DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Drawings
New corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in this application because the drawings filed 12/21/2023 are not proper black and white line drawings. Specifically, Figures 5-6 and 13-14 include features that are difficult to interpret due to very light/blurry drawing lines. This is frequently the result of drawings which are filed in a very dark grey (so dark that it is appears black such as RGB value 37, 37, 37) instead of pure black (RGB value 0, 0, 0). While very dark grey may appear black, it causes artifacts and inconsistent line thickness. Applicant is advised to employ the services of a competent patent draftsperson outside the Office, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office no longer prepares new drawings. The corrected drawings are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The requirement for corrected drawings will not be held in abeyance.
All drawings must be made by a process which will give them satisfactory reproduction characteristics. Every line, number, and letter must be durable, clean, black (except for color drawings), sufficiently dense and dark, and uniformly thick and well-defined. The weight of all lines and letters must be heavy enough to permit adequate reproduction. This requirement applies to all lines however fine, to shading, and to lines representing cut surfaces in sectional views. Lines and strokes of different thicknesses may be used in the same drawing where different thicknesses have a different meaning.
Claim Objections
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 4 recites “the mounting fixing portion has an engagement portion formed in at least one of the actuator box and the lid box in a claw shape using the inclined surface”. The term “claw shape” is objected to since a “claw” can be a wide variety of shapes, and it is unclear what shape is being claimed. Additionally, the phrase “the mounting fixing portion has an engagement portion formed in at least one of the actuator box and the lid box in a claw shape using the inclined surface” is awkwardly worded (i.e. how is a claw shaped formed using the inclined surface?). Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-4 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
The claims are generally narrative and indefinite, failing to conform with current U.S. practice. They appear to be a literal translation into English from a foreign document and are replete with grammatical and idiomatic errors. Examiner notes that the examples of indefiniteness below are NON-LIMITING examples only. Applicant must review and amend all claims for clarity, definiteness, and grammatical accuracy.
Claim 1 recites “wherein the link mechanism includes a shaft member extending in a shaft shape between the actuator box side and the lid box side and configured to rotate by the power”. This renders the claim indefinite, since the terms “the actuator box side” and “the lid box side” lack proper antecedent basis and are unclear (i.e. what are “the actuator box side” and “the lid box side”? Sides of what? Are “the actuator box side” and “the lid box side” intended to be sides of the lid, the box, the actuator, the link, the shaft?). Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 recites “the shaft member is mounted to one side out of the actuator box and the lid box at one axial end portion thereof… the other side out of the actuator box and the lid box has a fitting hole into which another axial end portion of the shaft member is inserted”. This limitation is unclear and renders the claim indefinite (i.e. How can the shaft be mounted to both “actuator box and the lid box” at the same side? What is being referred to by “to one side out of the actuator box and the lid box” and “the other side out of the actuator box and the lid box”? “One side” and “the other side” of what?). Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 recites “the guide portion has a rotation guide portion provided to at least one of the actuator box and the lid box and configured to rotate the actuator box about an axis of the shaft member toward a lid closing side with respect to the lid box in a process in which the assembly proceeds”. This renders the claim indefinite, as it is unclear how Applicants rotation guide portion (element 93) would “rotate the actuator box about an axis of the shaft member”. Examiner notes that element 93 is simply a stationary projection with an inclined surface (Figure 12, element 93a), and it is entirely unclear how element 93 would “rotate the actuator box about an axis of the shaft member”, and it is therefore unclear what is being claimed. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 recites “the shaft member is mounted to one side out of the actuator box and the lid box at one axial end portion thereof before assembly between the actuator box and the lid box is performed”, “a guide portion configured to guide the actuator box and the lid box when the assembly is performed”, and “a rotation guide portion provided to at least one of the actuator box and the lid box and configured to rotate the actuator box about an axis of the shaft member toward a lid closing side with respect to the lid box in a process in which the assembly proceeds”. Additionally, claims 2 and 4 recite “in the process in which the assembly proceeds”, and claim 3 recites “a mounting fixing portion configured to fix the actuator box and the lid box to each other in a state where rotation of the actuator box toward the lid closing side is completed”. These limitations render the claims indefinite since, as best understood, Applicant is claiming process steps and different structural configurations with respect to different phases of assembly in the claims. Examiner notes that a single claim which claims both an apparatus and the method steps of using the apparatus is indefinite under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claim is directed to neither a ‘process’ nor a ‘machine,’ but rather embraces or overlaps two different statutory classes of invention set forth in 35 U.S.C. 101 which is drafted so as to set forth the statutory classes of invention in the alternative only.” Id. at 1551.
Examiner notes that clear intended use/functional language may be used in an apparatus claim (i.e. “configured to” or equivalent). Applicant could potentially amend the claims to include language of this nature. However, as written, the claims refer to numerous process steps and different structural configurations with respect to different phases of assembly, and appropriate correction is required.
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Heins et al. (US 11,535,309) (hereinafter Heins).
Regarding claim 1, as best understood, Heins discloses a lid opening/closing device comprising: a lid box (considered cargo area of truck bed generally defined by elements 106, 108, 110, and 118) having an internal space (See at least Figure 1A) and an opening through which the internal space is exposed to outside; a lid (element 118) configured to be opened/closed between a closed position at which the opening is closed and an opened position at which the opening is opened; an actuator (considered at least elements 210, 212, 214, 216) configured to generate power for opening/closing the lid; an actuator box (considered at least element 200 in combination with elements 354 and 306) in which the actuator is housed and which is placed outside the internal space of the lid box (See Figures 1A and 1B); and a link mechanism (See at least Figures 3A-3C, element 120) interposed between the actuator and the lid and configured to transmit the power generated by the actuator to the lid, wherein the link mechanism includes a shaft member (element 300) extending in a shaft shape between the actuator box side and the lid box side and configured to rotate by the power, the shaft member is mounted to one side out of the actuator box and the lid box at one axial end portion thereof (elements 312, 314, 316 are mounted to element 306 of actuator box) [before assembly between the actuator box and the lid box is performed]*, the other side out of the actuator box and the lid box has a fitting hole (considered hole in element 336 into which element 310 is inserted) into which another axial end portion of the shaft member is inserted, the actuator box and the lid box have a guide portion (Figures 3A-3C, at least elements 302, 304, 322, 332, 300) [configured to guide the actuator box and the lid box when the assembly is performed by inserting the other axial end portion of the shaft member into the fitting hole]* (Figures 3A-3C, element 332 guides insertion of element 310), and the guide portion has a rotation guide portion (elements 314, 316) provided to at least one of the actuator box and the lid box and [configured to rotate the actuator box about an axis of the shaft member toward a lid closing side with respect to the lid box in a process in which the assembly proceeds]* (element 306 rotates about axis of element 300 during operation) .
Examiner’s note: *The above/below statements in brackets are examples of an intended use statement that fails to further limit the structure of the claimed invention. Since the claimed invention is directed solely to the structure of a lid opening/closing device, the prior art must only be capable of meeting the structural recitation in order to be applicable, and in this case, the examiner maintains that the lid opening/closing device disclosed by Heins is entirely capable of the intended use statement. Note that it has been held that a recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus satisfying the claimed structural limitations. Ex parte Masham 2 USPQ2d 1647 (1987).
Regarding claim 2, as best understood, Heins discloses wherein the rotation guide portion has an inclined surface (area of element 316) [configured to come into contact with the actuator box or the lid box and apply a force for rotating the actuator box toward the lid closing side with respect to the lid box, to the actuator box or the lid box in the process in which the assembly proceeds]*.
Regarding claim 3, as best understood, Heins discloses wherein the actuator box and the lid box have a mounting fixing portion (See at least Figure 3B, element 120) configured to fix the actuator box and the lid box to each other in a state where rotation of the actuator box toward the lid closing side is completed.
Regarding claim 4, as best understood, Heins discloses wherein the rotation guide portion has an inclined surface (area of element 316 includes an inclined surface) [configured to come into contact with the actuator box or the lid box and apply a force for rotating the actuator box toward the lid closing side with respect to the lid box, to the actuator box or the lid box in the process in which the assembly proceeds]*, and the mounting fixing portion has an engagement portion (considered engagement between elements 316 and 346) formed in at least one of the actuator box and the lid box in a claw shape (Examiner notes that “a claw shape” is considered to be extremely broad) using the inclined surface (elements 316 and 346 are engaged using the inclined surface of element 316).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN B REPHANN whose telephone number is (571)270-7318. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Cahn can be reached at 571-270-5616. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUSTIN B REPHANN/Examiner, Art Unit 3634