DETAILED ACTION
This action is a first action on the merits. The claims filed on September 12, 2023 have been entered. Claims 1-9 are pending and addressed below.
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 filed September 12, 2023 has been considered by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: The recitation of “said pivot” in line 5 should likely be --said pivot mount--. 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vandagriff, US 5,445,427 (hereinafter Vandagriff) in view of Moo et al., US 5,673,957 (hereinafter Moo).
Claim 1: Vandagriff discloses a vehicle visor device (sun visor 11 with sun visor attachment 10) which has an opaque portion (sun visor 11 and panels 25, 25’) and a translucent portion (panel 28, 28’) for shielding a driver from sunlight while driving (see abstract, col 1, ln 63–col 2, ln 18), said device comprising:
a sun visor (10/11) being movably mounted to a ceiling (ceiling 13) of a vehicle having said sun visor being aligned with a windshield of said vehicle (see Fig 1, col 3, ln 5-10), said sun visor (10/11) being positionable in a deployed position (shown in Fig 2) having said sun visor (10/11) extending downwardly along said windshield (shown in Fig 2, col 3, ln 18-35), said sun visor (10/11) being positionable in a stored position having said sun visor resting against said ceiling (sun visor attachment 10 in closed portion as shown in Fig 1 and sun visor 11 rotated around rod 12 against ceiling), said sun visor (10/11) having a top portion (sun visor 11, main body portion 17, wing body portion 18, and panels 25, 25’) being comprised of an opaque material (as seen in Fig 1, 3, col 3, ln 36-45) wherein said top portion is configured to block sunlight for the driver thereby enhancing the driver's ability to see when driving into the sun and when said sun visor is in said deployed position (increased sun blockage, shown in Fig 2, col 1, ln 63-col 2, ln 2, 10-18, increased sun blockage would necessarily enhance driver’s ability to see while driving into the sun), said sun visor (10/11) having a bottom portion (second main panel 28, second panel 28’) being comprised of a translucent material (tinted translucent panel, col 3, ln 46-50) wherein said bottom portion (28, 28’) is configured to pass sunlight through said bottom portion thereby facilitating the driver to see through said bottom portion when said visor is in said deployed position (tinted translucent panel would necessarily allow sunlight through).
a rotating mount (shown in Fig 1) being attached to said ceiling (13) of said vehicle (L-shaped end of rod 12 is rotatably attached to circular mount shown on ceiling 13 in Fig 1, col 3, ln 5-10) ;
a rotating arm (rod 12) being coupled to said sun visor (10/11) (Fig 1, col 1, ln 19-23), said rotating arm (12) rotatably engaging said rotating mount (circular mount on ceiling 13, see Fig 1) such that said rotating arm is articulable in a variety of orientations in said rotating mount thereby facilitating said sun visor to be positioned in a variety of orientations wherein said sun visor is configured to be positionable to block sunlight from a variety of angles with respect to said vehicle (vison 11 turns about L-shaped rod 12 extending from ceiling, see Fig 1, visor 10/11 is rotated against driver’s side window as shown in Fig 2, sunlight is blocked from various angles by various panels as shown in Fig 1-2);
a pivot mount (U-shaped bracket 15) being attached to said ceiling (13) of said vehicle (se shown in Fig 1-2); and
a latch (roller pin 19 of slider shaft 20) being coupled to said sun visor (10/11), said latch (19/20) releasably engaging said pivot mount (15) for retaining, said sun visor (10/11) in an orientation having said sun visor (10/11) extending laterally along said windshield (see Fig 1-2), said sun visor (10/11) being pivotable in said rotating mount when said latch is disengaged from said pivot mount (15) (Fig 2, col 3, ln 18-35).
Vandagriff fails to disclose said bottom portion being comprised of a polarized material wherein said bottom portion is configured to reduce glare for the driver when said sun visor is in said deployed position.
Moo discloses a vehicle sun visor assembly. The sun visor (visor 10) having a top potion that is opaque (col 2, ln 38-41) and a bottom portion (auxiliary sun visor 26) being comprised of a polarized material (sun visor 26 comprises a polarized transparent shield 34, 340) (see Fig 1-2, col 1, 59-63) . The bottom portion (26) acts as a sun shield
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the bottom portion of the translucent visor of Vandagriff to further be polarized as disclosed by Moo, as this modification would have yielded the predictable results of providing a sun shield to greatly enhance the glare reduction capability of the visor (Moo, col 5, ln 3-5).
Claim 2: Vandagriff, in view of Moo, further discloses wherein:
said top portion (Vandagriff, 11, 17, 18) has a top edge (Vandagriff, top of visor 11 and panels 17, 18), a first lateral edge, a second lateral edge (Vandagriff, vertical side edges 11 shown in Fig 1-2) and a bottom edge (Vandagriff, bottom edge of 11, 17, 18 as shown in Figs 1-2), said top portion being elongated between said first lateral edge and said second lateral edge (Vandagriff, visor 11 and panels 17, 18 are all elongated, see Fig 1-2); and
said bottom portion (Vandagriff, sun visor attachment 10) extends downwardly from said bottom edge (Vandagriff, as shown in Fig 2), said bottom portion (10) having a first sidelong edge, a second sidelong edge (Vandagriff, vertical side edges of 10 shown in Fig 2) and a lower edge (Vandagriff, bottom of 28, 28’ as shown in Fig 2), each of said first sidelong edge and said second sidelong edge being aligned with a respective one of said first lateral edge and said second lateral edge of said top portion (Vandagriff, vertical edges of 11, 17, 18 are aligned with vertical edges of 28, 28’ as shown in Fig 2), said lower edge (Vandagriff, bottom of 28, 28’) being spaced from and being oriented parallel to said bottom edge of said top portion (Vandagriff, bottom edges of 11, 17, 18 are parallel to the bottom edges of 28, 28’ as shown in Figs 1-2).
Claim(s) 3 and 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vandagriff in view of Moo as applied to claim 1, and further in view of Barna, US 2016/0023541 (hereinafter Barna).
Claim 3: Vandagriff further discloses wherein: said rotating mount (circular mount affixed to ceiling and attached to rod 12 which allows rod 12 to rotate as shown in Fig 1) includes a base (circular portion, Fig 1) and a cup (central opening in circular portion through which rod 12 extends) extending downwardly from a bottom surface of said base (base of circular portion is affixed to ceiling 13, circular portion for holding rod 12 extends downwardly from ceiling 13 as shown in Fig 1);
said base (circular portion, Fig 1) has a plurality of fastener holes (holes located on either side of central opening as shown in Fig 1) each extending through said bottom surface and a top surface of said base (as shown in Fig 1), attaching said base to said ceiling having said top surface abutting said ceiling (top surface of circular portion is mounted to ceiling, see Fig 1); and said rotating mount (circular portion) is positioned adjacent to said windshield (circular portion is positioned adjacent to windshield as shown in Fig 1).
Vandagriff, as modified by Moo, discloses each of said fastener holes insertably receiving a fastener which engages said ceiling thereby attaching said base to said ceiling having said top surface abutting said ceiling
Barna discloses a sun visor mount (mount 46). The mount includes holes (holes 52) therein for fastening the mount (46) to the interior surface of the vehicle using screws or the like (Barna, par [0018]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the rotating mount of Vandagriff, to further include the fastener holes receiving a faster as disclosed by Barna. In this case, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the use of fasteners in fastener holes is a known technique (Barna, par [0018]) and this modification would have yielded the predictable results of fastening the rotating mount of Vandagriff to the ceiling of the vehicle.
Claim 5: Vandagriff further discloses wherein said pivot mount (u-shaped bracket 15) has a leg abutting said ceiling (portion of 15 attached to ceiling, see Fig 1-2) and a foot (lower u-shaped portion of bracket 15) extending downwardly from said leg (as shown in Fig 1), said foot having a recess (opening forming by u-shape) extending into a rear surface of said foot (inner surface of -shape), said pivot mount (15) having a fastener opening extending through said leg (fastener openings of 15 are located in leg portion as shown in Fig 1), attaching said pivot mount (15) to said ceiling (ceiling 13), said pivot (15) being positioned adjacent to said windshield 15) is shown adjacent to windshield in Fig 1-2), said pivot mount (15) being laterally spaced from said rotating mount (circular mount located at bent end of rod 12) along said windshield (as shown in Fig 1-2, col 3, ln 5-17).
Vandagriff, as modified by Moo, fails to disclose said fastener opening insertably receiving a fastener which engages said ceiling thereby attaching said pivot mount to said ceiling
Barna discloses a sun visor mount (mount 46). The mount includes holes (holes 52) therein for fastening the mount (46) to the interior surface of the vehicle using screws or the like (Barna, par [0018]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the pivot mount of Vandagriff, to further include the fastener holes receiving a faster as disclosed by Barna. In this case, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the use of fasteners in fastener holes is a known technique (Barna, par [0018]) and this modification would have yielded the predictable results of fastening the pivot mount of Vandagriff to the ceiling of the vehicle.
Claim 6: Vandagriff further discloses wherein:
said latch (slider shaft assembly 48) comprises a pair of uprights (struts 22) each extending upwardly from said top edge of said top portion (top edge of 11, 17, 18 as shown in Fig 1, and top edge of 18 as shown in Fig 2 and 5) and a central member (roller pin 19) extending between said pair of uprights (22) having said central member (19) being spaced from said top edge (central member 19 is spaced by struts 22, see Fig 1-2, 5, col 3, ln 28-35);
said latch (48) is positioned closer to said second lateral edge (second vertical edge located away from bend of rod 12) of said top portion (11, 17, 18) than said first lateral edge (vertical edge of 11 near bend of rod 12) of said top portion (see Fig 1-2);
said central member (19) extends into said recess in said rear surface of said foot of said pivot mount (15) when said latch releasably engages said pivot mount (15) (roller pin 19 of slider shaft 20 is seen engaging bracket 15 as shown in Fig 1-2, 5); and
said central member (19) is rotatable (roller pin) in said recess having said central member (19) conforming to curvature of said bounding surface of said recess (u-shaped) thereby facilitating said central member (19) to rotate in said recess for positioning said sun visor between said deployed position (shown in Fig 2) and said stored position (sun visor attachment 10 in closed portion as shown in Fig 1 and sun visor 11 rotated around rod 12 against ceiling).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vandagriff, Moo, and Barna as applied to claim 3, and further in view of Drake, US 2021/0387512 (hereinafter Drake).
Claim 4: Vandagriff further discloses wherein:
said rotating arm (Vandagriff, rod 12) has a first end (straight end of rod 12) being coupled to said first lateral edge of said top portion (Vandagriff, 11, 17, 18) of said sun visor (10) at a point being located proximate said top edge of said top portion (Vandagriff, rod 12 is couple to the visor 11 along the top edge of visor 11 and therefore is coupled to the first vertical end of visor 11 as shown in Fig 1);
said rotating arm (12) has a bend being centrally located between said first end and said second end to define a first portion of said rotating arm forming an angle with a second portion of said rotating arm (rod 12 includes a bend as shown in Fig 1 located between the first end and the second end of rod 12 and between a first portion and a second portion of rod 12), said first portion being associated with said first end, said second portion being associated with said second end (bend of rod 12 is located between first and second portions of rod 12 as shown in Fig 1);
said rotating arm is oriented such that said second portion (located between bend of rod 12 and ceiling) extends along a line being oriented parallel to said first lateral edge (vertical ends) of said top portion (11); and
said rod (12) end is retained in said cup (circular opening holding rod 12) of said rotating mount (circular mount) thereby facilitating said rotating arm (12) to be pivoted in said cup (Vandagriff, see Fig 1-2, col 1, ln 19-23).
Vandagriff, Moo, and Barna fail to disclose said rotating arm has a ball being disposed on a second end of said rotating arm and said ball is retained in said cup of said rotating mount thereby facilitating said rotating arm to be pivoted in said cup.
Drake discloses a vehicle visor with a rotating arm (mount rod 130). The rotating arm (130) has a ball (pivoting end of cantilever 132 as shown in Fig 2-3, 5, par [0029]) being disposed on a second end (between bend and ceiling) of said rotating arm (130) and said ball (pivoting end of cantilever 132) is retained in said cup of said rotating mount thereby facilitating said rotating arm to be pivoted in said cup (pivoting end of cantilever 132 within swivel-mount 105 enables rotation upon first-axis 200, see Fig 5, par [0029]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the rotating arm of Vandagriff to include the ball disposed on the second end of said rotating arm as disclosed by Drake. In this case, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the use of a ball retained in said cup of a rotating mount is a known technique (Drake, par [0029]) and this modification would have yielded the predictable results of allowing pivoting of the send end of the rotating arm within the cup of the rotating mount (Drake, par [0029]).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vandagriff in view of Moo, Barna, and Drake.
Claim 7: Vandagriff discloses a vehicle visor device (sun visor 11 with sun visor attachment 10) which has an opaque portion (sun visor 11 and panels 25, 25’) and a translucent portion (panel 28, 28’) for shielding a driver from sunlight while driving (see abstract, col 1, ln 63–col 2, ln 18), said device comprising:
a sun visor (10/11) being movably mounted to a ceiling (ceiling 13) of a vehicle having said sun visor being aligned with a windshield of said vehicle (see Fig 1, col 3, ln 5-10), said sun visor (10/11) being positionable in a deployed position (shown in Fig 2) having said sun visor (10/11) extending downwardly along said windshield (shown in Fig 2, col 3, ln 18-35), said sun visor (10/11) being positionable in a stored position having said sun visor resting against said ceiling (sun visor attachment 10 in closed portion as shown in Fig 1 and sun visor 11 rotated around rod 12 against ceiling), said sun visor (10/11) having a top portion (sun visor 11, main body portion 17, wing body portion 18, and panels 25, 25’) being comprised of an opaque material (as seen in Fig 1, 3, col 3, ln 36-45) wherein said top portion is configured to block sunlight for the driver thereby enhancing the driver's ability to see when driving into the sun and when said sun visor is in said deployed position (increased sun blockage, shown in Fig 2, col 1, ln 63-col 2, ln 2, 10-18, increased sun blockage would necessarily enhance driver’s ability to see while driving into the sun), said sun visor (10/11) having a bottom portion (second main panel 28, second panel 28’) being comprised of a translucent material (tinted translucent panel, col 3, ln 46-50) wherein said bottom portion (28, 28’) is configured to pass sunlight through said bottom portion thereby facilitating the driver to see through said bottom portion when said visor is in said deployed position (tinted translucent panel would necessarily allow sunlight through),
said top portion (11, 17, 18) has a top edge (top of visor 11 and panels 17, 18), a first lateral edge, a second lateral edge (vertical side edges 11 shown in Fig 1-2) and a bottom edge (bottom edge of 11, 17, 18 as shown in Figs 1-2), said top portion being elongated between said first lateral edge and said second lateral edge (visor 11 and panels 17, 18 are all elongated, see Fig 1-2); and
said bottom portion (sun visor attachment 10) extends downwardly from said bottom edge (as shown in Fig 2), said bottom portion (10) having a first sidelong edge, a second sidelong edge (vertical side edges of 10 shown in Fig 2) and a lower edge (bottom of 28, 28’ as shown in Fig 2), each of said first sidelong edge and said second sidelong edge being aligned with a respective one of said first lateral edge and said second lateral edge of said top portion (vertical edges of 11, 17, 18 are aligned with vertical edges of 28, 28’ as shown in Fig 2), said lower edge (bottom of 28, 28’) being spaced from and being oriented parallel to said bottom edge of said top portion (bottom edges of 11, 17, 18 are parallel to the bottom edges of 28, 28’ as shown in Figs 1-2);
a rotating mount (shown in Fig 1) being attached to said ceiling (13) of said vehicle (L-shaped end of rod 12 is rotatably attached to circular mount shown on ceiling 13 in Fig 1, col 3, ln 5-10) said rotating mount (circular mount affixed to ceiling and attached to rod 12 which allows rod 12 to rotate as shown in Fig 1) includes a base (circular portion, Fig 1) and a cup (central opening in circular portion through which rod 12 extends) extending downwardly from a bottom surface of said base (base of circular portion is affixed to ceiling 13, circular portion for holding rod 12 extends downwardly from ceiling 13 as shown in Fig 1) said base (circular portion, Fig 1) has a plurality of fastener holes (holes located on either side of central opening as shown in Fig 1) each extending through said bottom surface and a top surface of said base (as shown in Fig 1), attaching said base to said ceiling having said top surface abutting said ceiling (top surface of circular portion is mounted to ceiling, see Fig 1); and said rotating mount (circular portion) is positioned adjacent to said windshield (circular portion is positioned adjacent to windshield as shown in Fig 1);
a rotating arm (rod 12) being coupled to said sun visor (10/11) (Fig 1, col 1, ln 19-23), said rotating arm (12) rotatably engaging said rotating mount (circular mount on ceiling 13, see Fig 1) such that said rotating arm is articulable in a variety of orientations in said rotating mount thereby facilitating said sun visor to be positioned in a variety of orientations wherein said sun visor is configured to be positionable to block sunlight from a variety of angles with respect to said vehicle (vison 11 turns about L-shaped rod 12 extending from ceiling, see Fig 1, visor 10/11 is rotated against driver’s side window as shown in Fig 2, sunlight is blocked from various angles by various panels as shown in Fig 1-2) said rotating arm (Vandagriff, rod 12) has a first end (straight end of rod 12) being coupled to said first lateral edge of said top portion (Vandagriff, 11, 17, 18) of said sun visor (10) at a point being located proximate said top edge of said top portion (Vandagriff, rod 12 is couple to the visor 11 along the top edge of visor 11 and therefore is coupled to the first vertical end of visor 11 as shown in Fig 1) said rotating arm (12) has a bend being centrally located between said first end and said second end to define a first portion of said rotating arm forming an angle with a second portion of said rotating arm (rod 12 includes a bend as shown in Fig 1 located between the first end and the second end of rod 12 and between a first portion and a second portion of rod 12), said first portion being associated with said first end, said second portion being associated with said second end (bend of rod 12 is located between first and second portions of rod 12 as shown in Fig 1) said rotating arm is oriented such that said second portion (located between bend of rod 12 and ceiling) extends along a line being oriented parallel to said first lateral edge (vertical ends) of said top portion (11) and said rod (12) end is retained in said cup (circular opening holding rod 12) of said rotating mount (circular mount) thereby facilitating said rotating arm (12) to be pivoted in said cup (Vandagriff, see Fig 1-2, col 1, ln 19-23);
a pivot mount (U-shaped bracket 15) being attached to said ceiling (13) of said vehicle (as shown in Fig 1-2), said pivot mount (u-shaped bracket 15) has a leg abutting said ceiling (portion of 15 attached to ceiling, see Fig 1-2) and a foot (lower u-shaped portion of bracket 15) extending downwardly from said leg (as shown in Fig 1), said foot having a recess (opening forming by u-shape) extending into a rear surface of said foot (inner surface of -shape), said pivot mount (15) having a fastener opening extending through said leg (fastener openings of 15 are located in leg portion as shown in Fig 1), attaching said pivot mount (15) to said ceiling (ceiling 13), said pivot (15) being positioned adjacent to said windshield 15) is shown adjacent to windshield in Fig 1-2), said pivot mount (15) being laterally spaced from said rotating mount (circular mount located at bent end of rod 12) along said windshield (as shown in Fig 1-2, col 3, ln 5-17); and
a latch (roller pin 19 of slider shaft 20) being coupled to said sun visor (10/11), said latch (19/20) releasably engaging said pivot mount (15) for retaining, said sun visor (10/11) in an orientation having said sun visor (10/11) extending laterally along said windshield (see Fig 1-2), said sun visor (10/11) being pivotable in said rotating mount when said latch is disengaged from said pivot mount (15) (Fig 2, col 3, ln 18-35), said latch (slider shaft assembly 48) comprises a pair of uprights (struts 22) each extending upwardly from said top edge of said top portion (top edge of 11, 17, 18 as shown in Fig 1, and top edge of 18 as shown in Fig 2 and 5) and a central member (roller pin 19) extending between said pair of uprights (22) having said central member (19) being spaced from said top edge (central member 19 is spaced by struts 22, see Fig 1-2, 5, col 3, ln 28-35), said latch (48) is positioned closer to said second lateral edge (second vertical edge located away from bend of rod 12) of said top portion (11, 17, 18) than said first lateral edge (vertical edge of 11 near bend of rod 12) of said top portion (see Fig 1-2);
said central member (19) extends into said recess in said rear surface of said foot of said pivot mount (15) when said latch releasably engages said pivot mount (15) (roller pin 19 of slider shaft 20 is seen engaging bracket 15 as shown in Fig 1-2, 5), said central member (19) is rotatable (roller pin) in said recess having said central member (19) conforming to curvature of said bounding surface of said recess (u-shaped) thereby facilitating said central member (19) to rotate in said recess for positioning said sun visor between said deployed position (shown in Fig 2) and said stored position (sun visor attachment 10 in closed portion as shown in Fig 1 and sun visor 11 rotated around rod 12 against ceiling).
Vandagriff fails to disclose said bottom portion being comprised of a polarized material wherein said bottom portion is configured to reduce glare for the driver when said sun visor is in said deployed position, each of said fastener holes insertably receiving a fastener which engages said ceiling thereby attaching said rotating mount and said pivot mount to said ceiling, and said rotating arm has a ball being disposed on a second end of said rotating arm and said ball is retained in said cup of said rotating mount thereby facilitating said rotating arm to be pivoted in said cup.
Moo discloses a vehicle sun visor assembly. The sun visor (visor 10) having a top potion that is opaque (col 2, ln 38-41) and a bottom portion (auxiliary sun visor 26) being comprised of a polarized material (sun visor 26 comprises a polarized transparent shield 34, 340) (see Fig 1-2, col 1, 59-63) . The bottom portion (26) acts as a sun shield
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the bottom portion of the translucent visor of Vandagriff to further be polarized as disclosed by Moo, as this modification would have yielded the predictable results of providing a sun shield to greatly enhance the glare reduction capability of the visor (Moo, col 5, ln 3-5).
Vandagriff, as modified by Moo, fails to disclose each of said fastener holes insertably receiving a fastener which engages said ceiling thereby attaching said rotating mount and said pivot mount to said ceiling, and said rotating arm has a ball being disposed on a second end of said rotating arm and said ball is retained in said cup of said rotating mount thereby facilitating said rotating arm to be pivoted in said cup.
Barna discloses a sun visor mount (mount 46). The mount includes holes (holes 52) therein for fastening the mount (46) to the interior surface of the vehicle using screws or the like (Barna, par [0018]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the rotating mount and pivot mount of Vandagriff, to further include the fastener holes receiving a faster as disclosed by Barna. In this case, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the use of fasteners in fastener holes is a known technique (Barna, par [0018]) and this modification would have yielded the predictable results of fastening the rotating mount of Vandagriff to the ceiling of the vehicle.
Vandagriff, Moo, and Barna fail to disclose said rotating arm has a ball being disposed on a second end of said rotating arm and said ball is retained in said cup of said rotating mount thereby facilitating said rotating arm to be pivoted in said cup.
Drake discloses a vehicle visor with a rotating arm (mount rod 130). The rotating arm (130) has a ball (pivoting end of cantilever 132 as shown in Fig 2-3, 5, par [0029]) being disposed on a second end (between bend and ceiling) of said rotating arm (130) and said ball (pivoting end of cantilever 132) is retained in said cup of said rotating mount thereby facilitating said rotating arm to be pivoted in said cup (pivoting end of cantilever 132 within swivel-mount 105 enables rotation upon first-axis 200, see Fig 5, par [0029]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the rotating arm of Vandagriff to include the ball disposed on the second end of said rotating arm as disclosed by Drake. In this case, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the use of a ball retained in said cup of a rotating mount is a known technique (Drake, par [0029]) and this modification would have yielded the predictable results of allowing pivoting of the send end of the rotating arm within the cup of the rotating mount (Drake, par [0029]).
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vandagriff, Moo, Barna, and Drake as applied to claim 7, and further in view of Panda, United Kingdom Patent No. GB 2515385 A (hereinafter Panda).
Claim 8: Vandagriff further discloses wherein:
said top portion (11, 17, 18) of said sun visor is substantially hollow (panels 17, 18 each include first and second main cavities 24, 27), said bottom edge of said top portion (bottom edge along second cavities 27 of 17, 18) being open to access an interior of said top portion (as shown in Fig 3-4, col 3, ln 45-55);
said bottom portion (second main panels 28, 28’) extending into said bottom edge (see Fig 3, col 3, ln 45-55), said bottom portion (28, 28’) being positionable in a stored position having said bottom portion being contained within said top portion, said bottom portion being positionable in a deployed position having said bottom portion extending downwardly from said top portion (second main panel 28, is downwardly movable in the direction of arrow 31 from a base position completely within second main cavity 27 of second main body wall 26 to a variety of positions exposing panel 28, col 3, ln 45-55).
Vandagriff, Moo, Barna, and Drake fail to disclose a rear surface of said top portion has a pair of slots each extending into said interior, each of said slots being oriented to extend substantially between said top edge and said bottom edge, said pair of slots being positioned on opposite sides of a center of said top portion.
Panda discloses a sun visor for a vehicle (see abstract) with a top portion (supporting element 20) and a bottom portion (auxiliary visor 30). A rear surface of said top portion (20) a has a pair of slots (guiding slots 22) each extending into said interior (extending through second shell element 28, see Fig 5f), each of said slots (22) being oriented to extend substantially between said top edge and said bottom edge (as shown in Fig 5b, 5f, pg 6-7), said pair of slots (22) being positioned on opposite sides of a center of said top portion (shown in Fig 5b, 5f, pg 6-7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify a rear surface of said top portion of Vandagriff to include slots as disclosed by Panda. In this case, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the use of slots as disclosed by Panda is a known technique for providing a handle to manipulate the sliding of the bottom portion into an extended position (Panda, Fig 5b, 5f, pg 6-7) and this modification would have yielded the predictable results of providing a handle mechanism for the extension of the bottom portion (Panda, Fig 5b, 5f, pg 6-7).
Claim 9: Panda further discloses a handle being attached to a surface (at sliding key 12) of said bottom portion (30) (sliding key 12 is attached to sliding element 30, pg 5), said handle having a pair of stems (connecting element 14) each extending away from said surface (second shell element 28), each of said stems (14) extending outwardly through a respective one of said pair of slots (22) in said surface of said top portion (28), said handle having a member (sliding handle 16) extending between a distal end of each of said pair of stems (14) having said member (16) being spaced from said surface of said top portion (28) wherein said member (sliding handle 16) is configured to be gripped to manipulate said bottom portion between said stored position and said deployed position (sliding handle 16 can be used to manually move the sliding element 30 relative to the supporting element 20 and to move the sliding element 30 from the non-use position 60 to the use position 70, see Fig 1a-c, pg 4-5).
Vandagriff, Moo, Barna, Drake, and Panda discloses all the limitations of the claims, except for the handle attached to the back surface of the bottom portion and extending through a rear surface of the top portion. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the handle to be attached to the back surface of the bottom portion and extend through a rear surface of the top portion, since it has been held that rearranging parts of a prior art structure involves only routing skill in the art. In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The prior art of Richman, US 2016/0059676 (hereinafter Richman) discloses a sun shade assembly for a visor for a vehicle but was not relied upon in the current rejections.
Claims 1-9 are rejected. No claims are allowed.
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/CAROLINE N BUTCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3676