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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pp 8 and 11, filed 27-Aug-26, with respect to independent claims 1 and 13 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of 3-Mar-26 have been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments, see pp 14-15, filed 27-Aug-26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The rejection of clam 19 under 35 USC 103 has been maintained.
In response to applicant's argument (pp 14-15) that the examiner's conclusion of obviousness is based upon improper hindsight reasoning, it must be recognized that any judgment on obviousness is in a sense necessarily a reconstruction based upon hindsight reasoning. But so long as it takes into account only knowledge which was within the level of ordinary skill at the time the claimed invention was made, and does not include knowledge gleaned only from the applicant's disclosure, such a reconstruction is proper. See In re McLaughlin, 443 F.2d 1392, 170 USPQ 209 (CCPA 1971).
Applicant argues that one of ordinary skill in the art would not be taught by Knoff -exclusive of applicant’s disclosure- to configure the fireproof buffering structure as recited in claim 19, “wherein the first buffering plate includes a fifth surface and a sixth surface opposite to the fifth surface, the fifth surface of the first buffering plate is attached to the first surface of the fireproof plate, and the fireproof buffering structure further comprises a second auxiliary fireproof plate attached to the sixth surface of the first buffering plate.” However, Knoff teaches a variety of layering configurations of the fireproof and buffering plates as shown in figures 4A- 4C, and then teaches the obviousness of modifying those configurations in figures 5A-5E to include double layers of the fireproof plates as well as alternating layers of additional buffering and fireproof plates (col. 6: 46 – col. 7:9). Moreover, Knoff explicitly states that the layering configurations shown in the figures are “not intended to be limiting” (col. 6: 46-47). Accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would be taught or motivated to modify the configurations in a way that would yield the buffering structure set forth in claim 19; particularly, one of ordinary skill in the art would be taught or motivated to combine the teachings of figures 5C and 5E. Therefore, applicant’s argument is unpersuasive.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Knoff (US 7421750).
Claim 19- Knoff discloses a fireproof buffering structure having a plurality of fireproof and buffering plates (col. 2: 51-59), the fireproof buffering structure (with reference to fig. 5C) comprising:
a fireproof plate (32) having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface (top and bottom surfaces);
a first buffering plate (33) attached to the first surface of the fireproof plate (figs. 4A-5E); and
a first auxiliary fireproof plate (32) having a third surface and a fourth surface opposite to the third surface, the third surface of the first auxiliary fireproof plate is attached to the second surface of the fireproof plate (32); and
a second buffering plate (33) attached to the fourth surface of the first auxiliary fireproof plate;
wherein the first buffering plate (33) includes a fifth surface and a sixth surface opposite to the fifth surface, the fifth surface of the first buffering plate is attached to the first surface of the fireproof plate (32) (fig. 5C shows the claimed sequence comprising the first buffering plate 33, the fireproof plate 32, the first auxiliary fireproof plate 32, and the second buffering plate 33; with the exception of the second auxiliary fireproof plate).
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Knoff discloses another similar fireproof buffering structure (with reference to fig. 5E), wherein the fireproof buffering structure comprises the structure as claimed with the exception of a fireproof plate functioning as the “first auxiliary fireproof plate”:
a fireproof plate (32) having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface (top and bottom surfaces);
a first buffering plate (33) attached to the first surface of the fireproof plate (figs. 4A-5E);
a second buffering plate (33) attached to the second surface of the fireproof plate;
wherein the first buffering plate (33) includes a fifth surface and a sixth surface opposite to the fifth surface, the fifth surface of the first buffering plate is attached to the first surface of the fireproof plate (32), and the fireproof buffering structure further comprises a second auxiliary fireproof plate (32) attached to the sixth surface of the first buffering plate.
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Knoff does not explicitly disclose the fireproof buffering structure comprising inter alia a fireproof plate and two auxiliary fireproof plates, as claimed: a first auxiliary fireproof plate having a third surface and a fourth surface opposite to the third surface, wherein the third surface of the first auxiliary fireproof plate is attached to the second surface of the fireproof plate; and a second auxiliary fireproof plate attached to the sixth surface of the first buffering plate.
However, Knoff teaches (col. 6: 59- col. 7: 9) that a fireproof buffering structure (figs. 4A- 5E) can comprise a variety of buffering and fireproof plate arrangements (30, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42), including arrangements comprising multiple fireproof plates (32) that are suitable for yielding the predictable result of providing additional fire blocking to the buffering structure; wherein the arrangement shown in figure 5C teaches an auxiliary fireproof plate (32) attached to a second surface of a fireproof plate (32), and wherein the arrangement shown in figure 5E teaches an auxiliary fireproof plate (32) attached to a surface of the first buffering plate (33) that meets the limitation “sixth surface of the first buffering plate”.
Based on these teachings, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to comprise a fireproof buffering structure with: a fireproof plate with a first surface attached to a fifth surface of a first buffering plate, a first auxiliary fireproof plate attached to a second surface of the fireproof plate, and a second auxiliary fireproof plate attached to a sixth surface of the first buffering plate in order to yield the predictable result of providing a fireproof buffering structure comprising two buffering plates, a fireproof plate, and two auxiliary fireproof plates.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 9-13, 15-18 and 20-23 are allowed.
Claim 24 is 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/T.A./Examiner, Art Unit 3636
/DAVID R DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3636
