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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application on 8/18/2026 after a final rejection was mailed 5/18/2026. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/18/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The response filed on August 18th 2026 is acknowledged. Three pages of amended claims were received on 8/18/2026. Claim 1 has been amended. The claims have been amended to overcome previous rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) , and 35 U.S.C. 103 in the final rejection mailed 8/18/2026, however Claim 1 is objected to as noted below, Claims 1-2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as noted below, and Claims 3-4 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as noted below.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In Claim 1 Lines 13-14, “the tip end side” should be revised to “a tip end side” to ensure clarity in the claim.
In Claim 1 Line 14, “in a case when” should be revised to “when” to ensure proper grammar.
In Claim 1 Line 16, “in a case when” should be revised to “when” to ensure proper grammar.
In Claim 1 Line 18, “comes into contact with a position” should be revised to “is in a position” to ensure proper grammar.
In Claim 1 Line 19, “the tip end side of the tubular member” should be revised to “a tip end side of the tubular member” to ensure clarity in the claim.
In Claim 1 Lines 22-23, “the base end side” should be revised to “a base end side” to ensure clarity in the claim.
In Claim 1 Lines 25-26, “the inner surface of the core” should be revised to “an inner surface of the core” to ensure clarity in the claims.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US PGPUB 2005/0139798 A1 to Tojo (“Tojo”).
As to Claim 1, Tojo discloses a solenoid valve (See #1 in Fig. 2) for a fuel injection device (See Paragraph 0022 disclosing a diesel engine) comprising:
a valve unit (#5) that is formed using a magnetic body (See Paragraph 0039 and See Paragraph 0052 disclosing silicon steel),
a solenoid device (#30, including the tubular member #32) that is configured to drive the valve unit by an electromagnetic force (See Paragraph 0031), wherein:
the solenoid device comprises:
a core (#33) formed in a tubular shape (See Fig. 2, the core #33 has tubular structures) and having an opposing surface that opposes the valve unit (See Annotated Fig. 2);
a tubular member (#32) disposed on an inner peripheral side of the core (See Fig. 2);
a coil (#35) wound around the core (See Fig. 2 and Paragraph 0029); and
a recessed portion (See Annotated Fig. 2) provided in the opposing surface of the core at a position that overlaps with the valve unit (See Annotated Fig. 2) as viewed from an axial direction of a central axis of the core (See axis A1 in Annotated Fig. 2), wherein
the valve unit is disposed to oppose the opposing surface of the core (See Annotated Fig. 2), to which an elastic force is applied in a direction away from the core in the axial direction (See Paragraph 0031 and Annotated Fig. 2), and towards the tip end side (See Annotated Fig. 2), and configured to press, in a case when an electromagnetic force is not generated in the solenoid device, a fuel flow passage (#73) by the elastic force to close the flow passage (See Paragraph 0031), and configured to open, in a case when an electromagnetic force is generated in the solenoid device, the flow passage by being pulled toward the core to a position, at which the valve unit comes into contact with a position wherein it is flush with the opposing surface and in contact with an end surface at the tip end side of the tubular member (#3S), to be separated from the flow passage by the electromagnetic force (See Annotated Fig. 2 and Paragraphs 0031-0032),
the valve unit has a stepped portion extending from a surface facing the core towards the base end side which is opposite the tip end side (See Annotated Fig. 4),
the stepped portion is formed with a surface to which the elastic force is applied (See Fig. 2 and See Annotated Fig. 4),
an outer periphery of the stepped portion is situated radially inwards of the inner surface of the core (See Annotated Fig. 2, Annotated Fig. 4, and Paragraph 0037),
when the valve unit is pulled towards the base end side by the electromagnetic force of the solenoid device, an entire area of the stepped portion does not come into contact with the core, but comes into contact with an end face of the tubular member at the tip end side (See Annotated Fig. 2, Annotated Fig. 4, and Paragraph 0037),
wherein the tubular member functions as a stopper that restricts movement of the valve unit toward the base end side (See Annotated Fig. 2 and Paragraph 0029).
As to Claim 2, in reference to the solenoid device of Tojo as applied to Claim 1 above, Tojo further discloses wherein the recessed portion has an annular shape centered on the central axis as viewed from the axial direction (See Annotated Fig. 2).
As to Claim 6, in reference to the solenoid valve of the fuel injection of Tojo as applied to Claim 1 above, Tojo further discloses wherein the valve unit includes an armature that opposes the opposing surface (#51), and a valve body (#52) that extends from the armature in the axial direction (See Annotated Fig. 2),
the armature includes a through-hole (#55) that penetrates the armature in the axial direction (See Annotated Fig. 2), and
the recessed portion is disposed at a position that overlaps with the through-hole as viewed from the axial direction (See Annotated Fig. 2 and Paragraphs 0035-0036).
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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 3 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tojo in view of US PGPUB 2007/0057218 A1 to Kuno (“Kuno”).
As to Claim 3, in reference to the solenoid device of Tojo as applied to Claim 1 above, Tojo further discloses wherein the core includes a magnetic body portion (#33) that is formed using a magnetic body (See Paragraph 0029 disclosing SMC magnetic material), is open to a valve unit side (See Annotated Fig. 2), accommodates the coil (See Fig. 2), and includes an annular space section as viewed from the axial direction (See Annotated Fig. 2), and a sealing portion that seals the space section (See Annotated Fig. 2), and
the recessed portion is provided at the sealing portion (See Annotated Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 3, Tojo does not specifically disclose wherein the sealing portion is formed using a resin material.
However, Kuno discloses a solenoid device comprising a core (#29) that includes a magnetic body portion that is formed using a magnetic body (See Paragraph 0029), is open to a valve unit side (See Paragraph 0029 and Annotated Fig. 1), accommodates a coil (#28), and includes an annular space section as viewed from an axial direction (See Annotated Fig. 1), and a sealing portion (#34) that is formed using a resin material and seals the space section (See Paragraph 0028).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the solenoid device of Tojo as applied above to modify the solenoid device of Tojo as applied above such that it utilizes the sealing portion of Kuno that is formed using a resin material, since doing so would yield the predictable result of encapsulating the magnetic coil (See Kuno Paragraph 0028) and thus holding the magnetic coil in place and protecting the magnetic coil with a known suitable material.
Regarding Claim 7, in reference to the solenoid device of Tojo as applied to Claim 2 above, Tojo further discloses wherein the core includes a magnetic body portion (#33) that is formed using a magnetic body (See Paragraph 0029 disclosing SMC magnetic material), is open to a valve unit side (See Annotated Fig. 2), accommodates the coil (See Fig. 2), and includes an annular space section as viewed from the axial direction (See Annotated Fig. 2), and a sealing portion that seals the space section (See Annotated Fig. 2), and
the recessed portion is provided at the sealing portion (See Annotated Fig. 2).
However, Kuno discloses a solenoid device comprising a core (#29) that includes a magnetic body portion that is formed using a magnetic body (See Paragraph 0029), is open to a valve unit side (See Paragraph 0029 and Annotated Fig. 1), accommodates a coil (#28), and includes an annular space section as viewed from an axial direction (See Annotated Fig. 1), and a sealing portion (#34) that is formed using a resin material and seals the space section (See Paragraph 0028).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the solenoid device of Tojo as applied above to modify the solenoid device of Tojo as applied above such that it utilizes the sealing portion of Kuno that is formed using a resin material, since doing so would yield the predictable result of encapsulating the magnetic coil (See Kuno Paragraph 0028) and thus holding the magnetic coil in place and protecting the magnetic coil with a known suitable material.
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Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tojo in view of Kuno and NPL Document “Beveling and Chamfering: What’s the Difference?” to Marous (“Marous”).
Regarding Claim 4, in reference to the solenoid device of Tojo in view of Kuno as applied to Claim 3 above, Tojo does not specifically disclose wherein the magnetic body portion includes a chamfered section at an end portion of the space section on the valve unit side in the axial direction (See Annotated Fig. 2, an end portion of the space section is straight without a chamfer shown).
However, Marous discloses wherein a chamfer is applied to a hole to assist in putting parts in an assembly together (See Page 2 Paragraphs 3-4 which state “Another use of chamfering is to make it easier to guide a tightly toleranced part into a hole during an assembly process. By chamfering the edges slightly, the risk of misalignment and gouging the edge of the hole is reduced. Similarly, chamfering may be required as part of a final assembly dimension, either on an outer or inner surface. The chamfered area may serve as an alignment guide or a sink to help hold another piece in place within an assembly”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the solenoid device of Tojo in view of Kuno as applied above such that the magnetic body portion includes a chamfered section at an end portion of the space section on the valve unit side in the axial direction, since doing so would utilize a known technique taught by Marous of chamfering a hole to yield the predictable result of helping prevent misalignment and gouging when assembling the coil to the magnetic body (See Marous Page 2 Paragraphs 3-4).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 8/18/2026 with respect to Claims 1-4 and 6-7 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 103 do not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN E SCHWARTZ whose telephone number is (571)272-1770. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00AM - 5:00PM MST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arthur O Hall can be reached at (571)-270-1814. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN EDWARD SCHWARTZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752 August 25th, 2026
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