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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Paragraph 119, Line 6: The verb “operate” should be plural to agree with the singular “driving unit”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-4, 6, 7, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng [CN 209222789] (supplied by applicant) in view of Wu [CN 205782315] (supplied by applicant).
For claim 1, the apparatus for protecting a sensor (Title: Sensor cleaning device) taught by Zheng comprises the following claimed subject matter, as noted, 1) the claimed external cover is met by the folding cover (No. 2) and configured to be stretched and contracted along an external side of the sensor (Paragraph 20: the movement of the telescopic assembly drives the folding panel to expand or contract), and 2) the claimed driving unit is met by the lifting mechanism (No. 1) connected to the component (No. 5) that allows the folding cover to be stretched and contracted (Paragraph 21: 5 drives the telescopic assembly 6 to move, thereby controlling the folding plate in the folding cover 2 to expand upward to surround the sensor to be dusted). However, there is no mention of an internal cover covering the sensor.
Using covers to protect electronic equipment from cleaning is not new in the prior art. The LED lawn lamp taught by Wu teaches a lamp having an LED (No. 11) that is enclosed in a transparent cover (No. 9), the outside of which may be an outer cylinder body (No. 3) with a plurality of annular brushes (No. 4) mounted thereon in order to clean said transparent cover. The cleaning of the cover prevents a large amount of dust from accumulating on the outside of the cover (Paragraph 14), thereby ensuring the appearance and effect of the cover.
The obvious advantage of the transparent cover taught by Wu within the outer body is to provide an added layer of protection to the LED during self-cleaning. And the sensor of Zheng would benefit from an added layer of protection as the ultrasonic cleaning may wear away the surface of the sensor over a period of time. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include an internal cover in the system of Zheng for the purpose of adding more protection to the sensor body, thereby prolonging the life of the sensor.
For claim 2, the lifting mechanism (No. 1) of Zheng is designed to carry the folding cover (No. 2) back down to its initial position at the base of the sensor (Paragraph 21). Also, the Wu reference includes an outer body (No. 3) coupled to an outside of the internal cover (see Figure).
For claim 3, the external cover (No. 2) of Zheng includes at least one cover member (A-D), and the material of the folding panel of Zheng may be a transparent material to enable the sensor to collect relevant information (Paragraph 20). The cover (No. 9) of Wu is described as a transparent cover.
For claim 4, the folding cover (No. 2) of Zheng includes at least one cover member (A-D) of diameters of varying degrees (see Fig. 2). As all of these cover members are to be outside the sensor, the inner diameters of the smallest of the cover members should be nearly the same at the outer diameter of the sensor, and the cover member is configured to be stretched and contracted along the external surface of the sensor (Paragraph 21: thereby controlling the folding plate in the folding cover 2 to expand upward to surround the sensor to be dusted).
For claim 6, the folding cover (No. 2) of Zheng has at least four cover members (Fig. 2, A-D) that have a telescopic structure.
For claim 7, the smallest cover member (A) of Zheng would be most adjacent to the sensor body. A combination of references would place the largest cover member (D) adjacent to an outer cover.
For claim 11, the specification of Zheng states that the lifting mechanism carries the folding cover (Paragraph 21). The sole figure of Wu depicts an accommodation area to accommodate the motor (No. 5).
Claims 5, 8-10, and 12-18 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:
Each objected dependent claim presents a very specific configuration of the hardware in order to perform the sensor protection of the Applicant’s disclosure. For example, claim 5 includes at least one engagement step formed outwardly on a first side of the cover member in conjunction with a pusher installed outwardly on an external surface of a second side of the cover member. Claim 8 teaches similar subject matter as claim 4; however, this is combined with said first engagement step and pusher. Claim 12 introduces a bent plate having a ring shape that is coupled to a flange of the internal cover to form an accommodation space between the bent plate and internal cover that forms a gap between a radial internal edge of the bent plate. Claim 13 presents a cleaning solution in the external cover accommodation part to immerse the external cover. The driver of claim 14 has been taught in the Zheng reference; however, there is no mention of a strip having a first side connected to a pusher of the external cover and a second side connected to the driver. And claim 18 teaches a return means configured to maintain the external cover in a stretched state wherein a first side of the return means is fixed to a pusher of the external cover, and a second side of the return means is fixed to the housing. The Examiner was able to find another sensor cleaning system taught by the same applicant Kim [U.S. 12,370,980]; however, this cleaner uses a rotation driving force to clean the sensor cover unit and not an external cover that is to be stretched and contracted over the sensor or internal cover.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Newman [US 2018/0009418] provides sensor cleaning devices in a vehicle.
Gilbertson et al [US 2020/0094786] discloses a wiper system for cleaning a sensor housing.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN A. TWEEL JR whose telephone number is (571)272-2969. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Davetta W Goins can be reached at 571-272-2957. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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JAT
4/21/2026
/JOHN A TWEEL JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2689
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