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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 38 objected to because of the following informalities:
Line 16 recites “of a respective pair”, but should recite “of the respective pair”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 38, 42, and 68-72 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 20130048233) in view of Tsai (US 20060289124).
Regarding claim 38, Lin teaches a slatted blind (fig. 1), comprising: a headrail (2); a bottom rail (3) movable relative to the headrail;
a first (11) lift cord extending between the headrail and the bottom rail;
a plurality of slats disposed between the headrail and the bottom rail (fig. 1); and
a ladder tape assembly configured to support the plurality of slats between the headrail and the bottom rail (shown in detail in fig. 6), the ladder tape assembly comprising:
a first vertically extending ladder rail (7);
a second vertically extending ladder rail (7) spaced apart from the first ladder rail; and
a plurality of pairs of shroud loops (Each element 10 is considered a shroud loop. Any slack in each element 10 causes each element 10 to form a loop, thus they are considered loops, even in a state without slack. It is noted that the two adjacent element 10s as shown in fig. 6 are considered a single pair of shroud loops. As is shown in fig. 2, there are multiple pairs of these shroud loops in the ladder tape assembly) extending between the first and second ladder rails (fig. 6 shows one of the plurality of pairs of shroud loops), each pair of shroud loops of the plurality of pairs of shroud loops including a first shroud loop (one of the 10s of a single pair) and a second shroud loop (a second of the 10s of a single pair) disposed between the first and second ladder rails (fig. 6),
each pair of shroud loops of the plurality of pairs of shroud loops supporting thereon a respective slat of the plurality of slats such that the respective slat is disposed on top of both the first shroud loop and the second shroud loop of a respective pair of shroud loops of the plurality of pairs of shroud loops (as shown in fig. 6);
wherein the first lift cord (11) extends vertically through the first shroud loop of each pair of shroud loops (in fig. 6, element 11 is considered to extend vertically through the first shroud loop, as it is contained by and runs on the inside side of the loop itself).
Lin does not teach a second lift cord that extends vertically through the second shroud loop of each pair of shroud loops.
Tsai teaches first and second lift cords (21s, fig. 1) that extend vertically through respective shroud loops (the 13s). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to modify Lin with teachings of Tsai so that there is second lift cord that extends vertically through the second shroud loop of each pair of shroud loops. This alteration provides the predictable and expected results of making the slats raise more evenly with a lift cord on each side of the slat.
Regarding claim 42, Lin teaches a ladder tape assembly for supporting slats of a slatted blind, the ladder tape assembly comprising (shown in figs. 2 and 6):
a first vertically extending ladder rail (7);
a second vertically extending ladder rail (7) spaced apart from the first ladder rail; and
a plurality of pairs of shroud loops (Each element 10 is considered a shroud loop. Any slack in each element 10 causes each element 10 to form a loop, thus they are considered loops, even in a state without slack. It is noted that the two adjacent element 10s as shown in fig. 6 are considered a single pair of shroud loops. As is shown in fig. 2, there are multiple pairs of these shroud loops in the ladder tape assembly) extending between the first and second ladder rails (fig. 6 shows one of the plurality of pairs of shroud loops), each pair of shroud loops of the plurality of pairs of shroud loops including a first shroud loop (one of the 10s of a single pair) and a second shroud loop (a second of the 10s of a single pair) disposed between the first and second ladder rails (fig. 6),
each pair of shroud loops of the plurality of pairs of shroud loops supporting thereon a respective slat of a plurality of slats such that the respective slat is disposed on top of both the first shroud loop and the second shroud loop of a respective pair of shroud loops of the plurality of pairs of shroud loops (as shown in fig. 6);
a first lift (11) cord extending vertically through the first shroud loop of each pair of shroud loops (in fig. 6, element 11 is considered to extend vertically through the first shroud loop, as it is contained by and runs on the inside side of the loop itself).
Lin does not teach a second lift cord that extends vertically through the second shroud loop of each pair of shroud loops.
Tsai teaches first and second lift cords (21s, fig. 1) that extend vertically through respective shroud loops (the 13s). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to modify Lin with teachings of Tsai so that there is second lift cord that extends vertically through the second shroud loop of each pair of shroud loops. This alteration provides the predictable and expected results of making the slats raise more evenly with a lift cord on each side of the slat.
Regarding claim 68, modified Lin teaches that the first and second shroud loops extend transversely across a space defined directly between the first and second ladder rails (fig. 6).
Regarding claim 69, modified Lin teaches that the first and second lift cords extend vertically across the space defined directly between the first and second ladder rails (after the modification above).
Regarding claim 70, modified Lin teaches that each pair of shroud loops of the plurality of shroud loops forms a ladder step, wherein each ladder step extends transversely between the first and second ladder rails from a first end of each ladder step positioned at the first ladder rail to a second end of each ladder step positioned at the second ladder rail (see fig. 6).
Regarding claim 71, modified Lin teaches that the first and second shroud loops extend transversely across a space defined directly between the first and second ladder rails (see fig. 6).
Regarding claim 72, modified Lin teaches that each pair of shroud loops of the plurality of shroud loops forms a ladder step, wherein each ladder step extends transversely between the first and second ladder rails from a first end of each ladder step positioned at the first ladder rail to a second end of each ladder step positioned at the second ladder rail (see fig. 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 39- 41, 43-45, and 62-67 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
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/M.S./ Examiner, Art Unit 3634
/DANIEL P CAHN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3634