Appeal No. 2004-1433
Application No. 09/639,303
Appellants' invention relates to a method for controlling an
airbag in a vehicle based on an expected, future position of an
occupant, which, in turn, is determined based on the current
position and current velocity of the occupant. Thus, deployment
of the airbag may be suppressed if the expected position of the
occupant at the time of deployment is not within a predetermined
threshold distance from the airbag. Claim 1 is illustrative of
the claimed invention, and it reads as follows:
1. A method for controlling a vehicular component based on
the position and velocity of an occupant, comprising the steps
of:
determining the current position of the occupant,
determining the current velocity of the occupant,
determining an expected, future position of the occupant
based on the current position and current velocity of the
occupant, and
controlling the component in consideration of the expected
position of the occupant.
No prior art references of record are relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 28, 30, and 31 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, as "containing subject matter
which was not described in the specification in such a way as to
reasonably convey to one skilled in the art that the inventor(s),
2
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