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 .
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “first short-range communication module being capable of”, “second short-range communication module being capable of” in claim 1, “first short-range communication module being capable of”, “second short-range communication module being capable of” in Claim 17, “first short-range communication module being capable of”, “second short-range communication module being capable of”, “third short-range communication module being capable of” in claim 20.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Please Note: Paragraph 0020 of Applicants’ disclosure reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention and discloses the corresponding structure, material, or acts for performing the entire claimed function and to clearly link the structure, material, or acts to the function. 35 U.S.C. 112 a and b are therefore met.
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.
Claim(s) 1 – 16, 18 – 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crino (US 2026/0003050) in view of Croxford et al. (US 2021/0383673).
Regarding Claim 1, Crino teaches a communication method for an off-road vehicle group, the off-road vehicle group comprising at least a first off-road vehicle and a second off-road vehicle; the method comprising: providing a first portable communication device, the first portable communication device comprising a first short-range communication module (Bluetooth communications, hereafter BTcomms, between the secondary device and the main device (Sections 0038, 0039)), a first long- range communication module (Section 0035), the first short-range communication module being capable of establishing unlicensed communication with the first off-road vehicle (main device can be in an off-road vehicle (ORV) (Section 0004), BTcomms is an unlicensed communication (Sections 0038, 0039)) and acquiring driving information of the first off-road vehicle (alert to slow down (Section 0004) is an indication that the ORV is going too fast, which reads on driving information); providing a second portable communication device, the second portable communication device comprising a second short-range communication module (can be a group of ORV users (Section 0068), BTcomms between the secondary device and the main device (Sections 0038, 0039)) and a second long-range communication module (Section 0035), the second short-range communication module being capable of establishing communication with the second off-road vehicle (main device can be in an off-road vehicle (ORV) (Section 0004), BTcomms is an unlicensed communication (Sections 0038, 0039)) and acquiring driving information of the second off-road vehicle (alert to slow down (Section 0004) is an indication that the ORV is going too fast, which reads on driving information); and transmitting driving information of the first off-road vehicle and positioning information of the first portable communication device from the first long-range communication module to the second long-range communication module via an unlicensed communication over a communication distance greater than a range of the first and second short-range communication modules (Section 0035, LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on positioning information as well as driving information).
Crino does not teach a first positioning module.
Croxford, which also teaches the use of AR and smart glasses, teaches smart glasses with a positioning module (Sections 0016 – 0018, GPS (Section 0018)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Crino with the above features of Croxford for the purpose of providing depth information thus providing enhanced navigation and safety as taught Croxford.
Regarding Claim 20, Chino teaches a communication method for an off-road vehicle group, the off-road vehicle group comprising at least a first off-road vehicle, a second off-road vehicle and a third off-road; the method comprising: providing a first portable communication device, the first portable communication device comprising a first short-range communication module (BTcomms between the secondary device and the main device (Sections 0038, 0039)), a first long-range communication module (Section 0035), the first short- range communication module being capable of establishing unlicensed communication with the first off-road vehicle (main device can be in an off-road vehicle (ORV) (Section 0004), BTcomms is an unlicensed communication (Sections 0038, 0039)) and acquiring driving information of the first off-road vehicle (alert to slow down (Section 0004) is an indication that the ORV is going too fast, which reads on driving information); providing a second portable communication device, the second portable communication device comprising a second short-range communication module (can be a group of ORV users (Section 0068), BTcomms between the secondary device and the main device (Sections 0038, 0039)), a second long-range communication module (Section 0035), the second short-range communication module being capable of establishing communication with the second off-road vehicle (main device can be in an off-road vehicle (ORV) (Section 0004), BTcomms is an unlicensed communication (Sections 0038, 0039)) and acquiring driving information of the second off-road vehicle (alert to slow down (Section 0004) is an indication that the ORV is going too fast, which reads on driving information); providing a third portable communication device, the third portable communication device comprising a third short-range communication module (can be a group of ORV users (Section 0068), BTcomms between the secondary device and the main device (Sections 0038, 0039)), a third long-range communication module (Section 0035), the third short-range communication module being capable of establishing communication with the third off-road vehicle (main device can be in an off-road vehicle (ORV) (Section 0004), BTcomms is an unlicensed communication (Sections 0038, 0039)) and acquiring driving information of the third off-road vehicle (alert to slow down (Section 0004) is an indication that the ORV is going too fast, which reads on driving information), and transmitting positioning information of the first portable communication device from the first long-range communication module to the second long-range communication module via an unlicensed communication over a communication distance greater than a range of the first and second short-range communication modules (Section 0035, LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on positioning information as well as driving information), wherein the act of transmitting positioning information of the first portable communication device from the first long-range communication module to the second long-range communication module comprises: transmitting positioning information of the first portable communication device from the first long-range communication module to the third long-range communication module via an unlicensed communication over a communication distance greater than a range of the first, second and third short-range communication modules (Section 0035, LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on positioning information as well as driving information); and transmitting positioning information of the first portable communication device from the third long-range communication module to the second long-range communication module via an unlicensed communication over a communication distance greater than a range of the first, second and third short-range communication modules (Section 0035, LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on positioning information as well as driving information, mesh network enables said long-range communication as well (Section 0036)).
Crino does not teach a first positioning module, a second positioning module, and a third positioning module.
Croxford, which also teaches the use of AR and smart glasses, teaches smart glasses with a positioning module (Sections 0016 – 0018, GPS (Section 0018)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Crino with the above features of Croxford for the purpose of providing depth information thus providing enhanced navigation and safety as taught Croxford.
Regarding Claims 2, 18, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 1, 17. Crino further teaches wherein the first and second short-range communication modules allow communications via a group consisting of: a) a wired connection; b) Wi-Fi; c) Bluetooth; d) near field communication (NFC); and e) infrared (Section 0038, BT).
Regarding Claims 3, 19, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 1, 18. Crino further teaches wherein the first long-range communication module transmits driving information of the first off-road vehicle and positioning information of the first portable communication device to the second long-range communication module via LoRa (Section 0035, LoRa).
Regarding Claim 4, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches wherein the first portable communication device only obtains driving information of the first off-road vehicle while the first portable communication device is determined to be within the first off-road vehicle (secondary device can be on the driver in the ORV (Section 0039), alert to slow down (Section 0004) is an indication that the ORV is going too fast, which reads on driving information).
Regarding Claim 5, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches wherein the first portable communication device further comprises a first relay communication module which is different from the first short-range communication module and different from the first long-range communication module (Section 0036, mesh network comprises relay communications, peer-to-peer relaying), the method further comprising: establishing communication between the first relay communication module of the first portable communication device and a first mobile computing device (Section 0036, mesh network comprises relay communications, peer-to-peer relaying, mobile computing device (Section 0056, may be a mobile device)); sending location information of the first portable communication device and driving information of the first off-road vehicle from the first relay communication module to the first mobile computing device (peer-to-peer relaying (Section 0036) of detection information, which is the ORVs detection of each other (Section 0035, “round the bend”); and displaying location information of the first portable communication device and driving information of the first off-road vehicle on the first mobile computing device (Section 0056, display on the mobile device).
Regarding Claim 6, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 5. Crino further teaches sending an instruction from the first mobile computing device to the first portable communication device via the first relay communication module (Section 0036, peer-to-peer relaying, instruction can be to adjust according to detection of an entity around the bend (Section 0035)); thereafter sending the instruction from the first long-range communication module of the first portable communication device to the second long-range communication module of the second portable communication device (Section 0035, LoRa); thereafter transmitting from the second portable communication device to the second off-road vehicle to cause the second off-road vehicle to act in accordance with the instruction (Section 0038, secondary communication device communicates with the main device via Bluetooth).
Regarding Claim 7, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches wherein the first portable communication device further comprises a first relay communication module which is different from the first short-range communication module and different from the first long-range communication module (Section 0036, meshstatic based communications comprises relay communications), the method further comprising: establishing communication between the first relay communication module of the first portable communication device and a first mobile computing device (Section 0036, mesh network comprises relay communications, peer-to-peer relaying, mobile computing device (Section 0056, may be a mobile device)); sending an instruction from the first mobile computing device to the first portable communication device via the first relay communication module (Section 0036, peer-to-peer relaying, instruction can be to adjust according to detection of an entity around the bend (Section 0035)); thereafter sending the instruction from the first short-range communication module of the first portable communication device to the first off-road vehicle to cause the first off-road vehicle to act in accordance with the instruction (Section 0038, secondary communication device communicates with the main device via Bluetooth).
Regarding Claim 8, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches sending a control instruction from the first long-range communication module of the first portable communication device to the second long-range communication module of the second portable communication device (Section 0035, instruction can be to adjust according to detection of an entity around the bend); thereafter transmitting from the second portable communication device to the second off-road vehicle to cause the second off-road vehicle to modify its performance (Section 0038, secondary communication device communicates with the main device via Bluetooth).
Regarding Claim 9, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches sending a notification instruction from the first long-range communication module of the first portable communication device to the second long-range communication module of the second portable communication device (Section 0035, instruction can be to adjust according to detection of an entity around the bend); thereafter transmitting from the second portable communication device to the second off-road vehicle to cause the second off-road vehicle to perform a horn prompt, a buzzer prompt, or a vehicle instrument prompt (Section 0038, secondary communication device communicates with the main device via Bluetooth, tactile alert comprises a vibration or a buzzing).
Regarding Claim 10, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches wherein the second portable communication device comprises a display screen (Section 0039, smart glasses can display information), the method further comprising: displaying the location information of the first portable communication device and the driving information of the first off-road vehicle on the display screen of the second portable communication device (Section 0035 LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on location information as well as driving information).
Regarding Claim 11, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches wherein the first portable communication device comprises a display screen (Section 0039, smart glasses can display information), the method further comprising: displaying the location information of the first portable communication device and the driving information of the first off-road vehicle on the display screen of the first portably communication device (Section 0035 LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on location information as well as driving information).
Regarding Claim 12, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches transmitting driving information of the first off-road vehicle from the second short-range communication module to the second off-road vehicle (Section 0038, secondary device communicates with main device via BT).
Regarding Claim 13, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 12. Crino further teaches displaying driving information of the first off-road vehicle on a display of the second off-road vehicle (Section 0035 LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on location information as well as driving information, (Section 0039, smart glasses can display information)).
Regarding Claim 14, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches transmitting positioning information of the first portable communication device from the second short-range communication module to the second off-road vehicle (Section 0038, secondary communication device communicates with the main device via BT).
Regarding Claim 15, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 14. Crino further teaches displaying positioning information of the first portable communication device on a display of the second off-road vehicle (Section 0035 LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on location information as well as driving information, (Section 0039, smart glasses can display information)).
Regarding Claim 16, Crino in view of Croxford teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Crino further teaches providing a third portable communication device, the third portable communication device comprising a third short-range communication module (can be a group of ORV users (Section 0068), BTcomms between the secondary device and the main device (Sections 0038, 0039)) and a third long-range communication module (Section 0035); wherein the act of transmitting driving information of the first off-road vehicle and positioning information of the first portable communication device from the first long- range communication module to the second long-range communication module comprises: transmitting driving information of the first off-road vehicle and positioning information of the first portable communication device from the first long- range communication module to the third long-range communication module via an unlicensed communication over a communication distance greater than a range of the first, second and third short-range communication modules (Section 0035, LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on positioning information as well as driving information); and transmitting driving information of the first off-road vehicle and positioning information of the first portable communication device from the third long- range communication module to the second long-range communication module via an unlicensed communication over a communication distance greater than a range of the first, second and third short-range communication modules (Section 0035, LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on positioning information as well as driving information, mesh network enables said long-range communication as well (Section 0036)).
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)(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) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Crino (US 2026/0003050)
Regarding Claim 17, Crino teaches a communication method for an off-road vehicle group, the off-road vehicle group comprising at least a first off-road vehicle and a second off-road vehicle; the method comprising: providing a first portable communication device, the first portable communication device comprising a first short-range communication module (BTcomms between the secondary device and the main device (Sections 0038, 0039)) and a first long-range communication module (Section 0035), the first short-range communication module being capable of establishing unlicensed communication with the first off-road vehicle (main device can be in an off-road vehicle (ORV) (Section 0004), BTcomms is an unlicensed communication (Sections 0038, 0039)) and acquiring driving information of the first off-road vehicle only when the first portable communication device is determined to be within the first off-road vehicle (alert to slow down (Section 0004) is an indication that the ORV is going too fast, which reads on driving information, BTcomms between the secondary device and the main device (Sections 0038, 0039), BT is short-range so the communication devices would need to be in adequate range with one another); providing a second portable communication device, the second portable communication device comprising a second short-range communication module (can be a group of ORV users (Section 0068), BTcomms between the secondary device and the main device (Sections 0038, 0039)) and a second long-range communication module (Section 0035), the second short-range communication module being capable of establishing communication with the second off-road vehicle (main device can be in an off-road vehicle (ORV) (Section 0004), BTcomms is an unlicensed communication (Sections 0038, 0039)) and acquiring driving information of the second off-road vehicle (alert to slow down (Section 0004) is an indication that the ORV is going too fast, which reads on driving information); and transmitting driving information of the first off-road vehicle from the first long-range communication module to the second long-range communication module via an unlicensed communication over a communication distance greater than a range of the first and second short-range communication modules (Section 0035, LoRa enables ORVs to communicate with one another regarding detection of each other which reads on positioning information as well as driving information).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAYMOND S DEAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7877. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 6:00-2:30, EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony S Addy can be reached at 571-272-7795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RAYMOND S DEAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645 Raymond S. Dean
July 11, 2026
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