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.
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.
Claims 1-8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Roe (US20220153334) in view of Uematsu (US20150344061).
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Fig. 2A of Roe
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Fig. 6A-B of Roe
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Fig. 9B of Roe
Regarding claim 1, Roe teaches a steering wheel including:
a main frame (54, 56A-56D) including a central base (54) and a plurality of spoke arms (56A-D) extending radially outward from the central base (54);
an annular core (52, 60) surrounding the central base (54) and directly connected to distal ends of the plurality of spoke arms (56A-D, Fig. 2A);
at least one heating element (80),
an outer coat structure (150) encompassing the annular core (52) and the at least one heating element (80).
Roe is silent on at least one heating element in contact with the annular core.
Roe and Uematsu are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of steering wheel heaters. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Roe to incorporate the teachings of Uematsu to have the heating element be in contact with the annular core to make a steering wheel that is heated that makes it possible to suppress the manufacturing costs and to surely fix a heater within a cover portion (Uematsu [0013]).
Regarding claim 2, Roe and Uematsu teach the steering wheel of claim 1, and Roe teaches wherein the annular core is made of metal (52, [0027] made of steel or other suitable rigid material).
Regarding claim 3, Roe and Uematsu teach the steering wheel of claim 1, and Roe teaches wherein each of the plurality of spoke arms (56A-D) and the annular core (52) are connected to each other at at least one connection point (Fig. 2A),
and the at least one heating element covers (80) at least a portion of the at least one connection point (Fig. 6A [0025] where arcuate legs 57A of the spokes 56A, 56B are sized and shaped complementarily to the inner circumference of the hand grip 52a, where heating element covers the exterior of the connection area of the spokes and the annular core).
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Annotated Fig. 2A of Roe
Regarding claim 4, Roe and Uematsu teach the steering wheel of claim 1, and Roe teaches wherein two distal ends (Fig. 2A) of the annular core (52) correspond to each other and form a gap therebetween (Annotated Fig. 2A),
and one of the plurality of spoke arms (56A-D, [0024] each include an arcuate leg 57A) is connected to the two distal ends of the annular core (52, Fig. 2A where leg 57A is shown to connect at the distal ends of core 52).
Regarding claim 5, Roe and Uematsu teach the steering wheel of claim 4, and Roe teaches wherein the at least one heating element (80) includes a plurality of heating circuits (80A, 80B) and a plurality of wires ([0032] 87.1, 87.2) electrically connected to the plurality of heating circuits (80A, 80B, Fig. 6B).
Roe is silent on the plurality of wires extend through the gap.
Uematsu teaches the plurality of wires (25) extend through the gap (63).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Roe to incorporate the teachings of Uematsu to have the wires extend through the gap in order to stabilize the temperature increase by heater while ensuring a certain level of the external appearance (Uematsu [0095]).
Regarding claim 6, Roe and Uematsu teach the steering wheel of claim 1, and Roe teaches wherein the at least one heating element (80) is secured to the annular core (52, [0032]).
Regarding claim 7, Roe and Uematsu teach the steering wheel of claim 6, and Roe teaches wherein the at least one heating element (80) is secured to the annular core (52) by at least one method of adhering and wrapping ([0032] wrap).
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Annotated Fig. 7 of Roe
Regarding claim 8, Roe and Uematsu teach the steering wheel of claim 1, and Roe teaches wherein the annular core (52) includes an outer circumferential surface and two outer lateral annular surfaces (Annotated Fig. 7),
the outer circumferential surface is connected to and between the two outer lateral annular surfaces (Annotated Fig. 7).
Roe is silent on the at least one heating element is in contact with the outer circumferential surface and the two outer lateral annular surfaces.
Uematsu teaches and the at least one heating element (28, 31, 32) is in contact with the outer circumferential surface and the two outer lateral annular surfaces (25, Annotated Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Roe to incorporate the teachings of Uematsu to have the heating element be in contact with the annular core, with the outer circumferential surface and two outer lateral annular surfaces, to make a steering wheel that is heated that makes it possible to suppress the manufacturing costs and to surely fix a heater within a cover portion (Uematsu [0013]).
Regarding claim 10, Roe and Uematsu teach the steering wheel of claim 1, and Roe teaches wherein the at least one heating element (80) is of a folded configuration so that a portion of a heating surface of the at least one heating element (80) faces toward the annular core (52) and another portion of a heating surface of the at least one heating element (80) faces away from the annular core (52, Fig. 7).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Roe (US20220153334) in view of Uematsu (US20150344061) as applied to claim5 above, and further in view of Xu (WO2022174691A1) with citations made to attached machine translations.
Regarding claim 9, Roe and Uematsu teach the steering wheel of claim 5, and Roe teaches
wherein the main frame (54, 56A-56D) is made of metal ([0027] made of steel or other suitable rigid material); the annular core (52) is made of metal ([0027] made of steel or other suitable rigid material);
each of the plurality of spoke arms (56A-D) and the annular core (52) are connected to each other at at least one connection point (Fig. 2A),
and the at least one heating element covers (80) at least a portion of the at least one connection point (Fig. 6A [0025] where arcuate legs 57A of the spokes 56A, 56B are sized and shaped complementarily to the inner circumference of the hand grip 52a, where heating element covers the exterior of the connection area of the spokes and the annular core),
and the outer coat structure (150) partially covers the plurality of spoke arms (56A-D, Fig. 9B).
Roe is silent on the at least one heating element is adhered to the annular core and is secured to the annular core by a plurality of fastening bands, and the at least one heating element is in contact with the outer circumferential surface and the two outer lateral annular surfaces, the outer coat structure includes a cladding encompassing the annular core and the at least one heating element and an outer layer disposed around the cladding.
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Annotated Fig. 1 of Uematsu
Uematsu teaches the at least one heating element (28, 31, 32) is adhered to the annular core (25) and is secured to the annular core (25) by a plurality of fastening bands ([0070] band or hook may be used for this fixing method);
and the at least one heating element (28, 31, 32) is in contact with the outer circumferential surface and the two outer lateral annular surfaces (25, Annotated Fig. 1); the outer coat structure (19, 61) includes a cladding (19,[0052] cover portion 19, which is made of a soft synthetic resin, understood to be the equivalent of a cladding) encompassing the annular core (25) and the at least one heating element (28) and an outer layer (61, [0086]) disposed around the cladding (19).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Roe to incorporate the teachings of Uematsu to have the heating element be in contact with the annular core, with the outer circumferential surface and two outer lateral annular surfaces, by way of fastening bands, and to have the outer coat structure include a cladding, in order to make a steering wheel that is heated that makes it possible to suppress the manufacturing costs and to surely fix a heater within a cover portion (Uematsu [0013]).
Roe and Uematsu are silent on the outer coat structure further includes a marking portion, and the marking portion and one of the plurality of spoke arms correspond to each other diametrically.
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Fig. 1 of Xu
Xu teaches the outer coat structure (11) further includes a marking portion (12), and the marking portion (12) and one of the plurality of spoke arms correspond to each other diametrically (Fig. 1).
Roe, Uematsu, and Xu are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of steering wheel heaters. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Roe and Uematsu to incorporate the teachings of Xu to have a marking portion on the outer coat corresponding to a spoke for decorative effect, making the steering wheel more aesthetically pleasing (Xu [0002]).
Conclusion
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/ABIGAIL H RHUE/Examiner, Art Unit 3761 7/8/2026
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