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 7 – 12 are new. Claims 7 – 12 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 7 – 12 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 7, (New)
Boubaker’s heating surface temperature control system discloses a heating system of a 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"), the heating system comprising:
panel heating elements arranged on objects in the vehicle and configured to heat an interior of the vehicle by thermal radiation (see ¶0081; Boubaker),
wherein a temperature control area is assigned to at least one vehicle seat of the vehicle (see ¶0081; Boubaker),
wherein at least one of the panel heating elements is assigned to the vehicle seat with a temperature control area (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
means for specifying a heating power of the at least one of the panel heating elements assigned to the vehicle seat with the temperature control area as a function of the heating requirement of the vehicle occupant (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" and ¶0101 ~ "The tolerated temperature depends on the person's sensitivity to heat... the part of the body concerned"),
the distance (see ¶0018; Boubaker), and
at least one of the sitting position, the position of the limbs, or the posture of the vehicle occupant. (See ¶0024; Boubaker ~ "a high-frequency radar allowing us to know... physiological state and... the positioning of their body").
Keller’s vehicle seat heating device is then relied upon to disclose a means for determining a heating requirement of a vehicle occupant located on the vehicle seat with the temperature control area (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); and an optical 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") configured to
determine a sitting position, a position of limbs, or posture of the vehicle occupant. (See ¶0020; Keller ~ control device of heating device determines when a seated user shifts position).
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).
Harish’s on-board vehicle seat capacitive force sensing device is then introduced to disclose a capacitive sensor unit configured to detect a distance between a body part of the vehicle occupant (see ¶0006 and ¶0062; Harish) and
the at least one of the panel heating elements assigned to the vehicle seat (see ¶0006 and ¶0062; Harish),
wherein the capacitive sensor unit is integrated in the at least one of the panel heating elements assigned to the vehicle seat. (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").
Consequently, 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).
As to Claim 8, (New)
Boubaker/Keller/Harish discloses the heating system of claim 7, further comprising:
an optical sensor unit configured to determine a height or a clothing state of the vehicle occupant (see ¶0020; Keller ~ "proximity sensors"),
wherein the height or the clothing state of the vehicle occupant is accounted for in the determination of the heating requirement of the vehicle occupant located on the vehicle seat. (See ¶0058; Boubaker ~ "the vehicle's passenger compartment includes at least one sensor arranged to measure a parameter used to determine at least one of the representative data of the thermal environment around the radiant panel. The sensor is chosen from", ¶0059; Boubaker ~ "a DMS camera to identify or characterize passengers, particularly the driver", ¶0060; Boubaker ~ "an infrared camera installed to observe the radiative surface in the dome").
As to Claim 9, (New)
Boubaker/Keller/Harish discloses the heating system of claim 7,
wherein the optical sensor unit has an optical camera as an optical imaging unit. (See ¶0058; Boubaker ~ "the vehicle's passenger compartment includes at least one sensor arranged to measure a parameter used to determine at least one of the representative data of the thermal environment around the radiant panel. The sensor is chosen from", ¶0059; Boubaker ~ "a DMS camera to identify or characterize passengers, particularly the driver", ¶0060; Boubaker ~ "an infrared camera installed to observe the radiative surface in the dome").
As to Claim 10, (New)
Boubaker/Keller/Harish discloses the heating system of claim 7, further comprising:
a thermal sensor unit configured as a heat imaging camera (see ¶0036 ~ "thermal parameter specific to the material: effusivity, thermal conductivity, heat capacity, density, etc."), which is configured to
detect a surface temperature of body parts of the vehicle occupant located on the vehicle seat to determine the heating requirement of the vehicle occupant located on the vehicle seat with a temperature control area. (Boubaker determines as in ¶0093 ~ "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").
As to Claim 11, (New)
Boubaker/Keller/Harish discloses the heating system of claim 7,
wherein the at least one of the panel heating elements is integrated into an interior component of the vehicle or is arranged on the interior component of the vehicle. (See ¶0027; Keller ~ "at least one heating surface of the heating device is integrated into the backrest of the vehicle seat ").
As to Claim 12, (New)
Boubaker/Keller/Harish discloses the heating system of claim 7,
wherein the means for specifying the heating power is a control device of the vehicle. (See ¶0024; Boubaker ~ "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").
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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