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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1 and 3-6 in the reply filed on 6/5/26 is acknowledged.
Priority
The applicant’s claim to priority of PCT/JP2022/033309 on 9/5/2022 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The applicant filed an IDS on 2/26/25. It has been annotated and considered.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 3-6 are objected to because of the following informalities: Regarding claim 5, the abbreviations for the various types of memory should be fully written out in each instance for claim clarity.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1 and 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 1, the Applicant claims “the second memory is a non-volatile memory of the vehicle, and stores own position information, encrypted peripheral map information, and decrypted peripheral map information during an operation of the vehicle.” However, this portion of the claims lacks written description because the encrypted and decrypted peripheral map information in the second memory is derived from encrypted map information from the first memory in the Specification (See at least: [0025]). As the claim is written, the encrypted and decrypted peripheral map information in the second memory can be from any source, including but not limited to the first memory.
Regarding claim 3, the Applicant claims “and the microcomputer stores the own position information and the encrypted peripheral map information when the microcomputer stops operating.” However, this portion of the claim is unclear as the Specification and drawing do not clearly describe how this is accomplished. This portion of the claim seems to stem from at least [0053] and [0055] of the Specification. However, other than stating that the microcomputer stores its own position information and the encrypted peripheral map information in [0055], there is not enough written description to disclose how the microcomputer accomplishes this. The Specification discloses first and second memory to store this information and discusses situations when the memory in the microcomputer is limited, but none of the disclosure clearer indicates how the microcomputer stores this information when the operation is stopped.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Harry Oh whose telephone number is (571)270-5912. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday, 9:00-3:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abby Lin can be reached on (571) 270-3976. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HARRY Y OH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3657
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