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 .
Status of Claims
This action is in reply to the Applicant’s claims, filed on 12/15/2023.
Claims 1-2 are currently pending and have been examined.
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 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Urano et al. (US8469430).
Claim 1. Urano discloses: A vehicle body frame structure for a vehicle (Fig. 3), the vehicle body frame structure comprising:
side sills extending in a front-rear direction of the vehicle on respective sides in a width direction of the vehicle (10 frames, Fig. 3);
a cross member extending in the width direction in a central part of the vehicle in the front-rear direction, the cross member being coupled to the side sills at respective ends in the width direction (28 second rear cross member, Figs. 3 and 4); and
a floor pan extending toward a vehicle rear side of the cross member in a lower part of the vehicle (12 rear floor panel which has components 12A-12E, Fig. 2), wherein
the cross member comprises a cross member front (front facing surface of 28, Fig. 5) and a cross member rear (rear facing surface of 28, Fig.5) coupled to each other (surfaces are coupled, Figs. 4 and 5), the cross member front constitutes a wall surface on a vehicle front side of the cross member, and the cross member rear constitutes a wall surface on the vehicle rear side of the cross member (configuration of element 28 as shown on Fig. 5),
a vehicle rear upper end of the cross member rear and a vehicle front lower end of the floor pan are coupled to each other (rear upper end of 28 is coupled to front lower end of 12C, Fig. 5; Column 4, lines 44-55) in an up-down direction of the vehicle (structure of the overlapped coupled connection between 28 and 12C is vertically stacked in an up-down direction of the vehicle as shown on Fig. 5), and
a side in the width direction that constitutes the vehicle rear upper end of the cross member rear has slants extending from inside in the width direction toward outside of a rear part of the vehicle (28 has angular sides extending from the inside to the outside in the direction of the rear of the vehicle where 28 couples to 10, Fig. 3 and 4).
Claim 2. Urano discloses: The vehicle body frame structure according to claim 1, wherein a vehicle rear upper end of the cross member front is coupled to a coupling part (coupling of cross member to floor pan; rear upper end of the cross member front is coupled to coupling, Fig. 5) where the vehicle rear upper end of the cross member rear and the vehicle front lower end of the floor pan are coupled to each other in the up-down direction (see previously rejected claim 1).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ito et al. (US11679668) discloses an angularly directed coupling of a floor pan to a cross member in an up down direction for a vehicle structure.
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/DANIEL T CRAIG/Examiner, Art Unit 3676
/TARA SCHIMPF/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3676