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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was filed on January 27, 2025 (1/27/2025). The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to the preliminary amendment filed on January 27, 2025 (1/27/2025).
Claims 16-30 are currently pending.
No claims were amended.
Claims 1-15 have been canceled.
New claims 16-30 have been added.
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.
Claims 16-20, 25, and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fendt et al. (DE 102016000220).
Regarding Claim 16, Fendt teaches a method for controlling a communication of a driver of a motor vehicle with a second person outside the motor vehicle, comprising: (Pg. 2 “The object of the present invention is now to propose a further improved method for a driver assistance system, as well as a driver assistance system for the assessment and / or maintenance of the attention of a driver, as well as a vehicle equipped with this method”),
determining a driving situation of the motor vehicle; (Pg. 5-6 “1 shows a schematic representation of this is evident from a three-dimensional characteristic field, as the requirement level is formed on the basis of the parameters "traffic situation" and "vehicle speed". Like from the 1 can be seen, is on the x-axis (running from left to right) to see the traffic situation with a division from 0 to 10, where the value 0 or 1 for "very simple" (low difficulty) and the value 10 for "Very demanding" (high degree of difficulty - for example in city traffic with a high traffic density) The y-axis (running from front to back) shows the vehicle speed in kilometers per hour. The resulting requirement level can be seen on the z-axis (from bottom to top), the resulting requirement level for example being taken from a stored multidimensional table by assigning each yy value pair a y value (requirement level)”),
determining a level of attention of the driver for driving the motor vehicle based on the driving situation; (Pg. 6 “The 2 shows a schematic diagram showing how the required degree of attention of the driver depends on the degree of requirement. As already discussed, any traffic situation can be assigned a degree of difficulty that changes as a function of the speed of the vehicle and can be used to determine a requirement level”),
determining that the communication jeopardizes the level of attention being achieved; (Pg. 3 “Other "annoying" (distracting) factors include, for example a) a telephone call that is answered, as well as the subsequent telephone call, or b) the operation of an infotainment system, or c) the operation of a navigation system or infotainment system, in particular a voice-based e-mail output (reading out incoming e-mails) to name (hereinafter also generally infotainment applications called)” and Pg. 6 “In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, this requirement level or required level of attention determined in this way is additionally influenced by sporadically occurring additional load factors (not shown), so that a correct value (not shown) is provided for the requirement level a) added (superimposed) and / or b) multiplied (weighted), in order to obtain a situation-dependent required degree of demand or a degree of attentiveness (overall degree of attention) resulting therefrom”),
and influencing the communication as a function of the level of attention (Pg. 4 “A (temporary) deactivation can be done in such a way that a) incoming calls are delayed through /signaled (eg only then the "ringtone" sounds when the driver has left the crossing area, or is no longer on an acceleration strip or deceleration strip of a highway),” and Pg. 5 “In a further advantageous embodiment, the method is distinguished by the fact that the current requirement level is kept smaller than or equal to the current level of attention by delaying / signaling incoming telephone calls or incoming telephone calls”).
Regarding Claim 17, Fendt teaches the invention of Claim 16, further teaching wherein a distraction of the driver is determined which is independent of the driving situation and the communication, achieved (Pg. 3 “Other "annoying" (distracting) factors include, for example a) a telephone call that is answered, as well as the subsequent telephone call, or b) the operation of an infotainment system, or c) the operation of a navigation system or infotainment system, in particular a voice-based e-mail output (reading out incoming e-mails) to name (hereinafter also generally infotainment applications called)”),
and wherein it is determined that the communication in combination with the distraction jeopardizes the level of attention being achieved (Pg. 7 “Like from the 3 As can be seen further, the number of permissible infotainment applications decreases with the increase in the requirement level, so that this results in an inverse proportional function characteristic” and Pg. 7 “In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, in addition to the currently required degree of requirement additionally the current level of attention of the driver is additionally taken into account by this has an influence on the degree / number of approved or disabled infotainment applications (see 3 )”).
Regarding Claim 18, Fendt teaches the invention of Claim 16, further teaching wherein a signal is provided to the driver (Pg. 4 “A (temporary) deactivation can be done in such a way that a) incoming calls are delayed through / signaled (eg only then the "ringtone" sounds when the driver has left the crossing area, or is no longer on an acceleration strip or deceleration strip of a highway)” and Pg. 5 “In a further advantageous embodiment, the method is distinguished by the fact that the current requirement level is kept smaller than or equal to the current level of attention by delaying / signaling incoming telephone calls or incoming telephone calls”).
Regarding Claim 19, Fendt teaches the invention of Claim 16, further teaching wherein a message transported as part of the communication is delayed (Pg. 3 “This can be achieved in the simplest case, that as an immediate measure, a) incoming or incoming telephone calls / telephone conversations, are suppressed, or suspended in time, or b) viewing direction-dependent display systems are temporarily deactivated, or temporarily disabled, or c) voice-emitting infotainment application such as a voice-based mail output (reading out of incoming mails) temporarily out of order, or suspended in time”).
Regarding Claim 20, Fendt teaches the invention of Claim 16, further teaching wherein a message transported as part of the communication is output to the driver with reduced urgency (Pg. 3 “This can be achieved in the simplest case, that as an immediate measure, a) incoming or incoming telephone calls / telephone conversations, are suppressed, or suspended in time, or b) viewing direction-dependent display systems are temporarily deactivated, or temporarily disabled, or c) voice-emitting infotainment application such as a voice-based mail output (reading out of incoming mails) temporarily out of order, or suspended in time” and Pg. 5 “In a further advantageous embodiment, the method is distinguished by the fact that the current requirement level is kept smaller than or equal to the current degree of attention by temporarily suspending a speech-output infotainment application or by temporarily suspending it”).
Regarding Claim 25, Fendt teaches the invention of Claim 16, further teaching wherein a type of influence is determined as a function of the communication (Pg. 7 “Like from the 3 As can be seen further, the number of permissible infotainment applications decreases with the increase in the requirement level, so that this results in an inverse proportional function characteristic. In addition to the linear course shown, the function characteristic may also have a non-linear dependency, as shown by way of example with the two dashed function characteristics” and Pg. 7 “By means of this reverse dependency (inversely running function characteristic), the circumstance is taken into account that with increasing demand level due to the traffic situation, the vehicle driver has to focus his attention more on the traffic for a safe vehicle guidance, and thus no longer distracts as much by avoidable load factors should be. The latter is achieved in the simplest case by the fact that with increasing requirement level, the number of permissible infotainment applications, which additional load factors are limited accordingly or suspended (blocked)”).
Regarding Claim 29, Fendt teaches a device for controlling a communication of a driver of a motor vehicle with a second person outside the motor vehicle, wherein the device comprises: (Pg. 2 “The object of the present invention is now to propose a further improved method for a driver assistance system, as well as a driver assistance system for the assessment and / or maintenance of the attention of a driver, as well as a vehicle equipped with this method”),
a sensing apparatus for determining a driving situation of the motor vehicle; (Pg. 5-6 “1 shows a schematic representation of this is evident from a three-dimensional characteristic field, as the requirement level is formed on the basis of the parameters "traffic situation" and "vehicle speed". Like from the 1 can be seen, is on the x-axis (running from left to right) to see the traffic situation with a division from 0 to 10, where the value 0 or 1 for "very simple" (low difficulty) and the value 10 for "Very demanding" (high degree of difficulty - for example in city traffic with a high traffic density) The y-axis (running from front to back) shows the vehicle speed in kilometers per hour. The resulting requirement level can be seen on the z-axis (from bottom to top), the resulting requirement level for example being taken from a stored multidimensional table by assigning each yy value pair a y value (requirement level)”),
a processing apparatus for determining a level of attention of the driver for driving the motor vehicle based on the driving situation; (Pg. 6 “The 2 shows a schematic diagram showing how the required degree of attention of the driver depends on the degree of requirement. As already discussed, any traffic situation can be assigned a degree of difficulty that changes as a function of the speed of the vehicle and can be used to determine a requirement level”),
and for determining that the communication jeopardizes the level of attention being achieved; (Pg. 3 “Other "annoying" (distracting) factors include, for example a) a telephone call that is answered, as well as the subsequent telephone call, or b) the operation of an infotainment system, or c) the operation of a navigation system or infotainment system, in particular a voice-based e-mail output (reading out incoming e-mails) to name (hereinafter also generally infotainment applications called)” and Pg. 6 “In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, this requirement level or required level of attention determined in this way is additionally influenced by sporadically occurring additional load factors (not shown), so that a correct value (not shown) is provided for the requirement level a) added (superimposed) and / or b) multiplied (weighted), in order to obtain a situation-dependent required degree of demand or a degree of attentiveness (overall degree of attention) resulting therefrom”),
and an apparatus for influencing the communication as a function of the level of attention (Pg. 4 “A (temporary) deactivation can be done in such a way that a) incoming calls are delayed through /signaled (eg only then the "ringtone" sounds when the driver has left the crossing area, or is no longer on an acceleration strip or deceleration strip of a highway),” and Pg. 5 “In a further advantageous embodiment, the method is distinguished by the fact that the current requirement level is kept smaller than or equal to the current level of attention by delaying / signaling incoming telephone calls or incoming telephone calls”).
Regarding Claim 30, Fendt teaches a motor vehicle comprising a device for controlling a communication of a driver of the motor vehicle with a second person outside the motor vehicle, wherein the device comprises: (Pg. 2 “The object of the present invention is now to propose a further improved method for a driver assistance system, as well as a driver assistance system for the assessment and / or maintenance of the attention of a driver, as well as a vehicle equipped with this method”),
a sensing apparatus for determining a driving situation of the motor vehicle; (Pg. 5-6 “1 shows a schematic representation of this is evident from a three-dimensional characteristic field, as the requirement level is formed on the basis of the parameters "traffic situation" and "vehicle speed". Like from the 1 can be seen, is on the x-axis (running from left to right) to see the traffic situation with a division from 0 to 10, where the value 0 or 1 for "very simple" (low difficulty) and the value 10 for "Very demanding" (high degree of difficulty - for example in city traffic with a high traffic density) The y-axis (running from front to back) shows the vehicle speed in kilometers per hour. The resulting requirement level can be seen on the z-axis (from bottom to top), the resulting requirement level for example being taken from a stored multidimensional table by assigning each yy value pair a y value (requirement level)”),
a processing apparatus for determining a level of attention of the driver for driving the motor vehicle based on the driving situation; (Pg. 6 “The 2 shows a schematic diagram showing how the required degree of attention of the driver depends on the degree of requirement. As already discussed, any traffic situation can be assigned a degree of difficulty that changes as a function of the speed of the vehicle and can be used to determine a requirement level”),
and for determining that the communication jeopardizes the level of attention being achieved; (Pg. 3 “Other "annoying" (distracting) factors include, for example a) a telephone call that is answered, as well as the subsequent telephone call, or b) the operation of an infotainment system, or c) the operation of a navigation system or infotainment system, in particular a voice-based e-mail output (reading out incoming e-mails) to name (hereinafter also generally infotainment applications called)” and Pg. 6 “In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, this requirement level or required level of attention determined in this way is additionally influenced by sporadically occurring additional load factors (not shown), so that a correct value (not shown) is provided for the requirement level a) added (superimposed) and / or b) multiplied (weighted), in order to obtain a situation-dependent required degree of demand or a degree of attentiveness (overall degree of attention) resulting therefrom”),
and an apparatus for influencing the communication as a function of the level of attention (Pg. 4 “A (temporary) deactivation can be done in such a way that a) incoming calls are delayed through /signaled (eg only then the "ringtone" sounds when the driver has left the crossing area, or is no longer on an acceleration strip or deceleration strip of a highway),” and Pg. 5 “In a further advantageous embodiment, the method is distinguished by the fact that the current requirement level is kept smaller than or equal to the current level of attention by delaying / signaling incoming telephone calls or incoming telephone calls”).
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.
Claims 21-23 and 26-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fendt et al. (DE 102016000220) in view of Kynast et al. (DE 10226425).
Regarding Claim 21, Fendt teaches the invention of Claim 16, but does not explicitly teach wherein a signal is provided to the second person.
In the same field of endeavor, Kynast teaches a signal is provided to the second person (Pg. 3 “The driver is currently on the edge of the city center and, after a few maneuvers, will drive onto the motorway in a predicted five minutes. Until then, he will be challenged by observing the traffic and driving task. In this situation, an incoming call can be processed as follows. The system picks up and says to the caller without the driver noticing anything: "Mister Mustermann has to concentrate fully on his driving task. He would like to take your call in five minutes. Would you like to wait? -Music-". If so, the call is put on hold. Otherwise the system switches to the answering machine”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Kynast’s automatic caller response with Fendt’s driver attention system to improve driver attention by reducing distractions.
Regarding Claim 22, Fendt in view of Kynast teaches the invention of Claim 21, where Kynast further teaches wherein the signal is configured to convey to the second person an increased level of attention from the driver to drive the motor vehicle (Pg. 3 “The driver is currently on the edge of the city center and, after a few maneuvers, will drive onto the motorway in a predicted five minutes. Until then, he will be challenged by observing the traffic and driving task. In this situation, an incoming call can be processed as follows. The system picks up and says to the caller without the driver noticing anything: "Mister Mustermann has to concentrate fully on his driving task. He would like to take your call in five minutes. Would you like to wait? -Music-". If so, the call is put on hold. Otherwise the system switches to the answering machine”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Kynast’s automatic caller response with Fendt’s driver attention system to improve driver attention by reducing distractions.
Regarding Claim 23, Fendt in view of Kynast teaches the invention of Claim 21, where Kynast further teaches wherein the signal is provided audibly (Pg. 3 “The driver is currently on the edge of the city center and, after a few maneuvers, will drive onto the motorway in a predicted five minutes. Until then, he will be challenged by observing the traffic and driving task. In this situation, an incoming call can be processed as follows. The system picks up and says to the caller without the driver noticing anything: "Mister Mustermann has to concentrate fully on his driving task. He would like to take your call in five minutes. Would you like to wait? -Music-". If so, the call is put on hold. Otherwise the system switches to the answering machine”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Kynast’s automatic caller response with Fendt’s driver attention system to improve driver attention by reducing distractions.
Regarding Claim 26, Fendt teaches the invention of Claim 16, but does not explicitly teach wherein an imminent driving situation is predicted and the level of attention for the imminent driving situation is determined.
In the same field of endeavor, Kynast teaches wherein an imminent driving situation is predicted and the level of attention for the imminent driving situation is determined (Pg. 2 “At the beginning it is checked whether the current driver stress allows a telephone conversation ( 11 ). The driver stress is determined from the current driving situation and the current driver status. If the driver demands a call, the connection ( 12 ) is established. If not ( 13 ), it is checked whether the predicted driver stress allows a telephone call within a tolerable predetermined time ( 14 )”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Kynast’s driver stress system with Fendt’s driver attention system to improve driver attention by reducing distractions.
Regarding Claim 27, Fendt in view of Kynast teaches the invention of Claim 26, where Kynast further teaches wherein it is predicted for how long the level of attention is above a predetermined threshold value; (Pg. 2-3 “If the driver demands a call, the connection ( 12 ) is established. If not ( 13 ), it is checked whether the predicted driver stress allows a telephone call within a tolerable predetermined time ( 14 )”),
and wherein the communication is influenced as a function of a determined duration (Pg. 2-3 “If the driver demands a call, the connection ( 12 ) is established. If not ( 13 ), it is checked whether the predicted driver stress allows a telephone call within a tolerable predetermined time ( 14 ). If so, there is a break 15 . This can include music and a message to the caller, e.g. B. include explanatory text. The process then starts again from the beginning. If the predicted driver stress does not allow a telephone call within a tolerable time, an answering machine 16 is switched through”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Kynast’s driver stress system with Fendt’s driver attention system to improve driver attention by reducing distractions.
Regarding Claim 28, Fendt teaches the invention of Claim 16, but does not explicitly teach wherein the communication is influenced as a function of a duration for which the level of attention exceeds a predetermined threshold value.
In the same field of endeavor, Kynast teaches wherein the communication is influenced as a function of a duration for which the level of attention exceeds a predetermined threshold value (Pg. 2-3 “If the driver demands a call, the connection ( 12 ) is established. If not ( 13 ), it is checked whether the predicted driver stress allows a telephone call within a tolerable predetermined time ( 14 ). If so, there is a break 15 . This can include music and a message to the caller, e.g. B. include explanatory text. The process then starts again from the beginning. If the predicted driver stress does not allow a telephone call within a tolerable time, an answering machine 16 is switched through”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Kynast’s driver stress system with Fendt’s driver attention system to improve driver attention by reducing distractions.
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fendt et al. (DE 102016000220) in view of Kynast et al. (DE 10226425) in further view of Gorman et al. (DE 102014119323).
Regarding Claim 24, Fendt in view of Kynast teaches the invention of Claim 21, but does not explicitly teach wherein the communication comprises transmitting an image to the second person, and the signal relates to a change in the image.
In the same field of endeavor, Gorman teaches wherein the communication comprises transmitting an image to the second person, (Pg. 6 “In general, it can also be provided that a user person can then also select whether, after a display call, an image that is then actually generated should be displayed or an image that has already been recorded should be displayed. The same option can then also be provided for providing and optionally transmitting an image captured as a self-portrait to a third party, for example a conversation partner of a video telephone conference”),
and the signal relates to a change in the image (Pg. 6 “After that, the vehicle occupant or the user person can decide in which situation he may be displayed better or more advantageously in an image. The driver 6 can now so even on the display unit 10 , especially up to date. The vehicle occupant 6 Thus, it can assess its own condition and / or make changes”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Gorman’s image transmission and adjustment during communication with Kynast’s automatic caller response and Fendt’s driver attention system to improve driver comfort while driving.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Dobler et al. (US 2007/0182529) discloses suppressing or delaying low priority messages relating to e-mail, text, or incoming telephone calls to drivers based on a driver’s attention level.
Cavanaugh et al. (US 2015/0121506) discloses restricting non-emergency phone calls when a vehicle driver exceeds a threshold where they’re determined to be distracted.
Naboulsi et al. (US 2017/0305349) discloses establishing a level of driver attention required and restricting certain communications based on the level of required driver attention.
Hampiholi et al. (US 2016/0267335) discloses issuing audio and visual warnings to influence an ongoing phone call based on a severity range of driver distraction.
Bruns et al. (US 2011/0050460) discloses detecting a situation that requires an elevated driver attention level and delivering an audible alert to a caller in conversation with the driver that the driver requires .
Engstrom et al. (US 2002/0128751) discloses assessing demand level of a driving situation and stopping incoming phone calls depending on if a situation is particularly demanding.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH NGHIA DINH whose telephone number is (571)272-7982. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Fri. 7:30AM-5PM.
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/J.N.D./Examiner, Art Unit 2641
/CHARLES N APPIAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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