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 .
This non-final Office action is in response to Applicant’s patent application number 18/588,589 filed on 2/27/2024.
Currently, claims 1-20 are pending and examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/27/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US No. 8,122,651 to Tsai.
Re claim 1: Tsai discloses a floor assembly, comprising: a base panel 10 including a depression 11; a spacing block 30B at least partially disposed in the depression 11; and a floor panel 20 spaced apart from the base panel 10 by the spacing block 30B (see Fig. 3).
Re claim 2: wherein: a lower surface 311B of the spacing block 30B is in contact with an upper surface of the base panel 10 within the depression 11.
Re claim 3: wherein: an upper surface of the spacing block 31B overlaps and is in contact with a lower surface of the floor panel 20 (Fig. 3).
Re claim 4: wherein: the spacing block 31B is located within an interior region of the base panel 10 in a plan view (Fig. 3).
Re claim 7: wherein: the depression 11 extends in a first direction (wherein 11 points to); and the spacing block 10 extends for a greater distance in the first direction (wherein 10 points to).
Re claim 10: wherein: the spacing block 31B is attached to the base panel 10.
Re claim 11: wherein: the spacing block 31B is fastened to the base panel 10 (wherein 311 points to).
Re claim 12: wherein: the spacing block 31B is attached to the floor panel 20 (Fig. 3).
Re claim 17: further comprising: an additional floor panel 40 disposed on the floor panel 20.
Re claim 18: Tsai discloses a floor assembly, comprising: a base panel 10 including a depression 11; a spacing block 31B at least partially disposed in the depression 11, wherein a lower surface 311B of the spacing block 31B is in contact with an upper surface of the base panel 10 within the depression 11; and a floor panel 20 spaced apart from the base panel 10 by the spacing block 31B, wherein an upper surface of the spacing block 31B overlaps and is in contact with a lower surface of the floor panel 20 and wherein the spacing block 31B is located within an interior region of the base panel 10 in a plan view (see Fig. 3).
Re claim 19: Tsai discloses a method for forming a floor assembly, comprising: removing material from a base panel 10 to form a depression 11; inserting a spacing block 31B on the base panel 10 at least partially within the depression 11; and placing a floor panel 20 on the spacing block 31B (Fig. 3).
Re claim 20: further comprising: fastening the spacing block 31B to the base panel 10; and fastening the floor panel 20 to the spacing block 31B.
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) 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US No. 8,122,651 to Tsai.
Re claims 14-15: Tsai discloses basic structures of the claimed invention as stated but does not disclose expressly wherein: the base panel, the spacing block, or a combination thereof comprises mid-density fiber (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB), mass timber, cross-laminated timber (CLT), glulam, or mass plywood and wherein a majority grain direction of the spacing block is perpendicular to a majority grain direction of the base panel. However, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to choose different materials for the base panel, the spacing block or combination thereof in order to facilitate a desirable floor construction.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 6, 8, 9, 13 and 16 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure (see attached PTO-892).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communication from the examiner should be directed to CHI Q. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571) 272-6847. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 7AM-5PM or email: chi.nguyen@uspto.gov. If attempt to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Brian Mattei can be reached at (571) 270-3238. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pairdirect.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at (866) 217-9197.
/CHI Q NGUYEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3635
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