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 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) 1, 3, 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kihara (JP2002-233019).
Regarding claim 1, Kihara teaches a facility protection cover that is configured to be disposed on a concrete foundation (5) and to cover a facility device (2,3) disposed between the facility protection cover (10a) and the concrete foundation (5), the facility protection cover comprising: including a fiber-reinforced composite (paragraph [0007]); a cover body (10a), the cover body including: two legs that are spaced apart from each other so as to be located on opposite sides of a facility device placement space (See Figure 1, legs on either side of 2,3), the facility device placement space being configured to accommodate the facility device; and a bridging portion that bridges the two legs so as to extend over the facility device placement space (Figure 3), wherein the cover body is configured to transmit a weight of a vehicle loaded on the cover body to the concrete foundation via the two legs, and restrict a separating relative movement of the two legs along a placement surface of the concrete foundation when the weight of the vehicle is loaded on the bridging portion. Since the cover is located between the boundary curb (9) and the roadbed (8) which would restrict the movement of the legs along the pavement surface when receiving the weight of a vehicle on the bridging portion. Kihara fails to explicitly teach the cover is a fiber reinforced cement composite. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to make the cover of Kihara a fiber reinforced cement composite, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Regarding claim 3, Kihara teaches the two legs respectively include edge-side surfaces on far sides, each leg being configured such that the edge-side surface comes into contact with a shoulder portion (9 and 8) protruding from the placement surface (5).
Regarding claim 8, Kihara teaches the cover body is a precast concrete member (paragraph [0007]).
Regarding claim 9, Kihara fails to teach the cover is a high performance fiber-reinforced cement composite (HPFRCC). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to make the cover of Kihara a high performance fiber-reinforced cement composite (HPFRCC), since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4-7, 10-18 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.
The closest prior art fails to teach the legs and placement surface have non-flat portions that engage with each other. The prior art teaches an integral structure and there is not a reason that one of ordinary skill in in the art would find without improper hindsight to modify the structure of Kihara to include non-flat surfaces that engage with one another. Further the prior art fails to teach a tension resistant means connected to the legs or that the cover is embedded in the pavement body foundation. These limitations in combination with the remaining limitations read over the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is listed on the attached PTO-892. Wong teaches a protection cover for a roadway.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABIGAIL ANNE RISIC whose telephone number is (571)270-7819. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5, M-Th.
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, Chris Sebesta can be reached at 571-272-0547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ABIGAIL A RISIC/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671 March 6, 2026
Prosecution Insights