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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the one or more data items" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. According to the examiner’s best knowledge, the claim limitation "the one or more data items" will be treated as "the one or more data topics".
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Archer et al US 2016/0304051 A1 (hence Archer).
In re claim 15, Archer discloses a vehicle configured to (a) evaluate an access level of a user; (b) provide user interface data for transmission by the transceiver; (c) evaluate an authenticated command provided by the user; and (d) provide a control signal to the vehicle subsystem in response to the authenticated command, wherein the user interface data provided by the processing circuit varies based on the access level of the user thereby preventing unauthorized control of the response vehicle (Paragraph 0005) and teaches the following:
receiving user interface configuration data (Paragraph 0088 “Display module 326 may generally be configured to generate an interface for display on a touchscreen display of the response vehicle 100”, and “allow users to provide commands via touch input, may display diagnostic information generated by diagnostics module 322 or location information from location module 324, or may otherwise receive and provide information), the user interface configuration data including an indication of one or more widgets (Paragraph 0090 “The touchscreen display of the response vehicle 100 may include any number of supporting buttons and other tactile user inputs to support interaction between a user and the display” and Paragraph 0094 “touchable widgets”);
deriving from the user interface configuration data a first user interface, the first user interface including the one or more widgets (Paragraph 0094 “a user may navigate through the various display options presented by display module 326 via a menu. The display may include any number of touchable widgets”, Paragraph 0097 “the user interfaces include a plurality of touchable widgets on the bottom of the screen” and Figs. 11-27) and comprising a timeline (Fig.14, and Paragraph 0100 “a timer screen 1108 is illustrated”);
receiving vehicle data derived from a vehicle logging system, the vehicle data associated with a vehicle run and comprising one or more data topics (Paragraph 0035 “vehicle management system 300 may provide various data logging and diagnostic features, and may provide such information to user devices via a wireless connection and to a display unit of the response vehicle”, Paragraphs 0072-0073 “Diagnostics module 322” and “fault detection module 706”, Paragraphs 0094 and 0097 as described above, and Figs. 11-27);
displaying the vehicle data in the user interface with the one or more widgets (Figs. 12-27, and Paragraph 0021 “FIGS. 12-27 are example user interfaces that may be provided on a display of the response vehicle or a user device, according to various exemplary embodiments”, and Paragraphs 0094 and 0097 as described above);
generating a sharable data structure, the sharable data structure identifying the vehicle data and a layout for the one or more widgets (Paragraph 0035 “vehicle management system 300 may provide various data logging and diagnostic features, and may provide such information to user devices via a wireless connection and to a display unit of the response vehicle”, Paragraph 0045 “data is uploaded from the local database to a remote cloud storage”, Paragraph 0096 “manage the display of fault information on the screen”, and Fig.3 and 11);
and transmitting the sharable data structure to a second computer system, wherein the sharable data structure allows the second computer system to retrieve the vehicle data (Paragraph 0006 “The display module is configured to store user interface data onboard the vehicle and provide the user interface data to the first user device and the second user device in response to a user request”, and Paragraph 0034 “Status information may include, for example, general vehicle diagnostic activity (e.g., if fuel is low, if oil is low, other general vehicle-related errors, etc.), or information regarding various vehicle subsystems (e.g., water tank levels, pump operation, warning lights, sirens, navigation system, etc.). The information may be displayed on one or both of a display provided as part of the response vehicle and on a user device of commander 202 and/or personnel 212”)
In re claim 16, Archer teaches the following:
deriving a layout of the user interface based at least in part on the user interface configuration data; wherein the sharable data structure comprises parameters associated with the layout of the user interface (Figs. 12-27, and Paragraph 0021 “FIGS. 12-27 are example user interfaces that may be provided on a display of the response vehicle or a user device, according to various exemplary embodiments”)
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 (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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-13, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Archer et al US 2016/0304051 A1 (hence Archer) in view of Palmer et al US 2015/0105934 A1 (hence Palmer).
In re claim 1, Archer discloses a vehicle configured to (a) evaluate an access level of a user; (b) provide user interface data for transmission by the transceiver; (c) evaluate an authenticated command provided by the user; and (d) provide a control signal to the vehicle subsystem in response to the authenticated command, wherein the user interface data provided by the processing circuit varies based on the access level of the user thereby preventing unauthorized control of the response vehicle (Paragraph 0005) and teaches the following:
one or more processors; and non-transitory computer readable media including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations (Fig.3, and Paragraph 0035) comprising:
receiving user interface configuration data associated with a first user (Paragraph 0088 “Display module 326 may generally be configured to generate an interface for display on a touchscreen display of the response vehicle 100”, and “allow users to provide commands via touch input, may display diagnostic information generated by diagnostics module 322 or location information from location module 324, or may otherwise receive and provide information), the user interface configuration data including an indication of one or more widgets (Paragraph 0090 “The touchscreen display of the response vehicle 100 may include any number of supporting buttons and other tactile user inputs to support interaction between a user and the display” and Paragraph 0094 “touchable widgets”);
deriving from the user interface configuration data a first user interface, the first user interface including the one or more widgets (Paragraph 0094 “a user may navigate through the various display options presented by display module 326 via a menu. The display may include any number of touchable widgets”, Paragraph 0097 “the user interfaces include a plurality of touchable widgets on the bottom of the screen” and Figs. 11-27) and comprising a timeline (Fig.14, and Paragraph 0100 “a timer screen 1108 is illustrated”);
receiving vehicle data derived from a vehicle logging system, the vehicle data associated with a vehicle run and comprising one or more data topics (Paragraph 0035 “vehicle management system 300 may provide various data logging and diagnostic features, and may provide such information to user devices via a wireless connection and to a display unit of the response vehicle”, Paragraphs 0072-0073 “Diagnostics module 322” and “fault detection module 706”, Paragraphs 0094 and 0097 as described above, and Figs. 11-27);
displaying, on a first computing device associated with the first user, the portion of the vehicle data with the timeline in the first user interface (Fig. 14 and Paragraph 0100 “the timer may indicate the expected duration of a trip to an incident”);
generating a sharable data structure, the sharable data structure identifying the one or more widgets, the vehicle data (Paragraph 0035 “vehicle management system 300 may provide various data logging and diagnostic features, and may provide such information to user devices via a wireless connection and to a display unit of the response vehicle”, Paragraph 0045 “data is uploaded from the local database to a remote cloud storage”, Paragraph 0096 “manage the display of fault information on the screen”, and Fig.3 and 11);
receiving, by a second computing device associated with a second user, the sharable data structure (Paragraph 0006 “The display module is configured to store user interface data onboard the vehicle and provide the user interface data to the first user device and the second user device in response to a user request”, and Paragraph 0034 “Status information may include, for example, general vehicle diagnostic activity (e.g., if fuel is low, if oil is low, other general vehicle-related errors, etc.), or information regarding various vehicle subsystems (e.g., water tank levels, pump operation, warning lights, sirens, navigation system, etc.). The information may be displayed on one or both of a display provided as part of the response vehicle and on a user device of commander 202 and/or personnel 212”);
retrieving, by the second computing device and based at least in part on the sharable data structure, the portion of the vehicle data (Paragraph 0034 “Status information may include, for example, general vehicle diagnostic activity (e.g., if fuel is low, if oil is low, other general vehicle-related errors, etc.), or information regarding various vehicle subsystems (e.g., water tank levels, pump operation, warning lights, sirens, navigation system, etc.). The information may be displayed on one or both of a display provided as part of the response vehicle and on a user device of commander 202 and/or personnel 212”);
and displaying, on the second computing device and based at least in part on the sharable data structure (Paragraph 0034 “The information may be displayed on one or both of a display provided as part of the response vehicle and on a user device of commander 202 and/or personnel 212”, and Paragraph 0041 “The fault message may be displayed on a display unit 340 of the response vehicle and/or on a user device 352), the portion of the video data in a second user interface (Paragraph 0093 “The display may include any number of video inputs”), the second user interface comprising the one or more widgets (Paragraph 0094 “The display may include any number of touchable widgets”)
However, Archer discloses a first user interface comprising a timeline as discussed above (Fig.14 and Paragraph 0100), and video input for playback on the display (Paragraph 0095), but doesn’t explicitly teach the following:
receiving a playback time associated with a portion of the vehicle data; and generating a sharable data structure identifying the playback time
Nevertheless, Palmer discloses users means for reviewing events recorded by a vehicle event recorder (Abstract) and teaches the following:
receiving a playback time associated with a portion of the vehicle data, and generating a sharable data structure identifying the playback time (Paragraph 0031 “An event timeline may have a start-time, an end-time, and/or a continuous period of time therebetween, for example”, Fig.1A, and Paragraph 0040 “video playback”, and “one or more visual representations 11 of information related to the operation and/or the context of the vehicle”);
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skills in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the Archer reference to include users means for reviewing events recorded by a vehicle event recorder, as taught by Palmer, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to permit greater analysis and enable reviewers to devise coaching feedback, for example (Palmer, Paragraph 0006).
In re claim 2, Archer teaches the following:
determining, based at least in part on the user interface configuration data, an arrangement for displaying the one or more widgets in the first user interface; wherein the sharable data structure comprises widget layout data associated with the arrangement for displaying the one or more widgets (Figs. 12-27, and Paragraph 0021 “FIGS. 12-27 are example user interfaces that may be provided on a display of the response vehicle or a user device, according to various exemplary embodiments”)
In re claim 3, Archer teaches the following:
assigning, based at least in part on the user interface configuration, the one or more widgets to respective window portions in the first user interface; wherein the widget layout data comprises parameters defining a configuration of the window portions (Figs. 12-27, and Paragraph 0021 “FIGS. 12-27 are example user interfaces that may be provided on a display of the response vehicle or a user device, according to various exemplary embodiments”)
In re claim 4, Archer teaches the following:
determining that a first data item of the one or more data items is stored in a cache based at least in part on the sharable data structure (Paragraph 0035 “vehicle management system 300 may provide various data logging and diagnostic features, and may provide such information to user devices via a wireless connection and to a display unit of the response vehicle”)
With respect to claim 5, the combination of Archer and Palmer discloses the claimed invention as recited above with respect to claim 1 and Archer further teaches that the vehicle data comprising timing data (Paragraph 0044 “The data may be time stamped and include a vehicle identifier”; the motivation to combine has been recited above)
In re claim 6, Archer teaches the following:
wherein the sharable data structure is or comprises a uniform resource identifier (Paragraph 0071 “diagnostics module 322 is shown to manage all kinds of data and information relating to the response vehicle 100”)
In re claim 7, Archer teaches the following:
receiving user interface configuration data associated with a first user; and configuring a layout of the user interface based at least in part on the user interface configuration data (Paragraph 0094 “a user may navigate through the various display options presented by display module 326 via a menu. The display may include any number of touchable widgets”, Paragraph 0097 “the user interfaces include a plurality of touchable widgets on the bottom of the screen” and Figs. 11-27)
In re claim 8, Archer teaches the following:
wherein the shareable data structure comprises parameters associated with the layout of the user interface (Figs. 12-27, and Paragraph 0021 “FIGS. 12-27 are example user interfaces that may be provided on a display of the response vehicle or a user device, according to various exemplary embodiments”)
In re claim 9, Archer teaches the following:
wherein the user interface comprises a first widget, and wherein the shareable data structure comprises an indication of the first widget (Figs. 12-27, and Paragraph 0021 “FIGS. 12-27 are example user interfaces that may be provided on a display of the response vehicle or a user device, according to various exemplary embodiments”)
In re claim 10, Palmer teaches the following:
wherein receiving the playback time comprises receiving a user input on a moveable user interface element associated with the timeline (Fig.1A, #7, and Paragraph 0040 “an event timeline 7”, and Paragraph 0092 “A user/reviewer may be able to see by sliding the playback instant control”; the motivation to combine has been provided above)
In re claim 11, Archer teaches the following:
receiving a request to retrieve a data item associated with the vehicle run; determining, based at least in part on the sharable data structure, to retrieve the data item from a cache (Figs. 24-25 for example and Paragraph 0108)
In re claim 12, Archer teaches the following:
retrieving, by the second computer system, the vehicle data based at least in part on the sharable data structure (Paragraph 0109 “while the display is described with reference to a response vehicle, in other embodiments display module 326 may generate the features described herein for display on a mobile user device”)
In re claim 13, Archer teaches the following:
displaying, by the second computing device and based at least in part on the sharable data structure, the portion of the vehicle data (Figs. 24-25 for example and Paragraph 0108)
In re claim 17, the combination of Archer in view of Palmer discloses the claimed invention as recited above with respect to claim 1.
In re claim 18, Archer teaches the following:
displaying a first portion of vehicle data in a timeline portion of the user interface; displaying a second portion of vehicle data in association with a first widget of the one or more widgets (Fig.14 and Paragraph 0100)
In re claim 19, Archer teaches the following:
wherein the display of the first portion of vehicle data in the timeline portion and display of the second portion of vehicle data in association with the first widget is synchronized (Fig.14, and Paragraph 0100)
In re claim 20, Archer teaches the following:
wherein the vehicle data comprises vehicle diagnostics data logged during the vehicle run (Paragraph 0088 “Display module 326 may generally be configured to generate an interface for display on a touchscreen display of the response vehicle 100”, and “allow users to provide commands via touch input, may display diagnostic information generated by diagnostics module 322 or location information from location module 324, or may otherwise receive and provide information)
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Archer in view of Palmer and further in view of Quinn US 2020/0192872 A1 (hence Quinn) and Fanning et al US 2013/0249917 A1 (hence Fanning).
In re claim 14, the combination of Archer and Palmer discloses the claimed invention as recited above but doesn’t explicitly teach the following:
wherein the vehicle data comprises a hierarchical data topic including higher-level data and lower-level data, and wherein the user interface comprises a main timeline, the main timeline for displaying the higher-level data, and a subsidiary timeline, the subsidiary timeline for displaying the lower-level data
Nevertheless, Quinn discloses methods, apparatuses, and systems using a directory or hierarchical data structure to efficiently organize, access, and perform analytics and operations on data obtained from a device (Abstract) and teaches the following:
wherein the vehicle data comprises a hierarchical data topic including higher-level data and lower-level data (Abstract and Paragraph 0015 “using a directory or hierarchical data structure to efficiently organize, access, and perform analytics and operations on data obtained from a device”)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skills in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the Palmer reference to include a hierarchical data structure, as taught by Quinn, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to efficiently organize, access, and perform analytics and operations on data obtained from a device, such as a robotic device or autonomous vehicle (Quinn, Paragraphs 0015).
Furthermore, Fanning discloses data is visualized in a number of ways to visually communicate program performance issues and facilitate analysis (Abstract) and teaches the following:
and wherein the user interface comprises a main timeline, the main timeline for displaying the higher-level data, and a subsidiary timeline, the subsidiary timeline for displaying the lower-level data (Fig.3, Paragraphs 0045-0046 “overlay visualizations on top of each other”, and Fig.4 and Paragraph 0050 “a hierarchy of logical sub-systems is displayed”)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skills in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the Palmer reference to include a number of ways to visually communicate program performance issues, as taught by Fanning, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to facilitate program performance analysis (Fanning, Paragraph 0005).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Plante et al US 11,623,517 B2 discloses vehicle event recorders concerned with recording systems including a video discretization facility and operation arranged to create discrete data relating to video image series and associate that discrete data with other digital data associated with the event in a database record.
Thomas et al US 2019/0132391 A1 discloses managing and querying semi-structured, heterogeneously-typed sensor data in a distributed environment.
Hirata US 2020/0110394 A1 discloses an anomalous state diagnostic device and an anomalous state diagnosis method for a process such as a manufacturing process.
Totani US 2011/0187861 A1 discloses a vehicle-mounted surveillance device which records driving information as a drive recorder during driving of a vehicle such as an automobile and further records status inside and outside the vehicle as a surveillance camera during parking of the vehicle.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAMI KHATIB whose telephone number is (571)270-1165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00am-5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Erin M Piateski can be reached at 571-270 7429. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RAMI KHATIB/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669