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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
1. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on (2/22/24) is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 7-8 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Garven (US 12,508,179).
[CLAIM 1] Regarding claim 1, Garven discloses a wheelchair (100) comprising: a seat (112); a backrest (116) configured to couple to the seat (112); a pair of axle supports (Garven, annotated FIG 1) configured to couple to the seat (112), wherein the pair of axle supports (Garven, annotated FIG 1) is configured to support an axle (300) and a pair of rear wheels (104a-104b); a central hub (Garven, FIG 1 illustrates hubs at the wheels 104a-104b) configured to couple to the seat (112); a pair of caster supports (200) configured to couple to the central hub (Garven, FIG 1 illustrates hubs at the wheels 104a-104b), wherein the pair of caster supports (200) is configured to support a pair of front caster wheels (108a-108b); and a footrest (284) configured to couple to the pair of caster supports (200).
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[CLAIM 7] Regarding claim 7, Garven discloses the wheelchair (100) of Claim 1, further comprising the pair of rear wheels (104a-104b) and the pair of caster supports (200).
[CLAIM 8] Regarding claim 8, Garven discloses the wheelchair (100) of Claim 1, wherein the seat (112) includes a plurality of seat components (Seats are an assembly of components to support a user) configured to be assembled together to provide the seat (112).
[CLAIM 16] Regarding claim 16, Garven discloses the wheelchair (100) of Claim 1, wherein at least a portion of at least one of the seat (112),the backrest (116), the pair of axle supports (Garven, annotated FIG 1 above), the central hub (The axle 300 and wheel hubs of wheels 104a-104b create a central hub “assembly” for the rear wheels), the pair of caster supports (200), or the footrest (284) is additive-manufactured (Any desired manufacturing process can be selected as desired to reduce cost and complexity).
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
1. Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garven (US 12,508,179) in view of Huttenhuis et al. (US 5,064,211).
[CLAIM 13] Regarding claim 13, Huttenhuis discloses the wheelchair of Claim 10.
-However, it fails to disclose wherein ends of the at least one of the plurality of seat connectors have ball joint interfaces.
-Nevertheless, Huttenhuis discloses a ball joint configuration in claim 1.
- Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified Garven to have rotatable frame joints as taught by Huttenhuis with a reasonable expectation of success in order to make the frame adjustable for a particular user.
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2. Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garven (US 12,508,179) in view of Mulhern (US 7,311,329).
[CLAIM 12] Regarding claim 12, Garven discloses the wheelchair of Claim 10.
-However, it fails to disclose wherein ends of the at least one of the plurality of seat connectors have magnetic connection interfaces.
-Nevertheless, Mulhern discloses a magnetic connection arrangement suitable for seat connections/interfaces.
- Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified Garven to have magnet connections as taught by Mulhern with a reasonable expectation of success in order to ease adjustment and assembly.
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3. Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garven (US 12,508,179) in view of Vesco (US PG PUB NO 2016/0302983).
[CLAIM 17] Regarding claim 17, Garven discloses the wheelchair of Claim 1.
-However, it fails to disclose further comprising a pair of magnetic braking assemblies configured to brake the pair of rear wheels.
-Nevertheless, Vesco discloses an electro-magnetic brake in paragraph [0038] suitable for any of the wheels.
- Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified Garven to have a magnet-based brake as taught by Vesco with a reasonable expectation of success in order to increase user control of the wheelchair.
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 9-11 and 14-15 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.
Claims 18-20 are allowable. Garven (US 12,508,179) represents a similar wheelchair as claimed by Applicants but fails to disclose the limitations of independent claim 18 and its dependent claims 19-20.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and can be found on the attached Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to whose telephone number is (571)270-3411. The examiner can normally be reached on 9AM-6PM PST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marc Jimenez can be reached on (571)272-.4530. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES J TRIGGS/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
/MARC Q JIMENEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3615