DETAILED ACTION
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 6, 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nishimura et al. (US 20230264757).
Regarding claim 1, Nishimura discloses a vehicle bottom structure, comprising: a floor bottom panel, comprising a floor tunnel portion (26,27, 28, 29) and a bottom panel portion (34) (figs 1-5, abstract, [0051]); side beams (30, 31), disposed on an outer side of the floor bottom panel in a vehicle width direction (figs 1-5), and extending along a vehicle front-back direction (figs 1-5); a first cross member (25B) and a second cross member (33), respectively disposed on a central side and a back end side of the floor tunnel portion in the vehicle front-back direction (figs 1-5), and extending along the vehicle width direction (figs 1-5); and a patch component (25C), disposed between the first cross member and the second cross member (figs 1-5), wherein the floor tunnel portion is disposed at a central side between the side beams in the vehicle width direction and extends along the vehicle front-back direction (figs 1-5), and the bottom panel portion is disposed between the side beams and the floor tunnel portion (figs 1-5), part of the patch component overlaps a central side of the bottom panel portion in the vehicle width direction (figs 1-5).
Regarding claim 6, Nishimura further discloses that the patch component is formed such that a length in the vehicle width direction is greater than a length in the vehicle front-back direction (figs 1-5), and a distance in which the patch component extends from the central side of the bottom panel portion in the vehicle width direction toward an outer side is greater than a distance in which the patch component extends from the central side of the bottom panel portion in the vehicle width direction toward an inner side (figs 1-5).
Regarding claim 8, Nishimura further discloses that the first cross member is a front cross member connecting the floor tunnel portion and the side beams (figs 1-5), the second cross member is a back cross member connecting the side beams at a back end portion of the floor tunnel portion in the vehicle front-back direction (figs 1-5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 7 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
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/DANY E AKAKPO/Examiner, Art Unit 3672
02/02/2026