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 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) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamada (US pg. no. 20000286321), further in view of Daiki (JP JP2023173734A).
Regarding claim 1. Yamada discloses communication system comprising:
a communication device communicably to a vehicle (fig. 3 and [0037] discloses an in-vehicle system where the network hub device 30 (intermediate unit) includes a trunk side communication port 41 as a communication port coupled to a trunk network… The trunk side communication port 41 performs input/output of the CAN-FD signal. Device in the trunk network that is source of CAN-FD signal corresponds to the communication device);
target units provided to the vehicle and comprising a first target unit (fig. 2 devices 341) in which an effective data length is predetermined bytes, and a second target unit (fig. 2 devices, smart info speaker connected to CAN) in which the effective data length is smaller than the predetermined bytes (fig. 2, fig. 3 and [0037] discloses the network hub device 30 of fig. 3 or 34 of fig. 2 (intermediate unit) includes a trunk side communication port 41 as a communication port coupled to a trunk network and communication ports 42 to 48 as communication ports coupled to device side networks… The communication port 42 performs input/output of the CAN-FD signal (The target device connected to port 42 corresponds to the first target device)… The communication port 44 performs input/output of the CAN signal (the target device/ECU connected to port 44 corresponds to the second target device); [0040] The CAN signal is 8 bytes (second target unit connected to port 44 with an effective data length and the CAN-FD signal is 64 bytes (first target unit connected to port 42 with an effective data length)) and
an intermediate unit ([0036] discloses a network hub device 30 of FIG. 3 corresponds to, for example, the CAN hub device 34 illustrated in FIG. 2) provided to the vehicle and configured to mediate communication between the communication device and each of the target units ([0040] The data length conversion section 53 performs data length conversion on the CAN-FD signal sent from the distributing/aggregating section 51 to generate a CAN signal and sends the CAN signal to the communication port 44….The data length conversion section 53 performs data length conversion on the CAN signal received from the device side network via the communication port 44 to generate a CAN-FD signal and sends the CAN-FD signal to the distributing/aggregating section 51)wherein the intermediate unit comprises one or more intermediate unit processors and one or more intermediate unit memories coupled to the one or more intermediate unit processors wherein the one or more intermediate unit processors are configured to perform a proces (fig. 3 discloses hub 30 comprises data length conversion section 53 and CPU 61 where the hub 30 comprises memory), and comprising:
when first predetermined information is received from the first target unit, transmitting the first predetermined information to the communication device (fig. 3 and [0040] The data length conversion section 53 (intermediate unit) performs data length conversion on the CAN signal received from the device side network (first/second target unit) via the communication port 44 to generate a CAN-FD signal and sends the CAN-FD signal to the distributing/aggregating section 51 to be sent to device connected to port 41 (communication device). Communication of the same CAN FD data length data from devices connected to the CAN FD on the device side (first target unit) without length conversion to the device connected to CAN FD on the network side (communication device) corresponds to transmitting); and
Yamada does not explicitly disclose:
when second predetermined information is received from the second target unit, generating third predetermined information by converting a value of a predetermined position in the predetermined bytes of the second predetermined information received from the second target unit into a preset specific value, and transmitting the generated third predetermined information to the communication device;
However, in the same field of endeavor, Daiki discloses when second predetermined information is received from the second target unit, generating third predetermined information by converting a value of a predetermined position in the predetermined bytes of the second predetermined information received from the second target unit into a preset specific value, and transmitting the generated third predetermined information to the communication device ([0031] discloses when the data relay device 32 (intermediate device) receives communication data with an ID value IDref1 from the CAN bus 24 (connected to second target unit), the data relay device 32 sets the bits of the data DATA in the data field of the received communication data. The position is converted to the position from the 5th byte to the 8th byte (predetermined position in the predetermined bytes ) of the data field, and the converted communication data is transmitted to the CAN bus 28. Thereby, even if the first communication specification and the second communication specification differ in the position of data within the data field, communication data can be properly transmitted and received between the ECU 22 and the ECU 26.; [0011]; [0041] When communication data with value IDref1 is received, the bit position of data DATA in the data field of the received communication data is converted to the position from the 5th byte to the 8th byte of the data field, and the converted communication data is transferred to the CAN bus. 28, communication data can be properly transmitted and received between the ECU 22 and the ECU 26 even if the first communication specification and the second communication specification differ in the position of data in the data field; [0033] When the data relay device 32 receives communication data whose ID is the value IDref1 from the CAN bus 24, the data length of the received communication data is The length Ldata2 is converted, and the converted communication data is transmitted to the CAN bus 28. At this time, the data relay device 32 converts the data length in the data field so that the content of the data DATA is maintained. Thereby, even if the data length in the data field is different between the first communication specification and the second communication specification, communication data can be properly transmitted and received between the ECU 22 and the ECU 26).
Therefore, it would have been obvious toa person having ordinary skill in eth at the time of the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Yamada with Daiki. The modification would allow even if the data length in the data field is different between the first communication specification of a target unit and the second communication specification of a different target unit such as ECUs, communication data can be properly transmitted and received between the ECUs enabling effective data communication (Daiki [0033]).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Yamada (US pg. no. 20220286321), and Daiki (JP JP2023173734A), further in view of Kaku (US pg. no. 20200314031).
Regarding claim 2. The combination discloses communication system according to claim 1.
Yamada discloses, wherein the communication device comprises one or more communication device processors and one or more communication device memories coupled to the one or more communication device processors (fig. 3 discloses hub 30 connected to CAN-FD device (communication device)), and wherein the one or more communication device processors are configured to perform a process comprising:
Daiki discloses when the first predetermined information is received from the target unit via the intermediate unit, performing a predetermined process based on the received first predetermined information ([0033] In the fourth operation, as shown in FIG. 6, when transmitting predetermined information (for example, vehicle speed) in the first communication specification, the ID of the communication data is set to the value IDref1, and the length of the data DATA in the data field is The data length in the data field is the length (first data length) Ldata1, and the second communication specification is that when the ID of the received communication data is the value IDref1, the data length in the data field is the length Ldata1. When the data relay device 32 (intermediate unit) receives communication data whose ID is the value IDref1 from the CAN bus 24 (connected to target unit), the data length of the received communication data is The length Ldata2 is converted (When the data relay device 32 receives communication data whose ID is the value IDref1 from the CAN bus 24, the data length of the received communication data is The length Ldata2 is converted, and the converted communication data is transmitted to the CAN bus 28 (connected to communication device). At this time, the data relay device 32 converts the data length in the data field so that the content of the data DATA is maintained. Thereby, even if the data length in the data field is different between the first communication specification and the second communication specification, communication data can be properly transmitted and received between the ECU 22 and the ECU 26. , and the converted communication data is transmitted to the CAN bus 28. At this time, the data relay device 32 converts the data length in the data field so that the content of the data DATA is maintained. Thereby, even if the data length in the data field is different between the first communication specification and the second communication specification, communication data can be properly transmitted and received between the ECU 22 and the ECU 26); and
But, the combination does not explicitly disclose:
when the third predetermined information having the specific value as the value of the predetermined position in the predetermined bytes is received from the target unit via the intermediate unit, excluding the predetermined position in the predetermined bytes from a target of the predetermined process.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kaku discloses when the third predetermined information having the specific value as the value of the predetermined position in the predetermined bytes is received from the target unit via the intermediate unit, excluding the predetermined position in the predetermined bytes from a target of the predetermined process ([0223] Here, the data length of the frame from the transmission source is 14000 bytes, and the data length of the frame to the destination is smaller than that of the frame from the transmission source by 60 bytes. Therefore, it is set so that the data length of the frame to the destination is described as 13940 bytes… the switch 1010 changes the destination address from the switch 1010 to the ECU 1031 and changes the transmission source address from the tool 1020 to the switch 1010, in accordance with the connection tunnel configuration. The switch 1010 changes the data length from 14000 bytes to 13940 bytes. The offset 60 bytes is excluded).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of the combination with Kaku. The modification would allow effective data adaptation management by excluding irrelevant data being sent to the destination.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MESSERET F. GEBRE whose telephone number is (571)272-8272. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am-5:30PM.
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/MESSERET F GEBRE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445