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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed June 1, 2026, have been fully considered.
Applicant has argued that the amendments to the drawings have overcome the objections set forth in the previous Office Action. Examiner agrees, and has withdrawn the drawing objections.
Regarding the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(a), applicant has argued that the claims now recite that the storage tray moves between “a raised position and a lowered position,” and that this is supported by paragraph 0025 of the specification. This argument is deemed persuasive, and Examiner has withdrawn the rejection under 112(a).
With regard to the prior art rejection based on the Meszaros reference, applicant has argued that “open section (150) is not defined between upper and lower storage portions and outboard spaced supports and thus cannot meet the claimed limitation.” Examiner agrees, as the surface 142 above the open section 150 as depicted in Fig. 11 cannot be considered a “storage portion” given that it does not have provision for retaining goods in a reasonable manner. It is simply a flat surface. Therefore, the rejection is withdrawn.
Regarding the Haddad reference, applicant has argued that Hadded discloses “rotatable rod elements (82/84), which allow the tray element (30B) to collapse into the storage compartment (26). Because tray element (30B) is movable, it is not fixedly spaced apart from the storage compartment (26)” (Remarks, top of Page 14). Examiner respectfully traverses applicant’s argument. In the Fig. 7 position, “the rod members 82 and 84 are restrained from movement within the track member 90 using latching devices known in the art” (Paragraph 0027 of the US version of the Haddad reference, US 2007/0295875). Thus, while the rod members are capable of movement between the stowed and deployed position, they are also capable of locking, which provides a fixed spacing between the upper and lower storage portions. The rejection is maintained.
Regarding the Park reference, applicant argues that Fig. 6 of Park discloses a “pass-through in a lateral, cross-car direction, not a fore-aft direction, as required by claim 1” (Remarks, Bottom of Page 14). Examiner agrees, and has withdrawn the rejection based on Park.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Haddad et al. (US 2007/0295875, hereinafter Haddad).
Examiner notes that the previous Office Action utilized the German version of the Haddad reference. The rejection has been updated to utilize the US version of Haddad.
With regard to claim 1, Haddad discloses a vehicle, comprising:
a body at least partially defining a vehicle cabin (interior of cabin is illustrated in Fig. 1); and
a center console (24A) disposed within the vehicle cabin and including a center console pass-through configured to enable cargo to extend therethrough for storage of the cargo (pass-through is visible in Figs. 1 and 7—see annotated Figs. below as well), the center console comprising:
a lower storage portion coupled to a floor of the vehicle (see annotated Fig. provided below);
an upper storage portion (see Fig. below) fixedly spaced apart from the lower storage portion by outboard spaced supports (82, 84, note that “in the deployed position, the rod members 82 and 84 are restrained from movement within the track member 90 using latching devices known in the art,” see Paragraph 0027) to define a fore-aft passage between the lower storage portion and the upper storage portion that serves as the center console pass-through (dashed line in Fig. below, representing the pass-through, is arranged in the fore-aft direction).
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With regard to claim 2, Haddad discloses that the center console is disposed between a driver seat and a front passenger seat (paragraph 0017; “the first seat assembly 16 may function as the driver’s seat…[and]…the second seat assembly 18 may function as a passenger seat”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-20 are allowed.
Claims 3-16 are 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 17, the closest prior art is that of Bollinger (US 2019/0351950) and Haddad, discussed above.
Bollinger teaches a vehicle comprising a body having a vehicle cabin (Figs. 3 and 4), a rear cargo area (Figs. 3 and 4), and a frunk (26). A firewall (24) separates the frunk (26) and the vehicle cabin, with a doored passage (44) through the firewall. Bollinger teaches that cargo can pass through the rear cargo area, into the vehicle cabin, through the passage in the firewall, and into the frunk (see cargo 42 in Figs. 2 and 3).
However, Bollinger fails to teach a center console with a pass-through as required by claim 17.
While Haddad does teach such a center console with a pass-through (see rejection of claim 1 above), it would not have been obvious to incorporate Haddad’s center console into Bollinger, as the center console (even when in the stowed position), would at least partially obstruct the passage of cargo from the rear to the front of Bollinger’s vehicle (see Figs. 2, 3, and 5 of Bollinger, which show completely unobstructed passage from the rear to the front for long cargo).
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT E FULLER whose telephone number is (571)272-6300. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30AM - 5:30PM.
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, Tara Schimpf can be reached at 571-270-7741. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROBERT E FULLER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3676
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