the mobile terminal, seat, and controller (vehicle computer) + from fig. 20 which shows an example of the mobile device screen includes a seating position display; + [0278] teaches a diagram of seating options for the vehicle. ) with the configuration of the controller having the same grounds of rejection as claim 14.
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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.
Claim(s) 15, 25, and 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over as applied to claim 14, 24, and 31 above, and further in view of US 20170313426 A1, “IN-VEHICLE POSITION DETECTION AND CONFIGURATION OF VEHICLE COMPONENTS”, Morin et al
Regarding Claim 15, Penilla teaches “The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the determination of the seating position of the user in the vehicle comprises: providing a( [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 explicitly teach that this display is “vehicle-specific”
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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Regarding Claims 25 and 32 they are vehicle and computer readable medium equivalents to method claim 14, they have the same grounds of rejection, combination, and motivation for combination.
Claim(s) 16, 18, 26, 28, 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over as applied to claim 14, 24, and 31 above, 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 office action)
Regarding Claim 16, Penilla teaches “providing a vehicle-specific seating position display on the mobile terminal, wherein the position display.” ( [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 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.)
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 intial 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.)
Regarding Claims 26, 28 and 33 they are computer-readable medium and vehicle equivalents to claims 16 and 18 above. They have the same grounds of rejection, combination, and motivation for combination as their respective equivalents above.
Claim(s) 17 and 27, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Penilla as applied to claim 14 and 24 above, and further in view of DE102019131232A1 and further in view of US 20130238241 A1, “INTELLIGENT 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.
Regarding Claim 27 it is a computer readable medium equivalent to claim 17 above. It has the same grounds of rejection as claim 17.
Claim(s) 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Penilla as applied to claim 14 above, and further in view of US 20180005465 A1, “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SHORT-RANGE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DEVICES”, Truong et al.
Regarding Claim 23, while Penilla does teach Bluetooth as a wireless communication system/protocol ([0117] The wireless communication can include cellular tower communication that couples and communicates through various networks to the Internet, to provide access to cloud processing 120. Other methods can include providing Wi-Fi communication to local Wi-Fi transmitters and receivers, which communicate with cloud processing 120. Other types of communication can include radio frequency communication, such as 802.11.ac, 802.11ad and subsequent wireless networking protocols, Bluetooth communication or combinations of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It should be understood that vehicle electronics can communicate with cloud processing 120 via any number of communication methods, so long as exchanges of data can be made with cloud processing 120 from time to time.)
It however does not teach specifically “Bluetooth Low Energy” as the type of Bluetooth protocol.
Truong teaches a system for wireless communication between devices including mobile devices ([0033]) which includes seat assignment system ([0100]) which includes teachings for specifically using Bluetooth low power protocol as the wireless communication protocol ([0160] Handheld controller 810 can also receive and process (e.g., in accordance with code or instructions generated in correspondence to a particular application) data from one or more sensors and/or detection engines. The one or more sensors and/or detection engines can be configured to, for example, detect a presence, intensity and/or identify of (for example) another device (e.g., a nearby device or device detectable over a particular type of network, such as a Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low-Energy or Near-Field Communication network); an environmental, external stimulus (e.g., temperature, water, light, motion or humidity); an internal stimulus (e.g., temperature); a device performance (e.g., processor or memory usage); and/or a network connection (e.g., to indicate whether a particular type of connection is available, a network strength and/or a network reliability).)
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 implement Bluetooth low energy communication protocol instead of just Bluetooth. One would be motivated to implement the lower energy protocol in order to reduce the power consumption of the device, improving battery life. This motivation is implicit to the naming of Bluetooth “low-energy” compared to just Bluetooth.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20160332635 A1; US 20220219642 A1; US 20230111748 A1; NPL, Medium Article “Designing the Uber Pool vehicle occupancy Experience”.
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/KENNETH M DUNNE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669