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 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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Svensson-Hilford et al. US 2019/0323245 A1 (hereinafter ‘Svensson-Hilford’).
In regard to claim 1, Svensson-Hilford teaches a construction method to add a dedicated elevator that interconnects only the floors of two or more levels adjacent in the vertical direction (note that there are more than two levels as seen in fig. 2F), to a building equipped with an existing elevator system (see [0002]), the method comprising the steps of:
at a predetermined position (the stairway position) in a portion finished as a floor slab of a floor (9), newly providing an opening in which an elevator shaft can be formed (see figs. 2A to 2E, note that the opening is provided by removing the staircase 4);
constructing (see [0065]), around said opening, the elevator shaft (62) passing through the floor or the floors of the plurality of levels having an opening/closing door (shown in fig. 2F, see also [0048]) on each level (see fig. 2F); and
installing, inside said elevator shaft, a cage (27) for the dedicated elevator and a lifting means (66) for lifting said cage up and down.
It is noted that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the claimed method in a reinforced concrete, steel reinforced concrete, or steel building so that the building can withstand the renovation process, and because buildings are commonly made of concrete, steel or both and are notoriously well known in the art. Further, it would have been obvious that the floors are owned or occupied by the same entity i.e. building owner because this facilitates coordination of construction logistics.
In regard to claim 2, Svensson-Hilford teaches the claimed method wherein the building is at least five-storied (see fig. 2A disclosing 5 stories).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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/PAOLA AGUDELO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3633