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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under or under 35 U.S.C. 120, is acknowledged. The priority date of the instant application is 10/22/2021
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vincenti U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2016/0055699 A1 in view of Darnell U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2017/0134382 A1
As per Claim 1, Vincenti teaches
a vehicle device, the method comprising:
storing, by a first at least one non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of the vehicle device, a plurality of virtual keys (see para. 12), each virtual key associated with a respective list of at least one user from a plurality of lists of at least one user (see para. 72), and each virtual key associated with a respective set of vehicle access privileges (see para. 73), wherein users included in each respective list of at least one user are entitled to the respective set of vehicle access privileges associated with a respective virtual key to which the respective list of at least one user is associated (see para. 73);
in response to an interaction event with the vehicle device by a candidate user, where credentials for the candidate user are received by the vehicle device, determining by the first at least one processor of the vehicle device whether the candidate user is included in a list of the plurality of lists (see para. 70 and 78, “cache memory”);
if the candidate user is included in a list of the plurality of lists:
determining, by the first at least one processor of the vehicle device, a virtual key associated with the list in which the candidate user is included and a set of vehicle access privileges associated with the determined virtual key (see para. 70 and 78, “cache memory”); and
providing vehicle access to the candidate user in accordance with the determined set of vehicle access privileges, by providing a vehicle access mechanism which controls access to the vehicle with control instructions (see para. 70 and 78, “cache memory”); and
Vincenti does not explicitly teach the limitation taught by Darnell if the authentication parameter is not included in a list of the plurality of lists (see para. 110 lines 1-5, the Examiner is interpreting a user not having a key as not included in a list):
receiving, input from the candidate user which includes an indication of vehicle access privileges of the candidate user (see para. 110, the Examiner is interpreting a request for previously selected vehicle as input including an indication of privileges) and
providing vehicle access to the candidate user in accordance with the vehicle access
privileges indicated in the received indication of vehicle access privileges, by providing the vehicle access mechanism which controls access to the vehicle with control instructions (see para. 110 and 88).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the system of Vincenti to include the teachings of Darnell to start an immediate reservation for a user, as taught by the cited portions of Vincenti.
As per Claim 2, Vincenti in view of Darnell in further view of Lambert teach the system of claim 1 as described above. Vincenti further teaches wherein:
receiving input from the candidate user which identifies a specified list of at least one user including the candidate user associated with a specified virtual key which is associated with a specified set of vehicle access privileges (see para. 73); and vehicle access is provided to the candidate user in accordance with the specified set of vehicle access privileges (see para. 70 and 78, “cache memory”).
As per Claim 3, Vincenti in view of Darnell in further view of Lambert teach the system of claim 1 as described above. Vincenti further teaches the management device which includes a second at least one processor, a second at least one non-transitory processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the second at least one processor, and a second communication interface (see para. 66-67 and 70),
wherein the second at least one non-transitory processor-readable storage medium stores second processor-executable instructions, which when executed by the second at least one processor cause the device to:
updating, by the first at least one processor, an existing list of at least one user associated with an existing virtual key to include the candidate user (see para. 66).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TONYA S JOSEPH whose telephone number is (571)270-1361. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-2:30, First Fridays Off.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shannon Campbell can be reached at (571) 272-5587. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TONYA JOSEPH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3628