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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 18 and 19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/3/26.
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 1-3, 11-13, and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jun (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0063144) in view of Zhang (CN 216008310) and Hall (U.S. Patent No. 331,297). Note: A copy of a machine translation of the Zhang patent document has been provided with this Office Action. References to the disclosure of Zhang are directed to the machine translation.
Regarding claim 1, Jun discloses a fire protection apparatus (100) comprising: a door frame (door frame shown in at least Figures 1-2 surrounding opening 104) mounted in a vertical passage between an upper floor and a lower floor of a building (paragraph 0041) or in a horizontal passage between a first compartment and a second compartment of the building; a guide rail (20) provided at a side of the door frame to guide a lift to pass through the vertical passage (paragraph 0054-0055) or to guide a carriage to pass through the horizontal passage; a main shutter device (shutter formed by panels 110 and 112) mounted on the door frame to open or close a main passage space between the door frame and the guide rail [FIGS. 1, 3]; a sub-shutter device to close an internal space of the guide rail in association with the main shutter device when the main shutter device is closed (paragraph 0055 discloses a second fireproof shutter disposed in the main frame 20 to close the internal space thereof); and a mounting device mounted between an installation surface of the building and the door frame (as shown in at least Figure 3, posts extend from the guide frames 136 to the base plate 102; said posts mount the door frame to the building installation surface).
Jun does not disclose that the sub-shutter device is mounted on the main shutter device, or that the device mounting the door frame to the building includes position adjustment.
Nonetheless, Zhang discloses a fire protection apparatus comprising a sub-shutter device (109) mounted on a respective main shutter device (13) to close an internal space (at 30) of a guide rail in association with the main shutter device (paragraph n0037) [FIG. 1].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sub-shutter device of Jun to be mounted on the main shutter device, as taught by Zhang, in order to improve the overall sealing and fire protection capability of the apparatus by providing the sub-shutter device as an extension of the main shutter to establish a more continuous sealing area.
Furthermore, Hall discloses a position adjusting device [FIG. 1] to adjust a position of a respective frame (a).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the mounting components of Jun to include the position adjusting device taught by Hall, in order to allow for more precise positioning of the shutter apparatus, so as to prevent unwanted contact or obstructions between the shutter/sub-shutter and the guide rail.
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Jun discloses the installation surface of the building (at 102, as shown in Figures 1 and 3), and wherein the guide rail is provided at a side [FIG. 2], with a hollow part through which the sub-shutter passes (the hollow part of the guide rail/main frame 20 is shown in at least Figure 2; paragraph 0055 further discloses extension of the sub-shutter within said space) but does not disclose a position adjusting device.
Nonetheless, Hall discloses a positioning device comprising a base (k) mounted on a surface; a screw rod (i) mounted on the base; and a nut member (h) screw-coupled to the screw rod to move forward or backward so as to support the frame, wherein the position adjusting device adjusts a height of the frame (page 1, lines 28-64).
As set forth with respect to claim 1 above, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the mounting component of Jun to include the position adjusting device taught by Hall, in order to allow for more precise positioning of the shutter apparatus. Selecting the range of height adjustment to be less than a height of the hollow part would further constitute an obvious selection of an optimized range. It has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding claim 11, Jun discloses that the main shutter device comprises: a first main shutter (110) mounted at a side of a main shutter guide member (at 120) mounted on the door frame, and moved along the main shutter guide member [FIGS. 1, 3]; a second main shutter (112) mounted at another side of the main shutter guide member (at 122) mounted on the door frame, and moved along the main shutter guide member; and a shutter driver (150) for driving the first and second main shutters toward or away from each other by using a single motor (152; paragraph 0051).
Regarding claim 12, Jun discloses that conveyor belt protection slits (recesses defined in the main shutters 110, 112, in which the main frame 20 nests in a closed position) are formed at front ends of the first and second main shutters to protect conveyor belts (the slits are shown in at least Figures 2 and 4; these slits are inherently capable of being used to protect conveyor belts, thereby meeting the requirements of the functional limitation; see MPEP 2173.05(g)).
Regarding claims 13 and 15, Jun discloses a sub-shutter device, but does not disclose first and second sub-shutters.
Nonetheless, Zhang discloses a sub-shutter device comprising a first sub-shutter (109) mounted at a front end of a first main shutter (13) and a second sub-shutter device (109, on the opposite side) mounted at a front end of the second main shutter (13, on the opposite side) to correspond to the first sub-shutter [FIG. 1], wherein conveyor belt protection slits are formed at front ends of the first and second sub-shutters to protect conveyor belts (slits in the front end of the sub-shutters 109 are shown in at least Figure 5; these slits are inherently capable of being used to protect conveyor belts, and therefore meet the requirements of the limitation).
As set forth with respect to claim 1 above, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sub-shutter of Jun to have the configuration taught by Zhang, in order to improve the sealing and fire protection capabilities of the apparatus.
Regarding claims 16 and 17, Jun discloses that the guide rail comprises a first rail (first side of the main frame 20) for guiding a side of the lift or the carriage (paragraphs 0054-0055); and a second rail (second side of the main frame 20) for guiding another side of the lift or the carriage (paragraphs 0054-0055); wherein the first or second rail is provided, at a side, with a hollow part through which at least a portion of the sub-shutter device passes [FIG. 2] (paragraph 0055).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 is allowed.
Claims 4-10 and 14 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABE L MASSAD whose telephone number is (571)272-6292. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4:00.
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/ABE MASSAD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3634
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