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 . The instant application with Application Number 18/528,280 filed on 12/04/2023 is presented for examination. Claims 1-20 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statment
The Information Disclosure Statement dated 08/15/2024 is acknowledged and the cited references have been considered in this examination.
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 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Gagnier et al. (US 2015/0035325).
With respect to claims 1, 9 and 17, Gagnier discloses a vehicle seat (Figs. 2-7), comprising: a seat bottom (Fig. 7, 74) ; and a seatback coupled to the seat bottom and including (Fig. 7, 74/14): a front portion configured to oppose a vehicle occupant located on the seat bottom (Fig. 7, 70; para. # 0018); a rear portion disposed on an opposite side of the seatback than the front portion and including a pocket (Figs. 3/7,Para. # FIG. 4A, side pocket 24 extends across the inboard surface 20 of the vehicle seat back 14); and a wireless charging module disposed between the front
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portion and the rear portion and configured to wirelessly charge a user device located in the pocket (Para. # 0025: the module 100 may be configured to provide a charging port to the electronic device 90. Charging of the electronic device 90 may be activated when the electronic device 90 is disposed inside of an interior of the side pocket 24, or when the electronic device 90 comes within a certain range of the side pocket 24. The charging mechanism may be an inductive charging (i.e. wireless charging) assembly or maybe a hard-wired charging assembly).
With respect to claims 2-3, 10-11 and 18-19, Gagnier discloses the vehicle seat as described above, wherein the pocket is configured to move between an upper position and a lower position relative to and along the rear portion (Para. # 0030: pocket are extended form the upper back 30 and extended to side pocket 24 capable of holding more substantial electronics).
With respect to claims 4 and 12, Gagnier discloses the vehicle seat as described above, wherein the pocket includes at least one illumination device configured to provide notification that the user device is being charged by the wireless charging module (Para. # 002: The light source may be configured to illuminate the interior of the side pocket 24).
With respect to claims 5 and 13, Gagnier discloses the vehicle seat as described above, wherein the illumination device is configured to change color to indicate a full charge of the user device (Para. # 0025: The module 100 may also include an indicator light which informs the passenger that the electronic device 90 is charging or fully charged. Additionally, the indicator light can blink or otherwise alert the passenger that the electronic device 90 is still disposed in the side pocket 24).
With respect to claims 6 and 14, Gagnier discloses the vehicle seat as described above, wherein the rear portion includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port configured to charge the user device through wired charging (Para. # 0025: the module 100 may be configured to provide a charging port to the electronic device 90).
With respect to claims 7, 15 and 20, Gagnier discloses the vehicle seat as described above, wherein the user device is a cellular phone or a tablet (Para. # 0030: holding more substantial electronics such as a tablet device).
With respect to claims 8 and 16, Gagnier discloses the vehicle seat as described above, a vehicle incorporating the vehicle seat of Claim 1 (Fig. 1, 40; Para. # 0019: The vehicle 40 may be of any type including a compact vehicle, a mid-size vehicle, a sport utility vehicle, a mini or full-size van, or any type of truck).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YALKEW FANTU whose telephone number is (571)272-8928. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DREW A DUNN can be reached at 571-272-2312. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YALKEW FANTU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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