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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-5 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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, 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ota in view of Hoshi et al. (11,932,141).
Regarding claim 1, Ota discloses a vehicle seat, comprising: a seat back pad 20 attached to a seat back frame 10 configuring a frame; a back support device 25B provided on a seat rear side of the seat back pad, configured to assist a seated posture of a seated person, and including an opening portion (where 41A enters 25B) penetrating in a seat back thickness direction; and an air conditioning device 40 including an air conditioner configured to suction and blow out air, and a flow path 41 forming portion connected to the air conditioner, inserted into the opening portion of the back support device, and performing at least one of blowing out air to a side of the seated person or suctioning air from the seated person side in accordance with the air conditioner, wherein the seat back pad includes an insertion portion 24D2 penetrating in the seat back thickness direction, a length of the opening portion (figure 5) in a vertical direction of the vehicle seat is greater than a length of the insertion portion 25D2 in the vertical direction of the vehicle seat, and the opening portion is located above the insertion portion in a side view of the vehicle seat, wherein the air conditioner of the air conditioning device is provided above the back support device in the seat.
However, Ota fails to disclose the flow path forming portion being inserted into the insertion portion so that the flow path forming portion extends toward a front side of the seat back pad.
Instead, Hoshi et al. disclose the flow path forming portion 170 being inserted into the insertion portion 50A so that the flow path forming portion extends toward a front side of the seat back pad (figure 2 shows the portion 170 is at the front of seat pad in the passage A2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Hoshi et al. and place the flow path forming portion till the front of seat pad in the invention of Ota in order to provide efficient comfort with low cost.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 are allowed.
Conclusion
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/SYED A ISLAM/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3636
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