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 .
Priority
Acknowledgement is made of applicant’s claim for benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119 (e) based on provisional application 63/490323 filed in the United States on March 15, 2023
Information Disclosure Statement
The information referred to in the information disclosure statements filed on 5/15/2024, 6/5/2024, 7/10/2024 and 2/28/2025 has been considered as to the merits.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “addition portion” (claim 9) and “a portion containing one woven layer” (claim 10) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Candrian-Bell et al. (US 2018/0119320 A1) in view of Yoshida (6,010,652). With respect to claim 1, Candrian-Bell et al. discloses an inflatable support article with an air impermeable layer (2010) and (2020) covering the majority of first (top) and second (bottom) sides of a multi-layer woven fabric (2040)(2050) positioned therebetween. The woven fabric is a one-piece woven fabric which is depicted in Figure 20 as severed (paragraph [0056]). The support article is inflated via an inflation valve (paragraph [0064]) for pressuring a volume bounded by the first and second fabric plies to achieve a predetermined stiffness of the woven, inflatable structure. Inflatable articles in the form of mattresses can be inflated to about 8-45 psi (paragraph [0040]), which overlaps the range claims in claim 12. The woven fabric includes threads that are coated with TPU, PVC, silicone, latex, urethan or another substance which may be heat-sealed after weaving to create an air tight inflatable structure. The multi-layer woven fabric includes multiple woven layers that cross through each other as best depicted in Figure 1. The multi-layer woven fabric comprises a portion containing one woven layer (see Figures 6, edges (610) and (620). The support article is selected from the list consisting of a mattress, a camping mat, a cushion and a pet bed. Candrian-Bell et al. discloses all claimed elements with the exception of four woven layers A, B, C and D.
Yoshida teaches a multi-layer woven fabric that can be used as a reinforcing core material and an expansible structures. The multi-layer woven fabric (see Figure 1b) having a first side (top side), a middle region (spaced pockets) and a second side (bottom side) and having warp yarns (Ya) and weft yarns (Yb), wherein in at least a portion of the multi-layer woven fabric is woven a four woven layers, layer A (1a), layer B (1d), layer C (1b) and layer D (1c), wherein each of the woven layers A, B, C, D within the multi-layer fabric comprise a repeating pattern of a first section where the woven layer forms the first side (top side) of the multi-layer fabric, a second section where the woven layer travels through the multi-layer woven fabric in the middle region of the multi-layer, and a third section wherein the woven layer forms the second side (bottom side) of the multi-layer woven fabric, wherein layers A, B, C and D cross through each other within the multi-layer woven fabric (see Figure 2); a layer (11) covering the majority of the first and second sides of the multi-layer woven fabric. Each of the woven layers A-D are woven layers containing warp and weft yarns (see Figure 2). Each of the woven layers within the multi-layer woven fabric has the same weave pattern (see Figure 2). The multi-layer woven fabric is a one-piece woven fabric. The woven layers A, B, C, D cross—through each other forming a cross-through seam (3). The first side (top side) of the multi-layer woven fabric is formed by wove layers A, B, C and D in the repeating pattern comprising portions of layer A, layer C, layer D, then layer B. The woven layers A, B, C, and D form a plurality of chambers within the multi-layer woven fabric The chambers are air permeable to other chambers within the multi-layer woven fabric.
It would have been obvious to a POSITA to replace the woven structure positioned between air impermeable layers (210) and (2020) disclosed by Candrian-Bell et al. with the reinforcing multi-layer woven structure taught by Yoshida. The Yoshida structure is light weight, cushioning and has compressive strength (column 2, lines 34-40)
With respect to claims 14-20, Yoshida teaches 5 woven layers, which thereby teaches 4 layers as required by claim 1 and 3 layers as required by claim 14.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Alexander (US 2019/0195427); Youn (US 2014/0021705); Rheaume (4,312,913) and MacIntyre (3,575,776).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH B. MCPARTLIN whose telephone number is (571)272-6854. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am - 5 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Patricia Engle can be reached at 571-272-6660. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SARAH B MCPARTLIN/Reexamination Specialist, Art Unit 3993