DETAILED ACTION
This application is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/09/2026 has been entered.
Drawings
The drawings are acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. §§ 102, 103
The text of 35 U.S.C. §§ 102, 103 not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 3-4, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2012/029687 to Aoki et al.
Claim 1: Aoki discloses a vehicle (see FIG. 13) performing wireless communication with a terminal apparatus 125, comprising:
an electrical component 64; and
a wireless communication unit 110 formed separately from the electrical component 64 and connected to the electrical component 64 via a signal line 111; and
an energy storage apparatus 54;
wherein the wireless communication unit 110 includes an antenna (Aoki discloses 110 as GPS antenna 110).
Aoki further discloses several different locations that the wireless communication unit 110 can be mounted to in the vehicle.
One such disclosed location for the wireless communication unit 110 is located below the energy storage apparatus 54 (see FIG. 6). See also this portion of the disclosure of Aoki “Further, since the GPS antenna 110 is covered by the GPS antenna cover 155 extended from the fuel tank 54, the position of the GPS antenna 110 becomes difficult to understand, and it is possible to make it difficult to mischief or the like. The fuel tank 54 is provided so as to straddle the main frame 13 as a component of the vehicle body frame 11 at a position behind the head pipe 12 so that the fuel tank 54 extends from the GPS antenna 110 to the GPS unit 64. Are routed below. The cable 111 is routed below the fuel tank 54. Below the fuel tank 54, it is difficult for a third party to touch the GPS antenna. Therefore, the cable 111 does not have to be tampered with.”
The position of the wireless communication unit 110 shown in FIG. 6 is disposed at a position so as to be overlapped with the energy storage apparatus 54 along a vertical direction.
Claim 3: The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein
the electrical component 64 is a control unit controlling a power unit (“external power supply” in the attached machine translation) of the vehicle.
Claim 4: The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein
the electrical component 64 and the wireless communication unit 110 are disposed with a positional relationship so as to be at least partially overlapped with each other in a front-back direction of the vehicle,
wherein the electrical component 64 is a control apparatus, and
wherein the wireless communication unit 110 is located higher than the control apparatus 64 (see FIG. 12).
Claim 10: The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:
a first side cover 57; and
a second side cover 58 located adjacent to the first side cover 57, wherein
in a side view, the wireless communication unit 110 is located away from a joint between the first side cover and the second side cover 57, 58.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 103
The text of 35 U.S.C. § 103 not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2012/029687 to Aoki et al., as applied to Claim 1, further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0080249 A1 to Yates, III et al.
Claim 2: Aoki discloses the vehicle according to claim 1, but does not disclose wherein the signal line 111 is a common signal line connecting the electrical component 64 and another electrical component.
Yates III teaches another vehicle which comprises a CAN network bus which “may also be used to connect the ECU to other components on the vehicle such as, for example, the rider dashboard display, a global positioning system (GPS), data acquisition system, and other similar types of electronics.” Paragraph [0125].
In view of the Yates III teaching, the Office finds that it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of filing to modify, with a reasonable expectation of success, the vehicle disclosed by Aoki, such that the signal line 111 is part of a CAN bus which connects the wireless communication unit 110 to other components of the vehicle such as a rider dashboard display, a data acquisition system, or other similar types of electronics, in order to consolidate and minimize the number of signal lines across the vehicle.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2012/029687 to Aoki et al., as applied to Claim 1.
Claim 9: Aoki discloses the vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:
a power unit (“external power supply” disclosed in the attached translation), and
a partition intervenes between the power unit and the wireless communication unit 110.
The Office submits that because the wireless communication unit 110 is disposed above the electrical component 64 in FIG. 4, and the disclosed external power supply is connected to the electrical component 64 via power supply coupler 113 shown in FIG. 3, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of filing that the wireless communication unit 110 is also disposed above the power unit.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2012/029687 to Aoki et al., as applied to Claim 1, further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0205454 A1 to Kawabata et al.
Claim 11: Aoki discloses the vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising[:]
a radiator 55, and
a cylinder head 91 located between the radiator 55 and the wireless communication unit 110F (see FIG. 40; the Office notes that the position of wireless communication unit 110F is located below at least a portion of energy storage apparatus 54 and it’s disposed at a position so as to be overlapped with the energy storage apparatus 54 along a vertical direction),
wherein the wireless communication unit 110F is located away from the radiator 55 in a front-back direction of the vehicle.
Aoki does not disclose that the radiator 55 includes a radiator fan motor.
Kawabata teaches another vehicle which includes a radiator unit 30 comprising a radiator 31, a radiator fan 32, a fan motor 33, and a fan cover 34. See Paragraph [0030].
In view of the Kawabata teaching, the Office finds that it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of filing to modify, with a reasonable expectation of success, the vehicle disclosed by Aoki, such that it further comprises a radiator fan motor and a radiator fan, in order to cool the engine oil while the vehicle is stopped when less air is flowing over the radiator 55.
Claims 6-7 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2012/029687 to Aoki et al., as applied to Claim 1, in view of International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2023/139592 A1 to Datta Rajaram et al.
Claim 6: FIG. 3 of Aoki shows a single signal line 111. The written disclosure of Aoki does not disclose a first signal line and a second signal line.
The Office turns to Datta Rajaram, which teaches a CAN bus 217 which is analogous to the signal line 111 disclosed by Aoki. CAN busses generally include several signal lines. For example, one line may carry power, one line may be a ground, and other lines may carry a variety of signals between different control units. Each of these lines extend in a same direction.
In view of the Datta Rajaram teaching, the Office finds that it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of filing to modify, with a reasonable expectation of success, the vehicle disclosed by Aoki such that the signal line 111 is a CAN bus which includes at least a first signal line and a second signal line, both of which extend between the wireless communication unit 110 and the electrical component 64, and such that the first and second signal lines extend in the same forward direction (the way CAN busses do), and such that the first and second signal lines pass below the energy storage apparatus 54, in order to provide a cable that carries multiple signals between the wireless communication unit 110 and the electrical component 64.
Claim 7: Aoki discloses a connector 111a provided at a tip of the cable 111, and which is connected to a socket 117 of electrical component 64.
As Aoki is modified by Datta Rajaram above in the rejection of Claim 6, so as to provide a CAN bus in lieu of cable 111, the connector 111a is analogous to a “junction component” which branches the signal line into the first signal line and the second signal line. The connector 11a is also disposed with a positional relationship so as to be at least partially overlapped with the electrical component 64 and the wireless communication unit 110 in a front-back direction of the vehicle.
Thus, the vehicle recited in Claim 7 is rendered obvious over the combination of Aoki and Datta Rajaram.
Claim 12: Aoki discloses wherein the wireless communication unit 110 is disposed in a case below the energy storage apparatus 54 via a bracket 156.
In view of the Datta Rajaram teaching, the Office finds that it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of filing to modify the vehicle disclosed by Aoki, as modified by Datta Rajaram in the rejection of Claim 6 above, such that a junction component (i.e., a CAN bus connector) is provided at the wireless communication unit 110 at which the first signal line and the second signal line (taught above by Datta Rajaram in the rejection of Claim 6) are connected is attached to the bracket 156.
Claims 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2012/029687 to Aoki et al., as applied to Claim 1, in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0027554 A1 to Leonov.
Regarding Claims 13-15, the disclosure of Aoki does not extensively describe structural components that constitute the anti-theft device 112 and GPS antenna 110. For example:
Aoki does not expressly disclose wherein the wireless communication unit 110 includes a wireless communication circuit (Claim 13), or a circuit in which wireless transmission is performed (Claim 14), or a wireless communication circuit performing communication conforming to a communication standard of Bluetooth (Claim 15).
Leonov teaches a data collection device 100 which includes a first PCB 160 and a second PCB 162. According to Paragraph [0045], “on a first printed circuit board 160, the power supply 124, sensors 130, memory 138, processor 156, communications element 136 (e.g., a Bluetooth/Wi-Fi antenna), and power source 126 are mounted. On a second printed circuit board 162, communications element 135 (e.g., wireless modem), communications element 134 (e.g., cellular network antenna), and global positioning antenna and receiver 132, 133 are mounted.”
In view of the Leonov teaching, the Office finds that it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of filing to modify, with a reasonable expectation of success, the wireless communication unit 110 disclosed by Aoki, such that it includes a wireless communication circuit (Claim 13), and/or a circuit in which wireless transmission is performed (Claim 14), and/or a wireless communication circuit performing communication conforming to a communication standard of Bluetooth (Claim 15), in order for the wireless communication unit 110 to communicate information to and/or from GPS satellites and other devices.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s 07/09/2026 arguments relating to Claim 1 have been fully considered but are not found to be persuasive.
Applicant suggests that Aoki does not disclose the claimed location of the wireless communication unit recited in Claim 1. The Office respectfully disagrees and refers Applicant to the portions of Aoki cited above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RANDELL J KRUG whose telephone number is (313) 446-6577. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 9:00-14:00 AZ time.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached on 571-270-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/RANDELL J KRUG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
Prosecution Insights