DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
2. Applicant’s contention (see pages 4-6 filed 06 September 2026) with respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 102 has been fully considered and is persuasive in view of the amendments provided. Therefore, the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 102 has been withdrawn.
Subsequently, the prior art rejections of all claims dependent therefrom are withdrawn.
However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejection are warranted (see below).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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 and 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morningstar (US 8,063,788), and further in view of Yilmaz (US 2023/0196899).
Regarding claim 1, Morningstar discloses a vehicle (vehicle and vehicle alert system; Morningstar at abstract) comprising:
A left-behind detection section that detects whether or not a person is left behind in a vehicle (child sensing pad or other associated child detection sensors; Morningstar at col 4 lines 1-30, col 15 lines 41-55)
A life prolongation control section that, when the left-behind detection section detects that the person is left behind, causes a plurality of life-prolongation-related sections of the vehicle to be activated stepwise according to an elapsed time after the person is left behind (at predetermined time intervals, control unit provides escalating response to child left in car, including HVAC control, 911 call, etc.; Morningstar at col 5 lines 31-67, col 6 lines 1-38, col 15 lines 1-40).
Wherein the plurality of life-prolongation-related sections include an air conditioner activation section and an opening activation section for a window and/or a door, and the life prolongation control section performs a turning-on operation on an air conditioner via the air conditioner activation section (after lapse of every time monitoring period, countermeasures are added such as HVAC activation, unlock doors, etc.; Morningstar at col 15 lines 1-40)
While Morningstar discloses that the air conditioning and window/door activation can occur at any time in the escalation sequence, Morningstar is silent as to a defined sequential operation of the countermeasures.
Yilmaz, in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor, teaches at each escalation point in an escalation sequence, triggering a singular response in a specifically determined sequence based on the characteristics of the vehicle interior and its occupants (Yilmaz at 0057-0059, 0066, 0087-0088, 0095).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the claimed invention to augment the base invention of Morningstar with the sequencing of Yilmaz. Doing so would provide a more customized response as a function of passenger characterization and interior parameters of the vehicle over time.
Regarding claim 3, Morningstar discloses wherein the plurality of life-prolongation-related sections include a first notification section for providing a notification in surroundings of the vehicle and/or to a driver of the vehicle (horn and lights actuated after first time delay, after second time delay message sent to vehicle owner; Morningstar at col 15 lines 20-33) and a second notification section for providing a notification to emergency services (911 notification after horn/lights and message to vehicle owner; Morningstar at col 15 lines 35-40), the notifications notifying that the person is left behind, and the notification by the second notification section is provided after the notification by the first notification section (911 notification occurs after horn/lights and message to owner; Morningstar at col 15 lines 20-40).
Regarding claim 4, Morningstar discloses wherein: the plurality of life-prolongation-related sections include an air conditioner activation section, an opening activation section for a window and/or a door, a first notification section for providing a notification in surroundings of the vehicle and/or to a driver of the vehicle, and a second notification section for providing a notification to emergency services, the notifications notifying that the person is left behind, and
the life prolongation control section performs the notification by the first notification section, a turning-on operation of an air conditioner by the air conditioner activation section, an opening operation by the opening activation section, and the notification by the second notification section sequentially in an order presented (HVAC control, windows rolled down, door unlocking, notification to driver, and notification to 911 emergency personnel all according to predefined order of operations; Morningstar at col 15 lines 1-40).
Regarding claim 5, Morningstar discloses a vehicle interior comfort determination section that determines comfort in the vehicle, wherein when a determination result that a life prolongation operation is necessary is obtained by the vehicle interior comfort determination section, the life prolongation control section causes the plurality of life-prolongation-related sections to perform the life prolongation operation (interior temperature monitoring configured to start alarm process as a function of the sensed interior temperature; Morningstar at col 3 lines 21-30).
Claim Objections
4. Claim 6 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims1.
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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN M DAGER whose telephone number is (571)270-1332. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 0830-1730.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor Angela Ortiz can be reached on 571-272-1206. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN M DAGER/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3663
17 September 2026
1 Yu (US 2019/0077217) at 0147, 0246, 0283 discloses altering the escalation response in accordance with energy availability, but no prior art found can anticipate or render obvious the life prolongation control section is configured to change the predetermined time in accordance with a remaining amount of energy for operating the air conditioner such that the predetermined time becomes shorter as the remaining amount of energy becomes smaller. It is also noted Yu discloses “action plug and play”, applicable to the amended portion of claim 1.
Prosecution Insights