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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/20/2023 and 12/27/2023 was considered by the examiner.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 9 is 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 9 recites the limitation "as the stiffening member, a pair of second cores are provided, and the core is sandwiched between the pair of second cores in a thickness direction of the core". It is unclear how the core is sandwiched between a pair of cores rendering the claim indefinite.
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, 3-6, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shi CN113982135.
Claim 1. Shi discloses a buckling-restrained brace to be mounted on a structure, the buckling-restrained brace comprising: a core (3); a restrainer (6) encasing the core from an outer side thereof; a stiffening member (1-2) joined to the core in a state where a part of the stiffening member is disposed inside the restrainer; and a connector (9) having a first end portion that is pin-joined to the structure and a second end portion that is joined to at least one of the core and the stiffening member (Fig.3), wherein an elongated hole is provided in at least one of the core, the stiffening member, and the connector as a position adjustment mechanism configured to adjust a relative position between the connector and at least one of the core and the stiffening member (illustrated in Fig.5).
Claim 3. Shi discloses the elongated hole is provided in the core or the stiffening member (Fig.5).
Claim 4. Shi discloses a as the connector, a pair of connectors are provided, and the core or the stiffening member is sandwiched between the pair of connectors (Fig.4).
Claim 5. Shi discloses a as the stiffening member, a pair of stiffening members are provided to be spaced apart from each other in a width direction of the core (Fig.3-4).
Claim 6. Shi discloses a first plate (8) provided between the pair of stiffening members (Fig.3).
Claim 10. Shi discloses the restrainer has a tubular shape (shown in Fig the Figures), an inside of the restrainer is filled with an infill material (5), and the elongated hole is provided outside the restrainer (shown in Fig.3-4).
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi CN113982135 as applied to claim 1 above.
Claim 2. Shi is silent on the elongated hole provided in the connector, however it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the instant invention to provide the elongated hole on the connector or core as it is a design choice to place it within any of the mentioned components as it appears that the invention would perform equally well as an adjustment mechanism when the elongated hole is placed on the connected.
Claims 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi CN113982135 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Tsai US20100005737.
Claims 7-8. Shi is silent is on the limitations herein. Tsai before the filing date of the instant invention discloses a buckling -restrained brace with a pair of cores (12) provided to be spaced apart from each other in a thickness direction of a core (Fig.32), wherein a second plate (323) provided between the pair of cores.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the instant invention to provide a pair of cores such that when subjected to a force resulting from an earthquake in a direction perpendicular to the connecting plates buckling of the axial member can be reduced as taught by Tsai.
Claim 9 as best understood. Shi discloses the stiffening member (1-2) bur is silent on a pair of second cores are provided, however Tsai before the filing date of the instant invention discloses a buckling -restrained brace with a pair of cores (12) provided to be spaced apart from each other in a thickness direction of a core (Fig.32). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the instant invention to provide a pair of cores such that when subjected to a force resulting from an earthquake in a direction perpendicular to the connecting plates buckling of the axial member can be reduced as taught by Tsai.
.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-13 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 a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the closest prior art of record fails to teach or adequately suggest the combination of characteristics specified in the independent claim, especially the requirement of a substance concerning the sequence taken in the axial force releasing step and the joining step, hence there is no cogent reasoning that is unequivocally independent of hindsight that would have led one of ordinary skill in the art at the time.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to attached NOTICE OF REFERENCE CITED.
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BABAJIDE A. DEMUREN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3633
/BABAJIDE A DEMUREN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3633