DETAILED ACTION
The following is a Final Office Action in response to applicant’s amendments filed on June 12th, 2025. Claims 1-2,5, 8-12, 14,17-18 and 20 are pending.
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 .
Response to Amendment/Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-2,5, 8-12, 14,17-18 and 20 under 35 USC 103 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
Claims 1, 12 and 17 (claims that depend rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 1 recites
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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, 12, and 17 (claims that depend therein) 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "wherein the NFC receives….” in line 19.. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The Examiner assumes this limitation should be “wherein the NFC reader receives”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1,2, 5, 8-12, 14, 17-18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Farges et al. "Farges" (US 2018/0374294), in view of Charrat (US 2013/0181875) in view of Forster (US 2014/0139347), in view of Kang et al. “Kang” (2017/0105120) in view of Fruehling et al. “Fruehling” (US 2017/0118178) in view of Hourne (US 2013/0033362) and in further view of Audic (US 2011/0059694).
Regarding Claim 1, Farges discloses a vehicular exterior door handle assembly (Fig. 5), the vehicular exterior door handle assembly comprising:
a handle portion disposed at an exterior side of a door of a vehicle(Fig. 4-5);
a printed circuit board (PCB) disposed at the handle portion(Para. [0057]… Module 20 comprises a PCB 21) , the PCB having circuitry disposed thereat, the circuitry comprising a near-field communication (NFC) reader (Para. [0041])…The electronics module of the vehicle entry device comprises a light source connected to the printed circuit board and in communication with the NFC receiver…), the NFC reader comprising a microcontroller and an antenna (Para. [0062]… antenna 70 is configured to capture a specific NFC signal, sent for example by an electronic key or a personal communication device, handled by the vehicle
user…Microprocessor 40 constitutes a processing element, also in communication
with NFC receiver 50+60 via PCB 21. Microprocessor 40 is configured to selectively provide a control signal to the control system equipping the vehicle, based on the NFC signal received from NFC receiver…); and unlocks the door of the vehicle( Para. [0063]… Upon reception of control signal from device 1, said control system allows the vehicle user to access the vehicle, by unlocking one or several doors of the vehicle.); wherein the antenna comprises a symmetric antenna (Para. [0065]…antenna 70 is made of two wires defining three turns or windings 71, 72 and 73, each having an overall rectangular shape and being directly arranged on PCB 21)
Farges fails to teach wherein the antenna comprises a layout of a plurality of interleaved segments; wherein with the NFC reader operating in a power-saving state of operation, the antenna emits a magnetic field;
wherein the NFC reader detects disturbances in the emitted magnetic field from an
NFC tag present external of the vehicle and proximate to the door of the vehicle;
wherein the NFC reader, responsive to the NFC reader detecting a disturbance in
the emitted magnetic field from the NFC tag, adjusts operation of the NFC reader from the
power-saving state of operation to an active state of operation;
wherein the NFC reader, when operating in the active state of operation, requests an authentication challenge from an electronic control unit (ECU) disposed at the vehicle remote from the NFC reader: wherein the NFC receives the requested authentication challenge from the ECU: wherein the NFC reader, responsive to receiving the requestion authentication challenge from the ECU, wirelessly communicates with the NFC tag by wirelessly
communicating the requested authentication challenge to the NFC tag and wirelessly receiving an authentication response signal from the NFC tag;
wherein the NFC reader, responsive to wirelessly receiving the authentication
response signal from the NFC tag, communications the received authentication response to the ECU. Wherein the ECU, determines whether the received authentication
response signal is a valid authentication response signal and wherein the ECU responsive to determining the received authentication response signal is valid and responsive to presence of a user’s hand at the handle portion, unlocks the door of the vehicle
and wherein responsive to determining a change in an environment of the vehicular exterior door handle assembly, the NFC reader tunes a frequency of the magnetic field emitted by the antenna.
However, Charrat teaches teach wherein the antenna comprises a layout of a plurality of interleaved segments (Fig. 7, Para. [0034]…the turns of the windings L1 and L2 are interleaved, rather than being coiled in a regular spiral.)
It would be obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle entry device as taught by Farges with the NFC antenna with interleaved coils as taught by Charrat to improve the quality factor Q of the antenna circuit (Para. [0006]).
Further, Forster discloses wherein, with the NFC reader operating in a power-saving state of operation (Para. [0025]…Utilizing an NFC detector to control the active state of an NFC reader may reduce power consumption, for example by limiting interrogation functions to necessary conditions, such as when an external NFC reader is brought close to the display) Additionally, utilizing, the antenna emits a magnetic field (Para. [0021]…the detection of unauthorized tags may be achieved by an NFC reader component transmitting NFC interrogation
commands to an inductive coil. The inductive coil may distribute magnetic energy over the surface of the display that is being interrogated for unauthorized tags…);
wherein the NFC reader detects disturbances in the emitted magnetic field from an
NFC tag present external of the vehicle and proximate to the door of the vehicle (Para. [0034] ;
wherein the NFC reader, responsive to the NFC reader detecting a disturbance in
the emitted magnetic field from the NFC tag, adjusts operation of the NFC reader from the power-saving state of operation to an active state of operation(Para. [0034]…the NFC detector 202 in the exemplary circuit may drive the voltage of the control line 220 to either the "enabled" state value when an external NFC reader is proximate to the NFC detector, or to the "disabled" state value when no external NFC reader is proximate to the detector);
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle entry device as taught by Farges in view of Charrat with the NFC tags with proximity detection as taught by Forster to prevent inappropriate or malicious information from being unknowingly communicated to a user’s NFC-enabled device (Para. [0005]… vandal or pirate RFID devices are often placed in close proximity to the indicated NFC area. The vandal or pirate devices often contain deceptive, misleading, undesired or malicious information. These devices can be coupled with or adhered to products and items, or advertisements associated with those items, leading to inappropriate or malicious information being unknowingly communicated to a user's NFC-enabled device.)
Further Kang teaches, wherein the NFC reader, when operating in the active state of operation, requests an authentication challenge from an electronic control unit (ECU) disposed at the vehicle remote from the NFC reader (Para. [0080]…an NFC reader 310 encrypts and transmits key request information for controlling starting and entrance of a vehicle and information for performing an authentication process to an NFC controller 320.)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle entry device of Farges in view of Charrat and Forster with the method for controlling a vehicle using a user terminal as taught by Kang to provide an efficient security solution in order to integrate communication among various devices…(Kang, Para. [0027]).
Further, Fruehling teaches wherein the NFC receives the requested authentication challenge from the ECU (Para. [0047-0049]… In order to assist the ECU to verify whether signals sent from smart phone 1 with identification information of NFC tag 2 is identical with the right identification information, the ECU challenges the smart phone 1 after receiving
the signals), wherein the NFC reader, responsive to receiving the requested authentication challenge from the ECU, wirelessly communicates with the NFC tag by wirelessly communicating the requested authentication challenge to the NFC tag and wirelessly receiving an authentication response signal from the NFC tag (Para. [0049]…the NFC tag 2 sends its identification information to the NFC base through the NFC communication protocol. The NFC base receives and verifies the identification information);
wherein the NFC reader, responsive to wirelessly receiving the authentication response signal from the NFC tag, communications the received authentication response to the ECU (Para. [0049]... The ECU confirms the identification number and query valid, commands the opening of the switch, and produces a confirmation for the user.
Wherein the ECU, determines whether the received authentication response signal is a valid authentication response signal and wherein the ECU responsive to determining the received authentication response signal is valid, unlocks the door of the vehicle (Para. [0049]… The ECU confirms the identification number and query valid, commands the opening of the switch).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle entry device of Farges in view of Charrat and Forster and Kang with vehicle control system as taught by Fruehling to ensure communication between the NFC tag and NFC base can be performed at any time and not rely on a third party (Fruehling, Para. [0030]).
Further, Hourne teaches responsive to a presence of a user’s hand at the handle portion, unlocks the door of the vehicle (Para. [0003]… When the presence of the hand or of a portion of the hand of the user is detected in the unlocking zone 10, the doors of the vehicle are unlocked.)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle entry device of Farges in view of Charrat, Forster, Kang and Fruehling with the hand detection as taught by Hourne to decrease fabrication costs (Hourne, Para. [0005}
Further, Audic teaches responsive to determining a change in an environment of the vehicular exterior door handle assembly, the NFC reader tunes a frequency of the magnetic field emitted by the antenna (Para. [0019-0021]…under conditions where the non-NFC external interfering object persists in the vicinity of the NFC reader device…the antenna tuning circuit may be used to compensate for antenna de-tuning due to the presence of external objects.)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle control system as taught by Farges in view of Charrat, Forster, Kang. Fruehling and Hourne with the NFC device as taught by Audic to reduce the power consumption of near-field communication detection devices(Audic, Para. [0001]).
Regarding Claim 2, Farges in view of Charrat, Forster, Kang, Fruehling, Hourne and Audic teach the vehicular exterior door handle assembly of claim 1, wherein the authentication signal comprises a cryptographic challenge, and wherein the authentication response signal comprises a cryptographic response (Kang, Para. [0064-0065]… the smartphone 210 receiving the key request sets a first key 212 in a first encrypting algorithm 213 for the encrypted authentication process and generates a random number using a first random number creator 211. Thereafter, the smartphone 210 an encrypted value to the NFC module 220 through the first encrypting algorithm 213 having the first key 212 (S252)…).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle entry device of Farges in view of Charrat and Forster with the method for controlling a vehicle using a user terminal as taught by Kang to provide an efficient security solution in order to integrate communication among various devices…(Kang, Para. [0027]).
Regarding Claim 5, Farges in view of Charrat, Forster, Kang, Fruehling, Hourne and Audic teach the vehicular exterior door handle assembly of claim 3, wherein the NFC reader communicates with the ECU of the vehicle via one selected from the group consisting of:
(i) Local Interconnect Network (LIN), (ii) Controller Area Network (CAN) and (iii) Controller
Area Network Flexible Data (CAN-FD) (Fruehling, Para. [0049]...the NFC base receives and verifies the identification information. If the identification number of the NFC tag 2 matches the identification information that has been stored in the NFC base, the NFC base will send the identification information a query about opening a switch to the ECU via the Controller Area Network bus (CAN-BUS).)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle entry device of Farges in view of Charrat and Forster with the vehicle control system as taught by Fruehling to ensure communication between the NFC tag and NFC base can be performed at any time and not rely on a third party. (Fruehling, Para. [0030]).
Regarding Claim 8, Farges in view of Charrat, Forster, Kang, Fruehling, Hourne and Audic teach the vehicular exterior door handle assembly of claim 1, wherein the NFC reader comprises a capacitor bank (Farges, Para. [0062]… Capacitor 50 and EMC filter 60 constitute an NFC receiver 50+60 in communication with light source 28 and antenna 70 via PCB 21.)
Regarding Claim 9, Farges in view of Charrat, Forster, Kang, Fruehling, Hourne and Audic teach the vehicular exterior door handle assembly of claim 8, wherein the capacitor bank tunes a frequency of the magnetic field emitted by the antenna (Farges, Para. [0066].... Winding 71 is connected via sections 74 and 75 to capacitor 50 for tuning antenna 70,)
Regarding Claim 10, Farges in view of Charrat, Forster, Kang, Fruehling, Hourne and Audic teach the vehicular exterior door handle assembly of claim 1, wherein the NFC tag is part of a mobile device(Fruehling, Fig. 1)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle entry device of Farges in view of Charrat and Forster with the vehicle control system as taught by Fruehling to ensure communication between the NFC tag and NFC base can be performed at any time and not rely on a third party. (Fruehling, Para. [0030]).
Regarding Claim 11, Farges in view of Charrat, Forster, Kang, Fruehling, Hourne and Audic teach the vehicular exterior door handle assembly of claim 1, wherein the NFC reader comprises an NFC reader integrated circuit (IC) (Farges, printed circuit board PCB, 21)
Regarding Claim 12, Please see rejection of claim 1 and 2 which are commensurate in scope. Claims 1 and 2 drawn to the apparatus and Claim 12 drawn to the method.
Regarding Claim 14, Farges in view of Charrat, Forster, Kang, Fruehling, Hourne and Audic teach the method of claim 12, wherein the NFC tag is part of a mobile device carried by a user( Fruehling, Para. [0036]…FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a smart phone 1 with an NFC tag 2.)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle entry device of Farges in view of Charrat and Forster with the vehicle control system as taught by Fruehling to ensure communication between the NFC tag and NFC base can be performed at any time and not rely on a third party. (Fruehling, Para. [0030]).
Regarding Claim 17, please see the rejection of claims 1, 8 and 11 which are commensurate in scope.
Regarding Claim 18 please see rejection of claims 2 which are commensurate in scope, Claims 18 being drawn to the method and claims 2 to the assembly.
Regarding Claim 20, please see the rejection of claim 5 which is commensurate in scope.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JODI M JONES whose telephone number is (571)272-0107. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30am-5:00pm.
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/JODI JONES/Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/ANNE MARIE ANTONUCCI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666