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 21 January 2026, with respect to the objections to claims 1-2, 5-7, 9-11, 14-15 and 17 and the indefiniteness rejection of claim 13 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objections/rejection of 21 August 2025 have been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments with respect to the prior art rejection of claim 17 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that neither Tomaszewski (US-11674338-B2) nor Ishiguro (US-11525287-B2) teaches or suggests a locking mechanism with three pawls arranged such that the first pawl directly blocks the lock catch, the second pawl holds the first pawl in its blocking engagement, and the third pawl blocks the second pawl. However, the Examiner maintains that Ishiguro’s components are reasonably interpreted as a first pawl (20 Figure 1) blocking the catch, a second pawl (19 Figure 1) holding the position of the first pawl, and a third pawl (22 Figure 1) blocking the second pawl, such that each and every limitation of the claim is satisfied.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishiguro (US-11525287-B2) in view of Tomaszewski (US-11674338-B2).
With regards to claim 17, Ishiguro discloses a sensor arrangement (Col. 11 Lines 61-62) for detecting closing states of a locking mechanism (13, 15 Figure 1) of a motor vehicle lock (10 Figure 1), the locking mechanism comprising a lock catch (13 Figure 1) and a pawl arrangement (15 Figure 1) with a first pawl (20 Figure 1), which is pivotable about a first pawl axis (15b Figure 1) between a first engaged position (Figure 3A) and a first disengaged position (Figure 3B) and which, when the lock catch is in a closing position, is in the first engaged position and in blocking engagement with the lock catch (Figure 1), with a second pawl (19 Figure 1), which is pivotable about a second pawl axis (16 Figure 1) between a second engaged position (Figure 4A) and a second disengaged position (Figure 4B) and which, when the lock catch is in a closing position, is in the second engaged position and holds the first pawl in blocking engagement with the lock catch (Figure 1), and with a third pawl (22 Figure 1), which is pivotable about a third pawl axis (23 Figure 1) between a third engaged position (Figure 4A) and a third disengaged position (Figure 4B) and which, when the lock catch is in a closing position, is in the third engaged position and in blocking engagement with the second pawl (Figure 1).
Ishiguro does not disclose that the sensor arrangement has three sensors.
However, Tomaszewski discloses a motor vehicle lock (18 Figure 1) having a comparable lock catch (60 Figure 3) and pawl arrangement (62 Figure 3), wherein a sensor arrangement (38 Figure 3) designed to identify (Col. 8 Lines 47-60) an open position (Figure 4), a pre-closing position (Figure 5) and a main closing position (Figure 3) of the lock catch by means of individual sensors for each latch component (Col. 8 Lines 47-60). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure Ishiguro’s sensor arrangement having three sensors, a first sensor being assigned to the lock catch in order to detect at least one lock catch position, the pre-closing position and/or the main closing position, a second sensor being assigned to the first pawl in order to detect at least one pawl position of the first pawl, and a third sensor being assigned to a further one of the pawls in order to detect at least one pawl position of the further pawl, with a reasonable expectation of success. One would have been motivated to use such a sensor arrangement to allow more precise monitoring and control of the motor vehicle lock.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-16 and 18-20 allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Although the references of record show some features similar to those of applicant's device, the prior art fails to teach or make obvious the claimed invention. With regards to claim 1, the prior art does not teach wherein the coupling arrangement is coupled or couplable to the pawl arrangement such that the coupling arrangement can, depending on the state of the pawl arrangement, be transferred into one of the coupling states, which is respectively associated with said state with the effect that the coupling arrangement is configured to allow a drive movement of the drive arrangement to be transmitted to the pushing-open arrangement, in order to perform the pushing open operation, only when the pawl arrangement is in the release state. Therefore, such an arrangement is not taught by the prior art, nor can the Examiner can find teaching or motivation to suggest such a modification to one of ordinary skill in the art without fundamentally altering the principles of operation of the device or otherwise relying upon the benefit of impermissible hindsight reasoning.
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 Noah Horowitz, whose telephone number is (571)272-5532. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 11:00AM - 7:00 PM.
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/NOAH HOROWITZ/Examiner, Art Unit 3675
/KRISTINA R FULTON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3675