DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the remarks and amendments filed on 5/12/26. Claims 1 and 3-15 are pending. Claims 1 and 3-15 are rejected.
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
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 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 of this title, 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 1, and 3-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication 2015/0335164 to Liu, in view of US Patent Application Publication 2008/0148488 to Wu.
Claim 1. An inflatable product (Liu, Fig. 1) comprising: an inflatable body (Liu, Fig. 1, #100); a tensioning structure (Liu, Fig. 1, #102) disposed in and connected to the inflatable body, for controlling expansion of the inflatable body when the inflatable body is inflated; wherein the tensioning structure comprises a plastic portion (Liu, Fig. 5A #204; paragraph [0050] discloses that #204 “may comprise relatively thin strips of plastic, PVC, or other durable material”) connected to the inflatable body by fusion or gluing (Liu, paragraph [0051]), and a fabric portion (Liu Fig. 6A #612; also see paragraph [0054]) connected to the plastic portion by sewing or gluing (Liu, paragraph [0054]: “coupled between the top sheet 604 and the bottom sheet 606 of the air mattress 600 by, for example, sewing, stitching, RF welding, hot-air coupling, adhering, or other means known in the art”); wherein the plastic portion comprises a first strap and a second strap (Liu, Fig. 5A #’s 204 and 206, or Fig. 6B #’s 616 and 617), wherein the first strap is connected to the inflatable body along a first line terminating in curved ends, and the second strap is connected to the inflatable body along a second line terminating in curved ends and wherein the first strap is disposed parallel to the second strap (as best understood, Applicant is claiming a rounded corner on weld line #50 as seen in Applicant’s Fig. 3; Liu teaches curved ends in Fig. 7A, in which weld lines are circles rather than lines; however, regarding “the first strap is disposed parallel to the second strap”, Liu teaches linear weld lines, or circular weld lines, but not square or rectangular weld lines; however Wu Fig. 2, #60 teaches weld lines that are elongated as compared to the circles of Liu Fig. 7A, and which therefore have parallel weld lines; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention as an obvious matter of design choice to provide the circular welds in the shape of rectangular welds, as taught by Wu, since doing so would have simply been combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable and obvious results, and since doing so would have simply been and obvious matter of design choice for aesthetic reasons),
Claim 3. The inflatable product as claimed in claim [[2]] , wherein the plastic portion further comprises
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Wu, Fig. 2 (annotated)
Claim 4. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first strap is longer than the third strap, the second strap and the first strap are substantially equal in length, and the fourth strap and the third strap are substantially equal in length (Wu Fig. 2 #6 is rectangular, therefore sides 1 and 3 are equal in length and sides 2 and 4 also equal in length).
Claim 5. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 3, wherein the third strap adjoins the first strap and/or the second strap, and the fourth strap adjoins the first strap and/or the second strap (see Wu annotated Fig. 2, above).
Claim 6. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first strap, the second strap, the third strap and the fourth strap are spaced from each other (see Wu Fig. 2, #6; each of the four sides of the structure is considered to be a strap, and the opposite sides are inherently space apart from each other).
Claim 7. The inflatable product as claimed in claim [[2]] 1, wherein the plastic portion [[is]] comprises a sheet (Liu, Fig. 5A #206 is considered to be “a sheet”).
Claim 8. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 1, wherein[[:]] the first line and the second line are parallel.
Claim 9. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first line and the second line are similar in shape and are disposed in a symmetrical arrangement (see Wu Fig. 2, #6, compare to Applicant’s Fig. 3).
Claim 10. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first line and the second line are identical in shape (see Wu Fig. 2, #6, compare to Applicant’s Fig. 3).
Claim 11. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first line and the second line are curved toward each other at ends thereof (as best understood, Applicant is claiming a rounded corner on weld line #50 as seen in Applicant’s Fig. 3; see Wu Fig. 2, #60)
Claim 12. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fabric portion [[is]] comprises a sheet (Liu, Fig. 6A #612 is considered to be “a sheet”).
Claim 13. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fabric portion comprises a plurality of straps disposed in parallel (see at least Liu, Figs. 6A and 6B, weld strips #616 are seen to be parallel).
Claim 14. The limitations of claim 14 are substantially the same as those of claim 1. See rejection of claim 1, above. Regarding “a first plastic portion, a second plastic portion” and “a first fabric portion, and a second fabric portion”, Liu discloses multiple internal vertical members in Fig. 6A at #612)
Claim 15. The inflatable product as claimed in claim 14, wherein the first plastic portion comprises a first elongate plastic shape and the second plastic portion comprises a second elongate shape
Response to Applicant's remarks and amendments
Applicant’s remarks and amendments dated 5/12/26 have been fully considered. With respect to independent claims 1 and 14, as amended, Applicant argues that in the cited art of Boyd and Wu do not teach straps in the configuration as claimed. As previously noted, the vertical members of the apparatus of Boyd are considered to be straps, and these structures read on Applicant’s claim language as it was previously written.
However, in view of Applicant’s remarks and amendments, the previous interpretation of vertical strips (as taught by Boyd) is no longer valid and the rejections have been withdrawn. Due to Applicant’s claim amendments, the claimed “straps” are not vertical members as taught by Boyd and Wu, but instead are additional rectangular portions of plastic material that are located at weld locations, as is seen in Applicant’s Figs. 3 and 5, and seen in Liu Fig. 6B at #616 and 617, for the purpose of reinforcing the weld lines. New rejections have been entered herein based on this new interpretation, and in view of Applicant’s claim amendments. The prior art of Liu teaches reinforcing strips #204 and 206 in Fig. 5A, also seen at #616 and 617 in Fig. 6B. These strips of Liu read on Applicant’s claimed straps, as discussed in the above rejections.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MYLES A THROOP whose telephone number is (571)270-5006. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Matthew Troutman can be reached on 571-270-3654. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MYLES A THROOP/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3673
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