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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claims 1-8 and 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by O’Flaherty et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2021/0261135 A1) [hereinafter “O’Flaherty”].
Regarding claim 1, O’Flaherty discloses a method comprises
at a beginning of each driving session of a vehicle, collecting one or more physiological parameters and one or more physical parameters for each of one or more passengers of the vehicle (see [0028]-[0030], [0035], [0042], [0048]-[0054], and [0057]-[0064]),
for each passenger of the one or more passengers of the vehicle, storing the one or more physiological parameters and one or more physical parameters, thereby creating a temporary personal profile for each passenger (see [0028]-[0030], [0035], [0038], [0042], [0048]-[0054], and [0057]-[0064]), and
if an increased risk for an occurrence of an accident of the vehicle is detected or if it is detected that the accident has occurred, providing the temporary personal profile of each passenger of the one or more passengers of the vehicle to one or more vehicle applications (see [0028]-[0030], [0052], [0072]-[0080], [0087]-[0088], [0094]-[0095], [0111]-[0117], [0136]-[0142], and [0145]-[0151]).
Regarding claim 2, O’Flaherty further discloses the one or more physiological parameters include a heart rate of a respective passenger (see [0028], [0050], and [0061]).
Regarding claim 3, O’Flaherty further discloses the one or more physical parameters include a size of the respective passenger (see [0062]).
Regarding claim 4, O’Flaherty further discloses collecting the one or more physiological parameters and the one or more physical parameters comprises receiving one or more parameters from one or more sensors arranged in the vehicle (see [0029] and [0058]-[0062]).
Regarding claim 5, O’Flaherty further discloses collecting the one or more physiological parameters and the one or more physical parameters further comprises receiving one or more parameters from one or more wearable sensors (see [0029], [0034], and [0050]).
Regarding claim 6, O’Flaherty further discloses providing the temporary personal profile of each passenger of the one or more passengers of the vehicle to one or more vehicle applications comprises providing the temporary personal profile to an emergency call unit of the vehicle (see [0079]-[0080] and [0087]).
Regarding claim 7, O’Flaherty further discloses updating the temporary personal profile of each passenger of the one or more passengers of the vehicle at least once during the driving session (see [0053] and [0056]-[0064]).
Regarding claim 8, O’Flaherty further discloses the temporary personal profile of each passenger of the one or more passengers of the vehicle is updated in regular intervals (see [0053] and [0056]-[0064]).
Regarding claim 10, O’Flaherty discloses a driver assistance system comprises a processor (processors 210) configured to
at a beginning of each driving session of a vehicle, collect one or more physiological parameters and one or more physical parameters for each of one or more passengers of the vehicle (see [0028]-[0030], [0035], [0042], [0048]-[0054], and [0057]-[0064]),
for each passenger of the one or more passengers of the vehicle, store the one or more physiological parameters and one or more physical parameters, thereby creating a temporary personal profile for each passenger (see [0028]-[0030], [0035], [0038], [0042], [0048]-[0054], and [0057]-[0064]), and
if an increased risk for an occurrence of an accident of the vehicle is detected or if it is detected that the accident has occurred, provide the temporary personal profile of each passenger of the one or more passengers of the vehicle to one or more vehicle applications (see [0028]-[0030], [0052], [0072]-[0080], [0087]-[0088], [0094]-[0095], [0111]-[0117], [0136]-[0142], and [0145]-[0151]).
Regarding claim 11, O’Flaherty further discloses the driver assistance system comprises or is coupled to one or more sensors arranged in the vehicle, and wherein collecting the one or more physiological parameters and the one or more physical parameters comprises receiving one or more parameters from the one or more sensors (see [0029] and [0058]-[0062]).
Regarding claim 12, O’Flaherty further discloses the one or more sensors comprise a camera (camera 124) and a thermal imaging camera (IR sensors 120).
Regarding claim 13, O’Flaherty further discloses the driver assistance system comprising or being coupled to a storage device, wherein the temporary personal profile of each passenger of the one or more passengers of the vehicle is stored in the storage device (see [0031] and [0052]).
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.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over O’Flaherty in view of Rajanna et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2023/0052474 A1) [hereinafter “Rajanna”].
Regarding claim 9, O’Flaherty teaches creating an emergency report by evaluating the one or more physiological parameters and the one or more physical parameters (see [0030], [0072], [0079]-[0080], [0083]-[0088]).
O’Flaherty does not expressly teach that the report is created by means of an artificial intelligence.
Rajanna also generally teaches a method for monitoring physiological parameters of occupants of a vehicle and seeking assistance as a result (see Abstract). Rajanna teaches using a trained machine learning model to determine the physiological condition of a vehicle occupant (see [0028]-[0032] and [0085]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method taught by O’Flaherty to use artificial intelligence to create the emergency report, in view of Rajanna, as Rajanna teaches it is known in the art to use a machine learning model to create a report of the physiological condition of an occupant of a vehicle from gathered data.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
O’Flaherty et al. (US 9988055 B1) generally teaches:
Methods and systems for monitoring vehicle occupants using infrared and other sensors are disclosed. The systems may use infrared sensor data to identify each vehicle occupant using biometric signatures (such as heartbeat or facial recognition). Vehicle occupant characteristics may be determined that include skeletal characteristics of the occupants. Further monitoring of the occupants using sensor data may occur until an abnormal situation is detected. Abnormal situations may include medical emergencies, driver impairment, security threats, or similar situations requiring correcting action. The system may then determine and implement an appropriate response to the abnormal situation. Such responses may include generating alerts, adjusting vehicle environmental controls, taking control of operation of the vehicle (such as an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle), or initiating wireless communication with an outside party, such as an emergency service.
Pendelton et al. (US 2020/0130703 A1) generally teaches:
Among other things, we describe techniques for operation of a vehicle based on measured load characteristics and/or passenger comfort. One or more sensors of the vehicle can measure passenger data and/or load data of the vehicle. The passenger data and/or load data of the vehicle can be used by the vehicle to determine how to navigate within the surrounding environment.
Cormack et al. (US 2020/0010077 A1) generally teaches:
In one embodiment, an autonomous vehicle (AV) system determines that a collision between itself and another object is imminent based on data obtained from sensors attached to the AV. The AV system determines an optimal vehicle orientation for the collision, determines a vehicle path to position the vehicle in the optimal vehicle orientation, and autonomously controls the vehicle to travel along the determined vehicle path.
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/ANSHUL SOOD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3667