Appeal No. 1999-1742
Application No. 08/730,674
35 U.S.C. § 103, the examiner cites Blackburn and Breed.
Blackburn, like the appellant, discloses an apparatus and method
for sensing the presence of a rearward facing child restraint
seat on a vehicle seat and preventing deployment of an air bag
restraint. Blackburn’s apparatus also includes an
identification tag 60 secured to the child restraining seat.
According to one embodiment, the tag radiates a passive return
electromagnetic field (EMF) signal at 60 kHz in response to a
pulse 140 applied to antenna 26. See Fig. 4. The 60 kHz return
EMF signal radiated by the tag 60 is received by antenna coil 26
which transforms the return signal into a received electric
signal. A bandpass filter 200 is connected to the antenna coil
for passing the received electric signal having a predetermined
frequency of 60 kHz to a discriminating circuit 210 which
monitors for the presence of a return EMF signal having a
frequency equal to 60 kHz and a predetermined minimum amplitude.
See col. 5, ll. 22-36. If such a return EMF signal is present,
it indicates that an identification tag is present and within a
predetermined distance of the antenna coil 26. In such a case,
a signal is supplied by the discriminating circuit to prevent
deployment of an air bag.
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