This Office Action is responsive to the RCE filed on 11/17/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 21-23, 26-28, and 30-40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Breed et al. (US 2007/0086624). Breed et al teach:
A system for controlling an airbag of a vehicle (see paragraph 204), the
system comprising:
memory hardware configured to store instructions; (par. 222) and
processor hardware configured to execute the instructions (par. 222), wherein the instructions include:
receiving data from a set of sensors (par. 222, transducers 6,8,10), wherein:
the set of sensors includes a set of cameras (par. 185, 303, 316),
the data includes image information, acquired by the set of
cameras, of a sensor detection area, and
a portion of the sensor detection area includes a deployment zone of the airbag (par. 80, 87-91, 285),
based on the data, determining whether an occluding object
occludes the portion of the sensor detection area, and
in response to a determination that the occluding object occludes
the portion of the sensor detection area:
selecting a set of previous occupancy states acquired since
a time threshold, wherein the set of previous occupancy states is associated with
the deployment zone of the airbag, and
in response to a determination that the set of previous
occupancy states does not include at least one previous occupancy state with a
first occupancy value, deactivating the airbag, wherein the first occupancy value
indicates that the deployment zone of the airbag is occupied by an adult (par. 455).
In particular, note the abstract and paragraphs 80, 87-91, 182, 185, 204, 282-285, 303, 316 and 455 of Breed et al.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 24, 25, 29 and 41-43 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERICK R SOLIS whose telephone number is (571)272-4853. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9 -5.
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/ERICK R SOLIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747