DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In view of the Appeal Brief filed on February 10, 2026, PROSECUTION IS HEREBY REOPENED. New grounds of rejection are set forth below.
To avoid abandonment of the application, appellant must exercise one of the following two options:
(1) file a reply under 37 CFR 1.111 (if this Office action is non-final) or a reply under 37 CFR 1.113 (if this Office action is final); or,
(2) initiate a new appeal by filing a notice of appeal under 37 CFR 41.31 followed by an appeal brief under 37 CFR 41.37. The previously paid notice of appeal fee and appeal brief fee can be applied to the new appeal. If, however, the appeal fees set forth in 37 CFR 41.20 have been increased since they were previously paid, then appellant must pay the difference between the increased fees and the amount previously paid.
A Supervisory Patent Examiner (SPE) has approved of reopening prosecution by signing below:
/JAMES A SHRIVER II/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3613
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-8 and 21-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Savio (EP 1610004) in view of Hashida (US 8,586,226). Savio discloses an assembly (See annotated Figure 6 below) comprising a first object including a divider between a top and bottom, a first cavity positioned between the top of the first object and the divider, and a second cavity positioned between the divider and the bottom; a sleeve received through a hole formed through the first object (See Figure 1) such that the sleeve extends from the top through the first cavity, the divider, and the second cavity to the bottom of the first object (See annotated Figure 6 below); a fastener (54) received within the sleeve; wherein the sleeve and the fastener are configured to be inserted through the top of the first object (See Figure 1); and wherein the sleeve is configured to guide the fastener through the first object. Savio does not disclose wherein the sleeve guides the fastener to a hidden receiving hole in the second object. Hashida discloses a sleeve configured to guide the fastener to a hidden receiving hole in the second object (See annotated Figure 13 below). At the time of filing, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in this art to provide a hidden hole in the second object of Savio and guide the fastener through the sleeve to the hidden hole as taught by Hashida. The motivation for doing so would have been to securely fasten all the components (first and second object) of the assembly together.
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Regarding claim 4, the combination of Savio and Hashida discloses wherein a top of the sleeve is sub-flush with the top of the first object (See annotated Figure 6 above).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Savio and Hashida discloses wherein the fastener includes a head that sits on the top of the first object, the head including a diameter that is greater than a diameter of the sleeve and a diameter of the hole (See Figure 5 of Savio).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Savio and Hashida discloses wherein the fastener includes a shank extending through the sleeve from the top, through the divider and the first and second cavities, and portion of the shank extends past the bottom of the first object (As explained above, providing a hidden fastening hole in the second object and extending the sleeve and fastener of Savio into the hidden fastening hole would meet this claim limitation).
Regarding claims 7-8, the combination of Savio and Hashida discloses the second object, wherein the portion of the shank/fastener is (partially) received in the receiving hole.
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Savio and Hashida discloses wherein the head provides a tensioning force to the top of the first object, and wherein the sleeve does not support any tensioning force provided by the fastener.
Regarding claim 22, the combination of Savio and Hashida discloses wherein the sleeve does not extend past the bottom of the first object (See annotated Figure 6 above).
Regarding claim 23, the combination of Savio and Hashida discloses wherein the receiving hole and the portion of the shank are both threaded such that the portion is threadably received within the receiving hole (See annotated Figure 13 above).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12, 14 and 16-20 are allowed.
Claims 9-11 are 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 claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to James A Shriver II whose telephone number is (303)297-4337. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00 am - 4:00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, J. Allen Shriver II can be reached at (303) 297-4337. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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J. ALLEN SHRIVER II
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3613
/JAMES A SHRIVER II/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3613
Prosecution Insights