DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is in response to the claims filed on 10/20/2023.
Claims 1-6 are currently pending and have been examined below.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the following feature(s) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Claim 1 - “a seal base section installed along the periphery of the front windshield”. This objection is set forth because the figures only show the sealing material installed on portions of the windshield and not along the periphery of the windshield.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
In par. 4, “For example, it is possible to adopt a vehicle structure in which a front windshield and a headlamp are laid out to be close to a front part of a vehicle body” is brought to applicant’s attention for further clarification. This objection is set forth as examiner notes that a front windshield and a headlamp are typically close to a front part of a vehicle body in a conventional vehicle, i.e., both parts are usually located at the front of the vehicle body. What does applicant mean by ‘laid out to be close to a front part of a vehicle body’?
In line 6 of par. 30, “ehicle” should read --vehicle--.
Appropriate correction is required. Above provides non-limiting examples, the applicant(s) must find and correct all issues similar to those discussed above.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 3, and 5 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In line 3 of claim 1, “the periphery of the front windshield” should read --a periphery of the front windshield--.
In lines 9-10 of claim 1, “the front windshield installing direction” should read --a front windshield installing direction-- and in lines 11-12, “the headlamp replacing direction” should read --a headlamp replacing direction--.
In lines 3-4 of claim 3, “to which one the oblique lip section and the connecting lip section are connected” seems that it should read --at which one of the oblique lip section and the connecting lip section are connected--.
In line 5 of claim 3, “the virtual contact circle” should read --a virtual contact circle--.
In lines 5-6 of claim 3, “the virtual contact circle contacting the front windshield and the headlamp, respectively” is objected. The limitation ‘contact’ requires physical engagement or touching of elements (see definition below). This objection is set forth because the virtual contact circle is merely a reference circle (see par. 53) and not a tangible element of the invention. Applicant can add an intended use language such as ‘configured to contact’ to establish the connection of the virtual contact circle to both the front windshield and headlamp.
In lines 2-3 of claim 5, “wherein the seal base section and the lip base section are formed of hard rubber material” is objected as it questions the clarity of the claim. Claim 4, to which claim 5 depends, recites that the lip base section, the seal base section, and a part of seal lip section are formed of the same material. The objection is set forth to further clarify whether the part of the seal lip section in claim 4 is also formed of the same hard rubber material in claim 5. Note that the scope of the claim is clear such that not 112(b) issues set forth.
PNG
media_image1.png
132
735
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Source: American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Appropriate correction is required. Above provides non-limiting examples, the applicant(s) must find and correct all issues similar to those discussed above.
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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kakito (JP 2006021547).
Claim 1
(Kakito discloses) A vehicle sealing material (6; figure 4) to be mounted between a front windshield (1) and a headlamp (3), comprising:
a seal base section (13; figure 4) installed along the periphery of the front windshield (note that ‘windshield’ was interpreted as --A shield placed to protect an object from the wind--); and
a seal lip section (28 and 30) extending from one end of the seal base section, contacting a part of the headlamp (see broken lines in figure 4), and having a hollow cross-sectional shape that is elastically deformable (figure 4),
wherein the seal lip section is same elastic deformation shape during installing the front windshield to a vehicle body (3) by bringing the front windshield with the vehicle sealing material close to the headlamp pre-installed on the vehicle body along the front windshield installing direction (Annotated figure 4 below), and while replacing the headlamp by bringing the headlamp close to the front windshield with the vehicle sealing material along the headlamp replacing direction (Annotated figure 4 below), being different from the front windshield installing direction (this was interpreted as product-by-process limitation; see MPEP 2113 (I); such that the final deformed shape of the seal lip section when all parts are installed and mounted is the same as shown in Annotated figure 4 below whether the windshield is being installed or the headlamp is being replaced).
PNG
media_image2.png
456
744
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Annotated figure 4
Claim 2
(Kakito discloses) The vehicle sealing material according to claim 1,
wherein the seal lip section further comprising:
a lip base section (28) extending from the seal base section;
a pair of oblique lip sections (Annotated figure 4 above) extending along an oblique direction from a lip tip end section and lip base end section of the lip base section (both shown in Annotated figure 4 above), respectively; and
a connecting lip section (Annotated figure 4 above) connecting between the pair of oblique lip sections, wherein the hollow cross-sectional shape of the seal lip section is formed by the lip base section, the pair of oblique lip sections, and the connecting lip section to form a cross-sectional quadrilateral shape (Annotated figure 4 above), and
wherein the cross-sectional quadrilateral shape is changed by elastic deformation of the seal lip section (Annotated figure 4 above).
Claim 3
(Kakito discloses) The vehicle sealing material according to claim 2, in the seal lip section mounted between the front windshield and the headlamp and is in a state of elastic deformation (figure 4), a protruding position of a seal protruding end section (protruding position of 34) to which one the oblique lip section and the connecting lip section are connected is located within a predetermined range with reference to the virtual contact circle contacting the front windshield and the headlamp, respectively (note that applicant’s own seal protruding end section is located outside of an intangible reference virtual contact circle, as such this was interpreted similarly as shown in Annotated figure 4 (II) below).
PNG
media_image3.png
552
634
media_image3.png
Greyscale
Annotated figure 4 (II)
Claim 4
(Kakito discloses) The vehicle sealing material according to claim 2,
wherein the lip base section including the seal base section and a part of seal lip section, are formed of same material (solid rubber mounting base; Excerpt 1 from page 5 below), and
wherein the pair of oblique lip sections and the connecting lip section are formed of same material (sponge rubber seal; Excerpt 1 below; note that Excerpt 1 discusses the other embodiment 14) and are formed of different material from the seal base section and the lip base section (Excerpt 1 below).
PNG
media_image4.png
127
783
media_image4.png
Greyscale
Excerpt 1
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 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kakito, as applied to claims 1-4 above, in view of Hikichi et al. (US 20200238804) (hereinafter “Hikichi”).
Claim 5
(Kakito discloses) The vehicle sealing material according to claim 4,
wherein the seal base section and the lip base section are formed of hard rubber material (Excerpt 1 above), and
wherein the pair of oblique lip sections and the connecting lip section are formed of soft foam sponge material (Excerpt 1 above).
Kakito is silent regarding the soft foam sponge material having different specific gravity and hardness from the hard rubber material.
(However, Hikichi teaches) A vehicle sealing material (17; Hikichi figures 1-2) comprising a soft foam sponge material (21; Hikichi figure 2) having different specific gravity and hardness from a hard rubber material (20; Excerpt 2 from par. 26 below discussing the lower specific gravity and ‘easily deformable’ property of 21 which indicates difference in hardness compared to 20).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide the soft foam sponge material and hard rubber material of Kakito such that they have different specific gravity and hardness as taught by Hikichi, with a reasonable expectation of success, for effectively allowing the pair of oblique sections and connecting lip section to deform and create an effective seal against the headlamp without affecting the durability of the seal base section and lip base section.
PNG
media_image5.png
148
471
media_image5.png
Greyscale
Excerpt 2
Claim 6
(Kakito, as modified above, discloses) The vehicle sealing material according to claim 5.
Modified Kakito is silent regarding:
(i) wherein the hard rubber material is hard rubber made from ethylene-propylene-diene-rubber, and
(ii) wherein the soft foam sponge material is a spongy ethylene-propylene-diene rubber made from ethylene-propylene-diene rubber.
(However, Hikichi teaches) A vehicle sealing material (17 Hikichi figure 2) having a hard rubber material (20) and a soft foam sponge material (21) both made from ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (Excerpt 3 from pars. 20 and 23 below discussing the entire sealing material 17 including both hard rubber material 20 and soft foam sponge material 21 being made of EPDM).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide the hard rubber material and soft foam sponge material of Kakito such that they are formed of ethylene-propylene-diene rubber as taught by Hikichi, with a reasonable expectation of success, for the predictable and expected benefits of using EPDM such as being highly resistant to sunlight and temperature extremes while being durable, flexible, and cost-effective material.
PNG
media_image6.png
250
470
media_image6.png
Greyscale
Excerpt 3
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PATRICK B PONCIANO whose telephone number is (571)272-9910. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-4:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Cahn can be reached at (571) 270-5616. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/PATRICK B. PONCIANO/Examiner, Art Unit 3634
/DANIEL P CAHN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3634