DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim status
Claims 1-20 are currently pending for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-3, 13-14 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Shimokawabe (US 2021/0350710) in view of Herga et al. (Herga; US 2021/0250737).
For claim 1 Shimokawabe discloses a navigation assistance system comprising:
a navigation assistance device [Fig. 1: user terminal 102] installed on a ship [E.g. 0056: The user terminal 102 is, for example, a tablet, a smart phone or the like which is possible to be brought into and/or disposed on a small ship or the like... The user terminal 102 is configured to transmit and receive data to and from the management server 101, the land-based management terminal 103, and other user terminals 102 based on, for example, the data communication by using the mobile telephone communication] and comprising:
processing circuitry [E.g. 0081: processor 303] configured to:
acquire navigation-related data related to navigation of the ship [E.g. 0090: GPS 306 is configured to acquire the position information of the user terminal 102 and temporarily store it in the user terminal navigation information 321. Also, the GPS 306 has an electronic compass therein so that it is possible to obtain the orientation. The user terminal navigation information 321 is periodically transmitted to the management server 101 so that the position information of the user terminal 102, that is, the position information of the ship on which the user terminal 102 is used, is transmitted to the management server 101]; and
transmit navigation related information to outside of the ship [E.g. 0090: The user terminal navigation information 321 is periodically transmitted to the management server 101 so that the position information of the user terminal 102, that is, the position information of the ship on which the user terminal 102 is used, is transmitted to the management server, 0089: When a ship in which the user terminal 102 having the ship navigational system 1 is used proceeds on a route where there is a possibility to collide with other ships or the like, the collision judgement module 317 displays an alert notification of warning or caution instructed by the management server 101 on the screen; 0192-0197, 0284-0289, 0237-0238]; and
a remote monitoring device installed outside the ship [E.g. 0054, 0057; management server 101 and/or land based management terminal 103] and comprising:
processing circuitry [0066: processor 203] configured to receive the navigation related information transmitted by the navigation assistance device [0284-0289, 0237-0238; collision judgment module of the management server calculates the caution/warning determination from the received navigation information and instruct the user terminal/land-based terminal to display it] .
Shimokawabe fails to expressly disclose calculate an assistance necessity level indicating a degree to which the ship requires assistance from outside, based on the navigation-related data; transmit the assistance necessity level to outside of the ship.
However, as shown by Herga, it was well known in the art of ship assistance systems to include calculating an assistance necessity level indicating a degree to which the ship requires assistance from outside, based on the ship related data; transmit the assistance necessity level to outside of the ship [E.g. 0119, 0122, 0053-0060, 0078, 0047].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of ship assistance systems before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Shimokawabe with the teaching of Herga in order to enable the remote monitoring entity to give priority to the ship the needs the quickest intervention and thereby enhance the overall ship safety, also it is merely combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
For claim 2, Shimokawabe in view of Herga discloses wherein the processing circuitry of the navigation assistance device is further configured to transmit the navigation-related data at a particular frequency [E.g. Shimokawabe; 0090].
For claim 3, Shimokawabe in view of Herga discloses wherein the processing circuitry of the remote monitoring device is further configured to: display the navigation-related data transmitted by the navigation assistance device [E.g. Shimokawabe; 0239-0238]; generate assistance data for assisting navigation of the ship in response to an operation input performed by a user [Shimokawabe; 0070, 0159-0160]; and transmit the assistance data to the navigation assistance device [Shimokawabe; 0159].
For claim 13, Shimokawabe in view of Herga discloses wherein the processing circuitry of the remote monitoring device is further configured to: display a symbol of the ship [E.g. Shimokawabe; 0117: The location information such as the ships 721, 731 and other icons 715, 716 and their contents and the navigation information 231 are sequentially received from the management server 101, processed by the map display module 311, and displayed on the nautical chart superimposingly as icons or the like, 0132: The ships 721, 731 are icons for displaying the positions of the ships equipped with the user terminal 102 at sea. The location information or the like acquired by the GPS 306 of the user terminal 102 disposed on each ship is stored in the management server 101 as the user terminal navigation information 232. The information is processed and transmitted from the management server 101 to the user terminal 102 as the processed navigation information 231 including the ship type information and the ship position information of each ship. In a case where the user terminal 102 receives the navigation information 231, the user terminal 102 displays the icon corresponding to the ship type of each ship at the ship position designated by the position information of each ship, 0189: The radar display module 312 is configured to display icons 1711 and 1712 of the other ships at the positions based on the navigation information 231 of the other ships received from the management server 101.], and the processing circuitry of the remote monitoring device is configured to change at least one of a display mode and a selected state of the symbol according to the assistance necessity level transmitted by the navigation assistance device [E.g. Shimokawabe; 0194: The radar display module 312 is configured to display a notification of caution 1801 in yellow when it is determined that the predicted moving route 1812 of the other ship 1811 and the moving direction 1813 of the own ship 1814 cross with each other. Velocity vector 1812 of the other ship 1811 and the other ship are displayed by changing the color to yellow. The speed vector 1823 of the own ship 1814 is also displayed by changing the color to yellow, 0196: the radar display module 312 is configured to display a notification of warning 1851 in red when it is determined that the predicted moving route 1862 of the other ship 1861 and the moving direction of the own ship cross with each other within three minutes. In this case, the velocity vector 1862 of the other ship 1861 and the other ship are displayed by changing the color to red. In addition, a warning 1864 by using an animation of red colored concentric circles is displayed around the other ship 1861. Also, the velocity vector 1873 of the own ship is displayed by changing the color to red, 0197, 0287-0289].
For claim 14, is interpreted and rejected as discussed with respect to claim 13.
For claim 19, is interpreted and rejected as discussed with respect to claim 1.
For claim 20, is interpreted and rejected as discussed with respect to claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 4-12 and 15-18 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
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure:
Mizuno (US 2020/0216152; which teaches a collision avoidance assistance system for assisting avoidance of collision between a ship and an obstacle using a result obtained by (i) detecting the obstacle on a ship travel route using sensors, (ii) identifying the detected obstacle, (iii) collecting sensor data, and (iv) analyzing the collected sensor data).
Raviv (US 2022/0144392; which teaches obtaining data collected by one or more sensors of at least one marine vessel, said data being representative of one or more situations encountered by the marine vessel during its voyage, prioritizing data according to at least one relevance criterion, wherein when the marine vessel is located in a zone in which at least one remote data communication link meets a criterion, transmitting at least some of the data using the at least one remote data communication link).
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMED BARAKAT whose telephone number is (571)270-3696. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00am-5:00PM.
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/MOHAMED BARAKAT/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2689
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