DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner has cited particular paragraphs/columns and line numbers or figures in the references as applied to the claims below for convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations with the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner. Applicant is reminded that the Examiner is entitled to give the broadest reasonable interpretation to the language of the claims. Furthermore, the Examiner is not limited to the Applicant’s definition which is not specifically set forth in the claims.
Status of Claims
The list of claims: 1-4 is pending in this application. In the claim set filed 05/04/2026:
Claim(s) 1 has/have been amended.
Claim(s) 2-4 has/have been indicated as originally presented.
Claim(s) 1 is/are the independent claim(s) observed in the instant application.
Response to Arguments
With respect to Applicant’s Amendment/Request for Reconsideration-After Non-Final Rejection filed on 05/04/2026; Applicant's “Amendments and Remarks” have been fully considered. Applicant’s remarks will be addressed in sequential order as they were presented.
With respect to the Title Objection, Applicant’s “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered and have been found persuasive. Therefore, the Title Objection has/have been withdrawn.
With respect to the claim rejections(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1), Applicant’s “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered and have been found persuasive.
In particular the Applicant’s amendment reciting “wherein the support mechanism is coupled to one end portion of the main body case in a left-right direction” does not sufficiently overcome the Kimpara reference for at least the following reasons.
In at least Fig. 6 and accompanying ¶: 0038-0042, 0049, 0062, 0063, Kimpara discloses: an operation lever(denoted 16 in Fig. 6) connected to a shaft(denoted 17 in Fig. 6), which further connects to a holder (denoted 12 in Fig. 6) that couples to a gauge housing(denoted 34 in Fig. 6) with a display device(denoted 32 in Fig. 6) contained therein.
One of ordinary skill in the art would find the disclosed operation lever, shaft, holder, gauge housing and display device as patentably indistinct from the Applicant’s broadly recited: “remote control lever,” “main body case,” “support mechanism,” “display case” and “display,” respectively. The Applicant will note that as mapped above, the holder is mounted to the right side of the shaft, thereby anticipating the Applicant’s “wherein the support mechanism is coupled to one end portion of the main body case in a left-right direction.”
Therefore, the rejections(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) has/have been maintained.
With respect to the claim rejections(s) of claim(s) 2-4 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant’s “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered and have been found persuasive. Therefore, the rejections(s) of claim(s) 2-4 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 has/have been withdrawn.
Office Note: Due to applicant’s amendments, further claim rejections appear on the record as stated in the Final Office Action below.
Final Office Action
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(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KIMPARA et al. (United States Patent Publication 2022/0363360 A1) referenced as Kimpara moving forward.
With respect to claim 1, Kimpara discloses:
“A remote control device for remotely controlling a ship propulsion device provided in a ship, the remote control device comprising: a remote control device main body including: a main body case installed on an installation surface provided in the ship; and a remote control lever attached to the main body case” [Kimpara; In at least the paragraphs and figures cited, Kimpara discloses an operation lever(denoted 16 in Fig. 6) for controlling propulsion of a ship and a shaft(denoted 17 in Fig. 6), which have been interpreted as patentably indistinct from the Applicant's broadly recited "remote control lever" attached to a "main body case," respectively; See also: Fig. 6; ¶: 0038-0042, 0049, 0062, 0063];
“a display unit provided outside the main body case, and including a display case and a display provided in the display case” [Kimpara; In at least the paragraphs and figures cited, Kimpara discloses a gauge housing(denoted 34 in Fig. 6) and display device(denoted 32 in Fig. 6) provided therein, which have been interpreted as patentably indistinct from the Applicant's broadly recited "display case" and "display" respectively; See also: Fig. 6; ¶: 0038-0042, 0049, 0062, 0063];
“and a support mechanism that couples the display unit and the remote control device main body to each other, and that supports the display unit such that the display unit is disposed at a position separated from the remote control device main body, wherein the support mechanism is coupled to one end portion of the main body case in a left-right direction” [Kimpara; In at least the paragraphs and figures cited, Kimpara discloses a holder(denoted 12 in Fig. 6) that supports the previously disclosed operation lever and couples it to the gauge housing via side a attachment portion(denoted 87 in Fig. 6), wherein the disclosed holder has been presented as mounted to the right side of the operation lever in a left-right direction. In view of at least the above the disclosed holder has been interpreted as patentably indistinct from the Applicant's broadly recited "support mechanism," "wherein the support mechanism is coupled to one end portion of the main body case in a left-right direction;" See also: Fig. 6; ¶: 0038-0042, 0049, 0062, 0063].
Claim Objections/Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2-4 is/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. As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Prior Art (Not relied upon)
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure can be found in the attached form 892.
CHEN et al. (Chinese Patent Publication CN215851825U) discloses: The utility model relates to an unmanned ship remote control console with a turnover screen, which comprises an unmanned ship control console, a control console display, a clock and a steering wheel, wherein the unmanned ship control console is provided with the control console display, the clock and the steering wheel and can realize the control and control of an unmanned ship; the navigation system comprises a navigation platform which is provided with a navigation display, a keyboard and a mouse and can realize unmanned boat route selection and path planning; the photoelectric table is provided with a display screen of a photoelectric station and a photoelectric control handle and can realize photoelectric remote control; unmanned ship controls platform, chart platform and photoelectricity platform and all includes the operation panel subassembly, is provided with the stage body subassembly of multilayer mounting panel and can realize the display upset subassembly of display upset. The utility model realizes the remote control and control of the unmanned ship on the mother ship.
Watanabe et al. (United States Patent Publication 2007/0249244 A1) discloses: A remote control unit can be used for a boat having a plurality of propulsion units to perform output adjustment and tilt/trim angle adjustment of the propulsion units. Operating levers can be capable of forward and backward rotational movement to effect shift operation and throttle operation of the propulsion units and can be respectively provided upright on a left side surface and right side surface of a body. A plurality of tilt/trim angle adjustment switches can correspond to respective propulsion units and can be provided at positions where they can be operated with fingertips of a hand resting on a palm portion of a top surface of the body with the fingertips pointing generally forward. The palm portion of the top surface can be free of switches.
Bratås (United States Patent Publication 2011/0297072 A1) discloses: A rail for positioning at least one instrument on board a vessel, the rail having a longitudinal axis extending in the main transversely to the longitudinal axis of the vessel, the rail being arranged in connection with a wheel pedestal in the vessel and the rail being arranged for releasably fixing the instrument.
Laster (United States Patent Publication 2016/0249468 A1) discloses: Various implementations described herein are directed to a device configured for mounting a marine display to a vessel. The device may include a bracket having a housing with a compartment for receiving a power source. The device may include an electrical circuit configured to connect the power source to the multi-function display.
DESPINEUX (United States Patent Publication 2018/0134362 A1) discloses: A device for specifying the power of an electric drive of a boat includes a hand-actuatable drive which can be positioned between a zero setting, in which the electric drive is stationary, and a maximum setting, in which the electric drive is operated at its nominal power. The device also includes a hand-actuatable overload switching device, on actuation of which the electric drive is operated in an overload operation.
ARITA et al. (United States Patent Publication 2018/0284564 A1) discloses: A protection member is disposed on a curved part of a housing having a desired curvature between a first display panel and a second display panel, thus the protection member is deformed along with the curvature of the curved part and curved. The curvature of the curved part formed in the housing has a plurality of curvatures.
Despineux et al. (United States Patent Publication 2022/0033046 A1) discloses: The present invention relates to a device (1) for setting the drive position of an electric drive of a boat, having a housing (14) with two receiving elements (15a, 15b) arranged on two opposing side walls (140) of the housing (14) for defining a pivot axis (17) and a drive lever (10) that can be pivoted around this pivot axis (17), wherein the drive lever (10) is received by two receiving elements (15a. 15b).
Günther et al. (United States Patent Publication 2023/0166597 A1) discloses: An assembly for a vehicle comprising a crossmember, which is provided for connecting to two pillars lying opposite each other with respect to the x-y plane of the vehicle; a mounting that is connected to the crossmember, protrudes therefrom in the radial direction, and has two mounts, which are mutually spaced in the y direction, and end-face connection means; and a panel-shaped instrument which is connected to the connection means of the mounting at a distance to the upper closure thereof and which is held such that the operating surface of the instrument faces the passenger compartment of the vehicle in the x direction. Each of the two mounts is designed in the form of a half shell which are arranged such that the opening side thereof faces in the y direction, wherein the two limbs of the mounts designed as half shells are arranged on the x-y plane, the web connecting said limbs is arranged on the y-z plane, and each of the mounts has at least one predetermined bending point, which is provided by the geometry of the mount, between the two connection points of the mount, said mounts bending at the predetermined bending point in the z and/or y direction in the event of a load (x direction).
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
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/R.N.B./Examiner, Art Unit 3666C
/Hitesh Patel/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3667 8/4/26
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