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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/2/26 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 1-11,13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DE102019114147 in view of Danning 8943765.
Claim 1. DE102019114147 discloses a floor system for a cabin of a vehicle, comprising:
a floor panel (16),
a seat rail comprising: a base rail component (46 or alternatively 28) having a base surface (the upward facing surface of 46 or 28) spaced upwardly by a vertically extending web (26) from a flange (24);
an installation rail component (42) having an installation surface (the downward facing surface of 42), the base surface of the base rail component positioned underneath the installation surface at a distance thereto (as seen in figure 5);
a recess (the space between 42 and 46 or 28 as seen in the figures) between the installation surface and the base surface and extending along the seat rail (as seen in at last figure 5); and
a plurality of connection components (90),
wherein the base rail and the installation rail component are separate components joined by the plurality of connection components (as seen in figures 5,7 where 90 extends between 42 and 46 or 28, the components being separate as noted in the disclosure and by separate reference character),
wherein the floor panel has a top surface (64), a bottom surface (62) and a connection edge (72) extending between the top surface and the bottom surface (as seen in figure 6),
wherein the floor panel is supported by the base surface of the base rail component within the recess (as noted in the figures at least at figure 7 and in the disclosure),
wherein the seat rail is configured to vertically clamp the floor panel inside the recess between the base surface of the base rail component and the installation rail component and where the installation rail component attached to the base rail component, wherein the connection edge has a continuously undulating or serrated edge surface (see 92), and wherein the recess comprises an outward-facing lateral receiving surface that is at least partially complementary to the edge surface of the connection edge to provide a form-fit engagement with the floor pane (as seen in figure 7).
DE102019114147 wherein the seat rail is configured to vertically clamp the floor panel inside the recess between the base surface of the base rail component and the installation rail component by fastening the installation rail component to the base rail component.
Danning discloses a rail having a panel 12; a base rail component (70) having an installation surface; an installation rail component (54) having a base surface (at 60/64) positioned underneath the installation surface at a distance thereto (as seen in for example figures 2A-B), and a plurality of connection components (98/100); where the base rail component and installation rail component are separate components joined by the plurality of connection components; wherein the rail is configured to vertically clamp the floor panel inside the recess between the base rail component and the installation rail component by fastening the installation rail component to the base rail component (where it is fastened by the connection components, as seen in the figures and noted in the disclosure).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to pursue known design options and modify the seat rail of DE102019114147 to have the base rail component and installation rail component be separate and separable parts joined by the plurality of connection components wherein the seat rail is configured to vertically clamp the floor panel inside the recess between the base rail component and the installation rail component by fastening the installation rail component to the base rail component by the connection components as taught by Danning to achieve the predictable result of a floor panel that is easily removable for replacement and/or to allow access to the area under the floor panel.
Claim 2. DE102019114147 discloses the floor system of claim 1, wherein the floor panel comprises a honeycomb structure (60) enclosed between a top cover (64) and a bottom cover (62), and wherein the connection edge comprises a core filling material (58) reaching into open cells of the honeycomb structure to increase a stability of the connection edge (as noted at paragraphs 0051,0055 or the translation).
Claim 3. DE102019114147 discloses the floor system of claim 2, wherein the core filling material comprises a plastic material as noted at paragraph 0051 where it is any foam which comprises a plastic material).
Claim 4. DE102019114147 discloses the floor system of claim 1, wherein the floor panel comprises an edge cap (70) laterally bonded to the floor panel, and wherein the edge cap comprises the connection edge (as seen in figure 6).
Claim 5. DE102019114147 discloses the floor system of claim 1, further comprising a sealing component (46) arranged on at least one of the top surface or the bottom surface of the floor panel adjacent to the connection edge (as seen in figure 4).
Claim 6. DE102019114147 discloses the floor system of claim 1, wherein the connection edge comprises a series of cylindrical cutouts or partially spherical cutouts (92) distributed on the connection edge at a distance to each other and at least reaching through the top surface of the floor panel (as seen in at least figures 6,7).
Claim 7. DE102019114147 in view of Danning discloses the floor system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of connection components (as noted combined rejection above) are connected to the base rail component and the installation rail component to arrange the base rail component and the installation rail component in a parallel alignment to each other and to clamp the floor panel in between (as seen in the figures and noted in the disclosure).
Claim 8. The floor system of claim 7, wherein the installation rail component is substantially flat (as seen the figures).
Claim 9. DE102019114147 discloses the floor system of claim 7, wherein the connection edge comprises a series of cylindrical cutouts or partially spherical cutouts (92) distributed on the connection edge at a distance to each other and at least reaching through the top surface of the floor panel, wherein the installation rail component comprises a series of partially spherical indentations (at 49,90 or 36), and wherein the partially spherical cutouts and the partially spherical indentations are correspondingly shaped (as seen in figure 7).
Claim 10. DE102019114147 in view of Danning discloses the floor system of claim 7, wherein the connection edge comprises a series of cylindrical cutouts or partially spherical cutouts (92) distributed on the connection edge at a distance to each other and at least reaching through the top surface of the floor panel (as taught by De102019114147).
Danning discloses wherein the installation rail component comprises a series of through-holes (100),
wherein the connection components have a hollow-cylindrical shape (at 98).
Accordingly it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to pursue known design options and modify the installation rail component of DE102019114147 to have a series of through holes to be used with the connection components having a hollow cylindrical shape as taught by Danning to achieve the predictable result of accurate placement and ease of installation for aligning and fastening the panels, whereby in the combination as above the cutouts of the connection edge, the spacing of the through-holes and the hollow-cylindrical shape of the plurality of connection components correspond to each other, when the connection components are vertically arranged underneath the through-holes (as seen in figures 5,7 of DE102019114147 and Danning).
Claim 11. DE102019114147 discloses the floor system of claim 1, wherein the connection edge and the lateral receiving surface comprise a non-corrosive material (where the connection edge comprises a foam as noted, the connection edge being received at the lateral receiving surface therefore the lateral receiving surface receives the foam and therefore comprises a non-corrosive material; and or at paragraph 0008 where the connection edge comprises a polymer).
Claim 13. DE102019114147 in view of Danning discloses a cabin of an aircraft, having a floor comprising a floor system of claim 1, wherein at least one object is arranged on the floor and attached to the seat rail (as noted throughout the disclosure and figures of DE102019114147).
Claim 14. DE102019114147 in view of Danning discloses an aircraft, comprising an aircraft structure and a cabin of claim 13 arranged therein (as noted throughout the disclosure and figures of DE102019114147).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DE102019114147 in view of Danning 8943765 and further in view of Gobeil (6086018).
Claim 12. DE102019114147 in view of Danning disclose the floor system of claim 7, but do not disclose wherein the installation rail component is made from titanium.
It is known in the art to have seat rails of an aircraft made of titanium. For example Gobeil discloses a seat rail made of titanium (col 6).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the material of DE102019114147 to be titanium, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416. In the instant case it would have been obvious for at least the reason of being corrosion resistant and strong.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/2/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments at page 7 that the solar panel of Danning is not a panel by any plain and ordinary interpretation is not persuasive. Solar panels are regularly and commonly referred to as and considered to be a panel by its plain and ordinary meaning. Applicant’s use of the term panel, when describing the solar panel of Danning further supports that the solar panel of Danning is a panel by its plain and ordinary meaning. The fact that Danning includes a frame around the panel does not preclude the structure from being a panel in its plain and ordinary meaning. The frame and laminate layers are considered part of the panel. Thus Danning is considered to teach clamping of the panel, via the frame of the panel, to a rail configuration. Applicant’s appears to have an overly narrow interpretation of the claim term “panel” that is not consistent with the plain and ordinary meaning of the term. Thus applicant’s arguments are not persuasive.
In response to applicant's argument that Danning is nonanalogous art to DE102019114147 and applicant’s invention, it has been held that a prior art reference must either be in the field of the inventor’s endeavor or, if not, then be reasonably pertinent to the particular problem with which the inventor was concerned, in order to be relied upon as a basis for rejection of the claimed invention. See In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 24 USPQ2d 1443 (Fed. Cir. 1992). In this case, Danning seeks to solve the problem of mounting a panel via a clamped connection which is reasonably pertinent to the particular problem the invention was concerned with and therefore is considered to be analogous art. The fact that the panels are not the same, or used in the same intended use does not render the clamp of Danning to be non-analogous. Accordingly applicants’ arguments are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments at page 8 that the combination citated by the Office describes clamping a frame holding a solar panel which requires clamping a floor panel in a different location than the claimed invention is not persuasive. The location is not a claimed feature and thus a moot argument. Further the office does not rely on Danning for the teaching of the floor panel, nor does the Office Action suggest modifying or substituting the floor panel of DE102019114147 for the solar panel of Danning. DE102019114147 clearly discloses a floor panel, and that is the panel relied upon in the combination rejection of the Office Action. The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981). The solar panel of Danning is not bodily incorporated into the structure of DE102019114147. Rather Danning is relied upon for the teaching of clamping a panel to a support rail by fastening an installation rail component to a base rail. Accordingly applicants arguments are not persuasive.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSICA LAUX whose telephone number is (571)272-8228. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-3:30.
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JESSICA L. LAUX
Examiner
Art Unit 3635
/JESSICA L LAUX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3635