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 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.
(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) 1-3, 6, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dubey et al. (Patent No. 10,627,488).
Re: claim 1, Dubey et al. teaches a roof module (Fig. 1) for forming a vehicle roof (50) on a motor vehicle, the roof module comprising; a panel component (52) which at least partially forms a roof skin (Col. 3 - Lines 9-17) of the vehicle roof (50), the roof skin (Col. 3 - Lines 9-17) serving as an outer sealing surface of the roof module (30), at least one environment sensor (Fig. 3 - 36) configured to send and/or receive electromagnetic signals through a roof see-through area (56) to detect a vehicle environment, and a cooling mechanism (Fig. 3 - 30) having a cooling-air inlet (Fig. 3 - Located at 78) (See Also Col. 5 - Lines 19-21), a filter member (Fig. 3 - 78), and at least one cooling channel (Fig. 3 - 38), the cooling mechanism (Fig. 3 - 30) being configured to dissipate waste heat emitted by the environment sensor (Fig. 3 - 36) and/or ambient heat introduced from outside from the environment sensor (Fig. 3 - 36), wherein the filter member (Fig. 3 - 78) comprises a pot-shaped shape (See Fig. 5 – 78 and the note below) and is provided at the cooling-air inlet (Fig. 3 - Located at 78) (See Also Col. 5 - Lines 19-21) and is configured to prevent and/or reduce an entry of foreign particles (Col. 5 - Lines 35-38) and/or liquid (Col. 5 - Lines 30-32) into an interior of the at least one cooling channel (Fig. 3 - 38).
It is noted that the filter (78), seen in Fig. 5, is circular and has a height/thickness, seen in Fig. 4. The examiner interprets this as pot-shaped.
Re: claim 2, Dubey et al. teaches wherein the filter member (Fig. 3 - 78) comprises at least one fine filter (Col. 5 - Lines 25-30) configured to prevent foreign particles (Col. 5 - Lines 35-38) up to a predetermined particle size from entering the interior of the at least one cooling channel (Fig. 3 - 38).
Re: claim 3, Dubey et al. teaches wherein the filter member (Fig. 3 - 78) comprises a support structure (Fig. 3 & 5 - 62) which has a cylindrical and/or pot-shaped shape (See Note below) and on which the at least one fine filter (Col. 5 - Lines 25-30) is disposed.
It is noted that the support structure (62), seen in Fig. 5, is circular and has a height/thickness, seen in Fig. 4. The examiner interprets this as pot-shaped and/or cylindrical.
Re: claim 6, Dubey et al. teaches wherein the cooling mechanism (Fig. 3 - 30) has a cylindrical opening (Figs. 3-5 - 62, located at 78) in an area of the cooling-air inlet (Fig. 3 - Located at 78) (See Also Col. 5 - Lines 19-21), the opening extending essentially in a vertical vehicle direction (See Figs. 3 and 4), the filter member (Fig. 3 - 78) being plugged and/or inserted into the opening (Figs. 3-5 - 62, located at 78) from the outside when installed.
Re: claim 10, Dubey et al. teaches a motor vehicle (Fig. 1 - 32) comprising a vehicle body (46) and at least one roof module (Fig. 1) according to claim 1 (See Rejection of Claim 1), wherein the roof module (Fig. 1) is disposed on the vehicle body (46) as a structural unit.
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.
Claim(s) 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dubey et al. in view of Castren et al. (Patent No. 8,096,144).
Re: claim 7, Dubey et al. teaches wherein the opening (Figs. 3-5 - 62, located at 78) is at least partially connected to the at least one cooling channel (Fig. 3 - 38). Dubey et al. fails to teach the filter member comprises a clamping portion via which the filter member is clamped to the at least one cooling channel and/or an end area of the opening.
However, Castren et al. teaches the filter member (Fig. 1D - 13a) comprises a clamping portion (Col. 2 – Lines 6-8) via which the filter member (13a) is clamped to the at least one cooling channel (Fig. 1B - 300) and/or an end area of the opening (See Fig. 1B - 13a).
Dubey et al. and Castren et al. are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because both are in the same field of air supply. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before to the effective filing date of the given invention to modify Dubey et al.’s filter with those of Castren et al.’s clamping portion for the advantage of being able to secure the filter to the apparatus beyond friction and allowing for an easier way to replace the filter in that a user could pull on the clamps to remove the filter.
Re: claim 8, Castren et al. further teaches wherein the clamping portion (Col. 2 – Lines 6-8) is configured to correspond to the end area of the opening (See Fig. 1B - 13a).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, and 9 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:
Re: claim 4, the cited prior art whether in full or in combination fails to teach or suggest the filter member comprising at least one liquid draining device, which is provided at a tapering end area of the filter member. The prior art relied upon would need to be rebuilt in order to comprise a liquid draining device at the end of the filter member. The filter member cited absorbs moisture/liquid to keep it out of the system. Claim 5 depends on claim 4.
Re: claim 9, the cited prior art whether in full or in combination fails to teach or suggest a prefilter disposed on the cooling-air inlet and being in particular flush with the surrounding panel component. The cited filter member may be made of a multilayer filter, which suggests a prefilter; however, the art would need to be rebuilt in order to have the filter be flush with the panel component. This would destroy certain functions of the current art as the additional sensors (Fig. 1 – 54) would require being moved or removed entirely.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Schmidt (Patent No. 10,561,044) discloses fluid management for autonomous vehicle sensors.
Ellgas et al. (Patent No. 11,480,451) discloses integrated cooling solution for spinning sensors.
Sviberg et al. (US 2023/0382204 A1) discloses a roof assembly having a roof opening system and an air conditioner.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHILIP C ADAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-3421. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7:30 - 4:00 CT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amy R Weisberg can be reached at 5712705500. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHILIP CHARLES ADAMS/ Examiner, Art Unit 3612
/AMY R WEISBERG/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3612
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