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.
Information Disclosure Statements
The Information Disclosure Statement(s) (IDS) filed on 11/25/2024 has/have been acknowledged.
Status of Application
The list of claims 1-5 is pending in this application. In the claim set filed 11/25/2024:
Claim(s) 1 is/are the independent claim(s) observed in the application.
Title Objection
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: DISPLAY DEVICE FOR INDICATING VEHICLE SHIFT TIMING
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) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by NPL Reference: “CARTEK MOTORSPORT - GEAR INDICATOR (OBD2) INSTALLATION GUIDE”, referenced as CARTEK moving forward.
Examiner’s Note: The Examiner confirmed that the above reference was published as early as 09/25/2023 using Wayback Machine ®, which is prior to the Applicant’s effective filing data of 03/04/2024, and is therefore admissible as prior art. The Wayback Machine ® URL indicating the above publishing date is the following: https://web.archive.org/web/20230925142941/https://www.cartekmotorsport.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/GearIndicator-instructions-OBD2-Multi-protocol-for-web.pdf
With respect to claim 1, CARTEK discloses: “A display device comprising: a display unit configured to display an indicator of a shift timing at which a driver of a vehicle shifts a transmission; and a control unit configured to control the display unit to extend the indicator from a left end and a right end of a display region toward a center in a horizontal direction of the vehicle as the shift timing approaches” [CARTEK; In at least the cited pages, the CARTEK document discloses an integrated LED display (comprising 8 individual LEDs) and Gear-Indicator configured to control the LED display to commence: "a display sequence that will commence at an engine speed prior to optimum and complete at precisely the optimum speed thereby giving the driver early indication to shift up before the rev limiter is reached or engine damage occurs" (Page 1). The CARTEK document further discloses that the user has the option to configure the specific "Shift-Light patterns" including at least two converging patterns (see Patterns 5 and 6 on Page 6), which respectively extend from the left and right side of the LED sequence and converge at a center area, during which time all of the LEDs appear illuminated at the appropriate time to indicate the optimum shift timing.].
With respect to claim 2, CARTEK discloses: “The display device according to claim 1, wherein: the indicator includes a plurality of lighting regions that is arranged in the horizontal direction in the display region and is configured to be lit individually under control of the control unit; and the control unit is configured to control the display unit to light the lighting regions sequentially from the left end and the right end toward the center as the shift timing approaches, and to light all the lighting regions at the shift timing” [CARTEK; The CARTEK document further discloses that the user has the option to configure the specific "Shift-Light patterns" including at least two converging patterns (see Patterns 5 and 6 on Page 6), which respectively extend from the left and right side of the LED sequence by individually illuminating the 8 LEDs from the left side and from the right converge at a center area, as is consistent with the known definition of the term converge in the art, which is: "to tend or move toward one point or one another"(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/converge). As disclosed on Page 1, "These 8 LEDs form a display sequence that will commence at an engine speed prior to optimum and complete at precisely the optimum speed;" therefore, it is reasonably to interpret that when implementing one of the two converging "Shift-Light patterns," all 8 of the LEDs appear illuminated at the appropriate time to indicate the optimum shift timing, as the Applicant similarly claims.]
Examiner’s Note: To further support the Examiner’s assertion that the disclosed converging "Shift-Light patterns" in the CARTEK reference specifically discloses that the LEDs are lit individually, converge in a center area and that all 8 LEDs are lit at the optimum shift timing, the Examiner references the below segment (including minutes 3:25-3:32 from a YouTube video by the MaxRPM user (https://youtu.be/KaECdljpECw?t=206 ), which shows the above disclosed CARTEK OBD2 Gear Indicator in operation. This segment is attached as an NPL document in the attached PTO-892, but the annotated images from the enclosed document have been additionally included below for clarity:
MaxRPM YouTube video screenshots - 3:25- 3:32
PNG
media_image1.png
813
457
media_image1.png
Greyscale
With respect to claim 3, CARTEK discloses: “The display device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit is configured to set, based on an instruction from a terminal device, a timing at which at least one of the lighting regions is lit” [CARTEK; The CARTEK document further discloses that the user has the option to configure the device specifically for their vehicle by indicating the number of forward gears for their vehicle, and subsequently setting a Shift-Light Pattern START RPM and Shift-Light Pattern END RPM for a particular gear using the methods disclosed on pages 7 and 8, respectively, and further using the rear pushbutton in conjunction with the flashing LEDs, enabling the user to configure the respective digits of the RPM settings, the combination of which has been interpreted as patentably indistinct from the Applicant's broadly recited "terminal device" for configuring "a timing at which at least one of the lighting regions is lit."]
With respect to claim 4, CARTEK discloses: “The display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to control the display unit to extend the indicator toward the center each time the number of revolutions of an internal combustion engine of the vehicle increases and reaches each of a plurality of thresholds provided for gear stages of the transmission” [CARTEK; The CARTEK document further discloses that the user has the option to configure the device specifically for their vehicle by indicating the number of forward gears for their vehicle, and subsequently setting a Shift-Light Pattern START RPM and Shift-Light Pattern END RPM for a particular gear using the methods disclosed on pages 7 and 8 respectively using the rear pushbutton in conjunction with the flashing LEDs, enabling the user to configure the respective digits of the RPM settings, wherein the Shift-Light Pattern END RPM for each gear has been interpreted as patentably indistinct from the Applicant's broadly recited "plurality of thresholds provided for gear stages of the transmission" based on a number of engine revolutions (RPM).].
With respect to claim 5, CARTEK discloses: “The display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to control the display unit to start extending the indicator from the left end and the right end toward the center at a timing earlier by a predetermined period than the shift timing” [CARTEK; The CARTEK document further discloses that the user has the option to configure the device specifically for their vehicle by indicating the number of forward gears for their vehicle, and subsequently setting a Shift-Light Pattern START RPM and Shift-Light Pattern END RPM for a particular gear using the methods disclosed on pages 7 and 8 respectively using the rear pushbutton in conjunction with the flashing LEDs, enabling the user to configure the respective digits of the RPM settings, wherein the Shift-Light Pattern START RPM for each gear has been interpreted as patentably indistinct from the Applicant's broadly recited "predetermined period" prior to the shift timing in which the display is triggered to begin "extending the indicator from the left end and the right end toward the center."].
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.
NPL Reference: Screen captures MaxRPM YouTube discloses: A series of screenshots from a section of a YouTube video (3:25-3:32) from the MaxRPM user that demonstrates the CARTEK OBD2 Gear Indicator from the above primary reference in operation. The user uploaded this video on July 15, 2022, and therefore, it was publicly available before the effective filing date of the Applicant’s claimed invention, which is March 04, 2024.
Zhang (United States Patent Publication 2022/0118852 A1) discloses: A steering wheel indicating paddle for displaying a power rotating speed of an automobile. The paddle comprises an emitting panel connected with an OBD port of the automobile, a receiving panel mounted on an R paddle or an L paddle of the automobile, a first lamp panel mounted on another paddle and a second lamp panel integrated to the receiving panel. The emitting panel comprises an OBD signal access circuit, a first master control chip, a first power supply circuit and a wireless sending module. The receiving panel comprises a second master control chip, a second power supply circuit and a wireless sending module. According to the present invention, the OBD signal access circuit is connected with the OBD port of the automobile, so that it acquires a rotating speed condition of an engine.
Cho et al. (United States Patent Publication 2025/0060034 A1) discloses: A method of guiding vehicle shift timing which may provide information related to the shift timing to a driver includes determining, by a controller, a virtual engine speed of an electric vehicle, determining, by the controller, a predicted speed limit arrival time taken for the determined virtual engine speed to reach a predetermined speed limit, controlling, by the controller, operation of a shift indicator configured to guide manual shift timing based on the determined virtual engine speed and predicted speed limit arrival time, and operating, by the controller, the shift indicator to provide shift timing information to the driver.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAMI N BEDEWI whose telephone number is (571)272-5753. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday - 6:00 am - 11:00 am & 12:00pm - 5:00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Scott A. Browne can be reached on (571-270-0151). The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/R.N.B./Examiner, Art Unit 3666C
/SCOTT A BROWNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666