DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Application
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of the Claims
This action is in response to the applicant’s filing on March 14, 2025. Claims 1 – 4 have been cancelled. Claims 5 – 8 are new. Claims 5 – 8 are pending and examined below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on March 14, 2025 has been considered by the Examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in The Republic of Germany on September 16, 2022.
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 5 – 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over World Patent Application Publication No. WO 2019/243709 A1 to BOUBAKER MOHAMED-AMINE et al. (herein after "Boubaker") in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0267321 A1 to Harish et al. (herein after "Harish"), and further in view of German Patent No. DE10 2019/000334 A1 to KELLER JENS et al. (herein after "Keller").
(Note: Claim language is in bold typeface, and the Examiner’s comments and cited passages from the prior art reference(s) are in normal typeface.)
As to Claim 5, (New)
Boubaker’s heating surface temperature control system discloses a method for operating a heating system of a vehicle (see ¶0081; Boubaker),
wherein the heating system includes at least one panel heating element with several heating regions, is arranged on an interior component of the vehicle (see ¶0081; Boubaker ~ "regulating the temperature of a heating surface of a radiant panel intended to be installed inside a vehicle passenger compartment… radiant panel 1… placed in a… seat"), and
is assigned to a vehicle seat (see ¶0081; Boubaker ~ radiant panel 1 is within a vehicle seat), the method comprising:
determining, by a first sensor unit, a sitting position, a posture, or a position of limbs of a vehicle occupant located on a vehicle seat (see ¶0018 ~ "the sensitivity of a part of the body likely to come into contact with the heating surface, in particular the sensitivity of a hand, an arm and/or a foot", and ¶0022 ~ "physiological data sensor"; thereby teaching a determination of a physical vehicle occupant body part position),
wherein the first sensor unit is a capacitive sensor unit, an optical sensor unit, a lidar sensor unit, an ultrasound sensor unit, or a seat occupancy sensor unit (see ¶0050 ~ "duration of contact between the passenger's skin and the heating surface can be measured using radar or any other suitable device");
specifying a heating power of the several heating regions of the at least one panel heating element assigned to the vehicle seat as a function of the heating requirement of the vehicle occupant determined at least using the position of the vehicle occupant on the vehicle seat (see ¶0024 ~ "method for regulating the temperature of a heating surface of a radiant panel includes…. Determining the maximum temperature tolerated by a passenger of the vehicle" and ¶0025 ~ "maximum temperature tolerated by a passenger… adapts to the particular profile of each passenger"),
the physical characteristics of the vehicle occupant (see ¶0015 ~ "a physiological characteristic of the passenger: their metabolic activity, age, sex, weight, skin color, etc.", ¶0018 ~ "the sensitivity of a part of the body likely to come into contact with the heating surface, in particular the sensitivity of a hand, an arm and/or a foot", and ¶0022 ~ "physiological data sensor"), and
the distance between the at least one body part of the vehicle occupant and the panel heating element. (Fig. 2 ~ outlines the process method steps for regulating the temperature of a heating surface of a radian panel,
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¶0064 ~ "method comprises… acquiring… spatial information concerning the passenger within the passenger compartment… determining the parts of the passenger's body likely to touch a heating surface of a radiant panel", and ¶0066).
However, Boubaker’s heating surface temperature control system does not explicitly disclose determining physical characteristics of the vehicle occupant located on a vehicle seat;
determining, by the optical sensor unit or the capacitive sensor unit, a distance between at least one body part of the vehicle occupant and the panel heating element;
determining, by a second sensor unit, a heating requirement of the vehicle occupant located on a vehicle seat,
wherein the second sensor unit is a further optical sensor unit, a further capacitive sensor unit, or a thermal sensor unit.
On the other hand, Harish’s on-board vehicle seat capacitive force sensing device discloses determining physical characteristics of the vehicle occupant located on a vehicle seat (see ¶0012 and ¶0040; Harish ~ force-measuring devices 350A-N calculate the vehicle seat occupant's weight); and determining, by the optical sensor unit or the capacitive sensor unit, a distance between at least one body part of the vehicle occupant and the panel heating element (see ¶0006; Harish ~ "an on-board vehicle seat capacitance force sensing apparatus... includes... mounted... a base structure of a seat in a vehicle... a sensor in the housing to generate a measurement based on a change in a distance between the upper conductive surface and the lower conductive surface when the cover plate is deflected by a force applied on the cover plate" and ¶0062; Harish ~ "heat detection system (e.g., the temperature module 904) of the vehicle 900 covering a substantial surface of the front seat 906 and/or the back seat 908 may be able to increase an accuracy of locating a position of the occupant 902 through registering heat generated by a body of the occupant 902. Furthermore, a machine vision module may be used as a sensor coupled to the electronic circuit module 960 to collect and communicate").
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Boubaker’s heating surface temperature control system with a seat capacitance force sensing device, as taught by Harish, to provide a distance measurement between an occupant’s body part(s) position, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: more precise, localized heating of a seated vehicle occupant’s respective body part(s).
Then, Keller’s vehicle seat heating device is relied upon to disclose determining, by a second sensor unit, a heating requirement of the vehicle occupant located on a vehicle seat (see ¶0019; Keller ~ "heat distribution of the… heat generator depending on.. A user position… heat distribution… depending on a user's temperature condition" and ¶0043; Keller), wherein the second sensor unit is a further optical sensor unit, a further capacitive sensor unit, or a thermal sensor unit. (See ¶0020; Keller ~ "proximity sensors which are configured to detect an object approaching the at least one heating surface… proximity sensors are… capacitive proximity sensors… arranged between the radiating elements or radiating sections of the heat generator").
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Boubaker’s heating surface temperature control system with an optical sensor unit (proximity sensor), as taught by Keller, to provide a non-contact based temperature control between an occupant’s body part(s) position and a heating panel element, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: more precise, localized heating of a seated vehicle occupant’s respective body part(s).
As to Claim 6, (New)
Boubaker/Harish/Keller discloses the method of claim 5,
wherein the thermal sensor unit detects a surface temperature of the at least one body part of the vehicle occupant located on a vehicle seat. (See ¶0015, ¶0018, and ¶0022; Boubaker ~ physiological sensor 19 detects a surface temperature of at least one body part of a vehicle occupant located on a vehicle seat).
As to Claim 7, (New)
Boubaker/Harish/Keller discloses the method of claim 5,
wherein a control device of the vehicle specifies the heating power of the heating regions of the at least one panel heating element. (See ¶0024 - ¶0025; Boubaker)
As to Claim 8, (New)
Boubaker/Harish/Keller discloses the method of claim 5,
wherein the at least one panel heating element with several heating regions is arranged on a backrest of a front seat of the vehicle,
on a door panel of a side door of the vehicle, in a footwell of the vehicle, on an instrument panel of the vehicle, on a center console of the vehicle, or on a headliner of the vehicle. (See ¶0027; Keller ~ "at least one heating surface of the heating device is integrated into the backrest of the vehicle seat").
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to ASHLEY L. REDHEAD, JR. whose telephone number is (571) 272 - 6952. The Examiner can normally be reached on weekdays, Monday through Thursday, between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s Supervisor, Peter Nolan can be reached Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at (571) 270 – 7016. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ASHLEY L REDHEAD JR./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661
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