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 .
Claims 1-13 are pending. Claims 10-13 are new. Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-5 in the reply filed on February 17, 2026 is acknowledged. New claims 10-13 depend from claim 1 and will be examined with claims 1-5. Claims 6-9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 and 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the cyclopentanone", “the larger shrinkage dimensional change rate”, “the warp” and “the combing resistance”. Claim 2 recites “the amount of oil component”. Claim 3 recites “the constituent yarn”. Claim 4 recites “the amount of carboxylic acid ends”, “the amount of amine ends” and “the molecular chain ends”. Claim 5 recites “the front” and “the burning speeds”. Claim 12 recites “the number of scrubs” and the “standard state”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims since these elements are not previously recited so in their first occurrence in a claim should be recited as “a” or “an” not “the”. For example, applicant can amend claim 1 to recite “the woven fabric has a cyclopentanone content” or in claim 2, “the woven fabric has an amount of oil”. In claim 4, applicant can recite “the polyamide has an amount of carboxylic acid ends and an amount of amine ends, wherein the amount of carboxylic ends is greater than the amount of amine ends”. Claims 10,11 and 13 are also rejected for being dependent upon claim 1 and inheriting the same deficiency.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 12 recites “preferably 40% or less” wherein the term preferably renders the claim indefinite as it is unclear if this limitation is required or just a preferred embodiment.
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.
Claims 1,2,10 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morimoto (JP 2004-308076A) in view of Tanaka (JP 2015-110857).
Morimoto teaches producing an airbag comprising nylon (polyamide) multifilament yarn (paragraph 0008, paragraph 0024, example 1) coated with silicone resin (paragraph 0011) at amounts of 10-50 g/m2 (paragraph 0012) wherein the airbag fabric is scoured at 80°C in surfactant and soda ash (alkali) for 1 minute and dried at 160°C, heat set at 190°C for 1 minute, coated with silicone resin to 25 g/m2 and vulcanized at 190°C for 2 minutes (paragraph 0024, example 1). Morimoto teaches the dimensional stability and shrinkage ratio in the warp and weft directions after standing at 50°C in 95% RH atmosphere for 100 hours is within 1% (paragraph 0013).
Morimoto does not teach the cyclopentanone content, the claimed larger shrinkage dimensional change rate among the shrinkage dimensional change rates in the warp and weft directions before and after heating at 105°C for 60 minutes and the combing resistance after 400 hours in an environment of 85°C, 95% relative humidity..
Tanaka teaches airbag base fabric of polyamides such as nylon (paragraph 0019) with a combing resistance value of 380 to 1000 N in both the warp and weft directions (paragraph 0008) is advantageous to provide a airbag base fabric which suppresses aperture in a bias direction in an initial stage of expanding a boundary portion between an expanded part and a non-expanded part leading to excellent burst resistance property (overview, paragraph 0001,0006). Tanaka teaches the spinning oil content of the base fabric is 0.2% weight or less based on the woven fabric (paragraph 0013).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the airbags taught by Morimoto by providing the claimed larger shrinkage dimensional change rate under the claimed conditions and cyclopentanone content as Morimoto teaches the same woven polyamide multifilament fabric airbags coated with the same amount of silicone resin treated with the same scouring steps, drying steps and vulcanizing setting steps to produce an airbag fabric which has a dimensional stability and shrinkage ratio in the warp and weft directions after standing at 50°C in 95% RH atmosphere for 100 hours is within 1%. Marimoto recognizes the importance of minimizing the shrinkage in the warp and weft directions to the claimed percentages for the benefit of dimensional stability of the fabric. Minimizing in applicant’s conditions would also be obvious through routine experimentation as dimensional stability and reduction of shrinkage in the warp and weft directions to less than 1% is an art recognized benefit to maintain the shape of the airbag. Regarding the cyclopentanone content, it is noted that Morimoto does not teach cyclopentanone addition. Applicant indicates in the specification paragraph 0019 that scouring in alkali solution at temperatures of 60°C or higher is a sufficient procedure to ensure the claimed no greater than 250 ppm cyclopentanone on the fabric. Since Morimoto performs the same alkali scouring in soda ash at 80°C, it is expected that the same scouring treatment under the same temperature conditions would produce the same cyclopentanone content in the airbag fabrics or Morimoto..
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the airbags of Morimoto to have the claimed combing resistance and oil component levels as Tanaka teaches similar polyamide airbag base fabrics with the claimed combing resistance of 380-1000 N provide the airbag with excellent burst resistance because of suppression of the aperture in a bias direction in an initial stage of expanding a boundary portion between an expanded part and a non-expanded part. It would have been further obvious to reduce the amount of the oil component in the woven fabric of the airbag of Morimoto to the claimed values as Tanaka teaches the residual oil content of the airbag should be 0.2% or less to increase the blade combing resistance in the bias direction and to maintain the strength of the airbag.
Claims 1-4,10 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morimoto (JP 2004-308076A) in view of Tanaka (JP 2015-110857) and further in view of Ise (JP 2002249952A) and Nishimura (JP 2015-071845A).
Morimoto and Tanaka are relied upon as set forth above.
Morimoto and Tanaka do not teach the cyclopentanone content, the claimed larger shrinkage dimensional change rate among the shrinkage dimensional change rates in the warp and weft directions before and after heating at 105°C for 60 minutes and the combing resistance after 400 hours in an environment of 85°C, 95% relative humidity and the claimed amount of phosphorous atoms.
Ise teaches airbags are conventionally made of nylons (paragraph 0016) wherein the amount of acidic carboxylic acid groups and basic amine groups are adjusted to compensate for monomer balance loss during polymerization (paragraph 0020) and wherein inorganic phosphorous compounds such as phenylphosphonic acid are added for polymerization catalysis and copper iodide and potassium iodide for thermal stability (paragraph 0017).
Nishimura teaches that woven airbags have a phosphorous component as a catalyst in an amount of 10ppm to 60ppm to suppress the scission of a molecular chain resulting in a molecular chain that is maintained and a yarn that is hardly stretches (paragraph 0016).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the airbags of Morimoto and Tanaka by adding the phosphorous compounds and copper and potassium iodide compounds to prepare the polyamide base fabric as Ise teaches phosphorous compounds such as phenylphosphonic acid are added for polymerization catalysis and copper iodide and potassium iodide for thermal stability and Nishimura teaches 10-60ppm phosphorous catalyst suppresses the scission of a molecular chain resulting in a molecular chain that is maintained and a yarn that is hardly stretches.
It is noted in applicant’s example 1, that applicant combines the same polyamide 6/6 (nylon 66) with copper iodide, potassium iodide as heat stabilizers and phenylphosphonic acid as a polymerization catalyst to produce fibers for the airbag. Starting with the same reaction products, performing the same scouring , drying and vulcanization would be expected to produce a airbag fabric with the same cyclopentanone contents, larger shrinkage dimensional change and combing resistance as defined in claim 1 and these parameters could be adjusted through routine experimentation.
It would have been further obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the polyamides of Morimoto and Tanaka by adjusting the amount of carboxylic acid ends to a greater amount than amine ends at the molecular chain ends of the polyamide, the difference being 10 mmol equivalent/kg to 50 mmol equivalent/kg as Ise teaches the amount of acidic carboxylic acid groups and basic amine groups are adjusted to compensate for monomer balance loss during polymerization. This adjustment could be performed through routine experimentation by one of ordinary skill in art.
Claims 1,2,5,10,11 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morimoto (JP 2004-308076A) in view of Tanaka (JP 2015-110857) and further in view of Ishii (US 2004/0077236).
Morimoto and Tanaka are relied upon as set forth above.
Morimoto and Tanaka do not teach the cyclopentanone content, the claimed larger shrinkage dimensional change rate among the shrinkage dimensional change rates in the warp and weft directions before and after heating at 105°C for 60 minutes and the combing resistance after 400 hours in an environment of 85°C, 95% relative humidity, and the burning speed or self-extinguishing properties.
Ishii teaches that silicone coated airbags having woven polyamide fabrics and 5-25g/m2 (abstract, paragraph 0060) desirably have a self-extinguishing property as measured by FMVSS302 (paragraph 0033,0036) and it is beneficial to reduce the burning speed and burning distance (paragraphs 0036-0037). Ishii teaches the silicone coating amount
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the airbags of Morimoto and Tanaka by producing a self-extinguishing airbag on the front, back or both sides after ignition as Ishii teaches the silicone coating provides burning inhibitor properties and when the coating amount is decreased the burning speed increases and burning inhibition becomes unstable (paragraph 0033). Optimizing the amount of the silicone resin to control the burning speed to the claimed values is obvious as Ishii teaches the silicone coating directly impacts the burning speed and provides burn inhibition and self-extinguishing properties to the airbag fabric. Controlling the burn speed to the claimed values by controlling the amount of silicone coating is obvious to do through routine experimentation as a self-extinguishing fabric is desired. Starting with the same nylon airbag fabric, performing the same scouring, drying, coating with the same amount of silicone and vulcanization would be expected to produce an airbag fabric with the same cyclopentanone contents, larger shrinkage dimensional change and combing resistance as defined in claim 1 and these parameters could be adjusted through routine experimentation.
Claims 1-5 and 10-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morimoto (JP 2004-308076A) in view of Tanaka (JP 2015-110857), Ise (JP 2002249952A) and Nishimura (JP 2015-071845A) and Ishii (US 2004/0077236) and further in view of Ise (US 2016/0193979).
Morimoto, Tanaka, Ise ‘952 , Nishimura and Ishii are relied upon as set forth above.
Morimoto, Tanaka, Ise ‘952, Nishimura and Ishii do not teach the cyclopentanone content, the claimed larger shrinkage dimensional change rate among the shrinkage dimensional change rates in the warp and weft directions before and after heating at 105°C for 60 minutes and the combing resistance after 400 hours in an environment of 85°C, 95% relative humidity, and the burning speed or self-extinguishing properties and number of scrubs until peeling.
Ise ‘979 teaches that airbags comprising woven polyamides fabrics (paragraph 0034-0035) with 10-50 g/m2 (paragraph 0055) silicone resin coatings (paragraph 0056) and 0.005-0.1% oil content (paragraph 0052) have no peeling observed up to 400 rubs in a heat-moist environment using the ISO 5981(paragraph 0081-0082, 0090). test , which is applicant’s test in the standard state after being kept for 400 hours in an environment of 80°C, 95% relative humidity as described by applicant in paragraph 0159.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the airbags of Morimoto, Tanaka, Ise ‘952 and Nishimura by producing an airbag fabric with the claimed number of scrubs until peeling as Ise ‘979 teaches this number of scrubs is desired when coating similar polyamides with similar silicone resins at similar amounts for the benefit of the durability of the silicone coating. It is noted in applicant’s example 1, that applicant combines the same polyamide 6/6 (nylon 66) with copper iodide, potassium iodide as heat stabilizers and phenylphosphonic acid as a polymerization catalyst to produce fibers for the airbag. Starting with the same reaction products, performing the same scouring , drying and vulcanization would be expected to produce an airbag fabric with the same cyclopentanone contents, larger shrinkage dimensional change and combing resistance as defined in claim 1 and these parameters could be adjusted through routine experimentation.
Claims 1,2,10,12 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morimoto (JP 2004-308076A) in view of Tanaka (JP 2015-110857) and further in view of Ise (US 2016/0193979).
Morimoto and Tanaka are relied upon as set forth above.
Morimoto and Tanaka do not teach the cyclopentanone content, the claimed larger shrinkage dimensional change rate among the shrinkage dimensional change rates in the warp and weft directions before and after heating at 105°C for 60 minutes and the combing resistance after 400 hours in an environment of 85°C, 95% relative humidity, and the number of scrubs until peeling.
Ise ‘979 teaches that airbags comprising woven polyamides fabrics (paragraph 0034-0035) with 10-50 g/m2 (paragraph 0055) silicone resin coatings (paragraph 0056) and 0.005-0.1% oil content (paragraph 0052) have no peeling observed up to 400 rubs in a heat-moist environment using the ISO 5981(paragraph 0081-0082, 0090). test , which is applicant’s test in the standard state after being kept for 400 hours in an environment of 80°C, 95% relative humidity as described by applicant in paragraph 0159.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the airbags of Morimoto and Tanaka by producing an airbag fabric with the claimed number of scrubs until peeling as Ise ‘979 teaches this number of scrubs is desired when coating similar polyamides with similar silicone resins at similar amounts for the benefit of the durability of the silicone coating. Starting with the same woven polyamide airbag, performing the same scouring, drying, coating with the same silicone in the same amounts and vulcanization would be expected to produce an airbag fabric with the same cyclopentanone contents, larger shrinkage dimensional change and combing resistance as defined in claim 1 and these parameters could be adjusted through routine experimentation.
Conclusion
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/AMINA S KHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761