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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species IV: Figures 7, 8A-8B in the reply filed on 14 January 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 4, 6 and 13-14 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1 objected to because of the following informalities: claim(s) should be amended to recite “a lock mounted to the door and configured to lock the door in the deployed position with the lock configured to be immediately movable from a locked position to an unlocked position from a forward side of the door and to delay moving the lock from the locked position to the unlocked position from a rear side of the door”. Appropriate correction or clarification is required.
Claim(s) 20 objected to because of the following informalities: claim(s) should be amended to recite “a door comprising a forward side that faces towards a flight deck of [[the]] an aircraft and a rear side that faces towards a cabin area of the aircraft”. Appropriate correction or clarification is required.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5 and 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Long (US-10920466-B2).
With regards to claim 1, Long discloses a barrier door system (100 Figure 7) configured to be positioned at an opening within an interior of an aircraft (Col. 4 Lines 36-42), the barrier door system comprising:
a door that is movable between a stowed position away from the opening (bi-fold door panels folded from their extended position shown Figure 7 to reveal the opening) and a deployed position that extends across the opening (Figure 7); and
a lock (10 Figure 7, 16 Figure 8A) mounted to the door and configured to lock the door in the deployed position (Figure 7) with the lock configured to be immediately movable (by means of forward operator 14, Figure 2B) from a locked position (Figure 8B) to an unlocked position (Figure 8A) from a forward side of the door (Figure 2B) and to delay moving (by means of rear operator 50, Figure 2A) from the locked position to the unlocked position from a rear side of the door (Figure 2A).
With regards to claim 2, Long discloses the barrier door system of claim 1, wherein the lock (10 Figure 7) is immediately movable (by means of forward operator 14, Figure 1) from the unlocked position (Figure 8A) to the locked position (Figure 8B) from the forward side of the door (Figure 2B).
With regards to claim 3, Long discloses the barrier door system of claim 2, wherein the lock (10 Figure 7) is immediately movable (by means of rear operator 50, Figure 5) from the unlocked position (Figure 8A) to the locked position (Figure 8B) from the rear side of the door (Figure 2A).
With regards to claim 5, Long discloses the barrier door system of claim 1, wherein the lock (10 Figure 7) comprises a cover (62 Figure 5) on the rear side (Figure 2A) of the door that is moveable between a closed position (Figure 2A) that extends over a handle (60 Figure 5A) configured to move the lock from the locked position (Figure 8B) to the unlocked position (Figure 8A) and an open position (Figure 5) that is away from the handle, wherein the cover is mounted to the door by one or more removable fasteners (Col. 7 Lines 35-39).
With regards to claim 15, The barrier door system of claim 1, wherein the door comprises a plurality of panels (bi-fold door panels shown Figure 7) that are pivotally connected together (along the centerline between that panels, Col. 7 Lines 40-46) and the lock (specifically latch bolt 16, Figure 8B) extends between two of the panels to lock the panels together in the locked position (Figure 8B).
With regards to claim 16, Long discloses the barrier door system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of panels (bi-fold door panels shown Figure 7) are movable between a folded configuration (doors folded from their extended position shown Figure 7 to reveal the opening) and an extended configuration (Figure 7).
With regards to claim 17, Long discloses a barrier door system (100 Figure 7) configured to be positioned at an opening within an interior of an aircraft (Col. 4 Lines 36-42), the barrier door system comprising:
a door comprising a first panel (left bi-fold door panel, Figure 7) and a second panel (right bi-fold door panel, Figure 7) with the door movable between a stowed position away from the opening (doors folded from their extended position shown Figure 7 to reveal the opening) and a deployed position that extends across the opening (Figure 7);
a lock (10 Figure 7, 16 Figure 8A) mounted to the door, the lock comprising:
one or more forward lock elements (14 Figure 2B) positioned at a forward side of the door (Figure 2B);
one or more rear lock elements (50 Figure 2A) positioned at a rear side of the door (Figure 2A);
wherein each of the one or more forward lock elements (Col. 4 Lines 43-55) and the one or more rear lock elements (Col. 7 Lines 15-39) are configured to move the lock between a locked position (Figure 8B) and an unlocked position (Figure 8A); and
wherein the one or more forward lock elements are configured to move the lock from the locked position to the unlocked position faster than the one or more rear lock elements (operating the rear lock element 50 requires first disengaging cover element 62 and then actuating rear handle 60 [Figure 2A [Wingdings font/0xE0] 5A [Wingdings font/0xE0] 5B], whereas the forward lock element 14 can be operated immediately [Figure 2B]).
With regards to claim 18, Long discloses the barrier door system of claim 17, wherein the one or more forward lock elements (14 Figure 2B) are configured to move the lock (10 Figure 7, 16 Figure 8A) from the locked position (Figure 8B) to the unlocked position (Figure 8A) without a delay.
With regards to claim 19, Long discloses the barrier door system of claim 17, wherein the lock (10 Figure 7) further comprises a slide bolt (16 Figure 8A) that is movable relative to the first panel and the second panel (left and right panels of bi-fold door, Figure 7).
With regards to claim 20, Long discloses a barrier door system (100 Figure 7) configured to be positioned at an opening within an interior of an aircraft (Col. 4 Lines 36-42), the barrier door system comprising:
a door (bi-fold door, Figure 7) comprising a forward side (Figure 2B) that faces towards a flight deck of the aircraft and a rear side (Figure 2A) that faces towards a cabin area of the aircraft (Col. 4 Lines 36-42);
a lock (10 Figure 7) mounted to the door, the lock comprising:
one or more forward lock elements (14 Figure 2B) that are exposed on the forward side of the door and configured to move the lock from a locked position (Figure 8B) to an unlocked position (Figure 8A)(Col. 4 Lines 43-55);
one or more rear lock elements (60 Figure 5A) on the rear side of the door and configured to move the lock from the locked position to the unlocked position (Col. 7 Lines 15-39); and
a shield (62 Figure 2A) positioned on the rear side of the door that extends over the one or more rear lock elements, wherein the shield is movable between a first position (Figure 2A) to prevent operation of the one or more rear lock elements and a second position (Figure 5A) to enable operation of the one or more rear lock elements (Col. 7 Lines 15-39).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-12 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: Although the references of record show some features similar to those of applicant's device, the prior art fails to teach or make obvious the claimed invention. With regards to claim 7, Long discloses the barrier door system of claim 1, wherein the lock comprises: a slide bolt that is movable relative to the door between a locked position and an unlocked position; a handle that is attached to the slide bolt and movable with the slide bolt along a slide axis. However, the prior art does not teach a first rotary member that is rotatable relative to the door, the rotary member comprising a slot; a second rotary member that is connected to the first rotary member; and wherein rotation of the second rotary member causes the first rotary member to rotate relative to the door between a misaligned rotational orientation with the slot misaligned with the slide axis and an aligned rotational orientation with the slot aligned with the slide axis. Such an arrangement is not taught by the prior art, nor can the Examiner can find teaching or motivation to suggest such a modification to one of ordinary skill in the art without fundamentally altering the principles of operation of the device or otherwise relying upon the benefit of impermissible hindsight reasoning.
Additional Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US-7523969-B2: A related door lock system.
US-8459704-B2: A related door lock system.
US-7051780-B2: A related door lock system.
US-8091392-B2: A related door lock system.
US-5369971-A: A related door lock system.
US-5651279-A: A related door lock system.
US-4044579-A: A related door lock system.
US-8596100-B1: A related door lock system.
US-12297663-B2: A related door lock system.
US-11078693-B2: A related door lock system.
US-11859405-B2: A related door lock system.
FR-2665476-A1: A related door lock system.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Noah Horowitz, whose telephone number is (571)272-5532. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 11:00AM - 7:00 PM.
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/NOAH HOROWITZ/Examiner, Art Unit 3675