|
The file history (or file wrapper) of a patent is
an up-to-date account of the prosecution history for that patent. It
contains documentation of all the correspondence that takes place between the
patent examiner at the USPTO and the patent applicant (or its representatives).
File histories generally include Information Disclosure Statements (or IDS) and
commentary on the references cited by the examiner. They also include an
"intrinsic record" (i.e. the specific meaning) of terms used in the patent and
throughout the prosecution of the patent. File histories are extremely
helpful in clarifying the scope and meaning of the patent's claims. They
also provide valuable insight on the patent examiner's approach for conducting
the examination, the main areas of focus, the issues raised and their
resolutions, and the examiner's interpretation of claims and terms in the
patent. Rarely is a patent application approved "as-is" without any
changes or amendments. File wrappers tell the story behind such amendments
and reveal why the patent examiner required them.
Anyone planning to file a patent application
would be very wise to review the file histories (wrappers) of related patents to
gain a much deeper understanding of the patents than simply reading the patents
can provide. "Statements and amendments reflected in the file wrapper will
not only help with interpretation of the meaning of the patent claims but will
stop the patentee from later attempting to recapture a broader reading of his
claims by arguing a contrary position under the 'doctrine of equivalents.' "
William C. Holmes, Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law
Sec. 1:6
(2008).
We will use state-of-the-art Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) technology to make the electronic file history PDF searchable
within Adobe Reader. Since file wrappers contain a fair amount of
hand-written text, signatures, images, tables, forms, stamps, and other text
that sometimes cannot be recognized by the computer, we cannot guarantee that
the search function will be 100% accurate and complete; but the majority of the
file history will be text searchable.
Within 2 business days
(sometimes faster), we will send you an e-mail containing the download link for
the searchable file history PDF. You can them download the PDF (viewable in Adobe
Reader) and save it to your own computer.
This electronic file history download
is for the following patent:
| US patent
number: |
5676338 |
| Title: |
Deployable vehicle electronics module assembly |
| Inventor(s): |
Warda; Gary G. (Brighton, MI)
Stevenson; Dean A. (St. Clair Shores, MI)
|
|
Owner:
|
Ford Motor Company (Dearborn, MI)
|
|
Agent/attorney/firm:
|
Kelley; David B.
|
| Filing date: |
November 27, 1995 |
| Application Number: |
08/562,918 |
| Issue date: |
October 14, 1997 |
|
Primary examiner:
|
Braun; Leslie A.
|
| Assistant
examiner:
|
Wood; Kimberly
|
|
US classification code:
|
248/27.1; 248/27.3; 296/37.1 |
|
Examiner's field of search: |
248/27.1 248/27.3 248/904 248/220.22 248/224.8 248/231.81 296/37.1 |
| Parent case: |
|
| Priority data: |
|
| Claims: |
|
We claim:
1. A deployable electronics module assembly for an instrument panel of an automotive vehicle, the assembly comprising:
an electronics module;
a plurality of clips adapted to be received in a corresponding plurality of clip openings in said instrument panel for attachment with the electronics module assembly so as to require a predetermined load to release said plurality of clips from said plurality of openings, wherein each of said plurality of clips comprises a base member, at least one finger extending from said base member, and at least two tabs elevationally spaced with respect to said base member and cooperating with said finger to retain said base member in one of said plurality of clip openings; and
fastener means for connecting said plurality of clips to said electronics module such that said fastener means move through said plurality of clip openings upon application of a load in excess of said predetermined load against the instrument panel so as to deploy the electronics module away therefrom; and wherein said at least two tabs of each of said plurality of clips is bent upon application of said predetermined load to said instrument panel to allow said plurality of clips and said fastener means to move through said plurality of clip openings.
2. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said base member has a retainer opening therethrough for receiving said fastener means therein.
3. An assembly according to claim 2 wherein said fastener means comprises a nut and bolt combination for each of said plurality of clips.
4. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of clips is made from a metal material.
5. A deployable electronics module assembly for an instrument panel of an automotive vehicle, the assembly comprising:
an electronics module;
a bracket adapted to be mounted, to the instrument panel for attachment with said electronics module assembly;
at least three clips received in at least three corresponding clip openings on the bracket so as to require a predetermined load to release the at least three clips from the at least three openings, wherein each of the at least three clips comprises a base member, at least two fingers extending from the base member, and at least four tabs elevationally spaced with respect to the base member and cooperating with the at least two fingers to retain the base member in one of the at least three clips opening; and
at least three fasteners correspondingly connected through each of the at least three clips to the electronics module so as to move through the clip openings upon application of a load equal to or in excess of the predetermined load against the instrument panel so as to deploy the electronics module away therefrom; and wherein each of the least four tabs of each of the at least three clips is bent upon application of the predetermined load to the instrument panel to allow the at least three clips and the at least three fasteners to move through the at least three clip openings.
6. An assembly according to claim 5 wherein the base member has a slot therethrough for receiving one of the at least three fasteners therein.
7. An assembly according to claim 5 wherein the at least three fasteners each comprise a nut and bolt combination.
8. An assembly according to claim 5 wherein the at least three clips are made from a metal material.
9. A deployable electronics module assembly for an instrument panel of an automotive vehicle, the assembly comprising:
a bracket adapted to be mounted to the instrument panel for attachment with the electronics module assembly; and
an electronics module mounted to the bracket with bendable means operative to effect separation of the electronics module from the bracket in response to imposition of a load in excess of a predetermined magnitude, wherein the bendable means comprises:
a plurality of clips received in a corresponding plurality of clip openings in the bracket so as to require the load in excess of the predetermined magnitude to release the plurality of clips from the plurality of openings; and
fastener means for connecting said plurality of clips to said electronics module such that said fastener means move through said plurality of clip openings upon imposition of the load in excess of the predetermined magnitude against the instrument panel so as to deploy the electronics module away therefrom; and wherein each of the plurality of clips comprises a base member, at least one finger extending from the base member, and at least two tabs elevationally spaced with respect to the base member and cooperating with the finger to retain the base member in one of the plurality of clip openings; and wherein the at least two tabs of each of the plurality of clips is bent upon application of a load in excess of a predetermined magnitude to the instrument panel to allow the plurality of clips and the fastener means to move through the plurality of clip openings.
10. An assembly according to claim 9 wherein the bracket has an access opening therein for receiving an electronics cap section of the electronics module therethrough to allow access to electronics components within the module.
|
|
