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 .
Response to Amendment
This office action is responsive to amendment filed on 03/04/2026. The Examiner has acknowledged claim 1 has been amended. Claims 1-12 have been presented for examination and are rejected.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's argument, filed on 02/18/2026 has been entered and carefully considered.
Applicant’s arguments, with respect to claim 1 were rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112, 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed on February 18th, 2026 with respect rejected to claims 1-12 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been considered, but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection necessitated by Applicant's amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-2, 4-8 and 11-12 are rejected as being unpatentable over Kaneko et al. (US 20180324640 hereinafter Kaneko) in view Tsurumi et al. (US 20200195472 hereinafter Tsurumi).
With respect to claim 1, Kaneko teaches an in-vehicle communication device connected to a first network that performs communication using a first frame (Kaneko, see paragraph [0011] a vehicle-mounted gateway device consolidates within a first Data portion included in a large sized first communication frame a plurality of second Data portions each included in a small sized second communication frame, thereby generating the first communication frame, and relays the first communication frame that has been generated. Wherein vehicle-mounted network constructed by the conventional communication protocol such as a control area network (CAN) (i.e., equivalent to first network and vehicle-mounted networks using different communication protocols such as Ethernet (i.e., second network)),
generated according to a first communication protocol and a second network that performs communication using a second frame generated according to a second communication protocol (Kaneko, see FIG. 1 and paragraph [0031, 0034] … plurality of communication frames to be transferred to the same vehicle-mounted network. FIG. 1, this corresponds to the case where there are a plurality of CAN frames to be transferred to the Ethernet network. [0035] further discloses the transfer data generation unit 24 extracts the ID portion and the Data portion of one CAN frame (i.e., first communication protocol frame) and generates the data portion of the communication frame to transfer to the Ethernet network (i.e., second communication protocol)),
the in-vehicle communication device comprising a transmission and reception unit that transmits and receives the first frame and the second frame(Kaneko, see paragraph [0011] a vehicle-mounted gateway device consolidates within a first Data portion included in a large sized first communication frame a plurality of second Data portions each included in a small sized second communication frame, FIG. 1 and paragraph [0024] further discloses a vehicle-mounted network system is a network system installed in a vehicle, and includes a vehicle-mounted network that transmits and receives a communication first frame using a CAN (i.e., first network) and …a communication second frame using Ethernet(i.e., second network)…),
Although Kaneko discloses the invention substantially as claimed, it does not explicitly disclose wherein, in response to receiving, from the second network, a transfer request requesting transfer of a plurality of first frames, the transmission and reception unit transmits, to the second network, the second frame storing the plurality of first frames in response to the transfer request.
However, Tsurumi discloses wherein, in response to receiving, from the second network, a transfer request requesting transfer of a plurality of first frames (Tsurumi, see Abstract and claim 1, a security device connected to a plurality of networks in a vehicle, the plurality of networks comprising a first network and a second network, perform operations including: receiving a first frame from the first network; determining whether to transmit a determination request for the first frame outside the vehicle; transmitting the determination request outside the vehicle,…Also see FIG. 22 s307 and [0157] ),
the transmission and reception unit transmits, to the second network, the second frame storing the plurality of first frames in response to the transfer request (Tsurumi, see Abstract and claim 1, transmitting, before obtaining a determination result from outside the vehicle in accordance with the determination request, the first frame to the second network; obtaining the determination result from outside the vehicle in accordance with the determination request; storing plurality of frames and outputting presentation information in accordance with the determination result. Parag. [0159-0160] further discloses frame is transmitted to the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus C 103 (step S310)… in a case where the frame has already been transmitted in step S310, the gateway 300 transfers the received frame in accordance with the transfer rules (step S311)…).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Kaneko with the teaching of Tsurumi to provide a system for Batching data transfer and preventing network saturation are the primary advantages of this approach. By sending a request for a plurality of first frames rather than requesting them one by one, the system minimizes protocol overhead, reduces latency, and optimizes available bandwidth across networks.
With respect to claim 2, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches the in-vehicle communication device, comprising a transfer frame generation unit that stores the plurality of first frames in the second frame and generates a transfer frame (Kaneko, see FIG. 1 and paragraphs [0026, 0037-0039] the CAN reception buffer 21 is a data table that stores a CAN frame received by the CAN physical interface 20, and the routing table 22 is a data table that defines the transfer destination of the received CAN frame. The transfer conflict determination unit 23 determines a transfer destination of the CAN frame stored in the CAN reception buffer 21 according to the routing table 22 and determines whether there is a CAN frame of which a transfer destination conflicts).
With respect to claim 4, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches the in-vehicle communication device, further comprising:
a transfer table storage unit that stores a transfer table in which transfer rules of the first frame and the second frame are described (Kaneko, see paragraph [0026] the CAN physical interface 20 is a physical interface with the CAN network. The CAN reception buffer 21 is a data table that stores a CAN frame received by the CAN physical interface 20, and the routing table 22 is a data table that defines the transfer destination of the received CAN frame); and
a transfer determination unit that, when receiving a transfer request of the plurality of first frames from the second network(Tsurumi, see Abstract and claim 1, a security device connected to a plurality of networks in a vehicle, the plurality of networks comprising a first network and a second network, perform operations including: receiving a first frame from the first network; determining whether to transmit a determination request for the first frame outside the vehicle; transmitting the determination request outside the vehicle,…Also see FIG. 22 s307 and [0157]),
determines whether to transfer the first frame requested to be transferred and controls the transfer table (Tsurumi, see Abs. AND Claim 1, transmitting, before obtaining a determination result from outside the vehicle in accordance with the determination request, the first frame to the second network; obtaining the determination result from outside the vehicle in accordance with the determination request; storing plurality of frames and outputting presentation information in accordance with the determination result…),
wherein the transfer frame generation unit refers to the transfer table and generates the transfer frame storing the plurality of first frames determined to be transferable by the transfer determination unit (Kaneko, see paragraph [0026] the Ethernet frame generation unit 25 generates an Ethernet frame using the data portion generated by the transfer data generation unit 24. The Ethernet transmission buffer 26 is a buffer for temporarily storing the Ethernet frame before sending it to the Ethernet network. The Ethernet physical interface 27 is a physical interface with the Ethernet network).
With respect to claim 5, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches the in-vehicle communication device, wherein the transfer determination unit permits transfer of the first frame when the first frame requested to be transferred does not include data related to internal control of a vehicle on which the in-vehicle communication device is mounted (Kaneko, see FIG. 4 and paragraphs [0042-0043] An upper part of FIG. 4 shows a frame format of the CAN frame. The CAN frame has an SOF portion, an ID portion, a Control portion, a Data portion, a CRC portion, an ACK portion, and an EOF portion. The Control portion is a field indicating a reserved bit and the Data length of the Data portion. CAN frame does not include the related vehicle data to internal control of the vehicle-mounted communication device).
With respect to claim 6, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches the in-vehicle communication device, wherein, when the first frame requested in the transfer request is not a frame that is periodically transmitted (Tsurumi, see Parag. [0007] cause the processing circuitry to perform operations including receiving a frame from one or multiple of the busses, determining whether the received frame satisfies predetermined conditions, the predetermined conditions being conditions for distinguishing whether or not the received frame may be an attack frame, transmitting a determination request to an external device that exists outside of the vehicle…),
the transfer determination unit requests a communication device that is a transmission source of the requested first frame to transmit the requested first frame (Tsurumi, see Abstract and claim 1, a security device connected to a plurality of networks in a vehicle, the plurality of networks comprising a first network and a second network, perform operations including: receiving a first frame from the first network; determining whether to transmit a determination request for the first frame outside the vehicle; transmitting the determination request outside the vehicle,…Also see FIG. 22 s307 and [0157] …).
With respect to claim 7, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches the in-vehicle communication device, wherein control of the transfer table by the transfer determination unit and reference to the transfer table by the transfer frame generation unit are exclusively controlled (Kaneko, see paragraph [0031] the transfer conflict determination unit 23 determines the transfer destination of the CAN frame read in step S201 according to the routing table 22. The transfer conflict determination unit 23 determines whether there is a CAN frame of which a transfer destination conflicts. “Transfer destination conflicts” means that there are a plurality of communication frames to be transferred to the same vehicle-mounted network).
With respect to claim 8, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches the in-vehicle communication device, wherein the second frame in the second communication protocol includes a data portion larger than a data portion of the first frame (Kaneko, see paragraph [0011] a vehicle-mounted gateway device according to the present invention consolidates within a first Data portion included in a large sized first communication frame a plurality of second Data portions each included in a small sized second communication frame, thereby generating the first communication frame, and relays the first communication frame that has been generated).
With respect to claim 11, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches an in-vehicle network system comprising:
the in-vehicle communication device (Kaneko, see paragraph [0002] a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) are mounted in vehicles. ECUs are installed in various places in a vehicle. The plurality of ECUs cooperate to realize one vehicle-mounted application); and
a second communication device connected to the in- vehicle communication device through the second network, wherein the second communication device includes: a transmission and reception unit of the second frame (Kaneko, see paragraph [0011] a vehicle-mounted gateway device according to the present invention consolidates within a first Data portion included in a large sized first communication frame a plurality of second Data portions each included in a small sized second communication frame, thereby generating the first communication frame, and relays the first communication frame that has been generated);
a transfer request unit that transmits a transfer request storing the plurality of first frames in the second frame and transferring the second frame to the in-vehicle communication device (Kaneko, see paragraphs [0042, 0048] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the processing of storing the CAN frame in the Ethernet frame in the flowchart of FIG. 3. An upper part of FIG. 4 shows a frame format of the CAN frame. A lower part of FIG. 4 shows a frame format of the Ethernet frame. A middle part of FIG. 4 shows a processing process. The physical interface 40 is a physical interface with the Ethernet network. The reception buffer 41 stores the received Ethernet frame. The reception frame analysis unit 42 analyzes the received Ethernet frame); and
a frame processing unit that extracts information about stored the plurality of first frames from the second frame storing the plurality of first frames (Kaneko, see paragraphs [0048, 0055] the CAN message extraction unit 43 extracts a CAN message stored in the Data portion of the received Ethernet frame. The application processing unit 44 executes a corresponding application using the extracted CAN message. The CAN message extraction unit 43 extracts a CAN message (the ID portion and the Data portion of the CAN frame) from the Data portion of the reception frame…).
With respect to claim 12, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches the in-vehicle network system, wherein the frame processing unit generates a second frame storing the plurality of first frames transmitted to the first network through the in-vehicle communication device ((Kaneko, see paragraph [0011] a vehicle-mounted gateway device consolidates within a first Data portion included in a large sized first communication frame a plurality of second Data portions each included in a small sized second communication frame, thereby generating the first communication frame, and relays the first communication frame that has been generated. Wherein vehicle-mounted network constructed by the conventional communication protocol such as a control area network (CAN) (i.e., equivalent to first network and vehicle-mounted networks using different communication protocols such as Ethernet (i.e., second network)).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 are rejected as being unpatentable over Kaneko et al. (US 20180324640 hereinafter Kaneko) in view Tsurumi et al. (US 20200195472 hereinafter Tsurumi) further in view Haga et al. (US 20210266244 hereinafter Haga).
With respect to claim 3, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches the in-vehicle communication device, yet fails to explicitly disclose wherein the transfer frame generation unit generates the transfer frame storing the plurality of first frames received within a predetermined time.
However, Haga discloses wherein the transfer frame generation unit generates the transfer frame storing the plurality of first frames received within a predetermined time (Haga, see paragraphs [0008, 0042] collecting a plurality of Ethernet frames transmitted or received by the transceiver within a predetermined time period, and classifying, out of the plurality of Ethernet frames collected, Ethernet frames containing same destination IP address, source IP address, destination port number, source port number, and protocol, and containing, in payloads, same identification information related to mobility control, into a same group).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Kaneko-Tsurumi with the teaching of Haga to provide a system for receiving multiple frames at a predetermined time period, often as part of a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) or framing system, offers several key advantages in data transmission and network management, primarily focusing on efficiency, reliability, and bandwidth optimization. it’s for simplicity and lower implementation cost.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 are rejected as being unpatentable over Kaneko et al. (US 20180324640 hereinafter Kaneko) in view Tsurumi et al. (US 20200195472 hereinafter Tsurumi) further in view GOTO (US 20220171612 hereinafter GOTO).
With respect to claim 9, Kaneko-Tsurumi teaches the in-vehicle communication device, yet fails to explicitly disclose further comprising a volatile storage medium capable of developing a content of the transfer table stored in the transfer table storage unit,
wherein the transfer frame generation unit and the transfer determination unit can refer to the transfer table developed in the volatile storage medium.
However, GOTO discloses further comprising a volatile storage medium capable of developing a content of the transfer table stored in the transfer table storage unit, wherein the transfer frame generation unit and the transfer determination unit can refer to the transfer table developed in the volatile storage medium (GOTO, see paragraphs [0033-0034] An electronic control system 1 includes multiple “electronic control units” (ECUs). As illustrated in FIG. 1, the electronic control system 1 includes two ECUs (ECU 10 and ECU 20) but may include any number of ECUs. The ECU 10 and the ECU 20 are connected via an in-vehicle network such as CAN (Controller Area Network) or LIN (Local Interconnect Network), Ethernet, or a wireless communication network, … the “electronic control unit” is mainly composed of semiconductor devices and may be configured as a so-called information processing device including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a volatile storage portion such as RAM (Random Access Memory)…).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Kaneko-Tsurumi with the teaching of GOTO to provide a system comprising of volatile storage medium capable of storing a content. The volatile memory like RAM are its speed and efficiency, which allow for faster data access and processing, leading to better multitasking and quicker application performance.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kaneko et al. (US 20180324640 hereinafter Kaneko) in view GOTO (US 20220171612 hereinafter GOTO) further in view of Yasuda et al. (US 20210026344 hereinafter Yasuda).
With respect to claim 10, Kaneko-Tsurumi-GOTO teaches the in-vehicle communication device, yet fails to explicitly disclose further comprising a vehicle state determination unit that determines a current operation state of a vehicle on which the in-vehicle communication device is mounted.
However, Yasuda discloses further comprising a vehicle state determination unit that determines a current operation state of a vehicle on which the in-vehicle communication device is mounted (Yasuda, see paragraphs [0063- 0064, 0107] in step 100 of the in-vehicle system management process, the controller 18 determines whether or not a vehicle state transition has occurred. FIG. 3 shows an example of the definition of the vehicle state. The vehicle state is defined so that the required communication amount, that is, the data amount, and the required calculation amount associated with communications and services, that is, the CPU processing amount, are different in each state, and is defined as a multiplication of the “running state” and the “operation service” shown in FIG. 3. …The “automatic operation 52” is a state where the communication amount and the calculation amount are particularly large, and the “manual operation 54” is a state where the communication amount and the calculation amount are relatively small),
wherein, when the vehicle is in an operation stop state and when a transfer table developed in the volatile storage medium is changed, the vehicle state determination unit reflects the change in the transfer table stored in the transfer table storage unit (Yasuda, see paragraphs [0065, 0068] “Stop 56” is a state where the vehicle is stopped, but “Stop 56” is also divided into two states: “Stop 58” and “Parking 60”. “Stop 58” is a state in which the engine is running so that traveling can be resumed at any time, and a certain amount of communication and computation is required. “Parking 60” is a state in which the ignition of the vehicle is turned off, and the required communication amount and calculation amount are both minimal. In step 100, when at least one of the “running state” and the “operation service” has changed, it is determined that a vehicle state transition has occurred).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Kaneko-Tsurumi-GOTO with the teaching of Yasuda to provide a system for a vehicle state determination unit provides accurate, real-time vehicle status information, which offers significant advantages for vehicle control systems and overall operation. These benefits are crucial for improving a vehicle's safety, stability, efficiency, and intelligence.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH KASSA whose telephone number is (571)270-0567. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 9 AM -6 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached on 517-272-4001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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05/30/2026
/ELIZABETH KASSA/Examiner, Art Unit 2457
/ARIO ETIENNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2457
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