DETAILED ACTION
This is a first Office action responsive to applicant’s original disclosure filed on 3/18/2024. Currently, claims 1-6 are pending and are under consideration.
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 .
Drawings
The drawings filed on 3/18/2024 are acceptable for examination.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, “the second ratchet teeth” is objected to because the limitation does not properly refer to the previously recited multiple second ratchet teeth and thus the limitation lacks antecedent basis. This objection can be overcome by reciting, “the multiple second ratchet teeth” or equivalent.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abidov et al. (US 9970203) (‘Abidov’) in view of Bunch et al. (US 20140298736) (‘Bunch’) and further in view of Bellows et al. (US 7784751) (‘Bellows’).
Claim 1, Abidov teaches a tile leveling structure comprising:
a support base 11; and
a pressing seat (30, 40) mounted on the support base (Fig. 8);
wherein:
the support base includes a bottom plate 13 and a handle 12 extending upward from the bottom plate (Fig. 1B);
the support base is provided with a through hole 14;
the handle is provided with a locking portion 17 arranged in a top of the through hole (Fig. 3A);
the pressing seat includes a pedestal 43, an abutting portion 30 extending upward from a first end of the pedestal (Fig. 8), and a press portion 42 extending upward from a second end of the pedestal (Figs. 7A-7B);
the abutting portion has an upper surface 36 provided with multiple first ratchet teeth (col. 5, lines 5-10) and a lower surface (see Fig. 5B); and
the press portion has an end (an end of 42, as exceedingly broadly claimed; Fig. 7A).
Abidov does not teach the bottom plate of the support base having a concave shape, the lower surface of the abutting portion provided with multiple second ratchet teeth, and the press portion end provided with a locking tooth locked on the second ratchet teeth.
However, Bunch teaches a support base comprising a bottom plate having a concave shape (18; [0019]; Fig. 2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to form the bottom plate of the support base having a concave, shape, with the reasonable expectation of success of ensuring that tiles of varying thicknesses may be leveed and aligned (Bunch [0019]).
Further, Bellows teaches a lower surface of an abutting portion (10’; Fig. 9) comprising multiple second ratchet teeth 46, and an end of a press portion 10 provided with a locking tooth 26 locked on the second ratchet teeth (Fig. 9). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to try forming the lower surface of the abutting portion provided with multiple second ratchet teeth, and the press portion end provided with a locking tooth locked on the second ratchet teeth, with the reasonable expectation of success of increasing the divergence of the tile leveling structure to obtain various thicknesses (Bellows col. 6, lines 50-60).
Claim 5, Abidov further teaches wherein the pedestal is integrally formed with the press portion (Figs. 7A-7B), and an acute angle is defined between the pedestal and the press portion (Figs. 7A-7B).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abidov et al. (US 9970203) (‘Abidov’) in view of Bunch et al. (US 20140298736) (‘Bunch’) and Bellows et al. (US 7784751) (‘Bellows’) in view of Castellanos (US 20210062522).
Claim 2, Abidov further teaches wherein: the pressing seat is made of elastic material (rubber col. 5, lines 20-30). Abidov does not teach the pressing seat being made of plastic material. However, Castellanos teaches a pressing seat being made of a plastic material [0026]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to try forming the seat being made of plastic material, with the reasonable expectation of success of utilizing a readily available, known material to form the pressing seat (Castellanos [0026]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 and 6 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record, including Abidov et al. (US 9970203) (‘Abidov’), Bunch et al. (US 20140298736) (‘Bunch’), Bellows et al. (US 7784751) (‘Bellows’) and Castellanos (US 20210062522) does not teach or disclose, alone or in combination, all the elements and features of the claimed invention, including inter alia wherein each of the pedestal, the abutting portion, and the press portion of the pressing seat is a sheet plate (claim 3), wherein the pedestal is integrally formed with the abutting portion, and an acute angle is defined between the pedestal and the abutting portion (claim 4), and wherein a receiving space is defined between the pedestal, the abutting portion, and the press portion (claim 6). It would have been beyond the level of ordinary skill to combine or modify any of the cited prior art references of record to arrive at the claimed invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES M FERENCE whose telephone number is (571)270-7861. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-4pm.
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JAMES M. FERENCE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3635
/JAMES M FERENCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3635