DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communication filed on 1/29/2025.
Claims 1-9 are pending.
Claims 4-5 have been amended.
Claims 7-9 have been added.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/29/2025 and 8/14/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: Vehicle Control System Having Master Node with Connection Data and Multi-Port Slave Nodes
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Samii et al. (US 2020/0117495) in view of Dannenberg(US 6,263,269).
Regarding claim 1, Samii discloses a vehicle control system in which a master node is connected to a plurality of slave nodes through a communication network, wherein
each of the plurality of slave nodes includes a plurality of ports to each of which one or more onboard devices are connected (Samii disclose each zone I/O controller/zone module has I/O connection (ports/interfaces) to local sensors and actuators (onboard devices); [0041] “the I/O devices include transducers that convert variations in a physical quantity, such as speed or pressure, into an electrical signal or vice versa. Further, the I/O devices can also be output devices such as lights, light emitting diodes, speakers. The I/O devices can also communicate via any interface, such as a controller area network (CAN), a local interconnect network (LIN), a direct I/O interface, an analog to digital (A/D) interface, a digital to analog (D/A) interface, or any other interface specific to the input/output. Each I/O device is connected to a zone I/O controller 140 based on proximity to that zone I/O controllers 140, regardless of the interface used by that I/O),
each of the onboard devices includes at least one of a sensor or a manipulation target (Samii disclose each zone I/O controller/zone module has I/O connection (ports/interfaces) to local sensors and actuators (onboard devices); [0042] “As described herein, examples of the I/O devices include I/O braking devices (e.g., brake actuators, speed sensors, and the like of a vehicle). I/O body devices (e.g., doors, windows, trunk, hood, mirrors, and the like of a vehicle). I/O lighting devices (e.g., head lights, floor lights, fog lights, brake lights, dashboard lighting, and the like of a vehicle); I/O steering devices (e.g., steering column, steering position sensors, steering relays, and the like of a vehicle); and I/O active safety devices (e.g., seat belt sensors, seat belt retractors, airbags, and the like of a vehicle)),
one or more of the slave nodes receive output of one or more of the sensors through the ports, and transmit the output to the master node as a detection signal (Samii discloses the zone module receives senor outputs and forward packaged sensor data to the connected compute center; [0054] “The process flow 400 begins at block 410, where the architecture 300 reads data (outputs) with respect to one or more I/O devices. For instance… the zone module 340.1 reads tire speed data from the speed sensor S1”, [0055] “At block 420, the architecture 300 executes diagnostics and packaging of the data to produce packaged data…the zone module 340.3 can diagnose and package the tire speed data so that it can be sent across the Ethernet backbone. At block 430, the architecture 300 forwards, through the Ethernet backbone 330, the packaged data”),
determination processing of determining an action of a vehicle based on the information recognized in the recognition processing (Samii discloses the connected compute center determines process actions/decisions based on the received sensor data; [0056] “At block 440, the connected compute center 310 executes zone controlling to determine process actions and render corresponding packaged outputs…The decisions themselves are implemented as commands or instructions, which are rendered as the packaged outputs”), and
manipulation processing of specifying one or more of the ports to which one or more of the manipulation targets in the action of the vehicle determined in the determination processing are connected based on the connection data, generating an instruction code of instructing an output content of the specified one or more ports, and after the zone module 340.3 reads commands or instructions from the connected compute center 310 for the braking actuator B3, the zone module 340.3 forwards an instruction to drive the braking actuator B3 as an output (Samii discloses the connected compute center generates commands/instructions (instruction codes) directed to the specific zone modules that control the relevant actuators and transmits them over the backbone; [0056] “The decisions themselves are implemented as commands or instructions, which are rendered as the packaged outputs. At block 450, the architecture 300 forwards, through the Ethernet backbone 330, the packaged outputs. At block 460, architecture 300 executes diagnostics and un-packaging of the packaged outputs to render outputs”, [0057] “after the zone module 340.3 reads commands or instructions from the connected compute center 310 for the braking actuator B3, the zone module 340.3 forwards an instruction to drive the braking actuator B3 as an output”), and
the one or more slave nodes that have received the instruction code output a manipulation signal based on the instruction code from one or more of the ports based on the instruction code (Samii discloses the zone modules receive the commands and rive the actuators (output manipulation signals from their ports); [0056] “At block 460, architecture 300 executes diagnostics and un-packaging of the packaged outputs to render outputs”, [0057] “For instance, after the zone module 340.3 reads commands or instructions from the connected compute center 310 for the braking actuator B3, the zone module 340.3 forwards an instruction to drive the braking actuator B3 as an output”).
However, the prior art does not explicitly disclose the following:
the master node includes a memory that stores connection data indicating a connection relationship between the ports of the slave nodes and device ports of the onboard devices, and
the master node performs recognition processing of recognizing information acquired by one or more of the sensors, based on the connection data stored in the memory and a change with time of the detection signal
Dannenberg in the field of the same endeavor discloses techniques for providing a network having a central control module and one or more remote generic modules to provide control of non-standard vehicle vocations as well as specialized controllers for conventional vehicle vocations. In particular Dannenberg teaches the following:
the master node includes a memory that stores connection data indicating a connection relationship between the ports of the slave nodes and device ports of the onboard devices (Dannenberg discloses a central electrical system controller (ESC = master node) that stores configuration data table in memory. The table relate port addresses of the remote interface modules (RIMs = slave nodes) to particular functionality of the connected devices; col. 6/lines 66 – col. 7/lines 23; FIG. 3; detx 12; “The program stored in program memory 69 is not typically changed to accommodate the functional definition of either the ports of ESC 30 or RIMs 40. The program is an event interruptable, looping algorithm which relies entirely on data tables stored in the configuration data memory section 65 to implement specific functionality on any physically undefined interface or port of ESC 30 or a RIM 40. The data tables can be unique to a given vehicle, and relate port addresses to particular functionality and provide for vehicle response under defied conditions”), and
the master node performs recognition processing of recognizing information acquired by one or more of the sensors, based on the connection data stored in the memory and a change with time of the detection signal (Dannenberg discloses that the program is “event interruptible”, and teaches that the central controller processes sensor/input data using the stored configuration table and responds to defined conditions; col. x/lines x; detx 9; “Another collection of inputs labeled analog inputs. These inputs are subject to sampling, analog to digital conversion and storage as a representative binary value in volatile random access memory section 63 of memory 60 for further processing”, col. 6/lines 66 – col. 7/lines 23; FIG. 3; detx 12; “Volatile random access memory 63 provides a scratch pad for data from dependent controllers and sensor inputs…The program stored in program memory 69 is not typically changed to accommodate the functional definition of either the ports of ESC 30 or RIMs 40. The program is an event interruptible, looping algorithm which relies entirely on data tables stored in the configuration data memory section 65 to implement specific functionality on any physically undefined interface or port of ESC 30 or a RIM 40. The data tables can be unique to a given vehicle, and relate port addresses to particular functionality and provide for vehicle response under defied conditions”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the prior art with the teaching of Dannenberg. One would have been motivated to incorporate the stored configuration data tables of Dannenberg that relate port addresses of remote modules to particular functionality into the central compute center of the primary reference in order to enable flexible recognition of sensors information and precise addressing of specific ports when generating control commands cross different vehicle configurations without redesigning the zone modules.
Regarding claim 4, Samii-Dannenberg discloses the vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein the slave node that receives the output of the sensor and the slave node that receives the instruction code are connected to the master node through different communication lines (Dannenberg discloses a central electrical system controller connected to different groups of remote/dependent modules (salve node equivalents) through two distinct serial data links (different communication lines); col. 5/lines 62 – col. 6/lines 22; detx 7; “Disposition of the control of major vehicle drive train components, the vehicle gauge cluster and the diagnostic port 36 onto serial data link 18, and the provision of a second serial data link 42 for carrying communication among the definable, dependent controllers (remote interface modules 40) segregates major vehicle elements in a protected partition via link 18 which is isolated from operator defined functionality implemented over serial data link 42”).
Regarding claim 5, Samii-Dannenberg discloses the vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein the slave node that receives the output of the sensor and the slave node that receives the instruction code are the identical slave node (Samii discloses the same zone I/O controller/zone module both receives sensor outputs through its ports and receives commands/instructions from the central compute center and rives the corresponding actuators from its ports; [0040] “The zone I/O controllers 140 make inputs and outputs available to the virtual machines and the applications executing on the connected compute center 110”, [0051] “a speed sensor S1, a brake actuator B1, and a window sensor W1 are I/O devices connected to the zone module 340.1, along with the I/O device of a steering column sensor D”, [0054] “the zone module 340.1 reads tire speed data from the speed sensor S1”, [0057] “after the zone module 340.3 reads commands or instructions from the connected compute center 310 for the braking actuator B3, the zone module 340.3 forwards an instruction to drive the braking actuator B3 as an output”).
Claims 2, 6, 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Samii et al. (US 2020/0117495) in view of Dannenberg (US 6,263,269) in view of Kashima (US 2012/0117287).
Regarding claim 2, Samii-Dannenberg discloses the vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein the slave node that receives the output of the sensor performs event processing of transmitting the detection signal to the master node using a change of the output of the sensor as a trigger.
Kashima in the field of the same endeavor discloses techniques for a vehicle master-slave communication system in which autonomous slave nodes detect the occurrences of an event and immediately transmit a response or detection signal to the master node using event-triggered frames, without waiting for the master regular polling schedule. In particular, Kashima teaches the following:
wherein the slave node that receives the output of the sensor performs event processing of transmitting the detection signal to the master node using a change of the output of the sensor as a trigger (Kashima discloses a vehicle comprising a master node connected to a plurality of salve nodes through a communication bus, where the slave nodes are installed in target devices that detect operating conditions of the vehicle (sensors) and/or actuate corresponding parts. An autonomous communicating slave detects the occurrence of an event (a change such as a driver’s operation of a door switch/sensor) and transmits a response/detection signal to the master node using that change as a trigger (event mode/event-triggered frame); [0005] “For example, in LIN (Local Internet Network) protocol, as an example of these master-slave communication protocols, which is applied for in-vehicle networks, headers for event-triggered frames are prepared in addition to headers for unconditional frames. A header of an event-triggered frame causes a slave detecting the occurrence of an event to transmit, via a LIN bus, a response, and a header of an unconditional frame causes a slave identified by the header to transmit, via the LIN bus, a response”, [0043] “a slave 3 operates in an event mode (irregular communication mode, active communication mode) to perform event communications in which the slave 3 autonomously controls communications regardless of instructions from the master 1”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the prior art with the teaching of Kashima. One would have been motivated reduce continuous network traffic while still providing timely detection signals to the central compute center upon a change in sensor output.
Regarding claim 6, Samii-Dannenberg-Kashima discloses the 6vehicle control system according to claim 2, wherein the slave node that receives the output of the sensor and the slave node that receives the instruction code are connected to the master node through different communication lines (Dannenberg col. 5/lines 63 – col. 6/lines22; detx 7; “Electrical system controller 30 communicates with local vocational controllers over one of two major SAE J1939 serial data links 18 and 42. The J1939 standard provides for both a open protocol and a proprietary protocol, which differ in the formatting of information transmitted over the serial data links. Accordingly, serial data links 18 and 42 may use the same or different communication protocols. Controllers for substantially common vehicle components such as transmissions, engines and the like communicate with ESC 30 over serial data link 18, which utilizes a open protocol…Disposition of the control of major vehicle drive train components, the vehicle gauge cluster and the diagnostic port 36 onto serial data link 18, and the provision of a second serial data link 42 for carrying communication among the definable, dependent controllers (remote interface modules 40) segregates major vehicle elements in a protected partition via link 18 which is isolated from operator defined functionality implemented over serial data link 42”. Rationale to combine is same as claim 2).
Regarding claim 8, Samii-Dannenberg-Kashima discloses the vehicle control system according to claim 2, wherein the slave node that receives the output of the sensor and the slave node that receives the instruction code are the identical slave node (Samii [0051] “For instance, a speed sensor S1, a brake actuator B1, and a window sensor W1 are I/O devices connected to the zone module 340.1, along with the I/O device of a steering column sensor D. Further, a speed sensor S2, a brake actuator B2, and a window sensor W2 are I/O devices connected to the zone module 340.2; a speed sensor S3, a brake actuator B3, and a window sensor W3 are I/O devices connected to the zone module 340.3; and a speed sensor S4, a brake actuator B4, and a window sensor W4 are I/O devices connected to the zone module 340.4”. Rationale to combine is same as claim 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 7, and 9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
For the reason above, claims 1-9 have been rejected and remain pending.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIMMY H TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5638. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm PST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chris Parry can be reached at 571-272-8328. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
JIMMY H TRAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2451
/JIMMY H TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2451
Prosecution Insights