DETAILED ACTION
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 . 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.
Joint Inventors
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims, the Examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the Examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. The instant application is a 371 national stage of PCT/EP2019/080199 and also claims foreign priority to DE102018128565.5. Examiner has checked and verified that the foreign priority document supports the subject matter of the instant application, and as such, the earlier filed date of 11/14/2018 is granted.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/15/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
This action is in response to Applicant’s Request for Continued Examination filed on 05/15/2026. Claims 11-20 are pending and examined below. Regarding the prior 35 U.S.C. 112(d) rejection, the claim amendments have overcome the rejection, and as such, that section has been removed from the current action. Additionally, examiner has found Applicant’s arguments to be persuasive. However, after a further search, examiner has found additional prior art that reads on at least the independent claims. As such, prior art is still being applied to the claims at hand.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 11-14 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Seitz et al., US 20110148615 A1, herein referred to as Seitz, and in view of Krauss et al., US 20120319828 A1, herein referred to as Krauss.
Regarding claim 11, Seitz discloses a sensor configured to sense a current non-zero relative usage of each of an internal combustion engine and an electric drive of the vehicle in driving the vehicle (Figs. 1, 4, Paragraph 0037; sensors on the vehicle may be used to sense data or operating states of the drives 401 and 402, drives 401 and 402 may be an electric motor and a combustion engine, respectively, the relative usage percentages of each drive may be determined by the sensors; relative percentages may be non-zero), and an electronic control unit coupled to the sensor and configured to adapt a visual signal, output by the vehicle, based on the sensed current non-zero relative usage (Figs. 1, 4, Paragraphs 0034-0037; a display may be included in the vehicle that can display the relative usage percentages of each drive (electric and combustion)), but fails to disclose wherein the visual signal comprises a passenger compartment lighting.
However, Krauss, in an analogous field of endeavor, teaches wherein the visual signal comprises a passenger compartment lighting (Paragraph 0038; interior space lights may have their color change to indicate a current operating mode of the vehicle). Therefore, from the teaching of Krauss, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have modified, with a reasonable expectation of success, the driving system of Seitz to include wherein the visual signal comprises a passenger compartment lighting as taught/suggested by Krauss. The motivation to do so would be to give the driver a better indication of what mode the vehicle is in and to what extent, as well as ensure that the indication is easy to visualize. By utilizing a lighting system in the passenger compartment to indicate which mode the vehicle is in, a driver may quickly glance towards the indicator and will immediately know which mode the vehicle is in. This can increase safety as the driver will not be as distracted when wanting to determine the current mode.
Regarding claim 12, Seitz in view of Krauss renders obvious all the limitations of claim 11. Seitz further discloses the visual signal further comprises at least one of: an indication of the current driving experience mode, warning signal, navigation display, infotainment display, road sign detection display, steering wheel lighting, combination instrument display, keypad lighting, status display of a driving assistance system, or parking distance indication (Figs. 1, 4, Paragraphs 0034-0037; a display may be included in the vehicle that can display the relative usage percentages of each drive (electric and combustion); the display can be considered as a navigation display (displays usage percents over time which is related to navigation) or infotainment display (the display can be a video screen in the vehicle which provides information to a user; infotainment under BRI can be any display providing information in some manner)).
Regarding claim 13, Seitz in view of Krauss renders obvious all the limitations of claim 11. Seitz further discloses wherein adapting the visual signal comprises changing at least one of the following properties of the visual signal: intensity, brightness, color, color sequence, color nuance, or flashing frequency (Figs. 1, 4, Paragraphs 0034-0037; the display may indicate relative usage percentages of the electric and combustion drives; this indication may change based on the usage percentages and can be considered a change of intensity).
Regarding claim 14, Seitz in view of Krauss renders obvious all the limitations of claim 13. Seitz further discloses wherein in response to the internal combustion engine operating alone or in addition to the electric drive, the at least one of the properties of the visual signal is changed in at least one of the following ways: increasing or reducing the intensity; increasing or reducing the brightness; changing the color; changing the color sequence; changing the color nuance; or increasing or reducing the flashing frequency (Figs. 1, 4, Paragraphs 0034-0037; the display may indicate relative usage percentages of the electric and combustion drives; this indication may change based on the usage percentages and can be considered as an increase or reduction of intensity).
Regarding claim 19, Seitz in view of Krauss renders obvious all the limitations of claim 11. Seitz further discloses an output device to output, in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, the visual signal as adapted (Figs. 1, 4, Paragraphs 0034-0037; the relative usage percentages of each drive (electric and combustion) may be output to a display within the vehicle which can be considered as being in the passenger compartment).
Regarding claim 20, the claim limitations are similar to those in claim 1 and are rejected using the same rationale as seen above in claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 15, the examiner has completed a thorough search and has not found a piece of prior art, either alone or in combination with other prior art, that discloses, teaches, suggests, or renders obvious the claim limitations. The closest prior art combination, Seitz and Krauss, teaches an electronic control unit coupled to the sensor and configured to adapt a visual signal, output by the vehicle, based on the sensed current non-zero relative usage (Figs. 1, 4, Paragraphs 0034-0037; a display may be included in the vehicle that can display the relative usage percentages of each drive (electric and combustion)), but fails to teach wherein the control system further comprises: an individual sensor coupled to the electronic control unit to sense at least one individual parameter assigned to a vehicle occupant, wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to adapt the visual signal based on the at least one individual parameter of the vehicle occupant. This feature is novel in that it allows for the display to adjust based on a given user. This can allow for a driver or passenger to customize the display to their liking. Specifically, since the display is in the form of passenger lighting, a driver or passenger can change to colors they like which can lead to increased comfort and joy. Additionally, the lighting may be changed in more utilitarian fashion, namely in that the colors can be adjusted to suit those with vision issues (colorblindness, etc.) or can have more distinct colors that lead to faster identification by the driver or passenger.
Regarding claims 16-18, the claims ultimately depend from claim 15 and contain the same objected-to-as-allowable subject matter as seen in claim 15. As such, claims 16-18 are also objected to for containing allowable subject matter.
Response to Arguments
Examiner notes that Applicant’s arguments were persuasive regarding the previously applied art combination (Suzuki, Schilling, Krauss). However, as stated above, the examiner has found new prior art that reads on at least the independent claims. Therefore, regarding Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 11 and 20, they have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER ALLEN BUKSA whose telephone number is (571)272-5346. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 AM-4:30 PM.
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/CHRISTOPHER A BUKSA/Examiner, Art Unit 3658
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