Request to interested persons of the public to oppose recently granted Indian Patent on Advanced Vehicle Control and Safety Systems, at Chennai Patent Office in India
Ramanashree Krishnan
Dear Members of the public,
I write this letter to convince the public that the Chennai Patent Office in India has mistakenly granted patent number 507550 in February 2024, to application number 201741025968, titled “Advanced Vehicle Control and Safety Systems”. The application for this patent was submitted in 2017.
Full details of the patent are available by searching for the patent application number 201741025968 at https://iprsearch.ipindia.gov.in//PublicSearch/PublicationSearch/ApplicationStatus, and then clicking on “View Documents”.
The core idea of the this patent 507550 is to do a comparison of the vehicle's real-time latitude & longitude coordinates given by GPS, with the coordinates of the preloaded accident zones built by ArcGIS software, and when a match occurs, then one or more actions can be triggered (speed control, audio/visual alerts, etc).
In this letter, I shall explain the following five realistic facts on this patent 507550:
Its claims are already covered by prior patents or prior public domain papers.
Its invention is easily reproducible by any ordinary person skilled in the ArcGIS field, using the knowledge of the prior publications.
Several of its claims are not specific and are vague, and it is missing an important part in its description.
It offers much inferior features compared to the features offered by prior patents.
It is more expensive to implement than some prior patents.
Before delving into the detailed explanations for each of the above five facts, we shall have a brief review of the prior art, that we shall refer to as R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6 in the rest of this document.
References of prior patents or public domain papers:
R1
Document: US Patent number US5485161A (current status: expired by lifetime of patent)
Year of publication: 1994
Title: Vehicle speed control based on GPS/MAP matching of posted speeds
Link: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5485161A/en
Brief description: Describes the complete system of hardware and software to detect the vehicle’s current speed, the vehicle’s current latitude and longitude, and perform automatic speed control and also give visual alerts when the vehicle’s speed is above the posted speed at that corresponding position on the Map.
R2
Document: International Journal of Geographical Information Science
Year of publication: 2003
Title: Intra-urban location and clustering of road accidents using GIS: a Belgian example
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13658810310001629619
Brief description: How to use the powerful features of the GIS software called ArcView (now called ArcGIS) like overlays, geocoding, etc, to identify accident hotspots and accident patterns including densities of accidents.
R3
Document: European Patent number EP2450219A1 (current status: withdrawn)
Year of publication: 2002
Title: A GPS-based vehicle speed stabilization system
Link: https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2450219A1/en
Brief description: Also describes the complete system of hardware and software to detect the vehicle’s current speed, the vehicle’s current latitude and longitude, and perform speed control (via engine control unit) and also give visual and vocal alerts when the vehicle’s speed is above the posted speed limit on the Map. In addition, a safety button to deactivate the system is provided, in case speed has to be increased to escape the possible accident.
R4
Document: US Patent number US20160061625A1 (current status: active until 2035)
Year of publication: 2016
Title: Method and system for avoidance of accidents
Link: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160061625A1/en
Brief description: Describes the complete system of hardware and software to create and dynamically update "accident zone maps" by freely available GIS software (using real-time and historical accident data), in addition to tracking the vehicle's current speed, latitude and longitude. This patent is also more realistic and superior since it additionally considers weather conditions, road conditions, street light conditions and many other factors like type of vehicle involved in accident (i.e. car, truck, bike, etc) in addition to accident data to dynamically update the "accident zone maps" and triggers alerts when there is a match between the latitude and longitude coordinates of the real-time GPS position and the GIS "accident zones", and speed of the vehicle is above the limit. Further, this patent uses freely available software (also called freeware) like Google Geocoding API for translation between map locations and latitude-longitude information.
R5
Document: ArcGIS publication online
Year of publication: Not known
Title: Analyzing traffic accidents in space and time, workflow
Link: https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/analytics/case-studies/analyzing-crashes-2-pro-workflow.htm
Brief description: This gives public domain knowledge on how to analyze and gather accident information using ArcGIS software.
R6
Document: ArcGIS publication online
Year of publication: Not known
Title: Import and export coordinates
Link: https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/data/coordinate-conversion/import-coordinates.htm
Brief description: This gives public domain knowledge on how to export coordinates (i.e. latitude and longitude of points) from a map, and how to import coordinates (i.e. latitude and longitude of points) into a map.
Having covered the prior literature, we shall now delve into the valid grounds for revoking patent number 507550:
Its claims are already covered by prior patents or prior public domain papers
It is clear that all the claims of patent 507550 are already covered by a simple combination of R1 and R2. The GIS software used to generate accident zonal maps in R2 also happens to be ArcView (this software is now called ArcGIS, the same software used in patent 507550). R4 is also in the same subject area, but is more advanced in its features.
Its invention is easily reproducible by any ordinary person skilled in these fields, using the knowledge of the prior publications
To reproduce the invention of patent 507550, there are only four steps that a skilled person needs to do.
Step 1: Build the static map of accidents using ArcGIS using methods in R2 or R5.
Step 2: Export the accident map into geocodes (i.e. latitude and longitude pairs) of ArcView/ArcGIS software using methods in R6.
Step 3: Convert the accident zone map into a speed-limit map, by reasonable estimates of maximum speeds in each of the accident zones.
Step 4: Use the speed-limit map in any of the prior inventions of R1 or R3, for automatic speed control of the vehicle.
In fact, the only skill required by this skilled person is on ArcView or ArcGIS software, for which training and certification courses are readily available.
Several of its claims are not specific and are vague, and it is missing an important part in its description
As an invention, the most important missing feature of patent 507550, is step 3 (i.e. deriving the speed-limit map from the accident-zone map) that I described in the previous section. The patent 507550 document “Patent_Document_Full_Details” mentions very vague statements on page 12 - “Thus the vehicle would drive at a speed of 30kmph in accident prone zones, 40kmph in school and hospital zones, 60kmph in state highways.” The document of patent 507550 has only focused on accident zones, and has not given steps to arrive at speed limits. Also, on page 10, the “Full_Details” document has briefly and vaguely mentioned features of ArcGIS software that are already publicly known, and has not taken any effort to actually use them in the invention of patent 507550. In any case, the prior patent R4 is highly superior to the patent 507550, in its approach of combining accident zones with weather, road conditions, street light conditions, vehicle type, etc, in addition to giving posted speed limits which should truly define the actual speed limit.
It offers much inferior features compared to the features offered by prior patents
To repeat the points mentioned earlier, the invention 507550 can be achieved by a simple combination of R1 and R2, by a person skilled in ArcGIS. The R4 is more advanced and realistically useful than patent 507550, because R4 combines accident zone data with weather, road conditions, street light conditions, vehicle type, etc, in addition to posted speed limits which should finally define the actual speed limit. Also, the method described in patent 507550 mainly describes a static database of accidents, compared to the dynamic updation capability of R4.
Also, the patent 507550 has not described any safety feature to disable the system. But prior patent R3 offers a safety feature (psh-button) to disable the system in emergencies, for example, to increase speed to escape from an approaching tornado, even though the vehicle is in an accident zone.
It is more expensive to implement than some prior patents
The ArcGIS software used in patent 507550 is highly expensive. ArcGIS was popular earlier, which is why it was used as in R2. But nowadays, trends are shifting towards freeware (i.e. free and open source software) The patent R4 uses freely available geocoding software like Google Geocoding API, which offer other advantages like software-transparency and adaptability.
In view of the preceding five reasons, I trust you will agree that there are sufficient grounds for revoking this patent 507550, in view of respecting the prior art, and keeping the long term goal of clarity, features and cost of inventions, to benefit the public being able to utilize the inventions.
Therefore, I humbly make this letter to any interested person around the world, to submit opposition to this patent 507550, at the India Patent Office in Chennai. You may please feel use any part of my letter, without quoting my name, while opposing this patent 507550 in India.
Note that the patent has to be formally opposed within one year of its grant, as per Indian law. After the period of one year from date of grant of patent, it can still be opposed, but the procedures then become more tedious. As the patent was granted in Feb 2024, this means that the formal opposition to this patent has to be submitted by Feb 2025. The procedures for opposing this patent are mentioned at https://ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/IPOFormUpload/1_18_1/form-7.pdf
I shall be more than happy to explain any technical point in my letter that needs further explanation.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Ramanashree Krishnan