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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: (¶[0331] , Line 3) Wherein it reads , "following up another vehicle", should read as --following another vehicle-- .(¶[0331] , Line 5) Wherein it reads, "the another vehicle", should read as --the other vehicle--. (¶[0331] , Line 6) Wherein it reads, "the another vehicle", should read as --the other vehicle--..
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(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, 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KESSLER ET AL. WIPO Patent Publication No. WO 2023121977 (hereinafter KESSLER).
Regarding Claim 1 , KESSLER discloses a driver assist apparatus comprising : (24)one or more processors configured to collectively provide instructions (16) of settings with group,
(¶[0006], "In a first mode of operation, the controller (16) determines various user inputs that are provided by the user and output signals as control signals for changing settings of one or more systems of the vehicle (24). For example, output signal may result in changing a setting for a left or right turn signal of the vehicle (24), high or low beam headlights of the vehicle (24), windshield wipers of the vehicle (24), voice recognition, an air conditioning unit of the vehicle (24), a lighting system of the vehicle (24), and/or a music system of vehicle (24), or changing a setting of a driver-assist mode or an autonomous-driving mode. ")
the settings being set to driver assist functions included in the group (e.g. driver-assist mode) ,
and the group being configured so that the driver assist function of a vehicle is allowed to be added to or deleted from the group,
(¶[0003], Lines 3-5, "However, there are many other functionalities that the driver may need to change or update while driving (e.g. Adding to Or Deleting from is Changing) , for example selecting driver-assist functionality, activating turn signals, activating a horn, controlling the climate (for example increasing or decreasing the cabin temperature or increasing or decreasing the fan speed), making a telephone call, or another action").
(¶[0063], "In certain embodiments during operation of the vehicle (24) (e.g., first mode of operation), the controller (16) generates output signals based on electric signals received from the one or more pressure or proximity sensitive components (e.g., sensors 14). Output signals arc embodied as control signals for changing settings of one or more system of the vehicle (24). For example, output signal may result in changing a setting for a left or right turn signal of the vehicle (24), high or low beam headlights of the vehicle (24), windshield wipers of the vehicle (24), voice recognition, an air conditioning unit of the vehicle (24), a lighting system of the vehicle (24), a music system of vehicle (24), and/or changing a setting of a driver-assist mode or an autonomous-driving mode.")(e.g. Adding to Or Deleting from is Changing)
wherein the driver assist functions included in the group include a notification-related function to a user.
(¶[0064], "Output signals may be directly sent to a control unit of the vehicle (24) or to individual systems of the vehicle (24). Further, output signals may also be sent to a display unit (28)(Figure 3). Display unit (28) may be present on the steering wheel assembly (22) or it may be present anywhere in a cab of the vehicle (24) where the user is seated. In certain embodiments, the display unit (28) may include a tablet or smartphone. The display unit (28 )may provide notifications to the user regarding change in vehicle system settings (e.g. Notifying User or Driver a driver-assist mode or function is activating or deactivating) or selections made by the user. Output signals may also be transmitted to other remote devices that are connected to the vehicle (24). For example, a tablet or smartphone may be connected to vehicle (24)through short distance communication techniques, for example Bluetooth technology.")
Regarding method Claim 10 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus of Claim 1 and is anticipated by the reference for the same reasons discussed above.
Regarding Claim 11 KESSLER discloses a non-transitory storage medium (18) storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors(16) and that cause the one or more processors to perform functions comprising collectively providing instructions of settings with group, the settings being set to driver assist functions included in the group, and the group being configured so that the driver assist function of a vehicle is allowed to be added to or deleted from the group, wherein the driver assist functions included in the group include a notification-related function to a user.
(¶[0074], Lines 6-10, The controller (16) may embody a single microprocessor or multiple microprocessors. Numerous commercially available microprocessors can be configured to perform the functions of the controller (16). The controller (16) may include all the components required to run an application such as, for example, the memory (18), a secondary storage device, and a processor, such as a central processing unit.
Claim 11 is anticipated by the reference for the same reasons discussed above as it is the non-transitory storage medium of the apparatus of Claim 1.
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 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KESSLER in view of NISHIDA Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2020121645. Below citations referencing NISHIDA have been pulled from the U.S. Patent No. 12097869 as the disclosure of the JP Patent Publication and U.S. Patent are the same.
Regarding Claim 2 KESSLER discloses all of the limitations of Claim 1 above. However, KESSLER does not disclose the driver assist apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification-related function includes a monitoring notification function concerned with a function that provides notification based on monitoring of an ambient environment and a monitoring result. NISHIDA discloses functionality that incorporates monitoring the ambient environment around the vehicle and providing a notification in regards to that monitoring.
(Col. 15, Lines 31-44, "Meanwhile, when the function button (82c) of the vehicle setting screen (72) shown in FIG. 7 is selected, a setting screen (74) related to the preceding vehicle (e.g. monitoring of an ambient environment, i.e. the car in front) start notification function (e.g. notification based on the result of monitoring the Preceding Vehicle) shown in FIG. 9 is displayed on the display (27). The setting screen (74) contains an ON button (85a), an OFF button (85b), distance buttons (86a) to (86c), and the back button (83c). The ON button (85a) and the OFF button (85b) are associated with the request state of the preceding vehicle start notification function. Each of the distance buttons (86a) to (86c) is associated with the notification distance which is the setting item related to the preceding vehicle start notification function. When the back button (83c) is selected, the screen displayed on the display (27) switches back to the vehicle setting screen (72)."
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KESSLER and NISHIDA are analogous are because both of them disclose an apparatus used to assist a driver. NISHIDA adds on to the driver assist setting personalization and incorporates functionality that monitors the environment surrounding the vehicle and provides notifications based on that monitoring as that can perform the function of Claim 2. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention to modify the driver assist apparatus of KESSLER and incorporate the monitoring of environment around vehicle functionality of NISHIDA along with providing notifications in regards to that monitoring in order to enhance the safety of the driver and possible passengers.
Regarding Claim 3 KESSLER discloses all of the limitation of Claim 1 which Claim 2 depends on. However, KESSLER does not disclose the driver assist apparatus according to claim 2,
wherein the monitoring notification function includes
(Col. 10, Lines 57-62, "The drive assistance ECU (20) provides various driving assistance functions so as to assist drive operation of the vehicle (10) by the driver. A table of the driving assistance functions provided by the drive assistance ECU (20) is shown in FIG. 5. An overview of the driving assistance functions will be described below.")
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two or more of a notification function based on monitoring a road,
(Col. 11, Lines 10-20, " A lane tracing assist function (hereinafter also referred to as “the LTA function” for simplification) includes a “lane deviation alerting function,” a “lane deviation preventing function,” and a “lane keeping assist function” which are described later. The lane deviation alerting function is a function for generating an alert when the vehicle 10 is about to deviate from “a lane in which the vehicle 10 is running (hereinafter also referred to as an “own lane”)” while the vehicle 10 travels (runs) on an assisting target road (specifically, an expressway and a limited highway).")(e.g. Notification based on monitoring a road)
a notification function based on monitoring a surrounding vehicle, a notification function based on monitoring a condition of a driver, and a notification function based on monitoring a signal or a road sign
(Col. 11, Lines 33-39, "A road sign assist function is a function for recognizing a roadway sign located ahead of the vehicle (10) and displaying a symbol representing the recognized roadway sign on the display (27). In addition, if a travel state of the vehicle (10) violates a traffic regulation represented by the recognized roadway sign while the road sign assist function is being executed, an alert is generated to the driver.")
(Col. 11, Lines 40-43, "In an example of a screen (a top screen (71) described later) displayed on the display (27) shown in FIG. 6, a roadway sign 71a represents a speed limit sign recognized by the road sign assist function.")
NISHIDA discloses driver assist functions that include notifications based on monitoring the road and based on monitoring road signs as cited above. KESSLER and NISHIDA are analogous art as previously stated above. NISHIDA adds on to monitoring the environment around the vehicle to include notifications based on road monitoring (e.g. Lane Tracing Assist) and road sign monitoring(e.g. Road Sign Assist). Therefore, 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 driver assist apparatus of KESSLER and incorporate the driver assist monitoring functions and notifications of NISHIDA in order to enhance the safety of the driver and possible passengers.
Regarding Claim 4 KESSLER disclose all of the limitations of Claim 1 mentioned above. However KESSLER does not disclose the driver assist apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification-related function includes an activation suggestion function that makes a suggestion to activate the driver assist function to the user. NISHIDA discloses suggestion functions which suggest turning functions that are in the off state to the on state.(e.g. activate the driver assist function) to the driver(e.g. User).
(Col. 19, Lines 66-67; continued at Col.20, Lines 1-2, "Hereinafter, a driving assistance function whose request state is the OFF state among the traveling state related functions is also referred to as a “suggestion target function."
(Col. 20, Lines 3-14, "When the present position Pn is on the “link” which represents either the expressway or the limited highway in the map database (26), the drive assistance ECU(20) determines that the traveling state of the vehicle (10) is the specific traveling state. If the suggestion target function is present when the traveling state of the vehicle (10) is the specific traveling state, the drive assistance ECU (20) executes the “operation starting suggestion processing” to suggest to the driver to switch the request state of the suggestion target function to the ON state. The suggestion target function is the confirmation target function related to the operation starting suggestion processing.")
KESSLER and NISHIDA are analogous art as previously stated above. NISHIDA expands on the driver apparatus by adding suggestions to activate driver assist functions that are off. Therefore, 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 driver assist apparatus of KESSLER and incorporate the suggestion target functions of NISHIDA in order to alert or recommend to the driver that a driver assist feature should be activated to enhance the safety of the driver and possible passengers.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KESSLER and NISHIDA as applied to Claim 4 above and further in view of MUGHAL ET AL. U.S. Patent No. 9653001 (hereinafter MUGHAL) and VICTOR U.S. Patent No. 11027750 .KESSLER discloses all of the limitations of Claim 1; KESSLER and NISDHIA disclose all of the limitations of Claim 4, of which Claim 5 inherits by being dependent on Claim 4, which is dependent on Claim 1. However, KESSLER and NISHIDA do not disclose the driver assist apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the activation suggestion function includes a function concerned with a report made by the user,(MUGHAL) a function concerned with a suggestion to the user to take a break,(VICTOR) and a function concerned with monitoring of a condition of a driver (VICTOR)
MUGHAL discloses a report transmission function where the users can send a driver report to whomever they choose, using different methods of communications.
(Col. 15, Lines 18-33, "The option to transmit the driver report information to the communications and processing device (52) may be displayed for the user on the display (54). Through a user input (via a touch screen, through the microphone (78), etc.), the user can initiate the transmission or decline the transmission of his/her driving report or the portion thereof to the communications and processing device(52). In one example, the user may input a phone number, email address, etc. in order to identify the communications and processing device (52) to which the driving report information is to be transmitted. In another example, the phone number, email address, etc. may have previously been stored in the memory (50), and the test module TM may retrieve this information and request the input from the user, which will identify the phone number, email address, etc. he/she would like the driver report information to be transmitted to.")
MUGHAL however does not disclose a function with a suggestion to the user to take a break and a function to monitor the condition of the driver
VICTOR discloses a system to detect an inattentive, drowsy or out-of-the-loop driver (e.g. monitoring condition of driver) and prompting (e.g. prompt can be to take a break) the driver.
(Col. 4, Lines 46-55; FIG.3, "In still yet an additional embodiment, the method and system are operable for detecting and adequately warning an inattentive, drowsy, and/or out-of-the-loop driver and assessing and confirming the driver's adequate response to the associated warning prompt(s), which may include audio, visual, haptic, and, more preferably, brake pulse or the like warning prompt(s). This situation requires a modeling of reaction times and a consideration of time-to-collision probabilities once a perceived or sudden threat has been identified.")
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KESSLER, MUGHAL, and VICTOR are analogous are because they all disclose an apparatus used to assist a driver. MUGHAL adds on to the normal driver assist apparatus of to allow the user to generate and send a report. VICTOR adds on to the normal driver assist apparatus to monitor the driver and prompt them in various ways as shown above in FIG.3. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the driver assist apparatus of KESSLER and incorporate the ability to generate a report by the user disclosed by MUGHAL and the driver monitoring and prompting disclosed by VICTOR in order to alert a driver of their condition or unsafe actions, or alert a third-part to the unsafe actions of another driver, to enhance the safety of the driver and possible passengers.
Claims 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KESSLER in view of SADAKUNI ET AL. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2024015575 (hereinafter SADAKUNI). Below citations referencing SADAKUNI have been pulled from the U.S. Patent No. 12434729 as the disclosure of the JP Patent Publication and U.S. Patent are the same.
Claims 6-9 are dependent on Claim 1 of which KESSLER anticipates as shown above.
Regarding Claim 6 KESSLER does not disclose the driver assist apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions include an instruction to change a timing of activation of the driver assist function. SADAKUNI discloses setting items such as detection sensitivity (e.g. changing the timing of a driver assist function)
(Col. 11, Lines 27-37, " Furthermore, setting items for pre-crash safety include function on-off, the presence or absence of the notification, a buzzer volume, a detection sensitivity, and on-off (enabled or disabled) of the personalization function. For example, among these setting items, the presence or absence of the notification and the buzzer volume are exemplified as the information provision type setting items. Further, the detection sensitivity is exemplified as the intervention operation type setting item because the timing at which the intervention operation command is transmitted from the ADAS-ECU (70) is changed.")
Regarding Claim 7, KESSLER does not disclose the driver assist apparatus according to claim 6, wherein: when the settings include changing the timing of activation of each of two or more of the driver assist functions, the one or more processors are configured to set such that the timing of activation of another one of the driver assist functions, different from the driver assist functions of which the timings of activation are set to be changed, is changed; and the instructions are instructions to collectively change the timings of activation. SADAKUNI discloses the limitation pertaining to Claim 6 as shown above as well as the ability to change the timing of more than one driver assist function.
(Col. 11, Lines 38-49, "In FIG. 7, initial values of the setting items are indicated by hatching. At the time of new registration, the driver can set the set values of the setting items to arbitrary values. In particular, at the time of new registration, the driver can select between the driver assistance function that the driver desires personalization and the driver assistance function that the driver does not desire personalization in a manner such that whether to use the personalization function can be set for each driver assistance function. The set values set in the driver assistance function information tab (216) are stored in the driving information storage unit (80) by the personalization setting unit (81).")
Regarding Claim 8 KESSLER does not disclose the driver assist apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions include an instruction to change an alarm sound(e.g. Buzzer Volume) to a user of the driver assist function. SADAKUNI discloses changing alarm sound volume.
(Col. 13, Lines 30-39, "Further, the change condition setting unit (86) extracts driver assistance function information corresponding to the initial value (n=1) of a driver assistance function counter n (S14). Then, the change condition setting unit 86 extracts the setting item of which the recommended value is different from the current set value among various setting items of the driver assistance function of the counter n=1 (S16). For example, when the current set value of the buzzer volume is “medium” and the recommended value is “small”, the setting item “buzzer volume” is extracted.")
Regarding Claim 9 KESSLER does not disclose the driver assist apparatus according to claim 8, wherein: when the settings include changing the alarm sound of each of two or more of the driver assist functions, the one or more processors are configured to set such that the alarm sound of another one of the driver assist functions, different from the driver assist functions of which the alarm sounds are set to be changed, is changed; and the instructions are instructions to collectively change the alarm sounds.
However Claim 9 is rejected for the same reasons of Claim 7 and 8 combined as disclosed by SADAKUNI.
KESSLER and SADAKUNI are analogous because they all disclose an apparatus used to assist a driver. SADAKUNI adds to the normal driver assist apparatus to allow the user to change the detection sensitivity and buzzer sound volume (e.g. change alarm sound). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the driver assist apparatus of KESSLER and incorporate the functionality of changing the detection sensitivity and buzzer volume to allow the user to personalize when the driver assist functions engage and to set the buzzer volume to a desirable level to the user; in order to enhance the safety of the driver and possible passengers.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
DANZL MARTIN ET AL. German Patent Application Publication No. DE 102013016488 A1 discloses a motor vehicle and method for controlling a motor vehicle
DANIEL; TIMOTHY ET AL. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0063607 discloses a system and method for adjusting driver assist functions based on distraction level of driver
HAMAGUCHI; TAKESHI ET AL. U.S. Patent No. 12162348 discloses a control device for a vehicle
NORO; TETSUSHI U.S. Patent No. 11373502 discloses a vehicle alert apparatus
TAKAHASHI; YOSHIHIKO ET AL.U.S. Patent No. 11544975 discloses a vehicle control apparatus and display control method
HARA; TETSUYA ET AL. U.S. Patent No. 7616104 discloses a notification controller, notification control method and notification information transmitter
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA DWAYNE MARSHALL whose telephone number is (571)270-1001. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Zimmerman Brian, can be reached at telephone number (571) 272-3059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.D.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2686
/BRIAN A ZIMMERMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2686
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