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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim needs a “:” in line 2 after the word “comprising” . Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 1-6 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the lower fork arms" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The claim has mentioned “the lower fork arm” which is different as the latter term implies that more than one were claimed before.
Claims 1 and 2 additionally states “the front wheel” in line 5, however “symmetrically-arranged front wheels” was introduced in line 3 of Claim 1, therefore, the term “front wheel” in line 5 lacks antecedent basis; applicant should change the term “front wheel” to state ”one of the front wheels”. Similar considerations applies to “the front wheel in Lines 3-4 of Claim 2, found indefinite for the same reasons.
Claim 2: the claim has indefinite terms such as “one end” and “far away”, the term “one end” is used in lines 3, 4, 6 ,8 and 10 however, no discussion of the second end of the members was used, are all the terms “one end” related to one specific end of each member or are both ends of a member being mentioned; applicant might have to introduced a second end term to better define the claim;
The term “far away” will be seen as just having a small distance as the vehicle itself seems to be small in size.
Regarding Claims 2-6, they are additionally indefinite as depending from a rejected parent claim (see above).
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 (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 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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lehman (US 6203043). Lehman discloses a tiltable bicycle front suspension system with shock absorption and composite steering (see figure 3), comprising:
a suspension structure (see figure 4) and a steering structure (113a,112a, see figure 2), wherein the suspension structure comprises a vehicle body (102) and symmetrically-arranged front wheels (138a,138b);
each front wheel is provided with a steering knuckle (144a,144b): a fork arm fixing frame (112b, see figure 8) is movably disposed at one side, far away from one of the front wheels, of the steering knuckle (144a,144b);
an upper fork arm (140a) and a lower fork arm (142a). which are arranged in pair, are disposed between the fork arm fixing frame and the vehicle body (see figure 4); an alignment spring (145) is disposed between the upper fork arm (140a) and the lower fork arm (142a) (see figure 4); and a main shock absorbing spring (145, other side) is disposed between the lower fork arms (as there is two lower arms, one on the right and one on the left, wherein one of the shock absorbers 145 can be said to be in between the lower arm of the left and the one on the right, see figure 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6 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.
Regarding claim 2, the prior art of record did not include “one end, far away from the linear linkage rod, of the big arm swinging rod is hinged with an upper right steering pull rod and a lower left steering pull rod; and one end. far away from the big arm swinging rod, of each of the upper right steering pull rod and the lower left steering pull rod is connected to the steering knuckle respectively” in combination with what has been claimed in the rest of the body of claim 2. See related 35 USC 112 rejection above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Marlon A Arce whose telephone number is (571)272-1341. The examiner can normally be reached 8AM - 4:30PM.
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/MARLON A ARCE/Examiner, Art Unit 3611 /VALENTIN NEACSU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3611