DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
In the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, claims 1-5 have been considered and examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Respond to Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 09/14/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim 1, based solely on the limitations as amended, has been fully considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the new combination of references including prior art being used in the current rejection (see below for detail) under new grounds of rejection, necessitated by amendment.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 08/11/2026 and 07/24/2026 are in compliance with the provision of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by Examiner.
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 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.
Claims 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yasui et al. (Yasui – US 2020/0143940 A1) in view of Lu et al. (Lu – CN 210300979 U), Yaffe-Ermoza et al. (Yaffe-Ermoza – US 2017/0290539 A1), Calmes et al. (Calmes – US 2015/0379362 A1), and Mori et al. (Mori – US 2015/0203121 A1).
As to claim 1, Yasui discloses an information provision system comprising:
a driver information detection device (Yasui: FIG. 3 the biometric information acquirer 240), the driver information detection device being configured to detect the driver information (Yasui: [0047], [0055], [0060]-[0062], [0154], and FIG. 3: the biometric information acquirer 240 acquires the biometric information of the user. For example, the biometric information acquirer 240 is a camera that is mounted in the automated driving vehicle and images the user, a microphone, or a wearable sensor worn by the user. Examples of biometric information of the user that the biometric information acquirer 240 operates and acquires include a heart rate, a pulse rate, a body temperature, a respiratory rate, a degree of pupil opening, a respiratory sound, an electrocardiogram, an electromyogram, a change (displacement) in the electrocardiogram or the electromyogram, a blood glucose level, and a blood oxygen concentration. For measurement of these items, for example, a dedicated measurement device for each item such as an electrocardiograph, an electromyograph, a blood glucose level meter, and a blood oxygen concentration measurement instrument may be used);
a communication device (Yasui: FIG. 3 the communication device 220) configured to transmit information acquired inside the vehicle to a user terminal provided outside the vehicle (Yasui: [0073], FIG. 1 the external terminal 100, FIG. 3 the communication device 220 within the automated driving vehicle 200, and FIG. 8: the biometric information processor 242 transmits the biometric information output by the biometric information acquirer 240 and the current location information acquired from the navigation device 230 to the controller 130 of the external terminal 100 via the communication device 220),
a driver information acquisition unit (Yasui: FIG. 3 the biometric information processor 242) configured to acquire the driver information detected by the driver information detection device (Yasui: [0051], [0055], [0057], [0061]-[0062], [0065], [0074],-[0075], [0077], and FIG. 5: The biometric information acquirer 240 detects the biometric information of the user according to the biometric information detection instruction output by the biometric information processor 242. Further, the biometric information processor 242 outputs a deceleration instruction to the automated driving controller 250 when the biometric information processor 242 outputs the biometric information detection instruction to the biometric information acquirer 240).
Yasui does not explicitly disclose
a driver information detection device including a near-infrared light source and a near-infrared camera, the driver information detection device being configured to capture an image of a face of a driver irradiated with near-infrared light and to detect a breathing speed of the driver as the driver information based on a movement of mouth, nose, neck, and chest of the driver which has been captured in the image;
the user terminal being an electronic medical record device provided in a medical institution;
a travel information detection device configured to detect travel information relating to travel of the vehicle;
a driver information acquisition unit and the travel information detected by the travel information detection device;
an information generation unit configured to extract from the driver information acquired by the driver information acquisition unit, information necessary for grasping a health condition of the driver and to generate diagnostic information as the health-related information, the diagnostic information including at least one of heart rate, pulse wave, body temperature, breathing speed, pupillary reflex, line of sight, facial expression, amount of hand sweat, and body odor,
the diagnostic information being generated based on the driver information and the travel information while excluding driver information detected during a period in which the travel information indicates an abnormal state of travel and during a predetermined grace period after the abnormal state; and
an information communication unit configured to transmit the health-related information generated by the information generation unit from the communication device to the user terminal.
However, it has been known in the art of monitor information of vehicle occupants to implement the user terminal being an electronic medical record device provided in a medical institution;
an information generation unit configured to extract from the driver information acquired by the driver information acquisition unit, information necessary for grasping a health condition of the driver and to generate diagnostic information as the health-related information, the diagnostic information including at least one of heart rate, pulse wave, body temperature, breathing speed, pupillary reflex, line of sight, facial expression, amount of hand sweat, and body odor, and
an information communication unit configured to transmit the health-related information generated by the information generation unit from the communication device to the user terminal, as suggested by Lu, which discloses
the user terminal being an electronic medical record device provided in a medical institution (Lu: Abstract, page 2 lines 37-47, page 3 lines 6-10, lines 37-41, page 4 lines 29-33, page 5 lines 4-18, FIG. 1, and FIG. 7: In addition, health file can also be transmitted to the server by data transmission device or element storage, and only allow a person to access view (e.g., people in the vehicle after authorizing, open to the hospital authority, thus allowing a doctor in the hospital transferring data to check) has authority, the process can be realized by of data transmission, encryption, or decryption techniques in the prior art, therefore, omitted here. When people with authority of the health of the people in the vehicle is abnormal, and also can be the instruction transmitted to the vehicular data processing device by sending instruction to the vehicular data processing device or by the server, then the vehicle data processing device receives the instruction, outputting the health state judging result of person in car is abnormal.);
an information generation unit configured to extract from the driver information acquired by the driver information acquisition unit, information necessary for grasping a health condition of the driver and to generate diagnostic information as the health-related information (Lu: Abstract, page 2 lines 23-page 3 lines 5, page 3 lines 13-30, page 6 lines 6-29, page 7 lines 3-5, FIG. 1 the Vehicle-mounted data processing device, and FIG. 7: In addition, in some embodiments, vehicle data processing device capable of processing the data, or combined deep learning for big data analysis, so as to establish the corresponding personal health file in the different vehicle personnel, and diagnosing the body condition), the diagnostic information including at least one of heart rate, pulse wave, body temperature, breathing speed, pupillary reflex, line of sight, facial expression, amount of hand sweat, and body odor (Lu: page lines 16-36, page 3 lines 11-27, page 4 lines 34-page 5 lines 3, page 6 lines 5-25, FIG. 1 and FIG. 7: the vehicle health detection system, health signal collecting device collects the representing the current data of person within vehicle health status, current data can be, for example, component temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, body of person in car exhaled gas or the concentration of the component, air quality in vehicle or other detection means to obtain by the conventional detecting apparatus or for characterizing data of person in car health state), and
an information communication unit configured to transmit the health-related information generated by the information generation unit from the communication device to the user terminal (Lu: Abstract, page 2 lines 23-page 3 lines 5, page 3 lines 13-30, page 6 lines 6-29, page 7 lines 3-5, FIG. 1 the Vehicle-mounted data processing device, and FIG. 7: In addition, in some embodiments, the vehicle data processing device can according to the received current data, establishing the health record of the corresponding vehicle, the health file can transmission for people in the vehicle to view to the display device through the data transmission device or element. In addition, health file can also be transmitted to the server by data transmission device or element storage, and only allow a person to access view (e.g., people in the vehicle after authorizing, open to the hospital authority, thus allowing a doctor in the hospital transferring data to check) has authority, the process can be realized by of data transmission, encryption, or decryption techniques in the prior art, therefore, omitted here).
Therefore, in view of teachings by Yasui and Lu, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the vehicle management system of Yasui to include the user terminal being an electronic medical record device provided in a medical institution;
an information generation unit configured to extract from the driver information acquired by the driver information acquisition unit, information necessary for grasping a health condition of the driver and to generate diagnostic information as the health-related information, the diagnostic information including at least one of heart rate, pulse wave, body temperature, breathing speed, pupillary reflex, line of sight, facial expression, amount of hand sweat, and body odor, and
an information communication unit configured to transmit the health-related information generated by the information generation unit from the communication device to the user terminal, as suggested by Lu. The motivation for this is to process sensing information for transmitting health information to determine a condition of a vehicle occupant.
The combination of Yasui and Lu does not explicitly disclose a driver information detection device to capture an image of a face of a driver to detect a breathing speed of the driver as the driver information based on a movement of mouth, nose, neck, and chest of the driver which has been captured in the image.
However, it has been known in the art of monitoring condition of a driver to implement a driver information detection device to capture an image of a face of a driver to detect a breathing speed of the driver as the driver information based on a movement of mouth, nose, neck, and chest of the driver which has been captured in the image, as suggested by Yaffe-Ermoza, which discloses a driver information detection device to capture an image of a face of a driver to detect a breathing speed of the driver as the driver information based on a movement of mouth, nose, neck, and chest of the driver which has been captured in the image (Yaffe-Ermoza: Abstract, [0050]-[0054], [0069], [0073], FIG. 2, and FIG. 6: Camera assembly 152 preferably comprises first and second thermal imaging cameras 270 and 272 which are preferably arranged to view the mouth and nose of the subject and the side neck region of the subject, respectively. Camera assembly 152 also comprises a motion detector 274. In some specific non-limiting embodiments of the present invention, a preferred motion detector 274 may include a cn 8537022606, commercially available from Prime Sense, 28 Habarzel St., Tel-Aviv 69710, Israel. The motion detector 274 preferably views the chest of the subject… It is a particular feature of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that breathing rate is ascertained by use of a motion detector).
Therefore, in view of teachings by Yasui, Lu, and Yaffe-Ermoza, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the vehicle management system of Yasui and Lu to include a driver information detection device to capture an image of a face of a driver to detect a breathing speed of the driver as the driver information based on a movement of mouth, nose, neck, and chest of the driver which has been captured in the image, as suggested by Yaffe-Ermoza. The motivation for this is to determine a user condition based on multisensory data.
The combination of Yasui, Lu, and Yaffe-Ermoza does not explicitly disclose the driver information detection device including a near-infrared light source and a near-infrared camera, the driver information detection device being configured to capture an image of a face of a driver irradiated with near-infrared light.
However, it has been known in the art of driver monitoring device to implement the driver information detection device including a near-infrared light source and a near-infrared camera, the driver information detection device being configured to capture an image of a face of a driver irradiated with near-infrared light, as suggested by Calmes, which discloses the driver information detection device (Calmes: FIG. 1 the occupant monitoring device 10) including a near-infrared light source and a near-infrared camera, the driver information detection device being configured to capture an image of a face of a driver irradiated with near-infrared light (Calmes: Abstract, [0008], [0049]-[0051], [0092], [0134], and FIG. 1 the occupant monitoring device 10 comprising the illumination source 12 and the reflected light 16: One or more imaging device(s) inside a car that look(s) at occupants (driver, front passenger, rear passengers) and cover(s) multiple security, comfort, driver assistance and occupant state related functions, wherein the imaging device includes an illumination in the near infrared. An imaging device inside the car that can measure occupants' vital signs (heart rate, respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation) using contactless imaging photoplethysmography).
Therefore, in view of teachings by Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, and Calmes, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the vehicle management system of Yasui, Lu, and Yaffe-Ermoza to include the driver information detection device including a near-infrared light source and a near-infrared camera, the driver information detection device being configured to capture an image of a face of a driver irradiated with near-infrared light, as suggested by Calmes. The motivation for this is to implement a known alternative sensing device for monitoring conditions of a vehicle occupant.
The combination of Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, and Calmes does not explicitly disclose a travel information detection device configured to detect travel information relating to travel of the vehicle;
a driver information acquisition unit and the travel information detected by the travel information detection device; and
the diagnostic information being generated based on the driver information and the travel information while excluding driver information detected during a period in which the travel information indicates an abnormal state of travel and during a predetermined grace period after the abnormal state.
However, it has been known in the art of monitoring vehicle operation to a travel information detection device configured to detect travel information relating to travel of the vehicle;
a driver information acquisition unit and the travel information detected by the travel information detection device; and
the diagnostic information being generated based on the driver information and the travel information while excluding driver information detected during a period in which the travel information indicates an abnormal state of travel and during a predetermined grace period after the abnormal state, as suggested by Mori, which discloses
a travel information detection device configured to detect travel information relating to travel of the vehicle (Mori: FIG. 1 the vehicle speed sensor 13, the brake switch 14, the acceleration sensor 15, and the navigation system 16);
a driver information acquisition unit and the travel information detected by the travel information detection device (Mori: Abstract, [0026]-[0035], [0037], [0074]-[0075], and FIG. 1-4: The driver's state estimation apparatus is installed in a vehicle and includes a pulse wave sensor 11, an electrocardiographic monitor 12, a vehicle speed sensor 13, a brake switch 14, an acceleration sensor 15, a navigation system 16, and a controller 17); and
the diagnostic information being generated based on the driver information and the travel information while excluding driver information detected during a period in which the travel information indicates an abnormal state of travel and during a predetermined grace period after the abnormal state (Mori: [0027]-[0029], [0038], [0042]-[0051], and FIG. 4: What is described above is the extraction processing of the pre-deceleration heart rate Rb and the post-deceleration heart rate Ra by the biological information extraction unit 23. [0051] The driver's state estimation unit 24 is configured to compare the pre-deceleration heart rate Rb and the post-deceleration heart rate Ra extracted by the biological information extraction unit 23 to estimate the steady state of the driver after the deceleration).
Therefore, in view of teachings by Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, and Mori, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the vehicle management system of Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, and Calmes, to include a travel information detection device configured to detect travel information relating to travel of the vehicle;
a driver information acquisition unit and the travel information detected by the travel information detection device; and
the diagnostic information being generated based on the driver information and the travel information while excluding driver information detected during a period in which the travel information indicates an abnormal state of travel and during a predetermined grace period after the abnormal state, as suggested by Mori. The motivation for this is to determine a driver state based on sensing information surrounding a deceleration period of a vehicle.
As to claim 5, Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, and Mori disclose the limitations of claim 1 further comprising the information provision system according to claim 1, further comprising
a display control unit (Lu: Abstract, page 2 lines 22-25, page 3 lines 25-31, page 4 lines 29-page 5 lines 9, and FIG. 5: the display device and the vehicular data processing device is connected, the vehicle data processing device sends the judging result of the current data and health state of at least one of the display on the display device) configured to receive a medical examination result from the user terminal via the communication device and to display the medical examination result on a display device provided in the vehicle (Lu: page 2 lines 1-9, page 2 lines 37-page 4 lines 5, page 4 lines 29-page 5 lines 9, page 6 lines 45 – page 7 lines 21, and FIG. 7: When people with authority of the health of the people in the vehicle is abnormal, and also can be the instruction transmitted to the vehicular data processing device by sending instruction to the vehicular data processing device or by the server, then the vehicle data processing device receives the instruction, outputting the health state judging result of person in car is abnormal… for remote diagnosis by the doctor, such as doctor according to the primary analysis report for initial diagnosis and the initial diagnosis result in feedback to the passenger for remote guidance, such as people in the car pressing certain body parts cooperate with the doctor instruction, or listening to doctor answer symptoms need to observe in order to diagnose and simple treatment).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yasui et al. (Yasui – US 2020/0143940 A1) in view of Lu et al. (Lu – CN 210300979 U), Yaffe-Ermoza et al. (Yaffe-Ermoza – US 2017/0290539 A1), Calmes et al. (Calmes – US 2015/0379362 A1), Mori et al. (Mori – US 2015/0203121 A1), and further in view of Yanagidaira et al. (Yanagidaira – US 2003/0073886 A1).
As to claim 2, Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, and Mori disclose the limitations of claim 1 except for the claimed limitations of the information provision system according to claim 1, wherein the travel information detection device is configured to detect an abnormal state of travel including at least one of sudden braking, sudden acceleration, sudden steering, a traffic jam, and high-speed driving, and the information generation unit is configured to exclude from the diagnostic information the driver information detected during the abnormal state of travel and during a predetermined grace period after the abnormal state of travel.
However, it has been known in the art of monitoring vehicle operation to implement wherein the travel information detection device is configured to detect an abnormal state of travel including at least one of sudden braking, sudden acceleration, sudden steering, a traffic jam, and high-speed driving, and the information generation unit is configured to exclude from the diagnostic information the driver information detected during the abnormal state of travel and during a predetermined grace period after the abnormal state of travel, as suggested by Yanagidaira, which discloses wherein the travel information detection device is configured to detect an abnormal state of travel including at least one of sudden braking, sudden acceleration, sudden steering, a traffic jam, and high-speed driving (Yanagidaira: [0004], [0044], and [0125]-0132]: As an example of the operation environment, in the case where traffic congestion is encountered during running on a road where the vehicle follows a low-speed vehicle on a mountain path, etc., physical and mental anxiety of the driver increases and the fear of jeopardizing safety occurs. The possibility of passing is automatically examined based on the biological condition of the driver and the possibility of passing including the passing condition can be presented for the driver and it is made possible to secure the safety of driving. If immediate passing is not allowed, information for allowing passing can be presented, so that the driver can be convinced and can be prevented from performing dangerous operation. Further, if passing is not allowed, the reason why passing is not allowed is presented, so that the driver can be convinced and can be made calm), and the information generation unit is configured to exclude from the diagnostic information the driver information detected during the abnormal state of travel and during a predetermined grace period after the abnormal state of travel (Yanagidaira: Abstract, [0075]-[0078], [0082]-[0083], [0085]-[0090], [0093]-[0095], and FIG. 1-4: Usually, considering a vehicle as the mobile unit, the transition time t.sub.2 is long as compared with the transition time t.sub.1. Therefore, if the vehicle is placed in a stable state, the biological state of the driver is transient and the biological information at this time is not that in a steady state. Therefore, if it is not considered that the biological condition of the driver is stabilized in addition to the fact that the vehicle behavior is stabilized, appropriate biological information as vehicle control information cannot be provided. Thus, as the time for which the biological condition is stabilized, time T.sub.0 longer than the transition time t.sub.2 is set as the time to the actual measurement start of the biological condition, and after the expiration of the time T.sub.0, data is input at sample time t.sub.s . If data is input two or more times, biological information in time periods t.sub.s (B), t.sub.s (C), t.sub.s (D), . . . is input in order as the data. In time period t.sub.s (A), whether or not the biological condition is stabilized is unknown and the biological information in time period is not used as the data).
Therefore, in view of teachings by Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, Mori, and Yanagidaira it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the vehicle management system of Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, and Mori to include wherein the travel information detection device is configured to detect an abnormal state of travel including at least one of sudden braking, sudden acceleration, sudden steering, a traffic jam, and high-speed driving, and the information generation unit is configured to exclude from the diagnostic information the driver information detected during the abnormal state of travel and during a predetermined grace period after the abnormal state of travel, as suggested by Yanagidaira. The motivation for this is to determine a driver state based on valid sensing information corresponding to a stable state of a vehicle.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yasui et al. (Yasui – US 2020/0143940 A1) in view of Lu et al. (Lu – CN 210300979 U), Yaffe-Ermoza et al. (Yaffe-Ermoza – US 2017/0290539 A1), Calmes et al. (Calmes – US 2015/0379362 A1), Mori et al. (Mori – US 2015/0203121 A1), and further in view of Hart et al. (Hart – US 2016/0103338 A1).
As to claim 3, Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, and Mori disclose the limitations of claim 1 except for the claimed limitations of the information provision system according to claim 1, wherein the driver information acquisition unit is configured to acquire the driver information detected while a power switch of the vehicle is in an on state even when the vehicle is parked or stopped, and the information generation unit is configured to generate the diagnostic information based on the driver information detected while the vehicle is not running.
However, it has been known in the art of monitoring condition of a driver to implement wherein the driver information acquisition unit is configured to acquire the driver information detected while a power switch of the vehicle is in an on state even when the vehicle is parked or stopped, and the information generation unit is configured to generate the diagnostic information based on the driver information detected while the vehicle is not running, as suggested by Hart, which discloses wherein the driver information acquisition unit is configured to acquire the driver information detected while a power switch of the vehicle is in an on state even when the vehicle is parked or stopped, and the information generation unit is configured to generate the diagnostic information based on the driver information detected while the vehicle is not running (Hart: [0056]-[0059], [0062]-[0063], [0095], [0103]-[0106], [0116], and FIG. 1-4: Should the driver not respond to the alerts and become alert the eyewear pupilometer initiates automatically activating automated vehicle pullover vehicle modules 120. The automated vehicle pullover vehicle modules override the driver's control of the vehicle and monitor surrounding traffic to safely pull the vehicle over to the shoulder of the road and stop the vehicle. The vehicle will not restart until the driver's pupillary assessments being performed by the eyewear pupilometer reaches an alert status. Should the driver remove the eyewear pupilometer the alertness signal will not be sent and the vehicle will remain in a locked-out restart condition of one embodiment).
Therefore, in view of teachings by Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, Mori, and Hart, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the vehicle management system of Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, and Mori to include wherein the driver information acquisition unit is configured to acquire the driver information detected while a power switch of the vehicle is in an on state even when the vehicle is parked or stopped, and the information generation unit is configured to generate the diagnostic information based on the driver information detected while the vehicle is not running, as suggested by Hart. The motivation for this is to determine a driver condition before allowing a driver to operate a vehicle.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yasui et al. (Yasui – US 2020/0143940 A1) in view of Lu et al. (Lu – CN 210300979 U), Yaffe-Ermoza et al. (Yaffe-Ermoza – US 2017/0290539 A1), Calmes et al. (Calmes – US 2015/0379362 A1), Mori et al. (Mori – US 2015/0203121 A1), and further in view of Tamori (Tamori – US 2021/0339770 A1).
As to claim 4, Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, and Mori disclose the limitations of claim 1 except for the claimed limitations of the information provision system according to claim 1, wherein the information generation unit is further configured to generate fatigue level information indicating a fatigue level of the driver as the health-related information, the fatigue level information being generated by extracting and analyzing at least one of an expression, complexion, heart rate, body temperature, and line of sight of the driver, and excluding pupillary reflex and an amount of hand sweat.
However, it has been known in the art of monitoring conditions of a driver to implement wherein the information generation unit is further configured to generate fatigue level information indicating a fatigue level of the driver as the health-related information, the fatigue level information being generated by extracting and analyzing at least one of an expression, complexion, heart rate, body temperature, and line of sight of the driver, and excluding pupillary reflex and an amount of hand sweat, as suggested by Tamori, which discloses wherein the information generation unit is further configured to generate fatigue level information indicating a fatigue level of the driver as the health-related information (Tamori: Abstract, [0081], [0089], and FIG. 1: The state of the driver to be detected includes, for example, a physical condition, an arousal level, a concentration level, a fatigue level, a line-of-sight direction, or the like. The environment in the vehicle to be detected includes, for example, temperature, humidity, brightness, odor, and the like), the fatigue level information being generated by extracting and analyzing at least one of an expression, complexion, heart rate, body temperature, and line of sight of the driver, and excluding pupillary reflex and an amount of hand sweat (Tamori: Abstract, [0029]-[0030], [0046]-[0054], [0072], [0081], [0089], and FIG. 1: when the line-of-sight direction detected in traveling straight ahead is not front ahead, inattentive driving or dozing driving is suspected, and thus the line-of-sight direction is deemed not to be appropriate).
Therefore, in view of teachings by Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, Mori, and Tamori, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the vehicle management system of Yasui, Lu, Yaffe-Ermoza, Calmes, and Mori to include wherein the information generation unit is further configured to generate fatigue level information indicating a fatigue level of the driver as the health-related information, the fatigue level information being generated by extracting and analyzing at least one of an expression, complexion, heart rate, body temperature, and line of sight of the driver, and excluding pupillary reflex and an amount of hand sweat, as suggested by Hart. The motivation for this is to determine conditions of a driver.
Citation of Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure:
Nguyen et al., US 2025/0329173 A1, discloses multimodal sensor and vision-based driver alcohol impairment detection system.
Kaino et al., US 11,745,752 B2, discloses vehicle control system.
Kim et al., US 2023/0256966 A1, discloses acceleration limit control apparatus and method.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP §706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG PHAM whose telephone number is (571)-270-3668. The examiner can normally be reached 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM.
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/QUANG PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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