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 .
DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
This is in response to the papers filed on 08/24/2023 for Application No. 18/454,883. Claims 1-13 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) received on 08/24/2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 7, the phrase "for example or i.e." renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claims 8-9 are rejected upon dependent from a rejected claim and they inherit its deficiencies.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-6 and 10-13 are allowed.
Claims 7-9 are rejected but would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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:
Regarding claim 1, the prior art of record fails to disclose or render obvious a car having two front wheels, two rear drive wheels, a passenger compartment which is arranged between the front wheels and the rear wheels, an internal combustion engine, which is provided with a plurality of cylinders, within which respective pistons slide, and with a drive shaft connected to the pistons and in combination with remaining features recited, particularly “a containing body (73) which contains the transmission (7) therein, has a tapered shape towards the rear so that the height of the containing body (73) progressively reduces from the front to the rear, and has a bottom wall (74) at the bottom, which is inclined relative to the horizontal; and a rear aerodynamic diffuser (75), which is inclined relative to the horizontal and is arranged under the containing body (73);wherein the bottom wall (74) of the containing body (73) has the same inclination relative to the horizontal of the aerodynamic diffuser (75)”.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art of record fails to disclose or render obvious the car according to claim 7 and includes the combination of features recited.
The closest prior art of reference is Mizuno et al. (US 6,435,298 B1).
Mizuno discloses a vehicle 14 includes two axles 3,4 with front and rear wheels, a front internal combustion engine (col. 7, line 15-22), a center shaft (15) disposed at the bottom center of the vehicle, a differential gear 6, a rear undercover main body 19 with opening 33 and a plurality of flow-adjusting fins 37,38, which is inclined relative to the horizontal and is arranged under the body of differential 6 and configured to provide cooling for the differential 8 and drive elements of the vehicle (col. 4, lines 11-16; col. 5, lines 13-21; col. 5, line 58 – col. 7, line 22). See Figures 1-12. However, Mizuno does not disclose the particular features required by claim 1. There is no motivation for a skilled person in the art to modify the vehicle of Mizuno to achieve the claim invention as recited.
Claims 2-6 and 8-13 are allowable because they depend from an allowable base claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Moradnia et al. (US 2022/0219768 A1) discloses a diffuser for a vehicle, see Figures 2-12;
Wolf et al. (US 10,676,140 B2) discloses a rear diffusor unit with a flow-directing sealing element, see Figures 1-10;
Shinedling et al. (US 2017/0297637 A1) discloses a configurable rear underbody aerodynamic diffuser, see Figures 1-6;
Froling et al. (US 8,882,176 B2) discloses an active aero diffuser, see Figures 1-4; and
Onodera et al. (US 8,668,254 B2) disclose a vehicle underfloor structure, see Figures 1-6.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tinh T Dang whose telephone number is (571)270-1776. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9AM - 5PM.
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/TINH T DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655 February 20, 2026
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