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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 2-4 and 8-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 8/31/2026.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chiba (WO2013168721).
Regarding claim 1, Chiba teaches a switch device for a vehicle, comprising: a switch housing (2, 3) fixedly disposed in the vehicle; a switch knob 5 disposed on the switch housing so as to be manipulatable by a user, and including knob icons 15 disposed on one surface thereof; a switch unit 9 operated by the user's manipulation of the switch knob and configured to generate a changed electrical signal; and a light source unit 19 disposed within the switch housing and configured to output and transmit light generated therefrom to the switch knob, wherein the light source unit comprises a plurality of knob icon light sources (paragraph 1 of page 10) configured to enable beams of light emitted therefrom to be simultaneously irradiated onto one of the knob icons, and wherein the switch knob comprises, at least partially, a light control region part (16, 10) having a difference in thickness between the inner and outer surfaces of the switch knob (Figs. 1-7, and annotated figure below).
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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.
Claims 5-8 and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chiba in view of Tajima (JPH09306277, cited in the IDS)
Chiba does not teach the light control region part comprising a plurality of light control region part pixels. However, Tajima teaches a similar switch device that comprises a switch knob 10 with a light control region part 8; wherein the light control region part comprises a plurality of light control region part pixels (concave/convex) having different distances from a knob icon light source 2 (Fig. 3), as required by claim 5; wherein at least one of the plurality of light control region part pixels (concave/convex) comprises a different surface morphology from the others (Fig. 3), as required by claim 6; wherein a line segment tangent to at least one surface of the plurality of light control region part pixels (concave/convex) and a line segment tangent to at least another surface of the plurality of light control region part pixels intersect each other (annotated figure below), as required by claim 7; wherein the plurality of light control region part pixels (concave/convex) comprises a transparent material (the rubber switch 10 including the light portion 8 is made of transparent material, see paragraph 15), as required by claim 15; wherein at least one of the plurality of light control region part pixels (concave/convex) comprises an opaque material (the rubber switch 10 including the light portion 8 is made of semitransparent material, see paragraph 15), as required by claim 16; wherein the plurality of light control region part pixels (concave/convex) is integrally formed on the inner surface of the switch knob 10, (Fig. 3), as required by claim 17; wherein the plurality of light control region part pixels (concave/convex) is formed to be attachable to the inner surface of the switch knob 10 (Fig. 3), as required by claim 18. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Tajima in the switch device of Chiba to provide a better illumination.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED M SAEED whose telephone number is (571)270-7976. The examiner can normally be reached 10-8pm.
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/AHMED M SAEED/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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