Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/284,346

MOBILE INFORMATION TERMINAL AND DISPLAY METHOD FOR SAME

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Apr 08, 2024
Examiner
LIU, HARRY K
Art Unit
3645
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Maxell, Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
91%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 7m
To Grant
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 91% — above average
91%
Career Allow Rate
1186 granted / 1303 resolved
+39.0% vs TC avg
Minimal +5% lift
Without
With
+5.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
1328
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.3%
-32.7% vs TC avg
§103
31.4%
-8.6% vs TC avg
§102
36.6%
-3.4% vs TC avg
§112
18.7%
-21.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1303 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 Applicant is reminded of the proper content of an abstract of the disclosure. A patent abstract is a concise statement of the technical disclosure of the patent and should include that which is new in the art to which the invention pertains. The abstract should not refer to purported merits or speculative applications of the invention and should not compare the invention with the prior art. If the patent is of a basic nature, the entire technical disclosure may be new in the art, and the abstract should be directed to the entire disclosure. If the patent is in the nature of an improvement in an old apparatus, process, product, or composition, the abstract should include the technical disclosure of the improvement. The abstract should also mention by way of example any preferred modifications or alternatives. Where applicable, the abstract should include the following: (1) if a machine or apparatus, its organization and operation; (2) if an article, its method of making; (3) if a chemical compound, its identity and use; (4) if a mixture, its ingredients; (5) if a process, the steps. Extensive mechanical and design details of an apparatus should not be included in the abstract. The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. See MPEP § 608.01(b) for guidelines for the preparation of patent abstracts. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1-5, 8-9, 12, 14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hortop (US-20210279913-A1). Regarding claims 1 and 16, Hortop discloses a mobile information terminal (see electronic device with display 102 in Fig. 1, paragraph 0018) and a display method (embodiments include methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable medium for augmented reality detection, Abstract) comprising: a radio receiving device that receives a radio signal of a radio wave source; a sensor (sensor 202 in Fig. 2) that measures an amount of movement and an amount of rotation of the terminal (capture the signal strength of the location signals via the image sensor and can integrate that signal strength within suitable time intervals. For example, image sensor 202 can capture radiation, which includes the location signal, as a function of time, and the processing system of electronic device 102 can record that signal as a function of time and simultaneously record the orientation of electronic device 102 as a function of time, paragraph 0025); a display device (display 106)(tilting and orientation is amount of rotation); and a control device (methods and systems described herein may be implemented using any suitable computer processing system with any suitable combination of hardware, software and/or firmware, paragraph 0032), wherein the control device estimates the position of the radio wave source from the receiving strength of the radio wave received by the radio receiving device, and the amount of movement and the amount of rotation of the terminal measured by the sensor (Fig. 2B illustrates a plot 210 of position versus signal strength for tilting of an electronic device for locating a particular autonomous vehicle, paragraph 0025) and displays, on the display device (display 106), a graphical guide display superimposed on an external world image, the graphical guide display expressing a three-dimensional direction and distance (Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital information, like images, sounds, and 3D models, onto the real world through a device's camera, “AI overview”) representing a relative positional relationship (plot line 212 illustrates an example curve of signal strength of the detected location signals relative to position, paragraph 0025) of the estimated position of the radio wave source when viewed from the position of the mobile information terminal (see Fig. 4A to 4D, superimposed image 408, paragraph 0030). Regarding claims 2, 12, Hortop discloses wherein the tip of the graphical guide display overlaps the display of the estimated position of the radio wave source (Tilting of electronic device 102 allows image sensor 202 to capture images of the designated area with different orientations whereby different vehicles in the field of view are aligned with different lines of sight (e.g., dotted lines 1, 2 and 3), the vector direction of the image sensor 202 of the electronic device 102 and the orientation with the highest line of sight signal strength may be the one that points to the intended autonomous vehicle, paragraph 0022). Regarding claim 3, Hortop discloses wherein the tip of the graphical guide display does not overlap the display of the estimated position of the radio wave source (refer to rejection of claim 2 above (in the case where display other vehicle which is not the highest line of sight). Regarding claim 4, Hortop discloses wherein the graphical guide display is a display that also reflects a shielding relationship with a physical object in the external world (position vs signal strength in Fig. 2B is a real world value reflects shielding/ blocking relationship)(obstruction 122 in Fig. 1 also reflets shielding/blocking). Regarding claim 5, Hortop discloses wherein the estimated position of the radio wave source is calculated by a server (remote monitoring backend system 106 hosted on one or more computer servers, paragraph 0032). Regarding claim 8, Hortop discloses wherein the control device displays the estimated positions of a plurality of radio wave sources, and changes the form of the graphical guide display according to the distance difference between the estimated positions of the plurality of radio wave sources (see Fig. 4). Regarding claim 9, Hortop discloses wherein the control device also displays a movement direction to the estimated position of the radio wave source (see steps 510-520, a relative position display is also an indication of movement direction). Regarding claim 14, Hortop discloses wherein the control device also displays a movement history of the position of the radio wave source (Remote monitoring backend system(s) 108 carries out monitoring of vehicles, vehicle systems, vehicle usage, and systems usage for individual vehicles and for individual drivers who use those vehicles, and carries out data analytics on the data gathered from the vehicles and the vehicle systems, paragraph 0019)(data gathered is a collection of history). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 6-7, 10-11, 13, 15 and 17 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. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARRY K LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-1338. The examiner can normally be reached on every M-F 10 AM to 6:30 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please leave a voice message with application serial number and nature of call, a response within 24 hours can be expected during regular business days. Also, the Examiner’s supervisor Hodge, Robert W. can be reached at (571) 272-6496. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-2338. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /HARRY K LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645 Tel: (571) 270-1338 Fax: (571) 270-2338 Email: harry.liu@uspto.gov
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 08, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 21, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
91%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+5.0%)
2y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1303 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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