Response to Amendment
This action is responsive to applicant’s amendment and remarks received on 02/06/2026. Claims 13-17 and 19-24 have been presented for examination. Claims 13 and 24 have been amended, and claim 18 has been canceled. Claims 13-17 and 19-24 have been examined.
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.
Claims 13-17 and 19-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DeCia (Pub. No.: 2017/0278326 A1) in view of Watters (Pub. No.: 2017/0309098 A1).
1) In regard to claim 13, DeCia discloses the claimed system (fig. 1) comprising:
a vehicle (fig. 1: 100) and a mobile device (fig. 1: 102) for unlocking the vehicle and/or enabling a function of the vehicle (¶0036),
the vehicle has at least one first transceiver (fig. 1: 104),
the mobile device has at least one second transceiver (fig. 1: 122 shows element 104 communicates with element 104),
the first transceiver and the second transceiver are designed to establish a wireless connection with one another as connection partners that enables data exchange (¶0016),
the first transceiver is designed to check an environment of the vehicle for available connection partners (¶0015-¶0016); and
the second transceiver is designed to signal its availability as a connection partner (¶0015-¶0017).
DeCia does not explicitly disclose the second transceiver or an evaluation unit of the mobile device connected thereto is designed to determine a distance of the second transceiver from the first transceiver and/or a relative position of the second transceiver to the first transceiver and/or the vehicle, and, as a function of the distance and/or position, to switch between different transmission protocols and/or between different intervals where signals are transmitted between the connection partners.
However, Watters discloses it has been known for a vehicle communication system to allow a second transceiver a mobile device connected thereto is designed to determine a distance of the second transceiver from a first transceiver and/or a relative position of the second transceiver to the first transceiver and/or the vehicle, and, as a function of the distance and/or position, to switch between different transmission protocols (fig. 3, ¶0035, ¶0037 and claim 9 discloses a first antenna with a first protocol detects the device approaching the vehicle, and the second antenna wakes-up to communicate with the device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the claimed invention was filed to allow the system of DeCia to utilize different protocols to communicate with the device, as taught by Watters.
One skilled in the art would be motivated to modify DeCia as described above in order to increase the efficiency of the system by reducing the amount of interference in the system as taught by Watters (¶0002).
2) In regard to claim 14 (dependent on claim 13), DeCia and Watters further disclose the system according to claim 13, wherein the first transceiver and the second transceiver are each NFC and/or BLE and/or UWB transceivers (¶0016).
3) In regard to claim 15 (dependent on claim 13), DeCia and Watters further disclose the system according to claim 13, wherein the second transceiver is designed to broadcast advertiser events on at least one advertiser channel, and the first transceiver is designed to check at least one advertiser channel for advertiser events and, upon receipt of an advertiser event, to establish a connection with the second transceiver transmitting the advertiser event (¶0015 discloses the key fob scanner generates a low power, low frequency signal for the key fob).
4) In regard to claim 16 (dependent on claim 13), DeCia and Watters further disclose the system according to claim 13, wherein the mobile device is a vehicle key or a key fob or a mobile phone (¶0016).
5) In regard to claim 17 (dependent on claim 13), DeCia and Watters further disclose the system according to claim 13, wherein the first transceiver has at least one external unit for transmitting and receiving data on the exterior of the vehicle and an internal unit for transmitting and receiving data in the interior of the vehicle (¶0036).
6) In regard to claim 19 (dependent on claim 13), DeCia and Watters further disclose the system according to claim 13, further comprising a second mobile device with a third transceiver which is designed to transmit and receive data wirelessly, the first transceiver and the third transceiver are designed to establish a connection with each other as connection partners that enables a data exchange, the third transceiver is designed to check its environment for available connection partners and the first transceiver is designed to signal its availability as a connection partner (fig. 1: 124 and ¶0015-¶0017).
7) In regard to claim 20 (dependent on claim 19), DeCia and Watters further disclose the system according to claim 19, wherein the third transceiver is an NFC and/or BLE and/or UWB transceiver (¶0016).
8) In regard to claim 21 (dependent on claim 19), DeCia and Watters further disclose the system as set forth in claim 19, wherein the second mobile device is a mobile phone (¶0016).
9) In regard to claim 22 (dependent on claim 19), DeCia and Watters further disclose the system according to claim 19, wherein the first transceiver is designed to simultaneously check the environment of the vehicle for available connection partners and to signal its availability as a connection partner or to alternately check the environment of the vehicle for available connection partners and to signal its availability as a connection partner (¶0015).
10) In regard to claim 23 (dependent on claim 19), DeCia and Watters further disclose the system according to claim 19, wherein the first transceiver is designed to process data received from the second transceiver and data received from the third transceiver simultaneously or according to a prioritization transmitted by the data or predetermined by the associated transceiver (¶0025-¶0027).
11) In regard to claim 24, claim 24 is rejected and analyzed with respect to claim 1 and the references applied.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to the amended claims, based solely on the amendments to the claims, have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the combination of the references including new prior art being used in the current new grounds of rejection for the newly added limitations to the claims.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CURTIS J KING whose telephone number is (571)270-5160. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:00 - 2:00 EST.
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/CURTIS J KING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685