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 § 103
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 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) 14-24 and 26-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ochi et al. (US 2005/0143141 A1) in view of Morita (US 2014/0167913 A1) and Oguz et al. (US 2023/0305130 A1).
Regarding claims 16, 26-27 and 32, Ochi discloses a method (method is inherently disclosed since the transceiver of the vehicle is capable of performing the claimed method) and a transceiver circuit (e.g. Figs. 1-7: 1, 1a, 1b) for a vehicle, the transceiver circuit comprising:
at least one transceiver (e.g. Figs. 1-7: 1, 1a, 1b), and a control module (e.g. Figs. 1-7: 11) for the transceiver, wherein the control module is configured to communicate information relating to a locking/unlocking of the vehicle (e.g. [0003, 0058-0070]) with a communication device (e.g. Figs. 1-7: 7) of the user using the transceiver, while the communication device is located outside the vehicle (e.g. [0050]);
wherein the transceiver has a common transmitter is configured to: transmit a communication signal to communicate the information relating to the locking/unlocking of the vehicle between the communication device and the transceiver (e.g. [0059-0061])
Ochi fails to disclose, but Morita teaches the information relating to the locking/unlocking of the vehicle includes a request for at least one of locking or unlocking the vehicle (e.g. Fig. 1 & [0022-0023]: communicate lock/unlock request between key 80 and vehicle 1 & [0038-0040]: communicate ID code between key 80 and vehicle 1 in addition to activating door switches 57a-57d).
Thus, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Ochi to implement a remote control key for a vehicle that is capable of transmitting lock/unlock request as suggested by Morita. The modification would have yielded only predictable results to one skilled in the art since it is merely simple substitutions of one known element/process with another according to KSR.
Ochi fails to disclose, but Oguz teaches gather information relating to a passenger compartment of the vehicle using the transceiver (e.g. Fig. 1 and Abstract and [0005, 0014, 0033, 0067]), and transmit a measurement signal into the passenger compartment in order to gather the information relating to the passenger compartment using the measurement signal or a reflection of the measurement signal (e.g. Abstract & Figs. 1-3 & [0063]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Ochi with the teachings of Oguz to determine presence or absence of at least one person in the passenger compartment of a vehicle based on detection signal from a transceiver of the vehicle so as to determine occupancy and/or state of health of the person. The modification would have been obvious to one skilled in the art since it is merely applying a known technique (e.g. occupancy detection as taught by Oguz) to a known device (e.g. transceiver of a vehicle as taught by Ochi) ready for improvement to yield predictable results according to KSR.
Regarding claim 14, Oguz teaches the transceiver comprises an ultra-wideband transceiver (e.g. Abstract).
Regarding claim 15, Oguz teaches the transceiver is arranged in the passenger compartment vehicle (e.g. Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 17, Oguz discloses the transceiver circuit comprises at least one further transceiver which is designed to receive the measurement signal or the reflection of the measurement signal (e.g. Figs. 1-2: transceivers 10, 12), and wherein the control module is designed to gather the information relating to the passenger compartment of the vehicle using the received measurement signal or the reflection of the measurement signal (e.g. [0060-0067]).
Regarding claim 18, Ochi discloses the communication signal and Oguz teaches the measurement signal is a second ultra-wideband signal (see rejection of claim 16 above).
Ochi fails to disclose the communication signal is a first ultra-wideband signal, but Oguz teaches it is known in the art to utilize ultra-wideband signal in vehicle signal communication.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize ultra-wideband signal (as taught by Oguz) in the invention of Ochi since it is merely applying a known technique to a known device ready for improvement to yield predictable results according to KSR.
Regarding claim 19, Oguz teaches the communication signal and the measurement signal have a frequency between 1 GHz and 20 GHz (e.g. [0059]).
Regarding claim 20, Oguz teaches the information relating to the passenger compartment comprises information relating to one or more occupants of the passenger compartment (e.g. Fig. 1 and Abstract and [0005, 0014, 0033, 0067]).
Regarding claim 21, Oguz teaches the information relating to the passenger compartment comprises information relating to a presence (e.g. [0067]), a position (e.g. [0069]), a sign of life, an emotional state, age (e.g. [0069]) and/or state of health of the occupants (e.g. [0031]).
Regarding claim 22, Oguz teaches the information relating to the passenger compartment comprises information relating to one or more occupants of the passenger compartment (e.g. [0031, 0069]: age, health).
Regarding claim 23, Oguz teaches the information relating to the passenger compartment comprises information relating to a presence, a position, a sign of life, an emotional state, age and/or state of health of the occupants (e.g. [0031, 0069]: age, health)
Regarding claim 24, Oguz teaches the control module is further configured to use the information relating to the locking/unlocking of the vehicle and the information relating to the passenger compartment of the vehicle to cause an operation to be performed corresponding to detection of an attempted theft and/or corresponding to protection of at least of the one or more occupants (e.g. [0138]: if door is locked and child is left behind, warning message is sent to mobile phone of user of the vehicle).
Regarding claim 28, Ochi discloses non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program is saved, the computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, cause performance of the method of claim 27 (e.g. Fig. 1 & [0038]: as discussed in rejection of claim 27 above, Ochi and Oguz in combination discloses the claimed method, and Ochi further discloses controller 11 is a microcomputer, which inherently comprises program/software stored in a memory to perform the disclosed method).
Regarding claim 29, Ochi discloses the information relating to the locking/unlocking of the vehicle comprises information relating to a distance of the communication device relative to the vehicle (e.g. Fig. 2: detection of the signal inherently implies the device sending the signal is within certain predetermined distance from the vehicle, e.g. communication area Ba-Bd).
Regarding claim 30, Ochi discloses the information relating to the locking/unlocking of the vehicle comprises information relating to a position of the communication device relative to the vehicle (e.g. Fig. 2: detection of the signal inherently implies the device sending the signal is within certain area/position from the vehicle, e.g. communication area Ba-Bd).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/22/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In addition to response provided on Office action dated 10/22/2025 and upon further review of the current amendment with regard to claims 16 and 27, the examiner reconsidered the previously indicated allowable subjected matter (i.e. “common transmitter” as recited in the independent claims) as non allowable subject matter based on the following reason(s):
The limitation “the transceiver has a common transmitter” does not clearly define ONLY a single transceiver is being used in the claimed invention or exclude the use of more than ONE transceiver as explained in previous arguments dated 10/02/2025. For example, the claim or any dependent claim could further limit “a common transmitter” to be “wherein the common transmitter comprises a first transmitter and a second transmitter. Therefore, the recited limitation is broadly interpreted as “transceiver” comprises one or more transceivers.
Based on updated search, Bauman (US 2014/02532878 A) discloses an invention directed to the use of a UWB antenna (e.g. Fig. 2: 22) for detecting exterior of a vehicle including lock/unlocking signal (e.g. [0022]) and interior of the vehicle including fob location (e.g. [0022]), and any number of antennas may be employed to provide the features as disclosed in Bauman. Thus, a single UWB as disclosed by Bauman is capable of monitoring lock/unlock signal from inside or outside a vehicle. In addition, Oguz teaches UWB antenna can be used to monitor occupancy and/or state of occupant inside vehicle (e.g. [0138]). Therefore, it is known to utilize UWB to monitor occupancy and/or state of occupant inside vehicle. Thus, combination of Bauman and Oguz discloses the claimed invention since it is merely modifying a well-known element as disclosed by Bauman with well-known feature as taught in Oguz to further improve the function of the UWB antenna as disclosed by Bauman to reduce cost and labor to install more antennas in/on the vehicle. Therefore, the claimed invention, even if further amended to exclusively state only a single transceiver is used in the claim(s), is not patentable in the examiner’s opinion.
Claims 14-15, 17-24, 26 and 28-30 are unpatentable at least in view of the foregoing reason(s).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAM WAN MA whose telephone number is (571) 270-3693. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-6pm.
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/KAM WAN MA/Examiner, Art Unit 2688
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