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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/07/2023 was considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wilkinson US5066001.
Claim 1. Wilkinson discloses a modular flooring apparatus (10A) comprising: a flooring section (when two panels connected) having a first panel (1) and a second panel (2), a hinge (12/20) hingedly coupling together the first panel and the second panel (Fig 1 and 5), each of the first and second panels comprising: a top side, a bottom side, and a peripheral wall, the peripheral wall being attached to and extending between the top and bottom sides, the top side of the first panel being coplanar with the top side of the second panel when the first and second panels are in a deployed condition (as shown in Fig.1); an interior edge (edge where the panels connect) and three exterior edges (two side edges and an opposite edge to the inner edge before connecting to another adjacent panel), the interior edge of the first panel being adjacent to the interior edge of the second panel (see panel 1 and 2)l; wherein the first panel and the second panel are hingedly coupled together (via 12) such that the first panel and the second panel can pivot around the interior edges until the bottom sides are abutting one another (as shown by 1 and 2 in Fig.1); a connecting system removably coupling (20) the flooring section with a second flooring section when the first panel and the second panel are in the deployed condition (Col.3:2 - detachably secured together).
Claim 2. Wilkinson discloses the hinge is continuous with a length of the interior edges of the first and second panels (as shown in Fig.5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim allowed.
Claims 3- 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the closest prior art of record fails to teach or adequately suggest the combination of characteristics specified in the independent claim, especially the requirement of a substance concerning the hinge preventing the first panel and the second panel from pivoting together in a second direction beyond the deployed condition to inhibit an angle between the top sides being smaller than 180⁰ or a rod within the interior edges or a socket extending through the exterior edge, hence there is no cogent reasoning that is unequivocally independent of hindsight that would have led one of ordinary skill in the art at the time.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to attached NOTICE OF REFERENCE CITED.
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BABAJIDE A. DEMUREN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3633
/BABAJIDE A DEMUREN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3633