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) 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin (US 20200123814 A1) in view of Mori (US 4467981 A).
Regarding claim 1, Shin teaches a locking mechanism for a console device, being configured to restrict a console armrest of the console device disposed between a driver seat and a passenger seat inside a vehicle, the locking mechanism comprising: a housing (110) mounted on a front surface of a console box of the console device; a pivoting lever (120) pivotably coupled to an inner surface of the housing (fig. 2); a slider (140) pivotably coupled to an upper body of the pivoting lever (pivots in 121A); an inertial member interlocking portion (opening to receive 130) coupled to a lower body of the pivoting lever; on which an inertial member (130) is seated; and wherein the inertial member is configured to operate the inertial member interlocking portion when a collision of the vehicle occurs (para. 0034).
Shin does not explicitly teach an inertial member seating portion mounted on the housing wherein the inertial member is positioned between the inertial member interlocking portion and the inertial member seating portion.
Mori teaches a similar acceleration sensor interacting with a lever wherein an inertial member seating portion (86) is mounted on the housing unit, wherein the inertial member (84) is positioned between the inertial member interlocking portion (82) and the inertial member seating portion (86).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to substitute the inertial member of Mori for that of Shin. Providing a ball with angled cooperation surfaces as the inertial member allows for reliable acceleration sensing in multiple directions as any displacement of the ball causes the inertial member interlocking portion to raise and actuate. The substitution of one known element for another yields predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 2, Shin in view of Mori teaches the locking mechanism of claim 1, Shin further teaches wherein: the pivoting lever (120) is pivotably coupled by a first fastening pin (121) coupled to an intermediate portion of the pivoting lever; and the upper body and lower body are each formed in a bent shape based on the intermediate portion (fig. 2).
Regarding claim 3, Shin in view of Mori teaches the locking mechanism of claim 2, wherein one end portion of the slider (140) is pivotably coupled to an end portion of the upper body (pivotably coupled in 121a), and when the pivoting lever is pivoted, an other end portion of the slider passing through a rear surface of the housing is inserted into the console armrest to restrict an opening operation of the console armrest (fig. 2 to fig. 3).
Regarding claim 4, Shin in view of Mori teaches the locking mechanism of claim 3, Mori further teaches wherein a seating groove (lowest portion of 86) on which the inertial member is seated is formed in the inertial member seating portion.
Regarding claim 5, Shin in view of Mori teaches the locking mechanism of claim 4, Mori further teaches wherein a surface (82) of the inertial member interlocking portion, which supports an upper surface of the inertial member (fig. 2), is inclined from a center to an edge.
Regarding claim 6, Shin in view of Mori teaches the locking mechanism of claim 3, Shin further teaches further comprising: a first spring (150) having a first end coupled to the housing and a second end coupled to the pivoting lever (para. 0031).
Claim(s) 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin (US 20200123814 A1) in view of Mori (US 4467981 A) as utilized above and further in view of Hodgson (US 20210348425 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Shin in view of Mori teach the locking mechanism according to claim 1.
Shin in view of Mori do not explicitly teach a friction hinge mounted on the lid of a console box arm rest.
Hodgson teaches a similar vehicular console device positioned between a driver seat and a passenger seat inside a vehicle, the vehicular console device comprising: a console box (1000); a console armrest (200) provided on a cover of the console box; a friction hinge mechanism (para. 0041) mounted on a rear end portion of the console box to pivotably couple the console armrest to the console box, the friction hinge mechanism including a friction member.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Shin and Mori as utilized above with those of Hodgson to utilize a friction hinge device on the vehicular console device. Utilizing a friction hinge device provides increased access by providing a holding force at various positions. All the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination yielded nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 11, Shin in view of Mori and further in view of Hodgson teach the vehicular console device of claim 10, Shin further teaches wherein: the pivoting lever of the locking mechanism is pivotably coupled by a first fastening pin (121) coupled to an intermediate portion of the pivoting lever; the upper body and lower body are each formed in a bent shape based on the intermediate portion (fig. 2); and one end portion of the slider is pivotably coupled to an end portion of the upper body (connected at 121a), and when the pivoting lever is pivoted, an other end portion of the slider passing through a rear surface of the housing is inserted into an armrest groove formed in the console armrest to restrict an opening operation of the console armrest (140 fig 2 to fig. 3).
Regarding claim 12, Shin in view of Mori and further in view of Hodgson teach the vehicular console device of claim 11, Shin further teaches wherein a surface of the inertial member interlocking portion (82) of the locking mechanism, which supports an upper surface of the inertial member, is inclined from a center to an edge (82 is rounded with inclined surfaces, fig. 7).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9 and 13-15 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 7 and 13 contain allowable subject matter for disclosing that the pivoting lever and the slider are fastened together by sliding a pin through a hole in the pivoting lever and a hole in the slider and compressing a spring positioned inside the fastening hole. The slider of Shin has an integral pin which rotates and slides in slot 121a of the pivot lever 120. It would be improper hindsight for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the slit and pin arrangement of Shin for a fastening pin which couples two fastening holes while compressing a spring as the motion of Shin requires both rotational and sliding movement for the connection between the pivoting lever and the slider.
Claims 8-9 and 14-15 contain allowable subject matter for depending upon claim 7 which contains allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES EDWARD IGNACZEWSKI whose telephone number is (571)272-2732. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 EST.
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/J.E.I./Examiner, Art Unit 3675 /KRISTINA R FULTON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3675
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