DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 § 112
2. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
3. Claims 8-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the protection device" in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It appears applicant intended to recite “the projection device”. Nevertheless, a projection device is not properly introduced earlier in the claim.
Dependent claims 9-14 inherit the deficiencies of parent claims 9-14 through their dependencies, and are thus rejected for the same reasons.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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.
5. Claims 1, 2, 4-8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Williams et al. (US 2013/0342704 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 4-8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16 and 18, Williams discloses a mobile teaching system comprising:
a sealable composite housing (enclosed case – Par. 106) containing three or more of: a computing device in communication with a memory device;
a projection device (projector 108) in communication with the computing device (Par. 46);
one or more of a removable storage device or a network device, in communication with the computing device, providing access to data comprising an offline digital library for presenting to students through the projection device (Par’s. 40-41); and
a rechargeable power supply in communication with the computing device (Par. 48) (as per claim 1),
the network device supports a wireless connection with an external computing device to access the data comprising the offline digital library (Par’s. 56-57) (as per claim 2),
a moveable solar collecting device in communication with the rechargeable power supply (Par. 48, 53) (as per claim 4),
the projection device at least in part extends outside the sealable composite housing (Par. 110 – projector 1008 exposed from chassis box 1014) (as per claim 5),
the computing device comprises at least one of a microprocessor or a microcomputer (Par. 57, Fig. 3) (as per claim 6),
a user interface at least in part disposed on an outward facing surface of the composite container in communication with the computing device to configure display of the data through the projection device (Par’s. 122-123) (as per claim 7),
a mobile teaching device, comprising:
a display device (e.g. touch screen – Par’s. 67-69);
a user interface (Par. 42);
one or more processors in communication with the protection device and the user interface (Par. 37); and
memory, wherein the display device, the user interface, the one or mor processors, and the memory are at least in part contained within a sealable container, the memory storing computer-executable instructions that, if executed, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain, by the mobile teaching device, data comprising a digital library for presenting to students via the display device (Par. 40 – educational material from internet) via a removable storage device (storage device may be removable – Par. 7);
receive one or more instructions to configure the data for display via the user interface; and responsive to receiving the one or more instructions, display the data through the display device (Par’s. 122-123) (as per claim 8),
the display device comprises a projection device (Par. 37) (as per claim 10),
the user interface comprises one or more physical buttons (e.g. 506 – Par. 85) (as per claim 11),
the memory stores additional computer-executable instructions that, if executed, further cause the one or more processors to: obtain additional data for presenting to the students via one
one or more of a rechargeable power source or a connection device to an external power source (Par. 48) (as per claim 14),
a mobile teaching system, comprising:
a projection device (Par. 37);
a user interface (Par. 42);
one or more processors in communication with the protection device and the user interface; and
memory, wherein the projection device, the user interface, the one or more processors, and the memory are at least in part contained within a sealable container, the memory storing computer-executable instructions that, if executed, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain, by the mobile teaching system, data for presenting to students via the projection device (Par. 40);
receive one or more instructions to present the data via the projection device via the user interface; and responsive to receiving the one or more instructions, present the data via the projection device (Par’s. 122-123) (as per claim 15),
the memory stores additional computer-executable instructions that, if executed, further cause the one or more processors to: obtain the data from a removable storage device (Par. 7) (as per claim 16), and
the user interface comprises one or more of a touch screen or physical buttons (Par. 85) (as per claim 18).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Williams et al. (US 2013/0342704 A1) in view of Hiramatsu et al. (US 2013/0242207 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Williams does not appear to explicitly disclose the sealed container further comprises a heat sink. However, Williams discloses a projector assembly including a housing (10) with a heat sink (84) (see Par. 62). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Williams by providing a heat sink, as taught by Hiramatsu, to obtain predictable results or avoiding overheating inside the housing.
9. Claims 3, 9, 12, 17, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Williams et al. (US 2013/0342704 A1) in view of Sehbai et al. (US 2019/0325769 A1).
Regarding claims 3, 9, 12, 17 and 20, Williams does not appear to explicitly disclose the network device comprises a device that generates a hotspot or local area network to communicate the data to one or more student computing devices (as per claim 3), the memory stores additional computer-executable instructions that, if executed, further cause the one or more processors to: transmit the data via a restricted network connection to one or more student computing devices (as per claim 9), or more of a wired connection or wireless network connection with a mobile computing device (as per claim 12), the memory stores additional computer-executable instructions that, if executed, further cause the one or more processors to: obtain the data via a wireless communication link with a mobile device (as per claim 17), and the memory stores additional computer-executable instructions that, if executed, further cause the one or more processors to: transmit the data to one or more student computing devices via a restricted communication link (as per claim 20).
However, Sehbai discloses a similar housing device for providing standalone educational lessons (see abstract) that connects to student devices via secure network (Par. 72) to provide data to the devices (Par. 117), and obtains additional data from a mobile device (e.g. computer 20) to provide to the students (see Par. 116). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Williams by obtaining additional data from a mobile device for delivery to the students, and delivering data to students devices via secure local network, as taught by Sehbai, to obtain predictable results of enhancing the variety of educational materials available to the students.
Regarding claim 19, Williams does not appear to disclose the sealable container comprises a waterproof housing, however Sehbai discloses forming the housing to limit access for water into the housing (Par’s. 107, 120). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Williams by utilizing a waterproof housing, as suggested by Sehbai, to obtain predictable results of making the system usable in adverse environments.
Conclusion
10. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER EGLOFF whose telephone number is (571)270-3548. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Xuan Thai can be reached at (571) 272-7147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Peter R Egloff/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715