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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 7-10, 14 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 a(1) as being anticipated by Cory et al. (Patent No. 12,175,908).
Claim 1, 10 and 20, Cory teaches in-vehicle cockpit driving state prompting system, method and non-transitory computer readable medium (abstract, col. 7, ln 53-57), comprising:
obtaining feature information of an in-vehicle environment of a vehicle (col. 5, ln 65-col. 6, ln 2: The sensor system 28 includes one or more sensing devices 40a-40n that sense observable conditions of the exterior environment and/or the interior environment of the autonomous vehicle 10);
determining, based on the feature information of the in-vehicle environment, feature information of a passenger in the vehicle (col. 10, ln 15-20: The system controller 34A uses the occupant monitoring system 62 in communication with the system controller 34A and facial recognition algorithms to identify the user and other passengers (such as infant children) within the vehicle 10 in order to determine what preferences to apply); and
in response to determining that the passenger belongs to a target object based on the feature information of the passenger, generating first prompt information for prompting the presence of the target object in the vehicle, so as to display the first prompt information by the vehicle (col. 10, ln 1-8: a user may enter preferences that include displaying a digital image 50 with a logo and message “Baby On Board” whenever they are traveling with an infant child. Thus, whenever the system controller 34A, using the plurality of sensors 40a-40n within the vehicle 10 and an occupant monitoring system 62 determines that an infant child is present within the vehicle 10, the system controller 34A will display the “Baby On Board” digital image 50).
Claim 5 and 14, Cory teaches wherein the feature information of the in-vehicle environment comprises an image of the in-vehicle environment, and the determining, based on the feature information of the in-vehicle environment, feature information of a passenger in the vehicle, comprises: determining, based on the image of the in-vehicle environment, that the image comprises at least one area of a facial feature (col. 3, ln 10-12: an occupant monitoring system in communication with the system controller and facial recognition algorithms, the user within the vehicle); determining, based on the at least one area of a facial feature, that a person corresponding to the at least one area of a facial feature is the passenger; and determining, based on an image corresponding to the at least one area of a facial feature, the feature information of the passenger (col. 10, ln 15-20: The system controller 34A uses the occupant monitoring system 62 in communication with the system controller 34A and facial recognition algorithms to identify the user and other passengers (such as infant children) within the vehicle 10 in order to determine what preferences to apply).
Claim 7 and 16, Cory teaches wherein the in response to determining that the passenger belongs to a target object based on the feature information of the passenger, generating first prompt information for prompting the presence of the target object in the vehicle, comprises:
in response to determining that the passenger belongs to the target object based on the feature information of the passenger, determining a target lighting effect for prompting the presence of the target object in the vehicle;
determining, based on pre-stored corresponding relationships between different lighting effects and switch states of the light-emitting devices outside the vehicle, the target switch states of light-emitting devices corresponding to the target lighting effect to be exhibited; and
generating the first prompt information for indicating that the light-emitting devices conform to the target switch states (col. 8, ln 40-65: The display 54 is adapted to present the digital image 50 outward from a window surface 52A, 52B within the vehicle 10 for viewing from outside of the vehicle 10. The display 54 may be any suitable display adapted to present a digital image 50 on or within a window surface 52A, 52B while maintaining overall transparency of the window surface 52A, 52B. By way of non-limiting examples, the display 54 may include a micro light emitting diode system, a transparent organic light emitting diode system or an electroluminescent transparent display mounted within or onto a window surface 52A, 52B within the vehicle 10 to illuminate a digital image 50 projected outward from the window surface 52A, 52B. The display 54 may also include a traditional display screen mounted onto or behind a window surface 52A, 52B within the vehicle 10. Various lighting techniques can be used to indicate the different state/status detected within the vehicle’s cabin).
Claim 8 and 17, Cory teaches wherein the in response to determining that the passenger belongs to a target object based on the feature information of the passenger, generating first prompt information for prompting the presence of the target object in the vehicle, comprises: in response to determining that the passenger belongs to the target object based on the feature information of the passenger, generating a prompt picture for prompting the presence of the target object in the vehicle; and generating the first prompt information for causing a screen outside the vehicle to display the prompt picture (col. 8, ln 40-45: The display 54 is adapted to present the digital image 50 outward from a window surface 52A, 52B within the vehicle 10 for viewing from outside of the vehicle 10; col. 10, ln 15-25: The system controller 34A uses the occupant monitoring system 62 in communication with the system controller 34A and facial recognition algorithms to identify the user and other passengers (such as infant children) within the vehicle 10 in order to determine what preferences to apply. The system controller 34A selects a digital image 50 to be displayed based on a machine learning model 64 in communication with a database 66 including data related to past occurrences of the system 11 displaying digital images 50, the identity of the user within the vehicle 10 and preferences received for the user).
Claim 9, Cory teaches wherein the feature information of the passenger comprises at least one of gender, age and posture information (col. 11, ln 65-col. 12, ln 3: the system controller 34A, using the occupant monitoring system 62, identifies the user as a new driver or a teen driver).
Claim 18, Cory teaches wherein the processor is a central processing unit or processing units in other forms having data processing capabilities and/or instruction execution capabilities (col. 6, ln 54-58: The at least one data processor 44 can be any custom made or commercially available processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an auxiliary processor among several processors associated with the vehicle controller 34).
Claim 19, Cory teaches wherein the electronic device further comprises: an input apparatus and an output apparatus, and these components are interconnected through a bus system and/or connection mechanisms in other forms (col. 7, ln 53-58: The vehicle controller 34 is a non-generalized, electronic control device having a preprogrammed digital computer or processor, memory or non-transitory computer readable medium used to store data such as control logic, software applications, instructions, computer code, data, lookup tables, etc., and a transceiver [or input/output ports]).
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.
Claim(s) 2 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cory et al. in view of Sasahara et al. (JP 2025088189).
Claim 2 and 11, Cory does not teach further comprising:
obtaining driving behavior information of a driver in a first driving scenario; and
in response to determining a driving state of the driver being a target driving state based on the driving behavior information, generating second prompt information for prompting that the driver is in the target driving state, so as to display the second prompt information by the vehicle.
In the field of endeavor, Sasahara teaches a system for displaying information showing driving technique of a driver that is viewable outside the vehicle. Sasahara goes on to teach the system determine whether or not a driver's driving of a vehicle satisfies a predetermined condition regarding the degree of proficiency of the driving skill based on information about the driving actually experienced by the driver. When it is determined that the driving satisfies the specified condition, specified information indicating that the driver's driving skills are poor at a specified position of the vehicle that is visible from outside the vehicle (Appendix 6 and & 7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Cory’s system with driver behavior assessment and display the degree driving technique as taught by Sasahara for the purpose of enhanced safety awareness of surrounding environment, a finding that one of ordinary skill in the art could have applied the known technique as disclosed by Sasahara and the results would have been predictable.
Claim(s) 6 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cory et al. in view of Yamamoto (US Pub. 2021/0081687).
Claim 6 and 15, Cory does not teach wherein the feature information of the in-vehicle environment comprises audio information of the in-vehicle environment, and the determining, based on the feature information of the in-vehicle environment, feature information of a passenger in the vehicle, comprises:
determining a position of a sound source and an audio feature of the audio information of the in-vehicle environment;
determining, based on the position of the sound source of the audio information, the position of the sound source being the position of the passenger; and
determining, based on identification of the audio feature, the feature information of the passenger.
In the field of endeavor, Yamamoto teaches seat monitoring system. He goes on to teach the system analyzes audio data from the vehicle microphone sensors 114. As discussed above, the vehicle microphone sensors 114 may communicate audio data to the BCM 104. The audio data may be associated with the audio captured by the one or more microphones within the vehicle 102. Upon receipt of the audio data the BCM 104 may analyze the audio data using the audio logic to detect audio captured within the vehicle 102 that may be within one or more predetermined pitch and frequency thresholds that may be associated with the presence and location of one or more rear seat passengers (par. 71-72).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Cory’s system with passenger detection through sound detected with microphones as taught by Yamamoto for purpose of assisting system detection accuracy within the vehicle through an additional alternative source of detection, a finding that one of ordinary skill in the art could have applied the known technique as disclosed by Yamamoto and the results would have been predictable.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 and 12-13 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
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/AN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686
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