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 .
Response to Amendment
1. Applicant’s amendments and accompanying remarks filed 6/26/26 have been fully considered and entered. Claim 1 has been amended. Claims 2-3 have been canceled. Applicants’ amendments are found sufficient to overcome the obvious rejections made over the cited prior art of Dhawan et al., US 7,348,285. Specifically, Dhawan et al., US 7,348,285 does not teach the claimed first and second tuck stitches and a float between first and second tuck stitches. As such, the rejections of claims 1 and 4-10 made over and based on the cited prior art of Dhawan et al., US 7,348,285 as set forth in the Action dated 3/26/26 are hereby withdrawn. However, upon further consideration of claims 11-15, the following new ground of rejection is set forth below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
3. Claim(s) 11-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Podhajny et al., US 20230008099 A1.
Regarding claim 11, the published patent application issued to Podhajny et al., teach a fabric seam that includes first and second fabric portions (12-1 and 12-2) with one or more conductive strands (80) extending between the first and second fabric portions. An electrical component may be coupled to the conductive strand (abstract and figures 2 and 4). Regarding the claimed weft fabric limitations, Podhajny et al., teach fabric (12) may include knit fabric, warp knit fabric, weft knit fabric, braided fabric, other suitable type of fabric, and/or a combination of any two or more of these types of fabric (paragraph 0044). The Examiner is of the position the orientation of the conductive strands meets the limitation of “a conductive strand that travels back and forth between the first and second outer weft knit layers”.
Regarding claims 12 and 13, strands 80 may be threaded through openings (sometimes referred to as recesses, trenches, grooves, holes, slots, notches, etc.) of electrical component 26 (paragraphs 0062- 0064 and figure 8). The Examiner is of the position that such a disclosure meets the limitation of the claimed “through-hole”. Regarding the claimed “sloped sides” the Examiner is of the position that grooves and/or holes would have the claimed “sloped sides”. Applicants are invited to prove otherwise.
Regarding claim 14, strands forming fabric (12) may be formed from polymer, metal, glass, graphite, ceramic, natural materials such as cotton or bamboo, or other organic and/or inorganic materials and combinations of these materials (paragraph 0036).
Regarding claim 15, teach that electrical components that are housed within an enclosure formed by fabric 12, electrical components are attached to fabric 12 using welds, solder joints, adhesive bonds (e.g., conductive adhesive bonds such as anisotropic conductive adhesive bonds or other conductive adhesive bonds), crimped connections, or other electrical and/or mechanical bonds (paragraph 0041).
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 1, 4-10 and 16-20 are considered allowable. An updated prior art search did not produce any substantial prior art for which to base a rejection and presently there is no known motivation to combine references to form an obvious type rejection.
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LYNDA SALVATORE whose telephone number is (571)272-1482. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marla McConnell can be reached at 571-270-7692. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/LYNDA SALVATORE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789
Prosecution Insights