Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/726,441

Transportation Apparatus, Housing Component, and Assembly for an Entertainment System of a Transportation Apparatus

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jul 03, 2024
Examiner
CHIN, RICKY
Art Unit
2424
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
68%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
3y 1m
To Grant
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 68% — above average
68%
Career Allow Rate
375 granted / 551 resolved
+10.1% vs TC avg
Strong +22% interview lift
Without
With
+21.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
19 currently pending
Career history
570
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.7%
-34.3% vs TC avg
§103
58.4%
+18.4% vs TC avg
§102
13.1%
-26.9% vs TC avg
§112
10.2%
-29.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 551 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114 1. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1-22-26 has been entered. Response to Arguments 2. Applicant’s arguments filed 1-22-25 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection(s). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 3. 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 of this title, 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. 4. Claims 12, 16, 18-19, and 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marlowe, US 2008/0130912 in view of Zaccaria, US 2019/0097669, and in further view of Ito et al., US 2021/0084783. Regarding claim 12, Marlowe teaches of an assembly for an entertainment system of a transportation apparatus (See Figs.7A-10 docking station, interface for a car video system), the assembly comprising: a housing with an external connection for supplying the assembly with electrical energy (See Figs. 2H-3D; 7A-10; [0081]-[0095] which discloses of the interface and/or docking station having electrical connectors for supplying electrical communication/energy through the interface to/from the portable device/after-market device to/from the car system), a cavity within the housing for receiving a streaming box of the entertainment electronics (See Figs.7A-10 docking station; [0019], [0021], [0068], [0079], [0131]-[0134], [0144], [0157]-[0166], and [0175] the portable device/streaming box for video electronic attaching to the interface via the docking station to connect to the car system), and a first video connection which is arranged in the housing of the assembly and configured for connecting to a second video connection of the streaming box (See Figs. 2H-3D connection ports; 7A-10 docking station and interface; [0019], [0021], [0068], [0079], [0081]-[0095], [0131]-[0134], [0144], [0157]-[0166], and [0175] which discloses of video connection/ports to the car video system and video contention ports to the portable after-market video player/streaming box), and a retaining element arranged within the cavity, wherein the retaining element is configured to allow a plurality of different configurations and/or positions in the housing (See Figs. 2H-3D connection ports; 7A-10 docking station and interface; [0019], [0021], [0068], [0079], [0081]-[0095], [0131]-[0134], [0144], [0157]-[0166], and [0175] which discloses of the electronic device being able to be docked and contained within the station, where the device can be of different types of devices and having different connections, thereby reading on the retainment element allowing for different configurations being attachable to the docking station), which depending on a size and/or a shape of the streaming box, render possible mechanical fixation of the streaming box within the cavity by the way of the retaining element (See Figs. 2H-3D connection ports; 7A-10 docking station and interface; [0019], [0021], [0068], [0079], [0081]-[0095], [0131]-[0134], [0144], [0157]-[0166], and [0175] which discloses of the docking to the station which reads on a possible fixation into the retaining element). Marlowe is silent with respect to wherein the retaining element comprises an elastic structure that can be compressed between a cover of the assembly and the streaming box to pre-stress the streaming box against an opposing wall of the housing. However, in the same field of endeavor, Zaccaria teaches of wherein the retaining element comprises an elastic structure that can be compressed between a cover of the assembly and the streaming box to pre-stress the streaming box against an opposing wall of the housing (See [0134]-[0136] which discloses of at least elastic bands/retainers that are expandable such that the devices may be held in place). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Marlowe to have incorporated the teachings of Zaccaria for the mere benefit of being able to support different size devices in a stable manner. The combination of Marlowe and Zaccaria is silent with respect to the elastic structure being in a form of a spring. However, in the same field of endeavor, Ito teaches of respect to the elastic structure being in a form of a spring (See [0004], [0027]-[0028], [0036], and [0045]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Marlowe and Zaccaria to have incorporated the teachings of Ito for the mere benefit of allowing the retaining element flexibility to pre-stress against a housing. Regarding claim 16, the combination teaches the assembly according to claim 12, further comprising a connection which is configured to close the housing by at least one of a positive-locking connection, a sliding guide, or screws (See Marlowe, Fig.7A-8B and [0131] closing the housing of the docking portion). Regarding claim 18, the combination teaches the assembly according to claim 12, wherein the retaining element is arranged opposite the first video connection with respect to the streaming box when the assembly is connected to the first video connection (See Marlowe, Fig.7A and [0131] which discloses the clasp which is on the opposite of the first video connection; Zaccaria, [0134]-[0136]). Regarding claim 19, Marlowe in view of Zaccaria teaches the assembly according to claim 12, wherein the retaining element is configured to be elastic to cooperate with different structures of the housing which are arranged equidistant from one another (See Zaccaria, [0134]-[0136];Fig.16A retainer element that is elastic that is expandable and are equidistance as they are arranged at the corners). Regarding claim 22, the claim has been analyzed and rejected for the same reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 12. Regarding claim 23, the claim has been analyzed and rejected for the same reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 12. Regarding claim 24, the claim has been analyzed and rejected for the same reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 12. 5. Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marlowe, US 2008/0130912 in view of Zaccaria, US 2019/0097669, in further view of Ito et al., US 2021/0084783, and in view of Barnes et al., US 2021/0219002. Regarding claim 13, Marlow in view of Zaccaria in view of Ito teaches the assembly according to claim 12. Marlowe in view of Zaccaria in view of Ito is silent with respect to further comprising a fan which is configured to remove air from the housing of the assembly. However, in the same field of endeavor, Barnes teaches of comprising a fan which is configured to remove air from the housing of the assembly (See [0036] and [0044]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Marlowe Zaccaria, and Ito to have incorporated the teachings of Barnes for the mere benefit of removing hot air to keep the electronics performing in optimal temperatures. 6. Claims 14-15 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marlowe, US 2008/0130912 in view of Zaccaria, US 2019/0097669, in further view of Ito et al., US 2021/0084783, and in view of Nejah, US 2010/0037072. Regarding claim 14, Marlowe in view of Zaccaria in view of Ito teaches the assembly according to claim 12. Marlowe in view of Zaccaria in view of Ito is silent with respect to further comprising a plug connector for connecting the housing to an on-board power supply of the transportation apparatus. However, in the same field of endeavor, Nejah teaches of a plug connector for connecting the housing to an on-board power supply of the transportation apparatus (See Fig.1; [0015], [0016], [0036], and [0051]-[0052]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Marlowe, Zaccaria, and Ito to have incorporated the teachings of Nejah for the mere benefit of being able to provide power through the vehicle means. Regarding claim 15, the combination teaches the assembly according to claim 14, the combination further teaches of wherein the plug connector is an APIX plug connector (See Nejah, [0052], APIX connection throughout the system). Regarding claim 21, the combination teaches the assembly according to claim 12, further comprising a power supply unit which is configured to be connected externally to an on-board electrical or electronic system of the transportation apparatus (See Nejah, Fig.1; [0015], [0016], [0036], and [0051]-[0052]). Contact 7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ricky Chin whose telephone number is 571-270-3753. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:30-6:00. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin Bruckart can be reached on 571-272-3982. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). /Ricky Chin/ Primary Examiner AU 2424 (571) 270-3753 Ricky.Chin@uspto.gov
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 03, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 18, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Sep 22, 2025
Response Filed
Oct 21, 2025
Final Rejection — §103
Dec 09, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Jan 22, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Jan 29, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Jan 29, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
68%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+21.6%)
3y 1m
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 551 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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