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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/01/2024 was considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 Jin CN109372202.
Claim 1. Jim discloses a staircase module, comprising: a case configured to be installed on a front surface of a stair (1, Fig 1); a driving part (6 hydraulic cylinder) located in an interior of the case; and a guide part (horizontal portion attached to the bottom end of piston rod 7) configured to be driven in an upward/downward direction by the driving part relative to the case between a retracted state (as shown in Fig.1) and a protruding state (as shown in Fig.5), wherein the guide part (7) is located in the interior of the case at the retracted state (Fig.1), and wherein an extension portion (piston rod 7) of the guide part protrudes outside of the case at the protruding state (Fig.5).
Claim 2. Jim discloses the case defines an entrance/exit opening (portion where piston rod exits from as shown in Fig.1 and 5), an upper end of which is opened in the upward/downward direction and configured such that the extension portion (7) of the guide part passes therethrough at the protruding state.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-19 are allowed.
Claims 3-8 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the closest prior art of record fails to teach or adequately suggest the combination of characteristics specified in the independent claim, especially the requirement of a substance concerning a power source configured to generate power, and a pinion part configured to receive the power from the power source to be rotated , also an information acquisition part configured to acquire whether an object is located at or adjacent to the case, hence there is no cogent reasoning that is unequivocally independent of hindsight that would have led one of ordinary skill in the art at the time.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to attached NOTICE OF REFERENCE CITED.
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BABAJIDE A. DEMUREN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3633
/BABAJIDE A DEMUREN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3633
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