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 § 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, 3-10, 14, 16-18, and 20-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quach et al. (US 2007/0132573 Hereinafter Quach) in view of
Regarding claim 1, Quach teaches a moving vehicle turn signal comprising:
a housing (62, Fig. 2, Paragraph 0038);
at least one light (200, Paragraph 0038);
at least one switch to selectively turn on or off said at least one light (500, Fig. 8, Paragraph 0036);
at least one display (64 and the shape of 200, Figs. 1 and 2) indicating a turn arrow for indicating a U-turn (Fig. 1); and
at least one controller (100-130, Paragraph 0035) for activating said switch for selectively switching on said light.
Quach fails to teach an annunciator.
Kim teaches an annunciator (Speaker, Paragraph 0078) in communication with said at least one controller (170, Paragraph 0162), said annunciator confiqured to indicate that the auto is qoinq into a U-turn wherein said annunciator comprises a speaker confiqured to project outside of the vehicle (Paragraphs 0162, 0290, and 0835).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have included the annunciator of Kim to the U-turn signal of Quach, in order to provide additional information to drivers who might have not seen the U-turn indicator thereby increasing safety and reducing accidents.
Regarding claim 3, Quach teaches said housing is substantially rectangular in shape (Figs. 11-13).
Regarding claim 4, Quach teaches said at least one light is a LED light (Paragraph 0035).
Regarding claim 5, Quach teaches said at least one controller is in wired communication with said at least one switch (Paragraph 0038, Fig. 2 and 6).
Regarding claim 6, Quach teaches said at least one controller is in wireless communication with said at least one switch (Paragraph 0041, Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 7, Quach teaches said at least one display is coupled to said housing (specifically it’s a transparent display and LEDs making up the display).
Regarding claim 8, Quach teaches said at least one display is formed from said at least one light positioned in a substantially J-shape (specifically this is a comprising claim and the provided shape is considered to meet the limitation of at least being J shaped, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 9, Quach teaches said at least one display has a translucent section (64, Fig. 3) that is formed in a substantially J-shape (specifically this is a comprising claim and therefore the surface of 64 is considered to meet the requirement of being at least J shaped).
Regarding claim 10, Quach teaches the housing is positioned on a back window of a moving vehicle (Fig. 11, Paragraph 0041).
Regarding claim 14, Quach teaches the housing is positioned on a fender of the moving vehicle (Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 16, Quach teaches a communication module (100, Fig. 1, Paragraph 0035) in communication with said at least one switch, wherein when said at least one switch is turned on, it sends a signal to the communication module to announce an intention of a U-turn (Paragraph 0035).
Regarding claim 17, Quach teaches said communication module further comprises a hard wired connection to an on-board computer (120, Paragraph 0035) on a moving vehicle (Paragraph 0035).
Regarding claim 18, Quach teaches said communication module further comprises a wireless communication module (900, Paragraph 0041) for wireless communication of when said switch is turned on.
Regarding claim 20, Quach teaches said communication module
comprises a wireless communication module (900, Paragraph 0041) communicator for conveying when said switch is turned on (Paragraph 0041).
Regarding claim 21, Quach fails to explicitly teach said light is coupled to a rear car logo.
However, Quach teaches that the lighting device is portable therefore it could be put anywhere on the vehicle.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have included having a logo on the vehicle given that most vehicle have them and to have had the lighting deivce of Quach be coupled to the rear car logo, in order to provide a desired aesthetic look as desired for a given application.
Regarding claim 22, Quach teaches said light is a strobe light (Paragraph 0047).
Regarding claim 23, Quach teaches at least one projector (the projector being 460 in Fig. 11) in communication with said at least one controller, said projector for projecting an image on a back window screen of the moving vehicle (specifically 460 is projecting the light out and that is passing through the back window thereby projecting the image on the back window, Paragraph 0041).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quach et al. (US 2007/0132573 Hereinafter Quach) in view of Brant (US 2011/0156588).
Regarding claim 2, Quach fails to teach said housing has a backing and sides which are reflective and a front surface that is at least partially translucent.
Brant teaches said housing (102, Fig. 4) has a backing and sides (116, Fig. 4) which are reflective and a front surface that is at least partially translucent (118, Paragraphs 0064-0065).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have replaced the housing of Quach with the housing of Brant, in order to provide a different housing assembly which is common in the field of the art.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quach et al. (US 2007/0132573 Hereinafter Quach) in view of Thompson (US 2014/0091920).
Regarding claim 15, Quach fails to explicitly teach the housing is positioned on a roof of the moving vehicle.
Thompson teaches the housing (402, Fig. 4, Paragraph 0050) is positioned on a roof of the moving vehicle.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have included the teaching of being able to have the u-turn signal of Quach being provided on the roof as taught by Thompson, in order to provide additional locations which can provide safety information to other drivers.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quach et al. (US 2007/0132573 Hereinafter Quach) in view of Ali (US 2016/0229336)
Regarding claim 19, Quach fails to explicitly teach said communication module further comprises a walkie talkie communicator, configured to send an audio signal when said switch is turned on.
teaches said communication module further comprises a walkie talkie communicator (radio frequency or Bluetooth, Abstrat), configured to send an audio signal when said switch is turned on (abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have included the teaching of having the wireless communicator of Quach being able to communicate over radio frequency or Bluetooth as taught by Ali, in order to provide an explicit communication method of the wireless communication module which is common in the field of the art.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-10, 14-23 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/ERIC T EIDE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2875