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 .
Claims 1-5 are pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on June 27, 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, and accordingly, the IDS has been considered by the examiner.
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 1-5 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.
Regarding claim 1, the claim recites, “a plurality of electronic units.” Therefore, it is not clear which electronic control unit is being referred to by “the electronic control unit” in the limitation “an application stored in the electronic control unit.”
Regarding claim 2, it is not clear which electronic control unit is being referred to by “the electronic control unit.” Claim 1 “electronic control units,” “providing-side electronic unit, and “receiving-side electronic unit.”
Regarding claim 5, the claim recites, “a plurality of electronic units.” Therefore, it is not clear which electronic control unit is being referred to by “the electronic control unit” in the limitation “an application stored in the electronic control unit.”
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Parmar et al. US Patent Publication No. 2019/0126859 discloses: a providing-side electronic control unit that provides a service among a plurality of electronic control units transmits, to a communication bus, an offer message including a service identifier unique to the service to be provided and having the first identifier to be received by all the electronic control units (para. [0051] first control node 19 forwards a data message comprising one or more identified service IDs on the high-speed communication channel 23. This step is also interchangeably referred to as ‘broadcasting’ the service); each of the electronic control units makes selection as to whether to receive the communication message for the service to be provided by the providing-side electronic control unit by checking the service identifier included in the received offer message (para. [0051] if the second control node 21 determines that the broadcast service is not required then the received data message is simply discarded, otherwise a subscription request message is generated and transmitted via the high-speed communication channel 23 to the first control node 19. para. [0062] second control node 21 identifies the connected bus nodes and the associated services, which again may comprise the use of a lookup table, which correlates bus node IDs with service IDs.); a receiving-side electronic control unit that has made selection to receive the communication message for the service to be provided by the providing-side electronic control unit among the plurality of electronic control units; the receiving-side electronic control unit transmits, to the communication bus, a subscription message (para. [0051] subscription request message is generated and transmitted via the high-speed communication channel 23 to the first control node 19, at step 109. subscription request message may comprise the network address of the second control node 21); and when the providing-side electronic control unit receives the subscription message, the providing-side electronic control unit starts to provide the service (para. [0051] upon receipt of the subscription request message, at step 111, the first control node 19 may generate a subscription event that associates the subscribed service ID to the network address of the second control node 21.).
Isoyama et al. US Patent Publication No. 2024/0157893 discloses: a providing-side electronic control unit that provides a service among a plurality of electronic control units transmits, to a communication bus, an offer message including a service identifier unique to the service to be provided and having the first identifier to be received by all the electronic control units (para. [0103] certain vehicle-mounted ECU 111 multicasts, as a server, an Offer message, which is an example of a SOME/IP-SD message, regularly or irregularly. server generates an Offer message in which a service ID corresponding to a service that can be provided by the server); each of the electronic control units makes selection as to whether to receive the communication message for the service to be provided by the providing-side electronic control unit by checking the service identifier included in the received offer message; a receiving-side electronic control unit that has made selection to receive the communication message for the service to be provided by the providing-side electronic control unit among the plurality of electronic control units (para. [0104] vehicle-mounted ECU 111 that requires the service corresponding to the service ID included in the Offer message transmits, as a client, a Subscribe message, which is an example of the SOME/IP-SD message, to the server via relay device 101. para. [0161] processing unit 12 refers to the service list in storage unit 13 and determines whether the service indicated by the acquired service ID is necessary); the receiving-side electronic control unit transmits, to the communication bus, a subscription message including the service identifier included in the received offer message and having the first identifier to be received by all the electronic control units (para. [0161] generates a Subscribe message including the service ID corresponding to the service, the acquired ECU identifier, and the acquired endpoint information); and when the providing-side electronic control unit receives the subscription message including the service identifier included in the offer message transmitted by the providing-side electronic control unit, the providing-side electronic control unit starts to provide the service using a communication message having a first identifier (para. [0166] processing unit 23 acquires the service ID, the endpoint information of vehicle-mounted ECU 111, and the ECU identifier from the acquired Subscribe message).
Fukui US Patent Publication No. 2024/0333698 discloses: a providing-side electronic control unit that provides a service among a plurality of electronic control units transmits, to a communication bus, an offer message including a service identifier unique to the service to be provided and having a first identifier to be received by all the electronic control units (para. [0125] first communication control unit 31 transmits an OfferService message in which the communication address of the first processing device 26 is set as the Endpoint address to the respective ECUs 7. para. [0126] OfferService message transmitted in step S252 through multicast transmission is received by the respective ECUs 7.); each of the electronic control units makes selection as to whether to receive the communication message for the service to be provided by the providing-side electronic control unit by checking the service identifier included in the received offer message (para. [0126] among the ECUs 7 within the second communication network 10, one ECU 7 that requires the service to be provided); a receiving-side electronic control unit that has made selection to receive the communication message for the service to be provided by the providing-side electronic control unit among the plurality of electronic control units; the receiving-side electronic control unit transmits, to the communication bus, a subscription message (para. [0126] among the ECUs 7 within the second communication network 10, one ECU 7 that requires the service to be provided (hereinafter, referred to as the client ECU 7) indicated by the service ID of the OfferService message transmits a SubscribeEventGroup message in which the communication address of the client ECU 7 itself is set as the Endpoint to the first processing device); and when the providing-side electronic control unit receives the subscription message including the service identifier included in the offer message transmitted by the providing-side electronic control unit, the providing-side electronic control unit starts to provide the service using a communication message having a first identifier (para. [0128] server ECU 6 receives the above-described SubscribeEventGroup message and acquires the communication address of the client ECU 7. para. [0130] server ECU 6 can directly transmit a message to the client ECU 7 via the routing device 8 by using the communication address of the client ECU 7).
Honjo et al. US Patent Publication No. 2025/0007982 discloses: a providing-side electronic control unit that provides a service among a plurality of electronic control units transmits, to a communication bus, an offer message including a service identifier unique to the service to be provided (para. [0032] in the server-side ECU 6, the service discovery 6g (corresponding to a server-side service discovery) transmits an offered service including a service ID, an instance ID, an IP address, and a port number to the communication path 9. first message transmitted from the server-side ECU 6 is received by the client-side ECU 7 via the switch 9a, the switch 9b, and the switch 9c); a receiving-side electronic control unit that has made selection to receive the communication message for the service to be provided by the providing-side electronic control unit among the plurality of electronic control units; the receiving-side electronic control unit transmits, to the communication bus, a subscription message including the service identifier included in the received offer message and having a first identifier (para. [0033] client-side ECU 7, when the communication bandwidth setting module 7i receives the first message from the server-side ECU 6, as shown in FIG. 5, it obtains the available service information and the event group information from the service discovery 7g, and constructs a second message (Listener (Ready)) by referring to the stream ID. service discovery 7g transmits a subscribe request.); and when the providing-side electronic control unit receives the subscription message including the service identifier included in the offer message transmitted by the providing-side electronic control unit, the providing-side electronic control unit starts to provide the service using the communication message having the first identifier (para. [0034] in the server-side ECU 6, when the service discovery 6g receives the subscribe request and the second message from the client-side ECU 7. transmits the transmission frame (Event/Field Notification) for which the VLAN ID is set to the communication path 9).
Park et al. US Patent Publication No. 2020/0136859 discloses receiving-side electronic control unit of a plurality of electronic control units transmits, to a communication bus, a subscription message including the service identifier included in the received offer message and having the first identifier to be received by all the electronic control units (claim 1. plurality of units including one or more provider units and one or more recipient units; wherein the one or more recipient units are configured to send respective subscription requests for data originating in the one or more provider units, via the network, the respective subscription requests being identified by at least four factors, including a service identifier. para. [0011] network connection N may be a bus. para. [0013] recipient units R are configured to send respective subscription requests for data originating from the provider units P).
However, the prior art of record does not teach, individually or in combination the invention of claims 1 and 5 including: when a network is updated, a receiving-side electronic control unit that has made selection to receive the communication message for the service to be provided by the providing-side electronic control unit among the plurality of electronic control units changes settings to receive the communication message having, as the first identifier, a value generated based on a specific rule from a value of the service identifier included in the received offer message; the receiving-side electronic control unit transmits, to the communication bus, a subscription message including the service identifier included in the received offer message and having the first identifier to be received by all the electronic control units; and when the providing-side electronic control unit receives the subscription message including the service identifier included in the offer message transmitted by the providing-side electronic control unit, the providing-side electronic control unit starts to provide the service using the communication message having, as the first identifier, the value generated based on the specific rule from the value of the service identifier included in the offer message.
Conclusion
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/JOSHUA JOO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445
