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 .
Claims 1-4 are pending for examination in the instant application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/03/2024 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Raghunathan et al. (Pub. No.: US 2011/0167128 A1), hereinafter “Rag”.
As to claim 1. Rag discloses, a vehicle communication management system (Rag, Abstract) comprising:
a communicator configured to communicate with an outside of a first vehicle to which the vehicle communication management system is configured to be applied (Rag, [0027], link quality monitor 18 may obtain the wireless link quality metrics from wireless communication device 24);
a vehicle position identifier configured to identify a current position of the first vehicle (Rag, fig.2, [0027], the system uses GPS. Vehicle sensor data, speed and route info. Additionally, link quality monitor 18 may obtain sensor information from vehicle data bus 22.);
a storage configured to hold amounts of downloadable data, the amounts of the downloadable data being linked with respective pieces of position data, based on communication states for the respective pieces of the position data (Rag, fig.2, [0026]-[0028], the reference maintains a link quality database indexed by location, storing predicted communication quality “dead spot”. The Link quality database, stores communication state information indexed by position, which is functionally equivalent to storing “amounts of downloadable data linked with position data.”);
a first data amount calculator configured to calculate an amount of download data necessary for the first vehicle (Rag, [0040], the reference determines how much content must be downloaded before entering a dead spot, based on the duration of the dead spot e.g., the vehicle may request an item…having a time duration substantially matching the estimated length of time that the vehicle will travel through the dead spot region. Also see [0033] “the system may build up a cache…before the vehicle enters a wireless dead spot.”); and
a second data amount calculator configured to accumulate the amounts of the downloadable data until the first vehicle reaches a point where the communication state deteriorates (Rag, the reference predicts future connectivity along the route, determines time to arrival and uses this to prefetch or accelerate downloads before reaching a dead spot.), based on:
route data on a route along which the first vehicle is likely to pass before reaching the point where the communication state deteriorates (Rag, [0027], “dead spot prediction…predicts the quality of the wireless link connectivity in the approaching vicinity.”);
the amounts of the downloadable data for the respective pieces of the position data held in the storage (Rag, [0028], “expected time of arrival (or time to arrival) at a dead spot, the expected throughput rate…”; and
passing time periods for the respective pieces of the position data on the route along which the first vehicle is likely to pass before reaching the point where the communication state deteriorates (Rag, [0033], the system may initiate download optimization…build up a cache by the time the vehicle enters a wireless dead spot.”),
wherein the communicator is configured to start downloading the download data necessary for the first vehicle, at a point where a sum total of the amounts of the downloadable data accumulated by the second data amount calculator becomes larger than the amount of the download data calculated by the first data amount calculator as being necessary for the first vehicle (Rag, [0031], if an item is not expected to be completed before a dead spot is arrived at, then the item may be downloaded…before the dead spot is arrived at.”. [0034], the speed of the download may be accelerated so that the download is complete before the vehicle arrives at the dead spot.”).
As to claim 2. Rag discloses the invention as in parent claim above including, wherein the second data amount calculator is configured to acquire, based on traffic data that is in a normal state, the passing time periods for the respective pieces of the position data on the route along which the first vehicle is likely to pass before reaching the point where the communication state deteriorates (Rag, fig.3, [0043], estimate a length of time before the vehicle will arrive at the dead spot region, [0027], vehicle sensor data “GPS, Speed, Route info, surrounding sensing fig.2), the traffic data comprising traffic data on the route along which the first vehicle is likely to pass before reaching the point where the communication state deteriorates (Rag, [0027], [0028], dead spot prediction and core engine 26…send…expected time of arrival… at a dead spot.”).
As to claim 3. Rag discloses the invention as in parent claim above including, wherein the communicator is configured to communicate with a communication target on the route along which the first vehicle is likely to pass before reaching the point where the communication state deteriorates, the communication target comprising a second vehicle preceding the first vehicle (Rag, fig.4, [0050], broadcast a request signal from the first vehicle to at least one other vehicle that is a vicinity of the first vehicle and receive with in the first vehicle a re-broadcast signal from at least one other vehicle, the re-broadcast signal being received while the first vehicle is in the dead spot region..), and
the second data amount calculator is configured to calculate the passing time periods for the respective pieces of the position data on the route along which the first vehicle is likely to pass before reaching the point where the communication state deteriorates, based on data received by the communicator (Rag, [0027], dead spot prediction …predict the quality of the wireless link connectivity in the approaching vicinity, [0028] core engine 26…send …expected time of arrival …expected throughput rate… and fig.4, step 406, receive…a re-broadcast signal ..including a portion of the audio/video content…).
As to claim 4. A vehicle communication management system (Rag, Abstract) comprising:
a communicator configured to communicate with an outside of a first vehicle to which the vehicle communication management system is configured to be applied (Rag, [0027], link quality monitor 18 may obtain the wireless link quality metrics from wireless communication device 24);
a vehicle position identifier configured to identify a current position of the first vehicle (Rag, fig.2, [0027], the system uses GPS. Vehicle sensor data, speed and route info. Additionally, link quality monitor 18 may obtain sensor information from vehicle data bus 22.); and
a manager configured to manage the communicator, wherein the manager comprises one or more processors, and one or more memories communicably coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories comprising a storage (Rag, [0028], core engine 26… relay the signal… to an application layer manager 28, and [0060], the vehicle may store the content item in a memory device.),
the storage being configured to hold amounts of downloadable data, the amounts of the downloadable data being linked with respective pieces of position data, based on communication states for the respective pieces of the position data (Rag, maintains a link quality database indexed by location, storing communication state information e.g. coverage, throughput, dead sports. Ran specifically disclose in fig.2 “link Quality database 20” and in [0026]-[0028], “dead spot identification and maintenance…based on GPS data, speed, navigation routes…”.),
the one or more processors being configured to calculate an amount of download data necessary for the first vehicle, accumulate the amounts of the downloadable data until the first vehicle reaches a point where the communication state deteriorates (Rag, [0040], the vehicle may request an item… having a time duration substantially matching the estimated length of time that the vehicle will travel through the dead spot region.), based on:
route data on a route along which the first vehicle is likely to pass before reaching the point where the communication state deteriorates (Rag, [0027], dead spot prediction…predict the quality of the wireless link connectivity in the approaching vicinity.);
the amounts of the downloadable data for the respective pieces of the position data held in the storage (Rag, [0033], the system may build up a cache by the time the vehicle enters a wireless dead spot.); and
passing time periods for the respective pieces of the position data on the route along which the first vehicle is likely to pass before reaching the point where the communication state deteriorates(Rag, [0031], if an item is not expected to be completed before a dead spot is arrived at, then the item may be downloaded…before the dead spot is arrived at.”., and
cause the communicator to start downloading the download data necessary for the first vehicle, at a point where a sum total of the accumulated amounts of the downloadable data becomes larger than the calculated amount of the download data necessary for the first vehicle (Rag, [0034], the speed of the download may be accelerated so that the download is complete before the vehicle arrives at the dead spot.”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see the attached PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAUQIR HUSSAIN whose telephone number is (571)270-1247. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00 - 8:00 with IFP.
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/Tauqir Hussain/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2446
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