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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 9, and 13 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, line 7, “the at least one side panel” has no proper antecedent basis in the claims. Previously, in line 2, Applicant has recited, “a side panel portion.”
In claim 9, line 2, “the a” appears to be improper grammar and will be interpreted as --a-- for purposes of applying prior art.
In claim 13, line 5, “the at least one side panel” has no proper antecedent basis in the claims, previously, in line 2 of the claim, Applicant has recited, “a side panel portion.”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 5-7, 9-10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Humpish (EP 2995509).
With respect to claim 1, Humpish discloses a vehicle comprising:
a body having a front end portion and a side panel portion as shown below in the image taken from Fig. 9 of Humpish:
[AltContent: textbox (side panel portion)]
[AltContent: textbox (door)][AltContent: ][AltContent: ][AltContent: textbox (front end portion)][AltContent: ]
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a pair of front steerable wheels 14 spaced in a transverse direction of the body of the vehicle (as shown above);
at least one pair of transversely spaced rear wheels 22/22 (only one of which is shown) which are longitudinally spaced from the front steerable wheels 14;
a door provided along the at least one side panel (as shown above);
a safety guard 18 configured to extend downward from the body along one of the front end portion and the side panel portion for engaging animate and inanimate objects in order to prevent the objects from going under the vehicle; and
a detection system (as shown in Fig. 10 of Humpish) including a plurality of sensors 28/28 configured to sense an impact experienced by the safety guard 18 and a control unit 26 for analyzing the impact (“configured to deploy the airbag in the vent that a predetermined threshold is reached or exceeded,” Humpish, paragraph [0036]).
With respect to claim 2, Humpish discloses that the plurality of sensors 28/28 include both impact sensors and cameras (“mechanical impact sensor,” and “camera,” Humpish, paragraph [0036]).
With respect to claim 5, Humpish discloses that it can be determined if an impact is equal to or exceeds a threshold of a force value (Humpish, paragraph [0036]) which can be interrupted as “to determine a likelihood of damage to the safety guard by the impact.”
With respect to claim 6, Humpish discloses a warning system for issuing at least one of an audible or visual warning (“audio and/or visible warnings,” Humpish, paragraph [0002]) when an impact is experienced by the safety guard.
With respect to claim 7. Humpish discloses that the audible or visual warning is presented to an operator of the vehicle “audio and/or visible warnings inside and/or outside the vehicle,” Humpish paragraph [0002]).
With respect to claim 9, Humpish discloses a safety guard 18 configured to extend downward along one of a front end portion and the a panel portion of a vehicle body as shown in below in the image taken from Fig. 9 of Humpish:
[AltContent: textbox (panel portion)]
[AltContent: textbox (door)][AltContent: ][AltContent: ][AltContent: textbox (front end portion)][AltContent: ]
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for engaging animate and inanimate objects in order to prevent the objects from going under the vehicle, said safety guard 18 incorporating a detection system (shown in Fig. 10 of Humpish) including a plurality of sensors 28/28 configured to sense an impact experienced by the safety guard 18 and to signal a control unit 26 for analyzing the impact (“configured to deploy the airbag in the vent that a predetermined threshold is reached or exceeded,” Humpish, paragraph [0036]).
With respect to claim 10, Humpish discloses that the plurality of sensors 28/28 include both impact sensors and cameras (“mechanical impact sensor,” and “camera,” Humpish, paragraph [0036]).
With respect to claim 13, Humpish discloses a method of detecting an impact to a safety guard extending downward from one of a front end portion and a side panel portion of a body of a vehicle 10 having a pair of front steerable wheels 14 spaced in a transverse direction of the body of the vehicle (as shown in Fig. 9of Humpish), at least one pair of transversely spaced rear wheels 22 longitudinally spaced from the front steerable wheels (only one of which is shown), and a door (indicated below) provided along the at least one side panel as shown in below in the image taken from Fig. 9 of Humpish:
[AltContent: textbox (side panel portion)]
[AltContent: textbox (door)][AltContent: ][AltContent: ][AltContent: textbox (front end portion)][AltContent: ]
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said method comprising:
sensing an impact experienced by the safety guard 18 with a plurality of sensors 28/28 (Humpish, paragraph [0036]); and
analyzing signals from the plurality of sensors in evaluating the impact (“configured to deploy the airbag in the vent that a predetermined threshold is reached or exceeded,” Humpish, paragraph [0036]).
With respect to claim 15, Humpish discloses that the plurality of sensors 28/28 include both impact sensors and cameras (“mechanical impact sensor,” and “camera,” Humpish, paragraph [0036]).
With respect to claim 16, Humpish discloses determining if an impact is equal to or exceeds a threshold of a force value (Humpish, paragraph [0036]) which can be interrupted as “determining a likelihood of damage to the safety guard by the impact.”
With respect to claim 18, Humpish discloses issuing at least one of an audible or visual warning (“audio and/or visible warnings,” Humpish, paragraph [0002]) when an impact is experienced by the safety guard.
With respect to claim 19. Humpish discloses that the audible or visual warning is presented to an operator of the vehicle “audio and/or visible warnings inside and/or outside the vehicle,” Humpish paragraph [0002]).
With respect to claim 21, Humpish discloses analyzing the impact (“configured to deploy the airbag in the vent that a predetermined threshold is reached or exceeded,” Humpish, paragraph [0036]).
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 3, 4, 11, 12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Humpish (EP 2995509), as applied to claims 2, 10, or 13 above, and further in view of Okuda (JP 2014-013677).
With respect to claims 3, 11, and 14, Humpish discloses the claimed vehicle, safety guard, or method except that he is silent on the exact location of the impact sensors 28/28. However, Okuda teaches a similar vehicle, guard rail, or method including a guard rail 11 including an impact sensor 14 built into the safety guard 11 (Okuda, abstract, bottom of pg. 8 and top of pg. 9. of machine translation of Okuda; Fig. 4).
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to combine the teaching of Okuda with the vehicle, guard rail, or method disclosed by Humpish for all the impact sensors for the advantage of loss or accidental disconnection of the impact sensors from the guard rail.
With respect to claims 4 and 12, Humpish discloses the claimed vehicle, safety guard, or method except that he is silent on the exact location of the impact sensors 28/28. However, Okuda teaches a similar vehicle, guard rail, or method including a guard rail 11 including an impact sensor 14 that can be a impact sensor or a camera (Okuda, abstract, bottom of pg. 8 and top of pg. 9. of machine translation of Okuda; Fig. 4).
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to combine the teaching of Okuda with the vehicle, guard rail, or method disclosed by Humpish for all the impact sensors and cameras for the advantage of loss or accidental disconnection of the impact sensors from the guard rail.
Claims 8 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Humpish (EP 2995509), as applied to claims 6 or 18 above, and further in view of Yezersky et al. (US 2020/0307481).
With respect to claims 8 and 20, Humpish discloses the claimed vehicle or method except for the audible or visual warning being presented as a notification to a remote supervisory or service center. However, Yezersky et al teaches a similar vehicle and method with side sensors 115/116 wherein the audible or visual warning (“emergency beacon,” Yezersky et al., paragraph [0052] ) is presented as a notification to a remote supervisory or service center (“nearest available ground station,” Yezersky et al., paragraph [0052]).
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to combine the teaching of Yezersky et al. with the vehicle or method disclosed by Humpish for the advantage of automatically alerting proper authorities in the event of an emergency situation.
Claims 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Humpish (EP 2995509), as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Kraus (US 2022/0084333).
With respect to claim 17, Humpish disclosed the claimed method except for the step of triggering a notification when the guard needs to be replaced because of wear or damage. However, Kraus teach a method in which a vehicle triggers a notification when the a vehicle part needs to be replaced because of wear or damage (“transmits an alert to a display indicating that a malfunctioning or damaged part or system has been identified,” Kraus, abstract).
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to combine the teaching of Kraus with the method disclosed by Humpish for the advantage of alerting a user when a vehicle part is damage and may not be performing properly.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein the audible or visual warning is presented as a notification to a remote supervisory or service center.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Humpish (EP 2995509), as applied to claim 13 above, and further in view of Hoye (US 2017/0066374).
With respect to claim 21, Humpish disclose the claimed method except for the step of evaluating the impact includes analyzing whether the impact was due to vehicle operator error. Humpish discloses for analyzing the impact (“configured to deploy the airbag in the vent that a predetermined threshold is reached or exceeded,” Humpish, paragraph [0036]).
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to combine the teaching of Hoye with the method disclosed by Humpish for the advantage of determining any legal liability of an impact or improving operator training based on date gathered from the impact.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ossadnik, Danna et al., and Jeon are cited to show other examples of a vehicle with a guard rail and impact sensors. Shin is cited to show another example of a vehicle including a side panel portion including an impact sensor and a camera. Tanaka is cited to show another example of a vehicle including a side panel portion including an impact sensor.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL J COLILLA whose telephone number is (571)272-2157. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 - 4:00.
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/Daniel J Colilla/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3612