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 § 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Murphy (Pat. No.: 10,791,536 B1).
1) In regard to claim 1, Murphy discloses the claimed vehicle occupant detection system (fig. 7: 700) comprising:
a wireless receiver device obtaining a plurality of wireless transmissions (fig. 7: 108) from one or more wireless beacon devices (fig. 7: 708) positioned in a vehicle (fig. 7: vehicle);
a controller having at least one processor (fig. 8: 802), the controller determining one or more transmission metric values associated with the plurality of wireless transmissions, the one or more transmission metric values corresponding to a driver status determination (col. 10, lines 21-40); and
a driver status data file, generated by the controller, indicating the driver status determination, and the driver status data file is configured for reception by an application in communication with the controller (col. 10, lines 63-67 to col. 11, lines 1-18).
2) In regard to claim 2 (dependent on claim 1), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of wireless transmissions includes one or more or an inquiry request, a discovery request, a pairing request, or a paging request (col. 10, lines 63-67).
3) In regard to claim 3 (dependent on claim 1), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 1, wherein: the one or more wireless beacon devices include a plurality of Bluetooth low energy beacon devices having a predefined transmission arrangement in the vehicle (col. 10, lines 1-12), the driver status determination is based on determining whether the one or more transmission metric values meets a threshold profile value associated with the predefined transmission arrangement (col. 10, lines 34-40).
4) In regard to claim 4 (dependent on claim 3), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 3, wherein: the threshold profile value includes a data structure, accessible by the controller, representing one or more expected signal strength values of the plurality of Bluetooth low energy beacon devices, the driver status determination is based at least partly on the one or more expected signal strength values (col. 4, lines 41-49).
5) In regard to claim 5 (dependent on claim 3), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 3, wherein: the threshold profile value includes a data structure, accessible by the controller, representing one or more of an expected angle of departure value or an expected angle of arrival value for the plurality of wireless transmissions, the driver status determination is based at least partly on the expected angle of departure value or the expected angle of arrival value (col. 4, lines 41-49).
6) In regard to claim 6 (dependent on claim 3), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 3, wherein: the driver status determination is based at least in part on the plurality of Bluetooth low energy beacon devices being positioned in the vehicle at two or more of: a driver side dash location, a passenger side dash location, a driver side rear location, or a passenger side rear location (fig. 7: 720 and col. 12, lines 15-21 discloses an array of antenna on the dash location of the vehicle).
7) In regard to claim 7 (dependent on claim 6), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 6, wherein: determining the one or more transmission metric values includes detecting a recurring connection pattern with a short-range, low energy beacon device at the driver side dash location, the driver side rear location, or a driver side door handle location (fig. 7: 720 and col. 12, lines 15-21).
8) In regard to claim 8 (dependent on claim 1), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 1, wherein: the one or more wireless beacon devices are integrated into one or more of an onboard vehicle dash device or a door handle device (fig. 7: 720).
9) In regard to claim 9 (dependent on claim 1), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 1, wherein: the one or more transmission metric values include a first signal strength value associated with a first wireless beacon positioned in the vehicle, and a second signal strength value associated with a second wireless beacon positioned in the vehicle, the second signal strength value being lower than the first signal strength value (col. 10, lines 34-40).
10) In regard to claim 10 (dependent on claim 9), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 9, wherein: the plurality of wireless transmissions includes a periodic ping request from the one or more wireless beacon devices for establishing a network connection (col. 12, lines 15-29).
11) In regard to claim 11, claim 11 is rejected and analyzed with respect to claim 1 and the references applied.
12) In regard to claim 12 (dependent on claim 11), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 11, wherein: the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the vehicle occupant detection system to perform a driver detection calibration process by: determining an identifier associated with a user of a mobile device including the wireless receiver interface; establishing a network connection between the mobile device and at least one of the one or more wireless beacons; and receiving a manual input at the mobile device to confirm a driver status associated with a transmission metric of the network connection (col. 15, lines 36-55).
13) In regard to claim 13 (dependent on claim 12), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 12, further comprising: one or more near field communication tags positioned in the vehicle associated with a designated mobile device receiver area (col. 40, lines 1-20)., wherein determining the one or more transmission metric values includes determining that a mobile device is placed in the designated mobile device receiver area (col. 5, lines 20-40).
14) In regard to claim 14 (dependent on claim 13), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 13, wherein: the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the vehicle occupant detection system to present an indication, at a display of the mobile device, of the designated mobile device receiver area associated with the one or more near field communication tags designated to the driver status (col. 6, lines 59-67 to col. 7, lines 1-16).
15) In regard to claim 15 (dependent on claim 11), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 11, wherein: the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the vehicle occupant detection system to send the driver status data file to the application in communication with the controller based at least partly on a permissions action of the application (col. 5, lines 56-67 to col. 6, lines 1-3).
16) In regard to claim 16 (dependent on claim 15), Murphy further discloses the vehicle occupant detection system of claim 15, wherein: the application includes one or more of a public transportation ticketing application, a ride sharing application, or an insurance application (col. 5, lines 41-45).
17) In regard to claim 17, claim 17 is rejected and analyzed with respect to claim 1 and the references applied.
18) In regard to claim 18 (dependent on claim 17), Murphy further discloses the method of claim 17, wherein: the one or more wireless transmissions include a request to establish a network connection (col. 12, lines 3-14); and generating the driver status data file includes a data conversion procedure performed by: converting signal strength data or signal angle data from the request to establish the network connection into the one or more transmission metric values, and converting the one or more transmission metric values into the driver status data file formatted for reception by the one or more applications (col. 12, lines 34-65).
19) In regard to claim 19 (dependent on claim 18), Murphy further discloses the method of claim 18, wherein: the data conversion procedure omits establishing the network connection with the one or more wireless beacons responsive to the request (col. 34, lines 34-51).
20) In regard to claim 20 (dependent on claim 17), Murphy further discloses the method of claim 17, further comprising: receiving device activity data from the one or more applications including a user behavior indicator, wherein generating the driver status data file includes performing a data verification procedure by comparing the user behavior indicator to the driver status determination (col. 26, lines 1-11).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CURTIS J KING whose telephone number is (571)270-5160. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:00 - 2:00 EST.
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/CURTIS J KING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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