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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Balnis (US 20180009261 A1) in view of Haba (US 20150191586 A1) and further in view of Washizu (US 20210230416 A1).
Regarding claims 1-20, Balnis teaches rubber coating a composition for an RFID device meant to be incorporated into tires, where the rubber composition may be a coating for the device or be the tire rubber in which the device is embedded (abstract, paragraphs [006-008] and [0028]), the rubber composition (Table 6) comprises:
Natural rubber and polybutadiene as rubber components;
10.5 parts per hundred rubber (PHR) total of vulcanizing activators (which can be sulfurous, paragraph [0056]) and vulcanizing agents (which can be sulfurous, and a mixture of soluble and insoluble sulfur, paragraph [0055]) as sulfur components.
60 PHR silica filler
1,3-diphenylguanidine (DPG) as a vulcanization accelerator (paragraph [0056]);
Wherein the vulcanizing activators above are preferably insoluble sulfur or a mixture of insoluble and soluble sulfur (paragraph [0055]).
Balnis also teaches a tire comprising an RFID device that is coated in a rubber composition (claim 25). However, Balnis does not specify the kinds and amounts of compounds used for vulcanization activators/agents used, nor in what amounts the sulfur component comprises insoluble sulfur, nor does Balnis specify if guanidine is present in the example as a vulcanization accelerator.
Haba teaches tire rubber compositions (abstract, Table 1) comprising 9 PHR sulfur as a combination of 7 PHR of 20% oil-containing insoluble sulfur (being 60 wt.% insoluble sulfur, paragraph [0187]) and 2 PHR of N-tert-butyl-2-benzothiazolylsulfenamide (TBBS) (paragraph [0188]). The insoluble sulfur comprises 77.8 wt.% of the total sulfur in the composition. Haba also teaches that the use of insoluble sulfur in the disclosed amount contributes improved hardness properties, heat buildup properties, and elongation at break in the rubber composition (paragraph [0126]). Haba also teaches guanidine-based vulcanization accelerators but is silent as to the amount appropriate for the composition (paragraph [0131]). Haba is analogous to the instant disclosure in that it pertains to vulcanizable rubber compositions for tire applications.
Washizu teaches rubber compositions for tires comprising DPG as a guanidine-based vulcanization accelerator in an amount of 0.5 PHR (abstract, Table 1). Washizu is analogous to the instant disclosure in that it pertains to vulcanizable rubber for tire applications comprising DPG.
A person having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the instant application would have found it obvious to use Haba's teaching about the properties of a composition comprising insoluble sulfur in the claimed amounts and its ratio with respect to total sulfur and the kinds and amounts of sulfur useable for rubber compositions, and to use Washizu's disclosure regarding the appropriate amount of DPG in a rubber composition and, through methods known in the art, apply the teachings to the rubber composition and tire of Balnis and the results would have been predictable.
Further regarding claims 3, 5, 8, 10 and 14, the composition of Balnis in view of Haba and further in view of Washizu comprises sulfur in the amounts, kinds, and proportions as disclosed by Haba described above.
Further regarding claims 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18 and 20, the composition of Balnis in view of Haba and further in view of Washizu comprises DPG as a vulcanization accelerator in the amount disclosed by Washizu as described above.
Further regarding claims 7, 12, 16, and 19, Balnis, Haba, and Washizu all disclose tires as described and cited above and Balnis specifically teaches a tire comprising an RFID device coated in a rubber composition as described above.
Conclusion
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/KOLTON JONES/Examiner, Art Unit 1763
/JOSEPH S DEL SOLE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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