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 .
Claims 1-18 are pending per amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4, 5, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “not suitable” in claims 4, 5, 15 and 16 is a relative term which renders the claims indefinite. The term “not suitable” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is unclear what configuration information satisfies this limitation and what configuration information does not.
Claim Objections
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities: “[C]laim 12” in preamble should be preceded by “to”. Appropriate correction is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 8 and 12 are allowed. Claims 2, 3, 6, 7, 9-11, 13, 14, 17 and 18 are allowed based on dependency.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
a. Itatsu US 20220126770: “An on-board communication device…is configured to be communicably connected to on-board ECUs provided in a vehicle, and to acquire configuration information transmitted from the on-board ECUs…and the control unit controls communication with an external authentication device that is connected from outside of the vehicle when replacement or addition of an on-board ECU is performed, and if previously-acquired configuration information is different from presently-acquired configuration information, the control unit attempts communication with the external authentication device…” (par. 0006)
b. Frischmuth US 20210176092: CAN and ethernet architectures with plug-an-play configuration of modules disclosed (par. 0016)
c. Moriya US 20190232892: During identifying process, system retrieves ECU data indicating product ID, software version, function (par. 0156). Thereafter, system performs a communication setting for the retrofitted ECU 140 using the data of the group that has been identified (par. 0158).
d. Desanzo US 20150151769.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLAYTON R WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)270-3801. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am - 6:00pm.
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/CLAYTON R WILLIAMS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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