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 .
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to amendments and remarks filed on 09/23/2025. Claims 12-26 are pending. Claims 12, 14, 18, 19, 21, and 25 have been amended. Claim 26 has been added. The abstract, specification, and drawings have been amended. The objections to the claims, abstract, and drawings, the 35 U.S.C. 112 rejections, and the interpretations under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) have been withdrawn in light of the instant amendments. This action is made final, as necessitated by amendment.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s argument regarding the 35 U.S.C. 112(f) interpretation is persuasive and the interpretation has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s remaining arguments appear to be directed solely to the amended subject matter which have been considered and addressed as detailed below under Claim Rejections.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 12-14, 18-21 and 25-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang (US 20130069402) in view of Hotary (US 20120086249).
Regarding claim 12, Kang teaches a vehicle seat (par. 21 and Fig. 1, seat), comprising:
a driving device for changing position and/or shape of the vehicle seat (par. 21 and Fig. 1, seat driver 30), a control device for controlling the driving device (par. 21 and Fig. 1, posture control apparatus 10), and a terminal to display information to a seated person based on a signal from the control device and to receive an input from the seated person to output the received input to the control device (par. 30, “the information input unit 12 receives information relating to the sex, stature, sitting stature and weight of the driver from the driver of vehicle. At this time, a guidance screen for inputting information is provided to the driver on the screen display unit (not shown) by the controller 16. For example, a male/female select button for receiving the sex of the driver is provided to receive driver's sex, and to directly receive a stature, a sitting stature and a weight of the driver via numerical values”),
wherein the terminal is configured to display reception area to receive inputs of a height, a weight, and a seating posture group from the seated person (par. 30, “For example, a male/female select button for receiving the sex of the driver is provided to receive driver's sex, and to directly receive a stature, a sitting stature and a weight of the driver via numerical values”),
to calculate a body type group of the seated person using the height and the weight, and to transmit the body type group and the seating posture group to the control device (abstract, “A Body Mass Index section determinator determines a body type section of the driver based on the received sex, stature, and weight of the driver”),
wherein the control device is configured to acquire a driving parameter for the driving device by using the body type group (abstract, “A controller then determines a position of the seat corresponding to the sex, the stature, the sitting stature section and the body type section of the driver based on the positional information of the seat stored in the memory”),
to acquire a correction amount for the driving device based on the seating posture group, to obtain a corrected driving parameter by correcting the driving parameter using the correction amount (Fig. 3, correction amount is difference between the solid line and corresponding dashed line—Kang first determines the driving parameter based on the seating posture, and then corrects based on body type), and to drive the driving device based on the corrected driving parameter (abstract, “A controller then determines a position of the seat corresponding to the sex, the stature, the sitting stature section and the body type section of the driver based on the positional information of the seat stored in the memory”),
Kang fails to teach the display unit is configured to display a notification when the driving device starts to change the position and/or shape of the vehicle seat. However, this would have been a trivial addition to add.
Hotary teaches the display unit is configured to display a notification when the driving device starts to change the position and/or shape of the vehicle seat (par. 134, “mobile terminal 16 may provide a series of status messages 206 providing an indication of adjusting vehicle seat 340 as shown in FIGS. 33 and 34”).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kang to incorporate the teachings of Hotary in order to notify the user when the vehicle seat is being adjusted. Kang already has a display for the user to input their biometric information. It would have been trivial to also configure that display to display a notification when the vehicle seat starts to move so that the user is aware and ready for the adjustment.
Examiner would like to note that Kang first adjusts based on seating posture, and then corrects based on body type, which is opposite to what Applicant’s invention claims. However, this appears to be a trivial difference and would result in calculating the same driving parameter and still teaches Applicant’s invention’s two-step approach.
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the vehicle seat according to claim 12. Kang fails to teach the display unit displays a pop-up screen as the notification including an anthropomorphic diagram of the vehicle seat and/or a text.
However, Hotary teaches the display unit displays a pop-up screen as the notification (Fig. 33 and 35, popup notification) including an anthropomorphic diagram of the vehicle seat and/or a text (Fig. 33 and 35, “Your tailored comfort profile is being sent to your seat”).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kang to incorporate the teachings of Hotary in order to notify the user when the vehicle seat is being adjusted. Kang already has a display for the user to input their biometric information. It would have been trivial to also configure that display to display a notification when the vehicle seat starts to move so that the user is aware and ready for the adjustment.
Examiner would like to note that the courts have found that matters relating to ornamentation only which have no mechanical function cannot be relied upon to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art (see MPEP § 2144.04). The anthropomorphic diagram of the vehicle seat appears to be an aesthetic design choice without any mechanical function, and so will not be considered in terms of prior art.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the vehicle seat according to claim 12. Kang further teaches the control device includes a storage device storing a correction table that defines a relationship between the seating posture group and the correction amount of the parameter of the driving device, and wherein acquiring the correction amount includes referring to the correction table stored in the storage device based on the seating posture group (par. 29 and Fig. 3, “the memory 11 stores information (e.g., graphs) of a linear distance from a center of brake pedal or accelerate pedal to an intersection of the seat and seat back as a location of a seat according to a sitting stature section and a Body Mass Index (BMI) for deriving the sex, a stature, and a leg length as shown in FIG. 3. The graph is generated elaborately by applying sex, stature, sitting stature, BMI of the driver cross-organically, and it can be seen that it has a high degree of accuracy”).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the vehicle seat according to claim 12. Both Kang and Hotary fail to explicitly teach the seating posture groups consist of five groups consisting of arched back, slight arched back, normal, slight sway back, and sway back.
However, seats that allow lumbar support adjustments are extremely common and found on most modern vehicles. For example, Hotary teaches a seat that has adjustable lumbar support (par. 3). While neither Kang nor Hotary explicitly teach these exact five groups, most modern vehicles allow for incremental adjustment of the lumbar support. Allowing the user to select between five levels of lumbar support rather than two incremental adjustment buttons would have been a trivial modification and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 19, Kang teaches a controlling method of a vehicle seat (par. 21 and Fig. 1, seat) provided with a driving device for changing position and/or shape of the vehicle seat (par. 21 and Fig. 1, seat driver 30), a control device for controlling the driving device (par. 21 and Fig. 1, posture control apparatus 10), and a terminal to display information to a seated person based on a signal from the control device and to receive an input from the seated person to output the received input to the control device (par. 30, “the information input unit 12 receives information relating to the sex, stature, sitting stature and weight of the driver from the driver of vehicle. At this time, a guidance screen for inputting information is provided to the driver on the screen display unit (not shown) by the controller 16. For example, a male/female select button for receiving the sex of the driver is provided to receive driver's sex, and to directly receive a stature, a sitting stature and a weight of the driver via numerical values”), the controlling method comprising:
a step of displaying, at the terminal, reception area to receive inputs of a height, a weight, and a seating posture group from the seated person (par. 30, “For example, a male/female select button for receiving the sex of the driver is provided to receive driver's sex, and to directly receive a stature, a sitting stature and a weight of the driver via numerical values”),
a step of calculating a body type group of the seated person using the height and the weight (abstract, “A Body Mass Index section determinator determines a body type section of the driver based on the received sex, stature, and weight of the driver”),
a step of acquiring a driving parameter for the driving device by using the body type group (abstract, “A controller then determines a position of the seat corresponding to the sex, the stature, the sitting stature section and the body type section of the driver based on the positional information of the seat stored in the memory”),
acquiring a correction amount for the driving device based on the seating posture group, and obtaining a corrected driving parameter by correcting the driving parameter using the correction amount (Fig. 3, correction amount is difference between the solid line and corresponding dashed line—Kang first determines the driving parameter based on the seating posture, and then corrects based on body type),
a step of driving, at the control device, the driving device based on the corrected driving parameter (abstract, “A controller then determines a position of the seat corresponding to the sex, the stature, the sitting stature section and the body type section of the driver based on the positional information of the seat stored in the memory”),
Kang fails to teach and a step of displaying, at the terminal, a notification when the driving device starts to change the position and/or shape of the vehicle seat. However, this would have been a trivial addition to add.
Hotary teaches a step of displaying, at the terminal, a notification when the driving device starts to change the position and/or shape of the vehicle seat (par. 134, “mobile terminal 16 may provide a series of status messages 206 providing an indication of adjusting vehicle seat 340 as shown in FIGS. 33 and 34”).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kang to incorporate the teachings of Hotary in order to notify the user when the vehicle seat is being adjusted. Kang already has a display for the user to input their biometric information. It would have been trivial to also configure that display to display a notification when the vehicle seat starts to move so that the user is aware and ready for the adjustment.
Examiner would like to note that Kang first adjusts based on seating posture, and then corrects based on body type, which is opposite to what Applicant’s invention claims. However, this appears to be a trivial difference and would result in calculating the same driving parameter and still teaches Applicant’s invention’s two-step approach.
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the controlling method according to claim 19. Kang fails to teach the display unit displays a pop-up screen as the notification including an anthropomorphic diagram of the vehicle seat and/or a text.
However, Hotary teaches the display unit displays a pop-up screen as the notification (Fig. 33 and 35, popup notification) including an anthropomorphic diagram of the vehicle seat and/or a text (Fig. 33 and 35, “Your tailored comfort profile is being sent to your seat”).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kang to incorporate the teachings of Hotary in order to notify the user when the vehicle seat is being adjusted. Kang already has a display for the user to input their biometric information. It would have been trivial to also configure that display to display a notification when the vehicle seat starts to move so that the user is aware and ready for the adjustment.
Examiner would like to note that the courts have found that matters relating to ornamentation only which have no mechanical function cannot be relied upon to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art (see MPEP § 2144.04). The anthropomorphic diagram of the vehicle seat appears to be an aesthetic design choice without any mechanical function, and so will not be considered in terms of prior art.
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the controlling method according to claim 19. Kang further teaches the control device includes a storage device storing a correction table that defines a relationship between the seating posture group and the correction amount of the parameter of the driving device, and wherein acquiring the correction amount includes referring to the correction table stored in the storage device based on the seating posture group (par. 29 and Fig. 3, “the memory 11 stores information (e.g., graphs) of a linear distance from a center of brake pedal or accelerate pedal to an intersection of the seat and seat back as a location of a seat according to a sitting stature section and a Body Mass Index (BMI) for deriving the sex, a stature, and a leg length as shown in FIG. 3. The graph is generated elaborately by applying sex, stature, sitting stature, BMI of the driver cross-organically, and it can be seen that it has a high degree of accuracy”—although not explicitly a table, the data structure used would be equivalent).
Regarding claim 25, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the controlling method according to claim 19. Both Kang and Hotary fail to explicitly teach the seating posture groups consist of five groups consisting of arched back, slight arched back, normal, slight sway back, and sway back.
However, seats that allow lumbar support adjustments are extremely common and found on most modern vehicles. For example, Hotary teaches a seat that has adjustable lumbar support (par. 3). While neither Kang nor Hotary explicitly teach these exact five groups, most modern vehicles allow for incremental adjustment of the lumbar support. Allowing the user to select between five levels of lumbar support rather than two incremental adjustment buttons would have been a trivial modification and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 26, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the controlling method according to claim 19. Kang further teaches the calculating of the body type group is performed by the terminal (Fig. 2, BMI section determinator 14), and wherein acquiring the driving parameter, acquiring the correction amount, and obtaining the corrected driving parameter are performed by the control device (Fig. 1, posture control apparatus 10).
Claim(s) 15 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang in view of Hotary, and further in view of Kim (KR 20140003820).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the vehicle seat according to claim 14. Kang further teaches the display unit is configured to calculate a BMI value by using the height and the weight (par. 32, “a BMI section determinator 14 determines a section of the driver's BMI based on the sex, stature and weight that was received through information input unit 12”), to determine the body type group to which a body type of the seated person belongs based on the BMI value (par. 32, “the BMI section determinator 14 classifies a BMI section into three sections including for example, an obesity section (e.g., a BMI greater than 24), a normal section (e.g., a BMI of between 18.5 to 24), and skinny section (e.g., a BMI less than 18.5) in case of male and female driver”),
Kang fails to teach display an indication to indicate the body type group, and Hotary fails to explicitly teach display an indication to indicate the body type group (Hotary does display all of the measurements used for optimizing the seat, as seen in Hotary Fig. 22). However, simply displaying the calculation results would have been a trivial addition.
Kim teaches display an indication to indicate the body type group (par. 29, “FIG. 6 is a screen display diagram of each user's status display screen of a user terminal for explaining a user interface process based on biometric information obtained from a chair according to an embodiment of the present invention. ), Stress, emotional state, sitting time, sitting posture, body fat (BMI), etc. are displayed”).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Hotary and Le to incorporate the teachings of Kim, as doing so would allow the user to better understand their own health (Kim, par. 10).
Regarding claim 22, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the controlling method according to claim 21. Kang further teaches a step for the display unit to calculate a BMI value by using the height and the weight (par. 32, “a BMI section determinator 14 determines a section of the driver's BMI based on the sex, stature and weight that was received through information input unit 12”), to determine a body type group to which the body type of the seated person belongs based on the BMI value (par. 32, “the BMI section determinator 14 classifies a BMI section into three sections including for example, an obesity section (e.g., a BMI greater than 24), a normal section (e.g., a BMI of between 18.5 to 24), and skinny section (e.g., a BMI less than 18.5) in case of male and female driver”),
Kang fails to teach display an indication to indicate the body type group, and Hotary fails to explicitly teach display an indication to indicate the body type group (Hotary does display all of the measurements used for optimizing the seat, as seen in Hotary Fig. 22). However, simply displaying the calculation results would have been a trivial addition.
Kim teaches display an indication to indicate the body type group (par. 29, “FIG. 6 is a screen display diagram of each user's status display screen of a user terminal for explaining a user interface process based on biometric information obtained from a chair according to an embodiment of the present invention. ), Stress, emotional state, sitting time, sitting posture, body fat (BMI), etc. are displayed”).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Hotary and Le to incorporate the teachings of Kim, as doing so would allow the user to better understand their own health (Kim, par. 10).
Claim(s) 16-17 and 23-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang in view of Hotary, and further in view of Tobata (US 20170225591 A1)
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the vehicle seat according to claim 14. Both Kang and Hotary fail to teach the display unit is configured to display a selection field for receiving a group information of seating posture to which the seated person considers he/she belongs.
However, Tobata teaches the display unit is configured to display a selection field for receiving a group information of seating posture to which the seated person considers he/she belongs (Fig. 3A and 3B show seat setting buttons based on user physique).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Kang in view of Hotary to incorporate the teachings of Tobata in order to help the user find the optimum seat position suited for their build (par. 16-18).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary and Tobata teaches the vehicle seat according to claim 16. Both Kang and Hotary fail to teach the display unit is configured to display a figure indicating the group information of seating posture of the seated person.
However, Tobata teaches the display unit is configured to display a figure indicating the group information of seating posture of the seated person (Fig. 3A and 3B show seat setting buttons based on user physique).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Kang in view of Hotary to incorporate the teachings of Tobata in order to help the user find the optimum seat position suited for their build (par. 16-18).
Regarding claim 23, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the controlling method according to claim 21. Both Kang and Hotary fail to teach a step for the display unit to display a selection field for receiving a group information of seating posture to which the seated person considers he/she belongs.
However, Tobata teaches a step for the display unit to display a selection field for receiving a group information of seating posture to which the seated person considers he/she belongs (Fig. 3A and 3B show seat setting buttons based on user physique).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Kang in view of Hotary to incorporate the teachings of Tobata in order to help the user find the optimum seat position suited for their build (par. 16-18).
Regarding claim 24, the combination of Kang in view of Hotary teaches the controlling method according to claim 23. Both Kang and Hotary fail to teach a step for the display unit to display a figure indicating the group information of seating posture of the seated person.
However, Tobata teaches a step for the display unit to display a figure indicating the group information of seating posture of the seated person (Fig. 3A and 3B show seat setting buttons based on user physique).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Kang in view of Hotary to incorporate the teachings of Tobata in order to help the user find the optimum seat position suited for their build (par. 16-18).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 MINATO LEE HORNER whose telephone number is (571)272-5425. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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/M.L.H./Examiner, Art Unit 3665 /CHRISTIAN CHACE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3665