DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
In the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, claims 1-5 and 7-12 have been considered and examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Respond to Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 06/19/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claims 1-11, based solely on the limitations as amended, has been fully considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the new combination of references including prior art being used in the current rejection (see below for detail) under new grounds of rejection, necessitated by amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claims 1-5 and 7-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wieser (Wieser – US 2009/0224899 A1) in view of Yin et al. (Yin – US 2006/0272402 A1).
As to claim 1, Wieser discloses a bicycle rim comprising
a pressure sensor (Wieser: Abstract, [0011], [0018]-[0019], [0026], [0036]-[0041], and FIG. 1-2 the data carrier 1 comprising the pressure sensor 2) for measuring a pressure prevailing inside a bicycle tire (Wieser: Abstract, [0011], [0018]-[0019], [0026], [0036]-[0041], and FIG. 1-2 the data carrier 1 has a pressure sensor 2 which measures the tire pressure P of a tire in which the data carrier 1 is integrated and communicates the measured tire pressure value P to the controller 5 which transmits this via a transmitter/receiver 6 to a reader),
a transmitting device (Wieser: FIG. 1-2 the transmitter/receiver 6) electrically connected to the pressure sensor (Wieser: [0009], [0013], [0015], [0017], [0033], and FIG. 1-2: A system comprising at least one contactless readable data carrier which can be mounted on a wheel of a vehicle and a reader which can be arranged on the vehicle for receiving electromagnetic signals emitted by the data carrier, the reader being designed to determine the wheel revolutions from the field strength fluctuations of the electromagnetic signals received, where the reader has calculation means designed to calculate, from the revolutions and a wheel periphery reference size that is allocated to the wheel and can be determined by the reader such as the circumference, diameter or radius, a distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and/or values derivable therefrom such as the peripheral speed of the wheel), and
a receiving device (Wieser: FIG. 1-2 the transmitter/receiver 6) electrically connected to the pressure sensor for contactless reception of energy (Wieser: [0033] and FIG. 2: The data carrier 1 can advantageously be formed as a passive data carrier which does not have its own power supply but is supplied by the reader 10 or by a permanent magnet through electromagnetic coupling. For supply by a permanent magnet it is also possible to attach the permanent magnet to the rotating wheel and attach the data carrier statically to the vehicle close to the rotating wheel. The data carrier would then only emit signals when the permanent magnet in its revolution on the wheel passes the data carrier).
Wieser does not explicitly disclose a rim well,
two rim walls connected to the rim well,
wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is arranged on an outer side of one of the two rim walls.
However, it has been known in the art of tire design to implement a rim well,
two rim walls connected to the rim well,
wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is arranged on an outer side of one of the two rim walls, as suggested by Yin, which discloses a rim well (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0017], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4 the rim surface 18),
two rim walls connected to the rim well (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0017], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4 the wheel rim 16: the tire pressure sensor 101 can be made to stay firmly pinned against the rim surface 18 so that the sensor 101 will not float or "jiggle" with respect to the rim 16. Of course, tire pressure sensor assembly 102 is installed in the rim 16 prior to mounting tire 19 on the rim),
wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is arranged on an outer side of one of the two rim walls (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4: Still referring to FIG. 1, the tire pressure sensor 101 includes a high strength terminal 6 for securing the sensor to a valve stem by fitting the valve stem through hole 6a. Terminal 6 must be capable of securing the sensor under high g-loads and is preferably made of a high tensile material such as stainless steel. Terminal 6 can include wing members 7, indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 1. When affixed against a rim, wing members 7 acts as a structural element to provide added support and rigidity to the tire pressure sensor 101. According to one embodiment, the terminal 6 provides an electrical connection between PCB 1 and the valve stem, which allows the valve stem and terminal to function as an antenna to facilitate transmitting RF data related to the sensed tire pressure).
Therefore, in view of teachings by Wieser and Yin, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the bicycle of Wieser to include a rim well,
two rim walls connected to the rim well,
wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is arranged on an outer side of one of the two rim walls, as suggested by Yin. The motivation for this is to incorporate a tire pressure monitor into a vehicle wheel for monitoring pressure within the vehicle wheel and to incorporate an antenna on an outer side for facilitating external communications.
As to claim 2, Wieser and Yin disclose the limitations of claim 1 further comprising the bicycle rim according to claim 1, wherein the pressure sensor is arranged on an inner side of the rim well (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4: Still referring to FIG. 1, the tire pressure sensor 101 includes a high strength terminal 6 for securing the sensor to a valve stem by fitting the valve stem through hole 6a. Terminal 6 must be capable of securing the sensor under high g-loads and is preferably made of a high tensile material such as stainless steel. Terminal 6 can include wing members 7, indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 1. When affixed against a rim, wing members 7 acts as a structural element to provide added support and rigidity to the tire pressure sensor 101. According to one embodiment, the terminal 6 provides an electrical connection between PCB 1 and the valve stem, which allows the valve stem and terminal to function as an antenna to facilitate transmitting RF data related to the sensed tire pressure).
As to claim 3, Wieser and Yin disclose the limitations of claim 1 further comprising the bicycle rim according to claim 1, wherein the pressure sensor (Yin: FIG. 1 the tire pressure sensor 101 comprising a pressure sensor 3 and FIG. 3-4) is at least partially integrated into the rim well (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4: Still referring to FIG. 1, the tire pressure sensor 101 includes a high strength terminal 6 for securing the sensor to a valve stem by fitting the valve stem through hole 6a. Terminal 6 must be capable of securing the sensor under high g-loads and is preferably made of a high tensile material such as stainless steel. Terminal 6 can include wing members 7, indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 1. When affixed against a rim, wing members 7 acts as a structural element to provide added support and rigidity to the tire pressure sensor 101. According to one embodiment, the terminal 6 provides an electrical connection between PCB 1 and the valve stem, which allows the valve stem and terminal to function as an antenna to facilitate transmitting RF data related to the sensed tire pressure).
As to claim 4, Wieser and Yin disclose the limitations of claim 1 further comprising the bicycle rim according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting device comprises a near field communication (NFC) antenna and is preferably configured as an NFC antenna (Wieser: [0009], [0013], [0015], [0017], [0026], [0033], [0036], and FIG. 1-2: Advantageously the reader 10 is integrated in a mobile phone, where mobile telephones are already available on the market which have an NFC interface that can function as a receiver 12 so that with such mobile phones it is merely necessary to supplement the operating system in order to provide the functionality of a reader 10, but no hardware supplement is required. The cyclist attaches his mobile phone with the functions of a reader in a holder on the handlebars of his cycle and during the ride the mobile phone via its NFC interface receives the signals ES from a data carrier 1 attached to the front tire of his bicycle, where the reception sensitivity of the NFC interface and the transmission range of the data carrier 1 are matched to each other so that the NFC interface on rotation of the wheel and data carrier 1 attached thereto can establish a clear fluctuation in the reception field strength of the electromagnetic signals ES, or the NFC interface receives signals ES from data carrier 1 only when this is close to its minimum distance from the mobile phone on its revolution).
As to claim 5, Wieser and Yin disclose the limitations of claim 1 further comprising the bicycle rim according to claim 1, wherein the receiving device is integrated into the transmitting device (Wieser: [0009], [0013], [0015], [0017], [0033], and FIG. 1-2 the transmitter/receiver 6: A system comprising at least one contactless readable data carrier which can be mounted on a wheel of a vehicle and a reader which can be arranged on the vehicle for receiving electromagnetic signals emitted by the data carrier, the reader being designed to determine the wheel revolutions from the field strength fluctuations of the electromagnetic signals received, where the reader has calculation means designed to calculate, from the revolutions and a wheel periphery reference size that is allocated to the wheel and can be determined by the reader such as the circumference, diameter or radius, a distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and/or values derivable therefrom such as the peripheral speed of the wheel and Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 1 the transceiver 4: Briefly, the components include an integrated circuit (IC) 2 for reading a pressure sensor 3 and an RF transceiver 4 for transmitting data related to tire pressure to the vehicle's on board computer or to some other receiver. IC 2 is an application specific IC and it is within the ability of one of skill in the art to configure such an IC to read the presently disclosed pressure sensor. Examples of suitable ICs include the SP30 from Infineon Technologies (San Diego, Calif.), which features a pressure sensor and integrated microcontroller in a multichip module. Pressure transducer 3 can be any pressure sensor known in the art. For example, a CMOS capacitive pressure sensor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,243, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Suitable RF transceivers include TDA 5200 series from Infineon Technologies).
As to claim 7, Wieser and Yin disclose the limitations of claim 1 further comprising the bicycle rim according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is covered with a protective layer (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 1-2 the valve stem housing 11).
As to claim 8, Wieser and Yin disclose the limitations of claim 1 further comprising the bicycle rim according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is at least partially integrated into one of the two rim walls (Wieser: [0009], [0013], [0015], [0017], [0033], and FIG. 1-2 the transmitter/receiver 6: A system comprising at least one contactless readable data carrier which can be mounted on a wheel of a vehicle and a reader which can be arranged on the vehicle for receiving electromagnetic signals emitted by the data carrier, the reader being designed to determine the wheel revolutions from the field strength fluctuations of the electromagnetic signals received, where the reader has calculation means designed to calculate, from the revolutions and a wheel periphery reference size that is allocated to the wheel and can be determined by the reader such as the circumference, diameter or radius, a distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and/or values derivable therefrom such as the peripheral speed of the wheel and Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4: Still referring to FIG. 1, the tire pressure sensor 101 includes a high strength terminal 6 for securing the sensor to a valve stem by fitting the valve stem through hole 6a. Terminal 6 must be capable of securing the sensor under high g-loads and is preferably made of a high tensile material such as stainless steel. Terminal 6 can include wing members 7, indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 1. When affixed against a rim, wing members 7 acts as a structural element to provide added support and rigidity to the tire pressure sensor 101. According to one embodiment, the terminal 6 provides an electrical connection between PCB 1 and the valve stem, which allows the valve stem and terminal to function as an antenna to facilitate transmitting RF data related to the sensed tire pressure).
As to claim 9, Wieser and Yin disclose the limitations of claim 1 further comprising the bicycle rim according to claim 1, wherein the pressure sensor is electrically connected to the transmitting device and/or the receiving device via cables and/or via a valve stem and/or conductive layers (Wieser: [0009], [0013], [0015], [0017], [0033], and FIG. 1-2 the transmitter/receiver 6: A system comprising at least one contactless readable data carrier which can be mounted on a wheel of a vehicle and a reader which can be arranged on the vehicle for receiving electromagnetic signals emitted by the data carrier, the reader being designed to determine the wheel revolutions from the field strength fluctuations of the electromagnetic signals received, where the reader has calculation means designed to calculate, from the revolutions and a wheel periphery reference size that is allocated to the wheel and can be determined by the reader such as the circumference, diameter or radius, a distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and/or values derivable therefrom such as the peripheral speed of the wheel and Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4: Still referring to FIG. 1, the tire pressure sensor 101 includes a high strength terminal 6 for securing the sensor to a valve stem by fitting the valve stem through hole 6a. Terminal 6 must be capable of securing the sensor under high g-loads and is preferably made of a high tensile material such as stainless steel. Terminal 6 can include wing members 7, indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 1. When affixed against a rim, wing members 7 acts as a structural element to provide added support and rigidity to the tire pressure sensor 101. According to one embodiment, the terminal 6 provides an electrical connection between PCB 1 and the valve stem, which allows the valve stem and terminal to function as an antenna to facilitate transmitting RF data related to the sensed tire pressure).
As to claim 10, Wieser and Yin disclose the limitations of claim 1 further comprising the bicycle rim according to claim 1, wherein the pressure sensor is protected by a protective cap (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0025], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4-7: Alternatively, the orbital weld 10 could be replaced by a screw cap for meeting with threads on the end of the valve stem 10 (not shown). This coupling technique would be expected in an environment in which it might later be desired to decouple the tire pressure sensor 101 from the valve stem assembly 9. In any event, one of skill in the art will recognize that other arrangements for rigidly securing the sensor 101 to valve stem 10, such as bolts, riveting, or spot welds, are possible).
As to claim 11, Wieser and Yin disclose the limitations of claim 10 further comprising the bicycle rim according to claim 10, wherein the protective cap is suitable for pressure transmission (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0025], [0027]-[0031], FIG. 1, and FIG. 4-7: The PCB and battery are contained in a housing that allows the PCB and the battery to be angularly oriented with respect to each other. Such orientation permits the sensor to conform to the curved surface of the rim. An embodiment of the disclosed tire pressure sensor assembly is adapted to fasten to a valve stem via a metal terminal. The attachment configuration permits the valve stem assembly to deform as the valve stem is installed in a rim and also allows the valve stem to function as a portion of the antenna structure to facilitate transmitting the RF signal to a receiver…FIG. 5B illustrates the completed installation. In short, it can be seen that installation of the tire pressure sensor assembly 102 into the rim 16 can be as simple as installing a traditional valve stem. Moreover, as all of the force of the stemmer tool 21 is placed on the valve stem portion 9, undue forces are not incident on the tire pressure sensor 101 portion of the assembly 102. Therefore, the assembly 102 can be fully coupled together prior to installation, without fear of damage to the tire pressure sensor portion 101 during installation. As illustrated in FIG. 6, tire pressure sensor assembly 101 can be adapted for use with a variety of different valve stem assemblies 9 and or rim 16 or rim opening designs. Thus, the angle 103 between tire pressure sensor 101 and the valve stem assembly 9 is easily modified by adjusting the angle of terminal 6 (see FIG. 1 for a close-up of terminal 6), and this angle is shown as increasing from roughly 5 to 25 degrees between assemblies 102a, 102b, and 102c. Also, tire pressure sensor assembly 101 can be used with a variety of lengths of valve stems 12, which length is shown as increasing between assemblies 102b, 102d, and 102e).
As to claim 12, Wieser discloses a bicycle rim comprising
a pressure sensor (Wieser: Abstract, [0011], [0018]-[0019], [0026], [0036]-[0041], and FIG. 1-2 the data carrier 1 comprising the pressure sensor 2) for measuring a pressure prevailing inside a bicycle tire (Wieser: Abstract, [0011], [0018]-[0019], [0026], [0036]-[0041], and FIG. 1-2 the data carrier 1 has a pressure sensor 2 which measures the tire pressure P of a tire in which the data carrier 1 is integrated and communicates the measured tire pressure value P to the controller 5 which transmits this via a transmitter/receiver 6 to a reader),
a transmitting device (Wieser: FIG. 1-2 the transmitter/receiver 6) electrically connected to the pressure sensor (Wieser: [0009], [0013], [0015], [0017], [0033], and FIG. 1-2: A system comprising at least one contactless readable data carrier which can be mounted on a wheel of a vehicle and a reader which can be arranged on the vehicle for receiving electromagnetic signals emitted by the data carrier, the reader being designed to determine the wheel revolutions from the field strength fluctuations of the electromagnetic signals received, where the reader has calculation means designed to calculate, from the revolutions and a wheel periphery reference size that is allocated to the wheel and can be determined by the reader such as the circumference, diameter or radius, a distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and/or values derivable therefrom such as the peripheral speed of the wheel), and
a receiving device (Wieser: FIG. 1-2 the transmitter/receiver 6) electrically connected to the pressure sensor for contactless reception of energy (Wieser: [0033] and FIG. 2: The data carrier 1 can advantageously be formed as a passive data carrier which does not have its own power supply but is supplied by the reader 10 or by a permanent magnet through electromagnetic coupling. For supply by a permanent magnet it is also possible to attach the permanent magnet to the rotating wheel and attach the data carrier statically to the vehicle close to the rotating wheel. The data carrier would then only emit signals when the permanent magnet in its revolution on the wheel passes the data carrier),
Wieser does not explicitly disclose a rim well, and two rim walls connected to the rim well, wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is at least partially integrated into one of the two rim walls.
However, it has been known in the art of tire design to implement a rim well,
two rim walls connected to the rim well,
wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is at least partially integrated into one of the two rim walls, as suggested by Yin, which discloses a rim well (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0017], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4 the rim surface 18: ),
two rim walls connected to the rim well (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0017], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4 the wheel rim 16: the tire pressure sensor 101 can be made to stay firmly pinned against the rim surface 18 so that the sensor 101 will not float or "jiggle" with respect to the rim 16. Of course, tire pressure sensor assembly 102 is installed in the rim 16 prior to mounting tire 19 on the rim),
wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is at least partially integrated into one of the two rim walls (Yin: Abstract, [0016]-[0018], [0020]-[0021], [0027]-[0031], and FIG. 4: Still referring to FIG. 1, the tire pressure sensor 101 includes a high strength terminal 6 for securing the sensor to a valve stem by fitting the valve stem through hole 6a. Terminal 6 must be capable of securing the sensor under high g-loads and is preferably made of a high tensile material such as stainless steel. Terminal 6 can include wing members 7, indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 1. When affixed against a rim, wing members 7 acts as a structural element to provide added support and rigidity to the tire pressure sensor 101. According to one embodiment, the terminal 6 provides an electrical connection between PCB 1 and the valve stem, which allows the valve stem and terminal to function as an antenna to facilitate transmitting RF data related to the sensed tire pressure).
Therefore, in view of teachings by Wieser and Yin, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the bicycle of Wieser to include a rim well, two rim walls connected to the rim well, wherein the transmitting device and/or the receiving device is at least partially integrated into one of the two rim walls, as suggested by Yin. The motivation for this is to incorporate a tire pressure monitor into a vehicle wheel for monitoring pressure within the vehicle wheel and to incorporate an antenna on an outer side for facilitating external communications.
Citation of Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure:
Liao, US 2013/0139582 A1, discloses tire pressure monitor.
Yang, US 2024/0140147 A1, discloses tire abnormality detection device for a light rail with rubber wheels.
Duffy et al., US 2015/0068297 A1, discloses wheel monitoring device with non-coplanar component arrangement.
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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG PHAM whose telephone number is (571)-270-3668. The examiner can normally be reached 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, QUAN-ZHEN WANG can be reached at (571)-272-3114. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QUANG PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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