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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “122” in figure 2 has been used to designate both a "first profile metal sheet" on the exterior sides of the backrest lower portion and an indeterminate interior part of the backrest lower portion on the left-hand-side of figure 2. 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. 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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 14, dependent on claim 11, introduces “a slotted guiding member” and “a journal”. It is unclear whether the stated elements are referring to entirely new elements or the elements of the same name from claim 11. For examination purposes, it is assumed that these elements are the same as the elements from claim 11.
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 11-19, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Canteleux (FR-2714340-A1).
Canteleux discloses an adjustable seat frame where the backrest is comprising of two parts and pivot at a common point.
Claim 11 – Canteleux teaches a motor vehicle seat (in the description, “vehicle seats, in particular motor vehicles”), comprising:
a) a first seat component (element 1 in figure 1),
b) a second seat component (element 2 in figure 1) which can be pivoted about a pivot axis (the axis created along the two element 3’s in figure 1) relative to the first seat component, the second seat component having a slotted guiding member (elements 5 in figure 3),
c) a journal (element 6 in figure 3) which is movably guided in the slotted guiding member of the second seat component, and
d) an actuator (in the description, “The pinion can be controlled directly or indirectly by a wheel accessible to a seat user, or by an electric motor”) for displacing the journal within the slotted guiding member, wherein the first seat component has a slotted support member (element 4 in figure 3) in which the journal is movably guided, wherein the slotted guiding member and the slotted support member intersect with each other in an intersection region (figure 1).
Claim 12 – Canteleux teaches that by displacing the journal within the slotted guiding member, the intersection region can be displaced along the slotted guiding member, whereby a relative angular position between the first seat component and the second seat component can be adjusted (in the description, when “the upper frame 2 is in a raised position, that is to say it forms an angle less than 180 [degrees] with the lower frame 1”).
Claim 13 – Canteleux teaches the slotted guiding member and the slotted support member are arranged eccentrically relative above the pivot axis (slots are located above the axis created by elements 3 in figure 1).
Claim 14 – Canteleux teaches a slotted guiding member, at least one slotted support member and a journal are arranged in each case at each of two sides of the second seat component (in figure 3, element
2
1
has two sides, one to go on either side of element
1
1
, and each side features a slotted support member, element 5, and a journal, element 6).
Claim 15 – Canteleux teaches the first seat component and the second seat component overlap each other in an overlapping region, wherein the slotted guiding member and the slotted support member are arranged in the overlapping region (the overlap is taught in figures 1-3).
Claim 16 – Canteleux shows the journal and the slotted guiding member in at least one pivot direction forming an end stop for the pivot movement of the second seat component relative to the first seat component about the pivot axis (see the end of the slot in Fig. 3)
Claim 17 – Canteleux shows the journal and the slotted support member in at least one pivot direction form an end stop for the pivot movement of the second seat component relative to the first seat component about the pivot axis. (see the end of the slot in Fig. 3)
Claim 18 – Canteleux teaches the vehicle seat is an integrated-belt seat (in the description, “a seat belt retractor which is fixed to the support of the second frame”).
Claim 19 – Canteleux teaches a belt outlet location is integrated in the second seat component (in the description, “a seat belt retractor which is fixed to the support of the second frame”).
Claim 21 – Canteleux teaches the first seat component comprises a backrest lower portion of a backrest and the second seat component comprises a backrest upper portion (figure 1).
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 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Canteleux (FR-2714340-A1).
Claim 20 –Canteleux teaches the first seat component has a first backrest side portion (element
1
2
in figure 1) and a second backrest side portion (element
1
1
in figure 1), wherein the second backrest side portion in a transverse direction is arranged closer to the belt outlet location (element 13 in figure 1) than the first backrest side portion, and teaches the second backrest side portion having two profiles that are connected to form a hollow profile (element
1
1
in figure 1) and having the slotted support members in the profiles (figure 3) but does not teach the profiles of the second backrest side portions being metal sheets.
(It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use metal sheets as the material of the second backrest side portion profiles since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. See MPEP 2144.07.)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TROY A LIBBY whose telephone number is (571)272-6676. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri; 7:00 AM - 2:30 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DAVID DUNN can be reached at (571) 272-6670. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/T.A.L./Examiner, Art Unit 3636
/DAVID R DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3636