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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 3/25/2024, 8/7/2024, 12/2/2024, 12/17/2024, and 3/5/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Preliminary Amendment
Preliminary amendment of disclosure filed on 3/25/2024 has been entered. Accordingly, the amended disclosure is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the pulleys of Claim 10 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered. It is noted that the Specification states, “a plurality of pulleys (not labeled but shown in FIG. 2)”, however it is unclear as to what elements of Fig. 2 correspond to said pulleys.
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 (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.
Claims 1-4, 9, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ruggiero et al. (US 2017/0313339, hereinafter Ruggiero).
In regards to claim 1, Ruggiero discloses in Figures 1-3 and 5-7, a child carrier (100), comprising: a frame (102); a seat support member (134) configured to support a seat (200); and a handle (110) pivotally connected to the frame (at 112), wherein the handle (110) is capable of rotating relative to the frame (via 112) to drive the seat support member (134) to move relative to the frame (102) from a first position to a second position (see Figs. 5-7, Par. [0038]).
In regards to claim 2, Ruggiero discloses in Figures 1-3 and 5-7, the frame (102) comprises a support rod (106), the seat support member (134) is slidably connected to the support rod (106, Par. [0038]), and the handle (110) is capable of rotating to drive the seat support member to move along the support rod (see Figs. 5-7, Par. [0038]).
In regards to claim 3, Ruggiero discloses in Figures 1-3 and 5-7, the support rod (106) is arranged along a first direction (down and to the right as oriented in Fig. 5), the handle (110) is capable of rotating relative to the frame (102) to change a moving direction of the frame from the first direction (down and to the right) to a second direction (substantially to the right as oriented in Fig. 7), and to drive the seat support member (134) to move relative to the frame from the first direction to the second direction (see movement from Fig. 5 to Fig. 7), the second position is located in the first direction of the first position (the second position is located down and to the right of the first position, see Figs. 5 and 7 for illustration).
In regards to claim 4, Ruggiero discloses in Figures 1-3 and 5-7, a first linkage assembly (140), wherein the handle (110) drives the seat support member (134) to move along the support rod (106) through the first linkage assembly (Par. [0032]).
In regards to claim 9, Ruggiero discloses in Figures 1-3 and 5-7, the seat support member (134) is slidably sleeved on the support rod (106, Par. [0038]).
In regards to claim 12, Ruggiero discloses in Figures 1-3 and 5-7, a second linkage assembly (second instance of 140), wherein the frame comprises a support rod (106), the seat support member (134) is connected to the support rod (106) through the second linkage assembly (see Figs 1-2 and 5-7), and the handle (110) is capable of rotating to drive the seat support member (134) to move relative to the support rod (106, Par. [0032, 0038]).
In regards to claim 13, Ruggiero discloses in Figures 1-3 and 5-7, the support rod (106) is arranged along a first direction (down and to the right as oriented in Fig. 5), the handle (110) is capable of rotating relative to the frame (102) to change a moving direction of the frame from the first direction (down and to the right) to a second direction (substantially to the right as oriented in Fig. 7), and to drive the seat support member (134) to move relative to the frame from the first direction to the second direction (see movement from Fig. 5 to Fig. 7), the second position is located in the first direction of the first position (the second position is located down and to the right of the first position, see Figs. 5 and 7 for illustration).
In regards to claim 14, Ruggiero discloses in Figures 1-3 and 5-7, the support rod (106) is arranged along a first direction (down and to the right as oriented in Fig. 5), and the second position is located above or below the first position (the second position is located below the first position, see Figs. 5 and 7 for illustration).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ruggiero.
Ruggiero fails to disclose or fairly suggest a plurality of pulleys located in the seat support member and abutting against the support rod.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize pulleys in the seat support member of Ruggiero in order to reduce the force needed to collapse and/or expand the stroller of Ruggiero. A pulley is a notoriously well-known simple machine commonly used to reduce the tension/force needed to transfer weight; using such a simple machine (or plurality thereof) would have flown naturally to one of ordinary skill.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8, 11, and 15-17 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 that which is listed on the attached PTO-892, notably Ruggiero as discussed above, Fey (DE 102005029448 A1), Tao (CN 111409683 A), Tang (CN 214267743 U), and Lin (EP 3590789 A1), while either alone or in combination teaching a child carrier with frame, seat support, support rod, and linkage assemblies as detailed in the rejection above, fails to disclose or render obvious in particular the first linkage assembly comprises a rotating member and a driving member, one end of the rotating member is connected to the handle, another end of the rotating member is pivotally connected to one end of the driving member, and another end of the driving member is pivotally connected to the seat support member as recited and called for in the claimed combination of dependent claim 5, Claims 6-8 and 11 allowable due to their dependence thereto, and the second linkage assembly comprises a first linkage rod and a second linkage rod, one end of the first linkage rod is fixed to the handle, another end of the first linkage rod is pivotally connected to one end of the seat support member, another end of the seat support member is pivotally connected to one end of the second linkage rod, and another end of the second linkage rod is pivotally connected to the support rod; and wherein the first linkage rod, the seat support member, the second linkage rod, and the support rod are connected in sequence to form a deformable quadrilateral structure as recited and called for in the claimed combination of dependent claim 15, Claims 16-17 allowable due to their dependence thereto.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER K GARLEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3599. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jessica Han can be reached at 571-272-2078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEXANDER K GARLEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896