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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Species B which covers claims 1-2 and 6-8 in the reply filed on 02/03/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Examiner fails to provide any adequate reasons and/or examples. This is not found persuasive because the Examiner noted that the species were distinct because each species embodiment has different structural arrangements for the check valves which are clearly seen in the broken out detail drawings of each in Applicant’s figures 1-19, and the Applicant has not submitted evidence that shows the different structural arrangements of the check valves are merely obvious variants of each other or clearly admitted on the record that this is the case. Therefore, the reason stands that due to these non-0bvious variants that would each need different search strategies to search all of the art covering the differing structure, and then further applying art to each different embodiment in the allotted time given for search and examination, as art applying to one embodiment would more than likely not apply to the details of the others, there would be a serious search and examination burden.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Although the restriction requirement is maintained, the Examiner notes that claim 11 also seems general enough to apply to the elected embodiment of species B, figs. 7-9.
Also, the Examiner notes, upon the allowance of a generic claim, applicant will be entitled to consideration of claims to additional species which depend from or otherwise require all the limitations of an allowable generic claim as provided by 37 CFR 1.141. See MPEP 809 Linking Claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed 11/21/2023 and 05/27/2025 are acknowledged by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Lars (US 5501307).
1. A solenoid valve (fig. 6) comprising: a valve case (16a) having a first opening (seen in lower sidewalls of 16a in fig. 6) for flowing fluid; a valve body (16b or 16c) positioned in the valve case; a rod (seen attached to 30a) configured to be vertically movable by a driver (26); a seat (30a) provided at an end portion of the rod to move according to movement of the rod (“the valve body 30A of the pilot valve 30 is biased downwards by the plunger of the solenoid 26,” see col. 6, ll. 46-48); a core (30b, 50) in contact with the seat to move according to movement of the seat (“valve plate 30B serving as the valve seat has a disk shape and is held loosely over the whole peripheral side thereof in the radial direction to be movable. By the movement of the valve plate 30B, irrelevant engagement of the valve seat caused by inalignment between the valve body 30A and the axis is dissolved,” see col. 6, ll. 48-50; also 50 is slidable via spring 31a); and a check valve (40b in 16b or 40d in 16c) surrounding a periphery of the core and disposed in the valve body (as seen in fig. 6).
2. The solenoid valve of claim 1, wherein the check valve includes: a housing (16b) having second openings( 38b, 16Ba, or 16Bc) configured to fluidly communicate with the first opening of the valve case.
Claims 1-2 and 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nezu (JP 2001146937).
1. A solenoid valve (fig. 1) comprising: a valve case (24) having a first opening (26 or 27) for flowing fluid; a valve body (46) positioned in the valve case; a rod (61) configured to be vertically movable by a driver (60); a seat (the end portion of 61 in contact with the end of 39 or on which 39 is seated against/connected) provided at an end portion of the rod to move according to movement of the rod; a core (39) in contact with the seat to move according to movement of the seat (“moving the spool 39 slidably fitted in the sleeve 38,” see detailed description in English translation); and a check valve (31 or opposing valve 32, fig. 3) surrounding a periphery of the core and disposed in the valve body (31 is within 46, as seen in fig. 1).
2. The solenoid valve of claim 1, wherein the check valve includes: a housing (43) having second openings (leading into and out of chamber 36, as seen in fig. 3) configured to fluidly communicate with the first opening of the valve case (“The extension-side damping valve 31 that controls the flow of the oil liquid from the connection port 25 to the connection port 26 to generate a damping force,” see detailed description in English translation); an opening and closing module 42, 33, 49, 47, 52, 48) having one or more third openings (44) to selectively allow the fluid to flow and installed in the housing of the check valve.
6. The solenoid valve of claim 2, wherein the opening and closing module includes: a sub-seat (45) having of the one or more third openings (45 surrounds lower opening end of 44); and a valve ring (33) disposed on the sub-seat (as seen in fig. 3).
7. The solenoid valve of claim 6, wherein a channel groove (groove into which bottom end of 44 opens into and which is radially within 45) for forming a flow path of the fluid is formed on the sub-seat.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Inagaki et al. (US 20160236533).
11. A solenoid valve (fig. 2) comprising: a valve case (9a) having a first opening (9c) for flowing fluid; a valve body (8a, 8b, 8c) positioned in the valve case; a rod (42) configured to be vertically movable by a driver (Sol); a seat (bottom end of 42) provided at an end portion of the rod to move according to movement of the rod (“As the coil 37 is electrically conducted, a downward actuating force is applied to the shaft 42.” see [0059]); a core (31) in contact with the seat to move according to movement of the seat ([0060] states “The solenoid valve body 31 is slidably inserted into the valve seat member 30.”); a housing (30) disposed between the valve body (8c) and the core (portion 31a) and having a second opening (30c); a sub-seat (30d) disposed on the housing; and a valve ring (FV) configured to be vertically movable (FV lifts up from 32e) under the sub-seat.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art does not disclose the further combination of “wherein the opening and closing module is configured to: block an inflow of the fluid flowing from an outside of the housing of the check valve to an inside of the housing of the check valve in a state that the valve ring moves up and close the one or more third openings of the sub-seat, and allow a flow of the fluid flowing from the inside of the housing of the check valve to the outside of the housing of the check valve in a state that the valve ring moves down and is spaced apart from the one or more third openings of the sub-seat.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20170234395, US 20220412429, US 20170241503, US 20160076616, US 20160069471, US 20170219042, US 20090020382, US 20120205567, US 20130341142, US 8485224, US 5850896, US 6003644, US 5409088, US 20090020382, and US 20220412429 each disclose related solenoid valves including check valves.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARINA TIETJEN, whose telephone number is 571-270-5422. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (10:30AM-7:00PM CST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors can be reached by phone. Tom Barrett can be reached at 571-272-4746, Ken Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881, and Craig Schneider can be reached at 571-272-3607. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MARINA A TIETJEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753