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 .
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, 2, 4, and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Richard D. Rhodes Jr. et al. U.S. Patent 6,273,810 B1 (Rhodes).
Regarding claim 1, Rhodes discloses a lumbar support device for a seat, the lumbar support device (Figure 1) comprising: at least one air bladder (Element 18 and 20) that is expandable or contractable; a control valve (Figure 7 Element 40 control with the valves Element 44, 46) connected to an air pump (Element 52) configured to provide pneumatic pressure for expansion of the at least one air bladder, the control valve configured to perform a control operation of supplying air supplied from the air pump to the at least one air bladder or discharging the air supplied to the at least one air bladder; and a ventilation blower (Figure 3 and 4 Element 38) connected to the control valve, wherein the ventilation blower is selectively driven, when a preset air bladder operation mode is terminated, so as to discharge the air remaining in the at least one air bladder (Column 6 Lines 46-67).
Regarding claim 3, Rhodes discloses the lumbar support wherein the ventilation blower is preinstalled (Column 1 Line 63-Column 2 Line 14).
Regarding claim 4, Rhodes discloses the lumbar support wherein the ventilation blower is configured to be selectively driven to discharge the air from the at least one air bladder in the air bladder operation mode (Figure 8).
Regarding claim 5, Rhodes discloses the lumbar support wherein the air bladder operation mode is set to repeatedly open and close the control valve so that the air is alternately supplied to or discharged from the plurality of neighboring air bladders for a set period of time (Column 6 Lines 46-67).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9 are allowed.
Claims 2 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.
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/SHIN H KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3636