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
Applicant’s arguments filed July 6th, 2026, have been fully considered and are moot in light of the newly found prior art WATABE (JP 2015071319 A), which discloses the currently added claim amendments. Claims 1, 4 and 5 are amended. Claims 2-3 are canceled. Please see detailed rejection below.
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, 4, 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koseki (US 10,102,392 B2) in view of WATABE (JP 2015071319 A).
Regarding Claim 1(Currently Amended), Koseki teaches a video process device comprising a processor configured to: (Koseki Col. 2, Ln. 17-19 “Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of a drive recorder, a storage method of the drive recorder and a computer-readable medium; fig. 1 drive recorder 1 that is mounted in vehicle 11”)
store associated information in which video shot by a drive recorder camera and identification information indicating identification result of a user of the drive recorder camera are associated(Koseki Col. 4, Ln. 4-8 “Also, to the drive recorder 1, a portable storage medium M (for example, Secure Digital card (SD card), etc.) is detachable. The storage medium M records the traveling information that includes the traveling images for which the access limitation is set.”); (Col. 4 Ln. 9-12 “However, the storage medium M is not limited to a portable storage medium, and may be, for example, a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) built in the drive recorder 1, or a server apparatus in the cloud computing.”); (Col. 2, Ln. 53-59 “The traveling information F1 includes identification information that identifies the occupant A.”); (Col. 4, Ln. 56-58 “The drive recorder 1 includes a capture unit 2, a controller 4, and a storage 5. The controller 4 includes an authentication unit 4a and an access controller 4b.”); ( Col. 5 , Ln. 52-57 “When authenticating the occupant A, the authentication unit 4a sends an authentication result to the portable device 2, and outputs information on the occupant A included in the identification information 5a to the access controller 4b.”);
determine whether an access requestor to the video and the user of the drive recorder camera when the video was shot by the drive recorder camera are identical based on the identification information which is the other part of the associated information when an access to the video which is a part of the associated information is requested; and (Koseki Col. 5, Ln. 14-21 “Specifically, the authentication unit 4a determines whether or not the ID and the password that are sent from the portable device P equate to an ID and a password of the identification information 5a stored in the storage 5. When the IDs and the passwords equate to each other, the authentication unit 4a authenticates the occupant A, and sends to the portable device P an authentication result that indicates the fact that the authentication has done.”); (Col. 5 , Ln. 52-57 “Return to FIG. 3, the explanation of the authentication unit 4a will be continued. When authenticating the occupant A, the authentication unit 4a sends an authentication result to the portable device 2, and outputs information on the occupant A included in the identification information 5a to the access controller 4b.”); (Col. 6, Ln. 4-10 “Processes for the access limitation setting will be here explained with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating processes for the access limitation setting. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the drive recorder 1 according to the present embodiment employs, for example, a continuous-record method in which captured images G, which are input from the capture unit 2, are sequentially recorded.”); (Col. 6, Ln. 11-17 “In the method, the access controller 4b sets the access limitation for each of captured images that are sequentially input from the capture unit 2. Specifically, when a captured image G1 is captured at time t1 in which the occupant A is authenticated, the access controller 4b gives the captured image G1 a password (for example, “1234”) that is corresponding to an ID of the occupant A.”); (Col. 6, Ln.18-24 “when the occupant A gets off the vehicle 11, in other words, communication between the portable device P of the occupant A and the drive recorder 1 ceases, the access controller 4b removes the authentication of the occupant A, and does not give the password that is corresponding to the ID of the occupant A to captured images after the removal of the authentication.
(Col. 6 Ln. 25-31 “The access controller 4b stores each captured image, to which the password that is corresponding to the ID of the occupant A is given, in, for example, a folder FA that stores traveling information on the occupant A. In other words, the password that is corresponding to the ID of the occupant A is needed in order to read the traveling images to be stored in the folder FA.”)
permit the access requestor to access to the video when the access requestor to the video and the user of the drive recorder camera when the video was shot by the drive recorder camera are identical. (Koseki Col. 5, Ln. 59-64 “The access controller 4b, on the basis of information on the occupant A acquired from the authentication unit 4a, gives the occupant A an access right to traveling images that are input from the capture unit 2, and sets access limitation that limits an access to them from a person other than the occupant A.”); (Col. 6, Ln.11-17 “In the method, the access controller 4b sets the access limitation for each of captured images that are sequentially input from the capture unit 2. Specifically, when a captured image G1 is captured at time t1 in which the occupant A is authenticated, the access controller 4b gives the captured image G1 a password (for example, “1234”) that is corresponding to an ID of the occupant A.”)
Koseki fails to explicitly teach wherein biometric authentication information of the user of the drive recorder camera is received by an information collection device,
wherein the information collection device is configured by a finger vein sensor which detects a finger vein of the user of the drive recorder camera integrally provided with a steering device of a vehicle having the drive recorder camera,
wherein the user of the drive recorder camera is identified by a user identification device by using the biometric authentication information received by the information collection device, and
wherein the identification information indicating the identification result of the user of the drive recorder camera is generated by the user identification device;
However, WATABE teaches wherein biometric authentication information of the user of the drive recorder camera is received by an information collection device(WATABE para. [5] “FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the in-vehicle communication device 20. The in-vehicle communication device 20 mounted on each vehicle 1 includes a processing unit 21, a storage unit 22, an information input receiving unit 23(i.e. information collection device),”) (WATABE para. [7] “The information input receiving unit 23(i.e. information collection device) includes an outside camera 2, an in-vehicle camera 3, a GPS receiver 4, a biosensor 5, … In FIG. 2, the information input receiving unit 23(i.e. information collection device) is illustrated as one functional block. However, the information input receiving unit 23(i.e. information collection device) may be individually provided for each device that inputs information. For example, the information input receiving unit 23(i.e. information collection device) periodically samples the input signal from the sensor and converts it into digital information for a sensor that inputs the detection result to the information input receiving unit 23(i.e. information collection device) as a digital or analog electrical signal,” )(WATABE para. [10] “The biosensor 5 is a vein sensor, a fingerprint sensor, or the like, detects human biometric information, and gives a detection result to the in-vehicle communication device 20.”),
wherein the information collection device is configured by a finger vein sensor which detects a finger vein of the user of the drive recorder camera integrally provided with a steering device of a vehicle having the drive recorder camera(WATABE para. [5] “FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the in-vehicle communication device 20. The in-vehicle communication device 20 mounted on each vehicle 1 includes a processing unit 21, a storage unit 22, an information input receiving unit 23(i.e. information collection device),”)(WATABE para. [10] “The biosensor 5 is a vein sensor, a fingerprint sensor, or the like, detects human biometric information, and gives a detection result to the in-vehicle communication device 20. For example, the vein sensor detects a vein pattern by photographing the finger or the palm of the hand with near infrared light. For example, the fingerprint sensor optically detects a finger pattern with a camera or the like, or electrically detects a fingerprint ridge with a semiconductor sensor or the like. The biosensor 5 is provided, for example, in the vicinity of the driver's seat of the vehicle 1. When the biological sensor 5 detects biological information from a human finger or hand, the biological sensor 5 may be provided on a driving operation member such as a handle(i.e. a steering device) or a shift lever of the vehicle 1.”),
wherein the user of the drive recorder camera is identified by a user identification device by using the biometric authentication information received by the information collection device(WATABE para. [34] “The communication unit 43 communicates with the in-vehicle communication device 20 and the insurance server device 60 through a network such as the Internet. The communication unit 43 provides the information received from the in-vehicle communication device 20 or the insurance server device 60 to the processing unit 41, and transmits the transmission information provided from the processing unit 41 to the in-vehicle communication device 20 or the insurance server device 60. Send.”)(WATABE para. [35] “The driver specifying information 55 stored in the storage unit 42 is, for example, a driver acquired in advance when the driver is specified by face authentication processing based on the driver's face image captured by the in-vehicle camera 3. Information obtained by digitizing the characteristics of the person's face. For example, when the driver is specified by biometric authentication processing based on the biometric information such as the driver's vein or fingerprint acquired by the biometric sensor 5, the driver specifying information 55 is obtained in advance. The pattern image such as veins or fingerprints or information of the pattern can be converted into numerical information.”), and
wherein the identification information indicating the identification result of the user of the drive recorder camera is generated by the user identification device(WATABE para. [90] “In addition, in order to identify the driver, face authentication processing based on a captured image of the driver's face by the in-vehicle camera 3 and biometric authentication such as vein authentication or fingerprint authentication based on biometric information acquired by the biometric sensor 5” )(WATABE para. [91] “In addition, the driving information storage device 40 is configured to add the time information and the position information to the identification result of the driver and store the information in the storage unit 42, but is not limited thereto. For example, it is good also as a structure which matches and memorize | stores either one of time information or a positional information on a driver | operator's specific result.”);
Koseki and WATABE are analogues in that they are both in the same field of a driver identification system. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Koseki to incorporate the teachings of WATABE about biometric authentication information of the user of the drive recorder camera is received by an information collection device, wherein the information collection device is configured by a finger vein sensor which detects a finger vein of the user of the drive recorder camera integrally provided with a steering device of a vehicle having the drive recorder camera, wherein the user of the drive recorder camera is identified by a user identification device by using the biometric authentication information received by the information collection device, and wherein the identification information indicating the identification result of the user of the drive recorder camera is generated by the user identification device. Doing so allows in how to provide a driver specifying system capable of specifying the driver of a vehicle more reliably. [Abstract] WATABE
Regarding Claim 4(Currently Amended), Koseki in view of WATABE teaches a video process method comprising: (Koseki Col. 2, Ln. 17-19 “Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of a drive recorder, a storage method of the drive recorder and a computer-readable medium”) and further recites similar limitation as claim 1 and is being rejected based on the same rational as claim 1 above.
Regarding Claim 5(Currently Amended), Koseki in view of WATABE teaches a non-transitory recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for causing a processor to execute a process comprising: (Koseki (Col. 11, Ln. 53-56 “The computer 200 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 210, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 220, a Random Access Memory (RAM) 230, and a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) 240.”); (Col. 12, Ln. 26-30 “the computer 200 functions as the drive recorder 1, the CPU 210 of the computer 200 executes programs loaded on the RAM 230, and thus realizes each function of the authentication unit 4a and the access controller 4b.”) and further recites similar limitation as claim 1 and is being rejected based on the same rational as claim 1 above.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MALA BOYD whose telephone number is (571)272-6450. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eleni A. Shiferaw can be reached at 571-272-3867. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MALA BOYD/Examiner, Art Unit 2497 /BASSAM A NOAMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2497
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