Appeal No. 2003-1827 Page 5
Application No. 09/589,016
outside the vehicle. All other actuators 7 taught by Jahrsetz, including the actuator for
the trunk closure, appear to be hard-wired electrically to the central control unit 2 rather
than being wireless actuators which emit a beam.
While Jahrsetz evidences that wireless beam-emitting actuators were generally
known in the motor vehicle art at the time of appellants’ invention, neither Gager nor
Jahrsetz provides any suggestion for locating such an actuator in the trunk of the
vehicle in place of the hard-wired electrical actuators (buttons or switches 7 of Jahrsetz)
and the manual release latch 70 of Gager. The examiner cites as motivation easy
retrofitting of Gager’s trunk release device in a vehicle with a remote keyless entry
system. Jahrsetz, the only remote keyless entry system cited by the examiner,
however, utilizes component controls, such as trunk release controls which are
actuated by hard-wired switches or buttons located inside the vehicle, with the only
remote transceiver element being disclosed as accessible and effective outside the
vehicle, not inside the vehicle or trunk compartment. Thus, the applied prior art
provides no suggestion to locate a beam-emitting actuator in the trunk.
In light of the above, we cannot sustain the examiner’s rejection of independent
claim 6 or claims 2-5 which depend from claim 6.
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