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 .
DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
This is the first Office Action on the merits of Application 18/722,938 filed on 6/21/24. Claims 1-8 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/21/24 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 & 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 08282532 to Hatano et al. (applicant cited reference).
Claim 1
A frame joint structure that joins together a first frame (e.g. 10) including a plurality of planar portions on an outer periphery of the first frame, and a second frame (e.g. 20) including a plurality of planar portions on an outer periphery of the second frame, the frame joint structure comprising a connecting member (e.g. 100) disposed adjacent to a joint portion between the first frame and the second frame, wherein the connecting member includes a first joint surface (e.g. 101) that abuts on only one of the planar portions of the first frame, and a second joint surface (e.g. 102) that is integrally connected to the first joint surface and abuts on only one of the planar portions of the second frame, and the connecting member is joined to the first frame and the second frame by a first joining member (e.g. via 40).
Claim 2
The frame joint structure according to claim 1, wherein the connecting member includes a first reinforcing surface (e.g. 103) that is formed across an end edge of the first joint surface and an end edge of the second joint surface (see Fig 2).
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.
Claims 3 & 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 08282532 to Hatano et al. (applicant cited reference) in view of JP 2018001834 to Ishikawa (applicant cited reference).
Claim 3
Hatano teaches a frame joint structure with a first frame and second frame with a connecting member joining the two frames together. Further that the connecting member is joined to the first and second frame via a first joining member. Hatano however, does not explicitly disclose that the connecting member has a second reinforcing surface that is joined to another connecting member via a second joining member. Ishikawa however teaches a first reinforcing surface (e.g. one of gusset upper plate part 32 & gusset lower plate part 33) and a second reinforcing surface (e.g. other of gusset upper plate part 32 & gusset lower plate part 33) and are joined to the connecting member via a second joining member (e.g. via 24-26). Therefore it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the claims were effective filed to utilize the teaching of a second joining member, as taught by Ishikawa, to join the two connecting members together (e.g. 30 & 100 of Hatano) via a second joining member (e.g. 24-26 of Ishikawa) for the benefit of securing two elements together to endure vehicle loads (Paragraph 10 of Ishikawa).
Claim 6
The frame joint structure according to claim 3, wherein the first frame and the second frame each have a rectangular cross section (see Fig. 1), one of the planar portions of the first frame and an end portion of the second frame abut on each other in the joint portion (e.g. 20 abuts 10), the connecting member and a third connecting member (e.g. 30 bottom portion) are disposed adjacent to the joint portion, the third connecting member includes: a fifth joint surface (e.g. see portion of 30 overlapping 10) that abuts on the first frame; a sixth joint surface (e.g. see central portion of 30 overlapping 20) that is integrally connected to the fifth joint surface on a same plane and abuts on the second frame; a fifth reinforcing surface (see corner portion of 30 connecting 10 & 20) that is formed at one of corner portions formed between the fifth joint surface and the sixth joint surface, and is integrally connected to the fifth joint surface on the same plane; and a sixth reinforcing surface (see other corner portion of 30 connecting 10 & 20) that is formed at another of the corner portions formed between the fifth joint surface and the sixth joint surface and is integrally connected to the fifth joint surface on the same plane, and at least one of the first reinforcing surface or the second reinforcing surface of the connecting member is joined to the fifth reinforcing surface or the sixth reinforcing surface of the third connecting member by the second joining member (e.g. 24-26 from teaching of Ishikawa).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, 7 & 8 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.
Conclusion
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/HUAN LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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