Obviousness

Obviousness Analysis Under 35 U.S.C. § 103 for US8423235

This analysis identifies combinations of prior art references that would render the independent claims of US patent 8423235 obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) at the time of the invention (priority date: 2009-09-14). The analysis focuses on independent claims 1 (vehicle video recording device) and 9 (driving information generating method), as dependent claims generally add specific features that would similarly flow from the identified motivations.

Identified Prior Art References (pre-dating 2009-09-14)

1. KR19990049951A (Publication: 1999-07-05): Titled "Multifunctional device of car and its control method," this reference broadly discloses a vehicle device that integrates various functions, including GPS-received information and vehicle engine information.
2. US6141611A (Publication: 2000-10-31): Titled "Mobile vehicle accident data system," this patent teaches a system for collecting accident data, which inherently involves sensing parameters like vehicle speed and acceleration, and recording location.
3. US6718239B2 (Publication: 2004-04-06): Titled "Vehicle event data recorder including validation of output," this patent describes an Event Data Recorder (EDR) that collects and validates vehicle operational data, such as speed, engine RPM, brake status, and seat belt use, typically around a driving "event."
4. KR20040073816A (Publication: 2004-08-21): Titled "Apparatus and method for servicing driving information, system and method for driving appendence analysis using the same," this reference directly addresses collecting and analyzing driving behavior information.
5. US20060287783A1 (Publication: 2006-12-21): Titled "Automated accounting system that values, controls, records and bills the uses of equipment/vehicles for society," this application demonstrates a need and system for tracking and differentiating vehicle usage to support billing or other accounting purposes.
6. US20080122288A1 (Publication: 2008-05-29): Titled "Power management systems for automotive video event recorders," this reference describes managing power consumption in vehicle recorders, particularly differentiating between active and inactive states.
7. KR100917442B1 (Priority: 2009-02-26, Publication: 2009-09-15): Titled "Vehicle multi-speed record measuring device," this patent application describes a device for measuring and recording vehicle speed and related data, making it relevant for collecting driving information. Although its publication date is slightly after US8423235's priority date, its earlier priority date makes it prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) (pre-AIA).

Obviousness of Claim 1 (Vehicle Video Recording Device)

Claim 1 describes a vehicle video recording device comprising a sensing unit, a vehicle information collecting unit, and a driving information generating unit that creates different sets of driving information for vehicle "use" and "nonuse."

Combination: US6718239B2 in view of KR19990049951A, US20060287783A1, US20080122288A1, KR20040073816A, and US6141611A.

1. Vehicle Video Recording Device: The background art of US8423235 explicitly acknowledges "known vehicle video recording devices" that record and store video data from a camera. KR19990049951A also discloses a "multifunctional device of car" that would reasonably include video recording functionality, given its focus on information capture. A POSITA would find it obvious to integrate video recording capabilities into a vehicle data recorder or vice versa, to provide comprehensive visual and data records.
2. Sensing Unit:
   • Positioning unit (GPS): KR19990049951A discloses "GPS-received information." US6141611A also collects vehicle location.
   • Inertia sensor unit: US6141611A teaches sensing "acceleration" for accident data. EDRs, as taught by US6718239B2, inherently include inertia sensors for detecting events like collisions.
   • Environment sensor unit: While not explicitly detailed in these references, the addition of common environment sensors (e.g., temperature, humidity, light) to a vehicle monitoring device for validation purposes (as hinted by "validation of output" in US6718239B2) or to ensure data integrity and detect tampering would be a routine engineering choice for a POSITA.
3. Vehicle Information Collecting Unit: US6718239B2 (EDR) clearly connects to vehicle systems to collect "vehicle operational data" such as speed, engine RPM, brake status, and seat belt use. KR19990049951A also provides "vehicle engine information." The description of US8423235 itself mentions collecting information from a self-diagnosis device like an OBD, which is a standard interface for vehicle data, making such collection obvious.
4. Driving Information Generating Unit that generates different sets for use/nonuse:
   • Differentiation of Use/Nonuse: US20060287783A1 teaches an "automated accounting system" for vehicles that "values, controls, records and bills the uses," thereby inherently requiring the system to differentiate between times of vehicle "use" and "nonuse" to accurately account for activity. US20080122288A1 describes power management for vehicle recorders, which involves distinguishing between activated (use) and deactivated (nonuse) states to manage power consumption.
   • First set (during use): Comprising at least one of a driving date, traveling distance, traveling speed, direction indicator signal, safety belt wearing signal, acceleration pedal signal, brake signal, residual fuel signal, and ejected fuel signal. These are all common vehicle parameters. US6718239B2 (EDR) collects speed, RPM, brake, and seat belt signals. US6141611A collects speed and acceleration. KR100917442B1 specifically measures and records vehicle speed. KR20040073816A broadly covers collecting "driving information" for "driving appendence analysis." A POSITA would routinely combine these known data points to create a comprehensive record of driving behavior.
   • Second set (during nonuse): Comprising at least one of the traveling distance and GPS positional coordinates. KR19990049951A discloses GPS position information. US20080122288A1's teaching of power management for vehicle recorders would motivate a POSITA to enable continuous, low-power monitoring during nonuse (e.g., parking) to collect essential information like location (GPS) and potentially minimal distance traveled (e.g., from small movements or overall odometer tracking), for purposes such as theft tracking or continuous usage accounting (US20060287783A1).

Motivation to Combine:
The problem addressed by US8423235 is that known vehicle recording devices primarily focus on accident-related videos and do not provide sufficient material for proactively determining accident possibility or guiding driving habits, leading to disadvantages in insurance premium calculation.
A POSITA, seeking to overcome this problem and provide a more comprehensive vehicle monitoring system for purposes such as driver behavior analysis, insurance assessment, and vehicle usage management, would be motivated to combine:

• The known functionality of a vehicle video recorder (from background art/KR19990049951A) with the detailed data collection capabilities of an EDR (US6718239B2, US6141611A, KR100917442B1).
• The concepts of tracking and accounting for vehicle usage (US20060287783A1) and analyzing driving information (KR20040073816A), which inherently require distinguishing between vehicle use and nonuse.
• The power management techniques for automotive recorders (US20080122288A1) to enable continuous, low-power data collection during nonuse states.

This combination would lead a POSITA to design a system that captures relevant data tailored to both active driving ("use") and parked/inactive ("nonuse") states, utilizing readily available sensor and vehicle data interfaces, to achieve the desired granular monitoring and analysis for the stated goals of improving driver behavior and insurance assessment. The selection of specific data points for each state would be a matter of routine design choice to fulfill these objectives.

Obviousness of Claim 9 (Driving Information Generating Method)

Claim 9 outlines a method performed by a vehicle video recording device for acquiring vehicle and sensed information and generating different sets of driving information during use and nonuse of a vehicle. This method directly corresponds to the functionality of the device described in Claim 1.

Motivation to Combine: The same combinations of prior art references and motivations detailed for Claim 1 apply equally to the method of Claim 9. The steps of acquiring information using known sensors and self-diagnosis devices, and generating different sets of information based on the vehicle's operational state (use or nonuse), would be the obvious operational steps performed by the obvious device. A POSITA seeking to implement the functions of the device described above would naturally employ a method that acquires the various forms of vehicle and sensed information and processes them to generate the specific "use" and "nonuse" data sets.