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 § 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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rehschuh et al. (EP 0911249 A1 – hereinafter Rehschuh).
Regarding claim 1, Rehschuh discloses a front cowling (Fig. 1) comprising: a cowling panel that covers a front portion of a vehicle from the front and sides (Fig. 1 – cover 3); and a wing that protrudes laterally from the cowling panel (Fig. 1 – wing 4), wherein the rear edge of the wing is located higher than a front edge of the wing (Fig. 2 – the rear edge is raised higher than the front edge of the wing), and an air guide path is formed that takes in a traveling wind from the front of the vehicle and discharges the traveling wind as an airflow into a space below the wing (Fig. 2 an air guide path is formed between surfaces of the wing and the mirror housing 1, wherein the air enters the front opening and exits at the rear opening).
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 6- are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rehschuh as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kishi et al. (US 4,678,223 – hereinafter Kishi).
Regarding claim 6, see the teachings of Rehschuh as discussed in claim 1 above. However, Rehschuh does not disclose an intake port for taking in the traveling wind is formed in the front portion of the cowling panel, a discharge port for discharging the traveling wind as an airflow is formed in a side portion of the cowling panel, and the discharge port is exposed to the space below the wing, and the air guide path takes in traveling wind from the intake port and discharges airflow from the discharge port into the space below the wing.
Kishi discloses an intake port for taking in a traveling wind is formed in a front portion of a cowling panel (abstract), a discharge port for discharging the traveling wind as an airflow is formed in a side portion of the cowling panel (abstract), and the air guide path takes in traveling wind from the intake port and discharges airflow from the discharge port into the space below the wing (abstract).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Kishi into the front cowling taught by Rehschuh to provide a cowling device for riding type vehicles which permits the use of simplified and small-sized metal mold for the molding thereof, extends freedom in design of wind-conducting hole configuration, and enables easier maintenance and inspection work of an engine or a radiator itself and auxiliary equipment (Kishi: column 1, lines 59-65). Further, with the configuration of the wing, which is at the top of the front cowling as taught by Rehschuh, incorporating the teachings of Kishi into Rehschuh would have resulted in “the discharge port is exposed to the space below the wing” as recited in the claim.
Claims 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rehschuh as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Scholz (US 2022/0363323 A1 – hereinafter Scholz).
Regarding claim 11, see the teachings of Rehschuh as discussed in claim 1 above. However, Rehschuh does not disclose the air guide path is provided with a control valve that controls a flow rate of the airflow.
Scholz discloses an air guide path is provided with a control valve that controls a flow rate of the airflow ([0036]-[0041]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Scholz into the front cowling taught by Rehschuh to optimize the aerodynamics of the vehicle for improved fuel efficiency, better stability, and enhanced performance of the vehicle.
Regarding claim 12, see the teachings of Rehschuh and Scholz as discussed in claim 11 above, in which Scholz also discloses the control valve is dynamically opened and closed according to a traveling state, and when accelerating in an upright position, the control valve is opened to increase the flow rate of the airflow, and when decelerating, the control valve is closed to reduce the flow rate of the airflow ([0045]; [0157]-[0158] – when the vehicle decelerates, the valve is closed to reduce air flow to, in turn, reduce downforce and when the vehicle accelerates, the valve is open to increase air flow to increase downforce for safety performance).
The motivation for incorporating the teachings of Scholz into the front cowling has been discussed in claim 11 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 7-10 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.
Claim 2 recites “an intake port is formed in the cowling panel to take in the traveling wind, a discharge port is formed in a lower surface of the wing to discharge the traveling wind as an airflow,” which are features not disclosed or rendered obvious by prior art of record.
Specifically, Rehschuh discloses “a discharge port is formed in a lower surface of the wing” (see Fig. 2 – formed by the end of element 4 and upper surface of mirror housing 1 where the air exits). However, the intake port is not formed in the cowling panel. Instead, Rehschuh seems to teach such an intake port is formed by the gap of element 4 and the upper surface of mirror housing 1 where the air enters the gap. Examiner interprets the limitation of “an intake port is formed in the cowling panel” as an opening formed on a surface of the cowling panel. Since the cowling panel, the wing, and the mirror housing are different from each other. Rehschuh does not teach “an intake port is formed in the cowling panel.”
Prior art has been found to teach “an intake port formed in a cowling panel”. However, the air is led to an engine, thus there is no discharge port being formed in a lower surface of the wing.
One of ordinary skill in the art would not have been motivated to modify Rehschuh to have the air led to an engine exits at a discharge port formed below element 4 of Rehschuh because the air flow in Rehschuh is for the purpose of generating aerodynamics for the vehicle, not for fuel combustion.
Claims 3-5 and 7-10 depend on claims 2 thus are objected by virtue of dependency.
Claims 7-10 recite additional features that are not disclosed or rendered obvious by prior art of record.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG Q DANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1116. The examiner can normally be reached IFT.
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/HUNG Q DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484