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
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Hirschhaut (US 20190350372 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Hirschhaut teaches an assembly sofa, comprising: a sofa seat frame (Figures 1-16); a plurality of backrest plates (elements 14), transversely laid side by side and connected to a rear side of the sofa seat frame (Figures 4, 11, 13); a plurality of seat plates (Figure 3-16, elements 12, 12a, 12b), transversely laid side by side and connected to a top of the sofa seat frame (Figures 3-16); a plurality of cushions (Figure 1, elements 24), arranged on the backrest plates or/and the seat plates (as depicted in Figure 1); and two armrest boxes (elements 20), connected to two sides of the sofa seat frame respectively (Figures 1-16), wherein the armrest boxes are provided with cavities inside (Figures 5-13) and openings in bottom ends (Figures 5-13 depict openings in the bottom of the armrests in which feet 22 are connected), the cavity of one armrest box is used for storing the stacked backrest plates when the assembly sofa is packed (intended use), and the cavity of the other armrest box is used for storing the vacuum-compressed cushions when the assembly sofa is packed (intended use).
Regarding claim 2, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 1, wherein the sofa seat frame is arranged into an assembly seat frame structure and provided with assembly parts for assembling the sofa seat frame (Figures 1-16).
Regarding claim 3, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 2, wherein each of the armrest boxes is provided with a rear armrest box body and a front armrest box body (best seen in Figures 9-12); and a horizontal height of a top of the rear armrest box body is greater than that of a top of the front armrest box body (best seen in Figures 9-12), an armrest portion is formed on the top of the rear armrest box body (best seen in Figures 9-12), and a seat plate extension portion is formed on the top of the front armrest box body (best seen in Figures 9-12).
Regarding claim 4, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 3, wherein the cavities inside the armrest boxes are formed into main cavities corresponding to the rear armrest box bodies and auxiliary cavities corresponding to the front armrest box bodies (there are cavities in both the front and rear armrest box bodies inasmuch as applicant has claimed); and the main cavities of the two armrest boxes are respectively used for storing the stacked backrest plates and the vacuum-compressed cushions (intended use), and at least one of the auxiliary cavities of the two armrest boxes is used for storing the assembly parts (intended use).
Regarding claim 5, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 1, wherein each of the backrest plates comprises a main plate connected to the rear side of the sofa seat frame (best represented by element 14), and a bent plate connected to a top edge of the main plate of the backrest plate and bent downwards (Figures 5-7, 9-10, element 30); and the main plate of the backrest plate on one outer side (Figures 1-16), among the stacked backrest plates stored in the cavity (intended use), is attached to a corresponding inner wall of the armrest box (attached via seat base and seat base connection 37), the top edge of the bent plate of the backrest plate on the other outer side abuts against a corresponding inner wall of the armrest box (Figures 1-2, 11-13), and an unoccupied space is formed between the main plate of such backrest plate and the corresponding inner wall of the armrest box (Figure 11, inasmuch as applicant has claimed).
Regarding claim 6, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 5, wherein the cushions comprise a plurality of backrest cushions arranged on the backrest plates and a plurality of seat cushions arranged on the seat plates (Figures 1-3); the vacuum-compressed backrest cushions are stored in the cavity of one armrest box (intended use); and at least one vacuum-compressed seat cushion is stored in the unoccupied space of the other armrest box (intended use).
Regarding claim 7, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 2, wherein the sofa seat frame comprises a plurality of connected rear beam pipes (Figures 16 and 18 comprise a plurality of connected piping and armature to form the seat frame support), a plurality of connected front beam pipes (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed), a plurality of supporting pipes and a plurality of connecting pipes (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed); the supporting pipes on outermost sides and the corresponding rear beam pipes/front beam pipes are of integrated structures and form knuckling frames (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed), and the knuckling frames are used for being put at corners of a bottom of a packing box when the assembly sofa is packed (intended use), so that the knuckling frames surround the seat plates laid down at the bottom of the packing box (intended use); ends of two connected front beam pipes/rear beam pipes and top ends of the supporting pipes are connected by the assembly parts (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed); and two ends of the connecting pipes and pipe bodies of front and rear symmetrically-aligned supporting pipes are connected by the assembly parts (Figure 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed).
Regarding claim 8, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 7, wherein the sofa seat frame further comprises a plurality of inserting pipes (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed); the top end of each of the supporting pipes is provided with two first assembly pieces extending towards two sides and attached to bottoms of the two connected front beam pipes/rear beam pipes respectively (springs in Figures 16 and 18 connect to unlabeled attachment plating extending towards two sides, and are connected to bottoms of a plurality of front and rear beam pipes), two ends of one of the inserting pipes are inserted into the ends of the two connected front beam pipes/rear beam pipes respectively (Figure 16 depicts a plurality of intersecting piping and armature that satisfies these limitations), and the assembly parts (springs in Figures 16 and 18) penetrate through the first assembly pieces (unlabeled plating in Figure 18), the front beam pipes/rear beam pipes and the inserting pipes (Figures 16 and 18).
Regarding claim 9, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 7, wherein the pipe body of one of the supporting pipes is provided with two second assembly pieces extending towards two sides and attached to the backrest plates (springs in Figures 16 and 18 connect to unlabeled attachment plating connected to the backrest via seat base 12, extends towards two sides, and are connected to supporting piping), and the assembly parts penetrate through the second assembly pieces of the supporting pipes on a rear row and are connected with the backrest plates (Figures 16 and 18); and the assembly parts penetrate through the rear beam pipes and are connected with the backrest plates (Figures 16 and 18 and connected to back rest via seat base 12).
Regarding claim 10, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 9, further comprising a plurality of front guard plates arranged side by side (Figure 13 depicts a faceplate, element 50, comprising a plurality of plates arranged side by side inasmuch as applicant has claimed); wherein the assembly parts (springs in Figures 16 and 18) penetrate through the second assembly pieces of the supporting pipes on a front row (unlabeled plating in Figure 18) and are connected with a front guard plate (Figure 18 depicts that the springs penetrate the unlabeled plating that is connected to seat base 12. Figure 13 depicts that face plate 13 is mounted on seat base 12. Thus, the springs are connected to the face plate via seat base 12).
Regarding claim 11, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 2, wherein the sofa seat frame comprises a plurality of connected rear beam pipes (Figures 16 and 18 comprise a plurality of connected piping and armature to form the seat frame support), a plurality of connected front beam pipes (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed), a plurality of supporting pipes and a plurality of bent pipes (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed); the rear beam pipes/front beam pipes on outermost sides are connected into integrated structures and form knuckling frames (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed), and the knuckling frames are used for being put at corners of a bottom of a packing box when the assembly sofa is packed (intended use), so that the knuckling frames surround the seat plates laid down at the bottom of the packing box (intended use); and ends of two front and rear symmetrically-aligned and connected front beam pipes/rear beam pipes and two ends of the bent pipes are connected by the assembly parts (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed), and bottoms of the bent pipes are used for supporting the sofa seat frame (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed).
Regarding claim 12, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 11, wherein the sofa seat frame further comprises a plurality of inserting pipes (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed), two ends of one of the inserting pipes are inserted into the ends of the two connected front beam pipes/rear beam pipes respectively and connected by the assembly parts (Figures 16 and 18 inasmuch as applicant has claimed).
Regarding claim 13, Hirschhaut teaches the invention in claim 7, wherein the sofa seat frame further comprises a seat frame (Figure 16 inasmuch as applicant has claimed), and the seat frame is connected with the front beam pipes and the rear beam pipes and supports the seat plates; and a plurality of spring bars are connected into the seat frame (Figure 16 inasmuch as applicant has claimed).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Griggs, Jr. (US 20140239679 A1, US 20140237946 A1, and US 20220175138 A1): Relevant to Applicant’s intended use of storing assembly parts and cushions in arm rest cavities.
Shih et al. (US 20230270258 A1): Relevant to claims 7-13 should applicant amend the claim language.
Kulik et al. (US 20240057777 A1): Relevant to claim 3.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN MICHAEL HESTON whose telephone number is (571)272-3099. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Tuesday: 0500-1400, Thursday-Friday by appointment only.
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/JUSTIN MICHAEL HESTON/Examiner, Art Unit 3644