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
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Triess et al (US 20140133350, Triess) in view of Tschache et al (US 20210398364, Tschache).
As to claim 15, Triess discloses a method for forwarding data in a communication system of a vehicle (fig. 10), wherein the communication system includes at least a first bus system (Note: Bus system from gateway 1120 to station 5Cs) and at least one further bus system (Note: Bus system from gateway 1120 to station 5C), wherein the data can be exchanged between the first bus system and the least one further bus system (par. 63), with at least one first domain as an independent execution instance including an AUTOSAR domain (par. 33-34, “AUTOSAR”), the method comprising:
exchanging data (par 63), via a further domain (domain of gateway 1100) as a further execution instance independent of the first domain (domain of gateway 1130), between the communication system (gateway 1120) and the first domain (domain of gateway 1130) by only the further domain accessing a physical interface (par. 84 “connection unit MAC”) of the communication system (gateway 1120), wherein the data received in the further domain via the physical interface of the communication system are processed at least with regard to forwarding (par 72-73, “forwarded at least high priority data”).
Triess does not disclose the step of executing as claimed. In the same field of art (intra-system connection), Tschache discloses a method for executing one or more vehicle applications using a vehicle computation unit of a vehicle (par. 7). In one embodiment, Tschache discloses the step of executing application programs (fig. 4a, par. 70 “app1”, “app2”) including vehicle functions (“vehicle application”) in the first domain (domain of ECU 414), the first domain including at least standardized interfaces (par. 65, for instance “CAN busses”), including an AUTOSAR real-time environment (“being executed within an Adaptive AUTOSAR”), to the application programs. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess and Tschache. The motivation is to improve the reliability of the system (par. 5).
Claim 15-23, 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Triess in view of Tschache and further in view of Haga et al (US 20190068407, Haga).
As to claim 16, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 16. In the same field of art (data transferring), Haga discloses a gateway device connected to a first network with a first communication protocol and a second network with a first communication protocol, which is different from the first communication protocol (par. 4). In one embodiment, Haga further discloses a protocol data unit, wherein the data unit can be contained in a frame transmitted via a physical interface (par. 22, physical interfaces of gateway), wherein the data unit include at least one header and payload data including application data (par 25). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Haga, by including including an AUTOSAR I-PDU or a protocol data unit, wherein the data unit can be contained in a frame transmitted via the physical interface and/or in a container contained in the frame, wherein the data unit and/or the container include at least one header and payload data including application data. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 7).
As to claim 17, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 17. In the same field of art (data transferring), Haga discloses a gateway device connected to a first network with a first communication protocol and a second network with a first communication protocol, which is different from the first communication protocol (par. 4). In one embodiment, Haga further discloses a separate further domain used for a first bus system (fig. 6communication unit 110a domain) and a further separate further domain is used for a further bus system (communication unit 110b domain), wherein data exchange between the separate further domain and the first separate further domain takes place only at a level of a data unit including a generic data unit and/or a data unit contained in a container (fig. 10, S6-s7, par. 84-86). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Haga by comprising a separate further domain for the first bus system and a further separate further domain for the further bus system, wherein data exchange between the separate further domain and the first separate further domain takes place only at a level of a data unit including a generic data unit and/or a data unit contained in a container. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 7).
As to claim 18, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 18. In the same field of art (data transferring), Haga discloses a gateway device connected to a first network with a first communication protocol and a second network with a first communication protocol, which is different from the first communication protocol (par. 4). In one embodiment, Haga further discloses in a further domain, data are forwarded that relate to performance-relevant application data (par. 47) exchanged between vehicle functions on control units when the vehicle is driving (par. 77). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Haga by comprising, in the further domain, data to be forwarded that relate to performance-relevant application data exchanged between vehicle functions on control units when the vehicle is driving. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 7).
As to claim 19, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 19. In the same field of art (data transferring), Haga discloses a gateway device connected to a first network with a first communication protocol and a second network with a first communication protocol, which is different from the first communication protocol (par. 4). In one embodiment, Haga further discloses that data may be exchanged between a first domain and a further domain at a level of frames and/or at a level of a data unit (fig. 7), by using a memory shared by the first domain and the further domain (par. 24 “stored in a buffer”), and data are exchanged between the further domain and another further domain only at the level of the data unit but not at the level of the frame ( “until data is included in the frame”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Haga by comprising data that may be exchanged between the first domain and the further domain at a level of frames and/or at a level of a data unit, by using a memory shared by the first domain and the further domain, and data are exchanged between the further domain and another further domain only at the level of the data unit but not at the level of the frame. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 7).
As to claim 20, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 20. In the same field of art (data transferring), Haga discloses a gateway device connected to a first network with a first communication protocol and a second network with a first communication protocol, which is different from the first communication protocol (par. 4). In one embodiment, Haga further discloses performance-relevant data remain in the further domain for further processing (par. 77), while further data are forwarded to the first domain (fig. 10, s7). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Haga by comprising performance-relevant data to remain in the further domain for further processing, while further data are forwarded to the first domain. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 7).
As to claim 21, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 21. In the same field of art (data transferring), Haga discloses a gateway device connected to a first network with a first communication protocol and a second network with a first communication protocol, which is different from the first communication protocol (par. 4). In one embodiment, Haga further discloses frames forwarded from a communication driver (fig. 1, ECU) to a protocol memory or protocol stack (par. 24 “stored in a buffer”) are further processed by a further domain, by extracting generic data units and/or data units contained in a container, from the frames and/or container (par. 59, 101 “extract the CAN frame”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Haga by comprising frames forwarded from a communication driver to a protocol memory or protocol stack are further processed by the further domain, by extracting generic data units and/or data units contained in a container, from the frames and/or container. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 7).
As to claim 22, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 22. In the same field of art (data transferring), Haga discloses a gateway device connected to a first network with a first communication protocol and a second network with a first communication protocol, which is different from the first communication protocol (par. 4). In one embodiment, Haga further discloses the device uses cases including local scheduling or transport protocols or diagnostic communication or diagnostic routing or network management are carried out in a first domain (fig. 11, S10-12). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Haga by using cases including local scheduling or transport protocols or diagnostic communication or diagnostic routing or network management are carried out in the first domain. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 7).
As to claim 23, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 23. In the same field of art (data transferring), Haga discloses a gateway device connected to a first network with a first communication protocol and a second network with a first communication protocol, which is different from the first communication protocol (par. 4). In one embodiment, Haga further discloses a forwarding decision for received frames makes a distinction as to: (i) whether frames with data units and/or containers are present for forwarding (fig. 10 s1, par. 82), and/or (ii) whether reception by an application is provided (s10). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Haga by comprising a forwarding decision for received frames makes a distinction as to: (i) whether frames with data units and/or containers are present for forwarding, and/or (ii) whether reception by an application is provided. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 7).
As to claim 25, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 25. In the same field of art (data transferring), Haga discloses a gateway device connected to a first network with a first communication protocol and a second network with a first communication protocol, which is different from the first communication protocol (par. 4). In one embodiment, Haga further discloses, in the first domain, at least one adapter is provided: (a) for exchanging data or data units with a gateway of the further domain and/or (b) for exchanging with a router provided in the first domain for the data units (fig. 10-11). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Haga by comprising: (i) in the first domain, at least one virtual driver, as proxies of real drivers, is provided: (a) for exchanging frames between the first and the further domain with a corresponding driver of the further domain, and/or (b) for exchanging with an interface provided in the first domain for frames, and/or (ii) in the first domain, at least one adapter is provided: (a) for exchanging data or data units with a gateway of the further domain and/or (b) for exchanging with a router provided in the first domain for the data units. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 7).
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Triess in view of Tschache and further in view of Jha et al (US 20220110018, Jha).
As to claim 24, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, wherein the further domain includes at least one gateway (fig. 1 gateway 100) for forwarding at least one data unit between different further domains (fig. 10-11), but does not disclose the protocol stacks. In the same field of art (data transferring), Jha discloses mechanisms to reduce congestion or improve efficiency of intelligent transport system (ITS) congestion and multi-channel control (abstract). In one embodiment, Jha further discloses a gateway for forwarding at least one data unit between protocol stacks of different further domains (par. 236). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Jha by comprising that: (i) the further domain includes at least one driver for connection to the physical interface of the communication system for data access or control mechanisms for ISO/OSI layer 2, and/or (ii) the further domain includes at least one protocol memory or protocol stack for data access or control mechanisms for ISO/OSI layers 3-5 required for handling performance-relevant data on the further domain, and/or (iii) the further domain includes at least one gateway for forwarding at least one data unit between protocol stacks of different further domains. The motivation is to improve the performance and the efficiency of the system (par. 3).
Claim 26, 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Triess in view of Tschache and further in view of Weich (US 20160224456).
As to claim 26, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 26. In the same field of art (data transferring), Weich discloses a method for verifying generated software, wherein the software and the code are created by the software generator and the code generator respectively on the basis of a system description (par. 1). In one embodiment, Weich further discloses a configuration code relating to a forwarding of the data in a domain (software RTE 1, software code pattern) is generated from a system description (fig. 1 system description 3a, 3b) including a complete AUTOSAR control unit extract (software generator 2, par. 26-27). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Weich by comprising a configuration code relating to the forwarding of the data in the further domain and/or a reduced system description of the first domain, that is generated from a system description of the first domain including a complete AUTOSAR control unit extract. The motivation is to improve the reliability of the system (par. 3).
As to claim 28, Triess/Tschache/Weich discloses the method according to claim 26, wherein the configuration code is generated using a data model describing the forwarding of the data (Weich, par. 87).
Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Triess in view of Tschache and further in view of Shultz et al (US 20200127897, Shultz).
As to claim 27, Triess/Tschache discloses the method according to claim 15, but does not disclose the limitations in claim 27. In the same field of art (data transferring), Shultz discloses a computer-implemented method for generating a new management application (par. 4). In one embodiment, Shultz further discloses at least a configuration code (first configuration file 155) of a further domain (par. 25, fig. 1, the domain of the first management system 150) and a configuration code (second configuration file 155) of a first domain (the domain of second management system 150) are supplied to a compiler or linker (unit 110) to create a flash container of a control unit (“a prospective configuration file”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Triess/Tschache and Shultz by comprising at least a configuration code of the further domain and a configuration code of the first domain to be supplied to a compiler or linker to create a flash container of a control unit. The motivation is to improve the functionality of the system (par. 3).
Conclusion
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/D.P/Examiner, Art Unit 2184
/STEVEN G SNYDER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2184