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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 13-Mar-26 is acknowledged.
Claims 6-7 have been withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 13-Mar-26.
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) 1-3 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakurai (US 2019/0285145) in view of Hille (US 2010/0060063).
Claim 1- Sakurai discloses a seat reclining device comprising:
a first plate (61) having a plurality of internal teeth (61c) formed in an axial direction on an annular inner circumferential surface thereof (fig. 1);
a second plate (63) overlaid on the first plate and having a plurality of external teeth (63a) formed on an annular outer circumferential surface thereof (fig. 1) and engaged with the internal teeth (fig. 2), a number of the external teeth being smaller by one or two than a number of the internal teeth;
a ring-shaped holder (91) fixed by welding to an outer circumferential portion of one of the first and second plates (61), while being opposed to an outer circumferential portion of the other of the first and second plates (63) in the axial direction (fig. 3), so as to restrict separation of the other of the first and second plates from the one of the first and second plates (¶ 51); and
an eccentric drive mechanism (comprising a striker 79, wedges 71 & 73, a spring 77) eccentrically rotatable to change a position of engagement of the internal teeth and the external teeth and thereby cause rotation of the other of the first and second plates relative to the one of the first and second plates (¶ 39-40).
The recitation “fixed by welding” is directed to a “product-by-process” limitation and as such is not relied upon for determining patentability of the product- “seat reclining device”- set forth in this claim.
The holder (91) comprises:
a cylindrical portion (not designated, fig. 3) extending in the axial direction (see enlarged clip below);
an inner flange portion extending radially inwardly from one axial end of the cylindrical portion and opposed to the other of the first and second plates (63); and
an outer flange portion extending radially outwardly from the other axial end of the cylindrical portion (see enlarged clip below) and coupled to the one of the first and second plates;
wherein the outer circumferential portion of the one of the first and second plates (61) has, formed on a surface thereof opposed to and facing the outer flange portion of the holder (fig. 3), a depressed part inclined in such a manner that a distance from the holder to the depressed part in the axial direction increases toward a radially inner side (see the enlarged clip below).
The enlarged clip of fig. 3:
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The difference between Sakurai and the claimed invention is Sakurai does not disclose the outer flange portion “welded to the one of the first and second plates”, “wherein the outer flange portion of the holder is welded to the outer circumferential portion of the one of the first and second plates in a state of being pushed into the depressed part.”
Hille teaches a seat reclining device comprising: a first plate (61) having an annular inner circumferential surface thereof (fig. 1); a second plate (63) overlaid on the first plate and having an annular outer circumferential surface thereof (fig. 1); and a ring-shaped holder (13) fixed by welding (¶ 18) to an outer circumferential portion of one of the first and second plates (11), so as to restrict separation of the other of the first and second plates from the one of the first and second plates; wherein an outer flange portion of the holder is welded to an edge section of the outer circumferential portion of the one of the first and second plates (figs. 2, 5) in a state of being pushed into the edge section (¶ 19-20, produced by the weld direction S and corresponding angle phi).
Sakurai similarly teaches an edge section, wherein the depressed part is disposed at the edge section of the outer circumferential portion of one of the first and second plates.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the reclining device with a welded connection between the holder and one of plates, as taught by Hille, in order to effectively restrain the first and second plates in the axial direction of the reclining device.
Claim 2- Sakurai and Hille teach the seat reclining device according to claim 1, wherein the outer flange portion of the holder taught by Sakurai would be laser welded to the outer circumferential portion of the one of the first and second plates by emitting a laser beam diagonally (angle phi) as taught by Hille from an outer circumferential side of the outer flange portion toward the depressed part (Hille teaches the diagonal welding toward the edge section, fig. 5, ¶ 19-20).
Claim 3- Sakurai and Hille teach the seat reclining device according to claim 1, wherein the depressed part taught by Sakurai has either an circular arc surface that is convex toward the holder, or an inclined surface that is inclined in such a manner that the distance from the holder in the axial direction increases toward the radially inner side (highlighted in the enlarged clip of fig. 3 above).
Claim 5- Sakurai and Hille teach the seat reclining device according to claim 1, wherein the internal teeth and the external teeth taught by Sakurai are each shown to be formed in the axial direction (fig. 3). With respect to the limitation “formed by half blanking”, this recitation is directed to a “product-by-process” limitation and as such is not relied upon for determining patentability of the product- “seat reclining device”- set forth in this claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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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/T.A./Examiner, Art Unit 3636
/DAVID R DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3636
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