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
The claims are objected to because they include reference characters which are not enclosed within parentheses.
Reference characters corresponding to elements recited in the detailed description of the drawings and used in conjunction with the recitation of the same element or group of elements in the claims should be enclosed within parentheses so as to avoid confusion with other numbers or characters which may appear in the claims. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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)(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.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 3156393 (machine translation provided).
In regards to claim 19, ‘393 discloses a system for powering an LED display screen (display portion 8) mounted to an exterior of a vehicle (Figs. 1-4 and pages 1-4), comprising:
at least one solar panel 2,3 (solar panel 11) mounted on the vehicle exterior, a battery 16 (battery 16) for storing electricity generated by the solar panel 2,3 (Figs. 1-4 and pages 1-4); and
at least one power cable 17,18 (wiring 13) connecting the solar panel 2,3, the battery 16, and the LED display screen 10 (Figs. 1-4 and pages 1-4).
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, 6, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Naruaki (JP 2005-289212; machine translation provided) in view of Madonia (US 7,478,492).
In regards to claim 1, Naruaki discloses a replacement front bumper assembly for a vehicle, comprising:
a replacement front bumper 1 configured to replace an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) front bumper (Figs. 1-9 and page 5),
wherein the replacement front bumper includes openings 30 for headlights that match openings in an OEM front bumper, and is connected to the vehicle by connection hardware 5,6,7,8 arranged at positions that are the same as the connection hardware and positions used for the OEM front bumper, and further including (Figs. 1-9 and page 5):
Naruaki does not disclose a display screen 10 integrated with the replacement front bumper 1.
Madonia discloses a display screen 10 (display 12) integrated with the replacement front bumper 1 (Fig. 2b and col. 2, line 52-col. 3, line 26).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naruaki with the teachings of Madonia, a bumper with a display, because it allows for the different images to be shown to users outside of the vehicle.
In regards to claim 6, Naruaki does not disclose a replacement front bumper assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display screen 10 is arranged to display various designs and multimedia.
Madonia discloses wherein the display screen 10 is arranged to display various designs and multimedia (col. 4, line 63-col. 5, line 45).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naruaki with the teachings of Madonia, a bumper with a display, because it allows for the different images to be shown to users outside of the vehicle.
In regards to claim 11, Naruaki does not disclose a replacement front bumper assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display screen 10 is an LED display screen.
Madonia discloses a replacement front bumper assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display screen 10 is an LED display screen (abstract and col. 3, lines 53-60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naruaki with the teachings of Madonia, a bumper with a display, because it allows for the different images to be shown to users outside of the vehicle.
Claims 2, 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Naruaki (JP 2005-289212; machine translation provided) in view of Madonia (US 7,478,492) in further view of JP 3156393 (machine translation provided).
In regards to claim 2, Naruaki and Madonia do not disclose a replacement front bumper assembly as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one solar panel 2,3 for providing electrical power to the display screen 10.
‘393 discloses further comprising at least one solar panel 2,3 (solar panel 11) for providing electrical power to the display screen 10 (Figs. 1-4 and pages 1-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naruaki and Madonia with the teachings of ‘393, solar panel powering a display, because it would allow the display to always be powered and not use the car battery.
In regards to claim 12, Naruaki discloses a replacement front bumper assembly for a vehicle, comprising:
a replacement front bumper 1 configured to replace an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) front bumper (Figs. 1-9 and page 5).
Naruaki does not disclose a display screen 10 integrated with the replacement front bumper 1; and
a solar panel 2,3 mounted on the replacement front bumper to supply power to the display screen 10.
Madonia discloses a display screen 10 (display 12) integrated with the replacement front bumper 1 (Fig. 2b and col. 2, line 52-col. 3, line 26).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naruaki with the teachings of Madonia, a bumper with a display, because it allows for the different images to be shown to users outside of the vehicle.
Naruaki and Madonia do not disclose a solar panel 2,3 mounted on the replacement front bumper to supply power to the display screen 10.
‘393 discloses a solar panel 2,3 mounted on the replacement front bumper to supply power to the display screen 10 (Figs. 1-4 and pages 1-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naruaki and Madonia with the teachings of ‘393, solar panel powering a display, because it would allow the display to always be powered and not use the car battery.
In regards to claim 13, Naruaki does not disclose a replacement front bumper assembly as claimed in claim 12, wherein the display screen 10 is an LED display screen.
Madonia discloses wherein the display screen 10 is an LED display screen (abstract and col. 3, lines 53-60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naruaki with the teachings of Madonia, a bumper with a display, because it allows for the different images to be shown to users outside of the vehicle.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3-5, 7-10, 14-18, 20 is 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Liu et al (CN 221678678) discloses a bumper assembly integrated with light display device, comprising a bumper assembly and a light display assembly, the bumper assembly comprises a bumper body, the light display assembly comprises a lampshade, a lamp group main body and a lamp body seat, the lamp group main body is set at the front side of the lamp body seat, the lamp cover is located above the bumper assembly and fixedly connected with the lamp body seat for shielding the lamp group main body, the lamp body seat is set above the bumper assembly; the lamp seat comprises a base and a side seat, the back surface of the side seat is fixedly connected with the vehicle body, the front surface of the side seat is connected with the lamp group main body for fixing the lamp group main body, the base is connected with the bumper assembly through a hook, the hook is set on the base, and the lever body is formed with a limiting table matched with the hook buckle, the lamp display component is set on the bumper component through the cooperation of the hook and the limiting platform and the cooperation of the base and the limiting platform. The whole structure of this utility model is reasonable, the firmness is high, it is convenient to disassemble and replace the lamp group, the cost of using and maintaining is low.
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/MICHAEL PERVAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2629 February 6, 2026