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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claim 4, drawn to a gas sensor in the reply filed on April 23, 2026 is acknowledged.
Drawings
The drawings are objected because the reference character “73a” has not been described in the specification. It seems to be a typo and should be “73s.”
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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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 § 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 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.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kume (JP 2016-99268 machine translation for citation).
Regarding claim 4, Kume teaches a gas sensor (Fig. 1; ¶12: gas sensor 1) comprising:
a separator (Fig. 1; ¶13: a separator 60) made of ceramic (¶22: made of insulating ceramic); and
a metal holder (Fig. 1; ¶13: a holding member 70; ¶24: a metal member) that holds the separator and has a contact part contacting the separator (¶24: the separator 60 is held by a cylindrical holding member 70; Fig. 1: indicating the holding member 70 in contact with the separator 60) wherein
the metal holder (e.g., Fig. 10, 12: holding member 70A) includes;
a tubular portion surrounding an outer side surface of the separator (¶24: the holding member 70, e.g., e.g., Fig. 10, 12: 70A. includes a tubular portion 71 surrounding the separator 60),
an outer bent portion connected to a rear end of the tubular portion along a circumferential direction, and bent so as to reduce in diameter toward a radially inner side (Fig. 10, 12; ¶36: a tapered portion 72A of the holding member 70A; here, the tapered portion is deemed to be the outer bent portion that is bent to reduce the diameter of the holding member 70A inward radially),
a plurality of support portions connected to an end on the radially inner side of the outer bent portion (¶36: the support portions 76; Fig. 10: indicating the support portions 76 are connected to the end of the tapered portion 72A), so as to be spaced from each other in the circumferential direction (Fig. 10; ¶36: the support portion 76 and the inner bent portion 72A are alternately connected in the circumferential direction), the support portions extending toward the radially inner side and supporting the separator in an axial direction of the metal holder (Fig. 10, 12: indicating the end 79 of the support portion 76 extending inward in the radial direct to support the separator in the axial direction of the holding member 70), and
a plurality of inner extending portions connected to the end on the radially inner side of the outer bent portion (Fig. 10, 12; ¶31: the inner extending portions 73, which are connected to the end of the tapered portion 72A), and each of the plurality of inner extending portions being located between two of the support portions adjacent in the circumferential direction (Fig. 10; ¶31: the inner extending portions 73 disposed between two support portions 76 adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction) having inner bent portions bent toward a front side in the axial direction (Fig. 12: the inner extending portions 73 bent toward downside, i.e., the forward end side AS), and holding the separator in the radial direction by having end portions contact the outer side surface of the separator (Fig. 12: the inner extending portions 73 holding the separator 60 via its tip end 78 in contact with the outer side surface of the separator 60),
wherein
at least either of end portions of the support portions and the end portions of the inner extending portions form the contact part (Fig. 10, 12: both the end 79 of the support portion 76 and the end 78 of the inner extending portions 73 are deemed to the contact parts in contact with the separator 60).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 8 is/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 does not disclose nor render obvious all of the cumulative limitations of claim 8 with particular attention to the limitations:
wherein the metal holder has a reference part exhibiting a maximum thickness of the metal holder, and a hardness h1 of the contact part is greater than a hardness h2 of the reference part (claim 8).
Here, Kume teaches a gas sensor (Fig, 1: gas sensor 1) comprising: a separator (Fig. 1: separator 60) and a metal holder (Fig. 1: the holding member 70; Fig. 10, 12: the holding member 70A), wherein the metal holder includes a tubular portion (Fig. 10, 12: tubular portion 71) surrounding an outer side surface of the separator, an outer bent portion (Fig. 10, 12: the papered portion 72A) connected to a rear end of the tubular portion along a circumferential direction, and bent so as to reduce in diameter toward a radially inner side, a plurality of support portions (Fig. 10: support portions 76) connected to an end on the radially inner side of the outer bent portion, so as to be spaced from each other in the circumferential direction, the support portions extending toward the radially inner side and supporting the separator in an axial direction of the metal holder, and a plurality of inner extending portions (Fig. 10, 12: inner extending portion 73) connected to the end on the radially inner side of the outer bent portion, and each of the plurality of inner extending portions being located between two of the support portions adjacent in the circumferential direction (¶31), having inner bent portions bent toward a front side in the axial direction, and holding the separator in the radial direction by having end portions contact the outer side surface of the separator (Fig. 10, 12: the tip end 78 of the inner extending portions 73), wherein at least either of end portions of the support portions and the end portions of the inner extending portions form the contact part (Fig. 10, 12: both the end 79 of the support portion 76 and the end 78 of the inner extending portions 73 are deemed to the contact part in contact with the separator 60). However, the prior art does not disclose the parts of the metal holder, e.g., a reference part having a thickness t2 and hardness h2 and a contact part having a thickness t1 and hardness h1, and the thickness t2 is the maximum thickness of the metal holder or the hardness h1 is greater than hardness h2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CAITLYN M SUN whose telephone number is (571)272-6788. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8:30am - 5:30pm.
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/C. SUN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1795
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