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 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, 2, 4, and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (Korean Patent Publication KR102285988B1, “Kim”).
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses an air conditioning control apparatus for a vehicle, the air conditioning control apparatus comprising:
a storage (of control unit 7) configured to store a recommended temperature setting previously set in accordance with an outside air temperature outside the vehicle (i.e. the temperature set by the user when vehicle was previously used); and
a processor (of control unit 7) configured to control a vehicle air conditioner mounted on the vehicle to cause air to be supplied to an inside of the vehicle, the air having a temperature that has been adjusted based on a temperature setting (¶00145), wherein
the processor is configured to
store an off-time outside air temperature and an off-time temperature setting in the storage at a time of turning off an ignition switch of the vehicle,
control the vehicle air conditioner based on the off-time temperature setting, at a time of turning on the ignition switch and when a difference between an outside air temperature at present and the off-time outside air temperature is less than a predetermined value (see ¶0119-0120, ¶0145), and
control the vehicle air conditioner based on the recommended temperature setting corresponding to the outside air temperature at present, at the time of turning on the ignition switch and when the difference between the outside air temperature at present and the off-time outside air temperature is greater than or equal to the predetermined value (see ¶0119-0120, ¶0145).
Regarding claim 2, Kum further discloses wherein the processor is configured to acquire environment data (season, ¶0091) based on an environment outside the vehicle and an environment inside the vehicle (temperature, ¶0036), and control the vehicle air conditioner based on a corrected temperature setting, at the time of turning on the ignition switch and when the difference between the outside air temperature at present and the off-time outside air temperature is greater than or equal to the predetermined value (see ¶0119-0120, ¶0145), the corrected temperature setting comprising the recommended temperature setting corresponding to the outside air temperature at present being corrected in accordance with the environment data (see ¶0091).
Regarding claim 4, Kim further discloses wherein the recommended temperature setting is set in accordance with: an ideal vehicle interior temperature set on an occupant-by-occupant basis (i.e. the temperature set by the Occupant); and the outside air temperature (see ¶0119-0120, ¶0145).
Regarding claim 5, Kim further discloses wherein the ideal vehicle interior temperature is determined in accordance with the outside air temperature (see ¶0119-0120, ¶0145) on the occupant-by-occupant basis and is determined based on: a temperature setting set by an occupant.
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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Oga et al. (Chinese Patent Publication CN108463364A, “Oga”).
Regarding claim 3, Kim discloses all previous claim limitations. However, Kim does not explicitly disclose wherein the environment data comprises a body surface temperature of an occupant on the vehicle, and the processor is configured to acquire the body surface temperature, based on an imaging data captured by a camera, the camera being configured to capture an image of the inside of the vehicle. Oga, however, discloses an air condition control wherein the environment data comprises a body surface temperature of an occupant on the vehicle, and the processor is configured to acquire the body surface temperature, based on an imaging data captured by a camera, the camera being configured to capture an image of the inside of the vehicle (page 3, line 59-page 4, line 5). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for Kim to provide the environmental data of Oga in order to further improve the comfort of the occupants of the vehicle.
Conclusion
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/HARRY E ARANT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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