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 . 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 28-42 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-32 of U.S. Patent No. 12118833. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because it would not be possible to put the claimed invention into practice without infringing on the issued patent.
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) 28-42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chafekar et al. (US2021/0241546).
Regarding claim 28: Chafekar discloses a system for processing, storing, and transmitting data from at least one mobile asset comprising:
an onboard processing unit onboard the at least one mobile asset, the onboard processing unit adapted to receive the data, using at least one of an onboard communication channel, a wired communication channel, a wireless communication channel, and a business-to-business communication channel, based on at least one data signal from at least one of:
at least one data source onboard the at least one mobile asset (Paragraph 0020, oo51-0056);
at least one data source remote from the at least one mobile asset (Paragraph 0020, 0051-0056);
at least one onboard system onboard the at least one mobile asset (Paragraph 0020, 0051-0056); and
at least one onboard subsystem onboard the at least one mobile asset (Paragraph 0020, 0051-0056);
the onboard processing unit further adapted to decode the data into decoded data (Paragraph 0056);
a data encoder adapted to compress at least one of the data and the decoded data into a compressed data structure (Paragraph 0056);
a cloud-based real-time server remote from the at least one mobile asset, the cloud-based real-time server adapted to receive at least one of the data and the compressed data structure from the onboard processing unit using the wireless communication channel (Paragraph 0045, 0049);
at least one of an onboard operator display onboard the mobile asset and a human machine interface onboard the mobile asset, the onboard operator display and the human machine interface adapted to display at least one of the data and the decoded data (Paragraph 0055, 0056, 0065); and
at least one remote platform remote from the at least mobile asset comprising a web-based viewer, the web-based viewer adapted to display at least one of the data, the decoded data, and the compressed data structure received from the cloud-based real-time server (Paragraph 0055-0056, 0074).
Regarding claim 29: Chafekar discloses a data recorder onboard the at least one mobile asset comprising at least one local memory component, the data encoder, an onboard data manager (Fig. 3 and Paragraph 0052-0056), and a queueing repository, the data recorder adapted to receive the data based on the at least one data signal from at least one of the at least one data source onboard the at least one mobile asset, the at least one data source remote from the at least one mobile asset, the at least one onboard system onboard the at least one mobile asset, and the at least one onboard subsystem onboard the at least one mobile asset and send the data to the onboard processing unit (Fig. 3 and Paragraph 0052-0056);
the data encoder adapted to encode a predetermined amount of the data into encoded data (Fig. 3 and Paragraph 0052-0056); and
an onboard data manager adapted to:
append the encoded data to the compressed data structure (Paragraph 0056); and
store at least one of the data, the encoded data, and the compressed data structure, at a configurable first predetermined rate in at least one of the at least one local memory component and the queueing repository (Fig. 3 and Paragraph 0052-0056).
Regarding claim 30: Chafekar discloses at least one of the onboard operator display and human machine interface comprising one of a removable system onboard operator display and a third party onboard operator display (Fig. 6 and Paragraph 0057-0058).
Regarding claim 31: Chafekar discloses the onboard processing unit further adapted to at least one of:
receive, using at least one of the wired communication channel and the wireless communication channel, the data from at least one of a data recorder onboard the at least one mobile asset, the at least one onboard system onboard the at least one mobile asset, the at least one onboard subsystem onboard the at least one mobile asset, the at least one data source onboard the at least one mobile asset, and the at least one data source remote from the at least one mobile asset (Fig.4 and Paragraph 0053-0056);
receive, using at least one of the wired communication channel, the wireless communication channel, and a business-to-business communication channel, the data from a third-party source (Fig.4 and Paragraph 0053-0056); and
send, using the wireless communication channel, the data to the at least one remote platform (Fig.4 and Paragraph 0053-0056).
Regarding claim 32: Chafekar discloses the at least one local memory component comprising at least one of a standalone crash hardened memory module onboard the mobile asset, an integrated crash hardened memory module onboard the mobile asset, a non-crash hardened storage device onboard the mobile asset (Paragraph 0053), a local storage device onboard the mobile asset (Paragraph 0053), and a local cache onboard the mobile asset (Paragraph 0053).
Regarding claim 33: Chafekar discloses the cloud-based real-time server further adapted to store at least one of the data, the decoded data, and the compressed data structure in a remote storage device remote from the at least one mobile asset (Paragraph 0049, 0056).
Regarding claim 34: Chafekar discloses a data decoder remote from the at least one mobile asset, the data decoder adapted to decompress the compressed data structure into decompressed data (Paragraph 0056).
Regarding claim 35: Chafekar discloses the cloud-based real-time server adapted to send the decompressed data to the at least one remote platform (Paragraph 0049, 0055-0056).
Regarding claim 36: Chafekar the onboard communication channel comprising at least one of standard Ethernet (Paragraph 0055), proprietary Ethernet, controller area network (Paragraph 0055), local operating network (Paragraph 0055), serial communication, and multifunction vehicle bus (Paragraph 0055).
Regarding claim 37: Chafekar discloses the onboard processing unit further adapted to instantly stream diagnostic logs to the cloud-based real-time server using the wireless communication channel (Paragraph 0045, 0055-0056).
Regarding claim 38: Chafekar discloses the wireless communication channel comprising at least one of wi-fi (Paragraph 0045), a wireless local area network, a wireless metropolitan area network, a wireless wide area network (Paragraph 0045), a private wireless system, a satellite network, and a cellular telephone network (Paragraph 0045).
Regarding claim 39: Chafekar discloses the cloud-based real-time server further adapted to receive at least one request from at least one remotely located authorized user, the request comprising at least one of a remote software update and a user-requested action (Paragraph 0049, 0056, user requested action).
Regarding claim 40: Chafekar discloses at least one of the onboard processing unit, the at least one onboard system, and the at least one onboard subsystem further adapted to perform at least one of the remote software update and the user-requested action (Paragraph 0049, 0056, user requested action).
Regarding claim 41: Chafekar discloses the web-based viewer further adapted to display the same content as displayed on the onboard operator display and the human machine interface (Fig. 6 and Paragraph 0057-0058).
Regarding claim 42: Chafekar discloses the web-based viewer further adapted to allow a remotely located authorized user to view content different from that shown on at least one of the onboard operator display and the human machine interface (Fig. 6 and Paragraph 0057-0058).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael D Lang whose telephone number is (571)270-3213. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 9am-11am and 2pm-6pm.
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/MICHAEL D LANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3667