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 .
1) 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.
2) 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.
3) Claims 1-9 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japan 117 (JP 06-001117) in view of Watanabe (US 2020/0040168) and Georges et al (US 2010/0154963) and optionally Miyazaki (US 2014/0144566).
Japan 117 discloses a pneumatic tire (heavy load size 11R24.5) having a tread comprising four main circumferential grooves (3) separating five ribs (4,5) wherein a circumferential narrow groove (6,7) is disposed in each rib (4.5) [FIGURE 1]. Each circumferential main groove (3) has a width “r” (e.g. 12 mm) [machine translation]. Each circumferential narrow groove widens from width “a” (e.g. 1 mm) at the tread surface to a width “b” (e.g. 6 mm) at the bottom thereof [machine translation]. FIGURE 1 illustrates the tread having a land ratio of about 70%. The tire has improved partial wear prevention [machine translation]. Japan 117 is silent as to composition of the tread.
Watanabe discloses a pneumatic tire having a tread comprising a rubber composition comprising 20-90% by mass styrene butadiene rubber (styrene content 5% by mass or higher or 15% by mass or higher); 10-60% by mass butadiene rubber; 7-50 parts resin (C5/C9 petroleum resin, α-methylstyrene resin, or terpene resin), 30-200 parts (50-150 parts) silica; 5-50 parts carbon black and 5-50 parts oil [paragraphs 1, 10-11, 30-31, 34-47, 54-74, 94-103]. In EXAMPLE #8, Watanabe discloses a rubber composition for a tire tread comprising:
50 parts SBR2 (styrene butadiene rubber) having
styrene content = 25% and a glass transition temperature = -49oC;
50 parts butadiene rubber (BR150B) having cis content = 97% by mass;
10 parts carbon black;
100 parts silica;
10 parts resin A (α-methylstyrene resin having softening point = 85oC) ;
30 parts resin B (α-methylstyrene resin having softening point = 120oC);
20 parts TDAE oil.
See TABLE 1, EXAMPLE 8. The tire may be a truck/bus tire [paragraph 133]. The tire has balanced improvement in wet grip performance and resistance to low temperature brittleness (resistance to crack formation during storage of the tire) [paragraphs 4-5].
As to claims 1-9, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Japan 117’s pneumatic tire (heavy load tire size 11R24.5) such that:
the tread part is composed of a rubber composition comprising 50 parts by mass or more of silica based on 100 parts by mass of a rubber component, wherein the rubber component comprises greater than 50% by mass of a butadiene rubber, and a styrene-butadiene rubber, wherein a total styrene amount in the rubber component is 25% by mass or less, and wherein, when ABR represents a content, in % by mass, of the butadiene rubber in the rubber component and L represents a land ratio, in %,of a tread surface of the tread part, ABR and L satisfy the following inequality: (1) ABR x L > 3000 [claim 1];
when ASTY represents the total styrene amount in % by mass, ABR, L, and ASTY satisfy the following inequality: (2) (ABR/ASTY)xL>130 [claim 2];
the rubber composition comprises at least one type of hydrocarbon resin,
and wherein a content of the hydrocarbon resin in the rubber composition is
5% by mass or more [claim 3];
a content of the silica based on 100 parts by mass of the rubber component is 100 parts by mass or more [claim 4];
a glass transition temperature of the rubber composition is lower than -30°C [claim 5];
the right side of the inequality (1) is 3250 [claim 6];
the right side of the inequality (1) is 3500 [claim 7];
the content, ABR, of the butadiene rubber in the rubber component is
less than 70% by mass [claim 8];
a glass transition temperature of the styrene-butadiene rubber is
less than -30°C [claim 9]
since:
(1) Watanabe discloses a pneumatic tire having a tread comprising a rubber composition comprising 20-90% by mass styrene butadiene rubber (styrene content 5% by mass or higher or 15% by mass or higher); 10-60% by mass butadiene rubber; 7-50 parts resin (C5/C9 petroleum resin, α-methylstyrene resin, or terpene resin), 30-200 parts (50-150 parts) silica; 5-50 parts carbon black and 5-50 parts oil [paragraphs 1, 10-11, 30-31, 34-47, 54-74, 94-103] wherein the tire may be a truck/bus tire [paragraph 133] and wherein the tire has balanced improvement in wet grip performance and resistance to low temperature brittleness (resistance to crack formation during storage of the tire) [paragraphs 4-5];
(2) Watanabe discloses EXAMPLE #8 which is a composition for tire tread comprising:
50 parts SBR2 (styrene butadiene rubber) having
styrene content = 25% and a glass transition temperature = -49oC;
50 parts butadiene rubber (BR150B) having cis content = 97% by mass;
10 parts carbon black;
100 parts silica;
10 parts resin A (α-methylstyrene resin having softening point = 85oC) ;
30 parts resin B (α-methylstyrene resin having softening point = 120oC);
20 parts TDAE oil
[TABLE 1, EXAMPLE 8]; and
(3) Georges et al teaches providing a heavy load pneumatic tire (e.g. truck tire) having a tread and grooves such that the net to gross (land ratio) of the tread is 70 to 90% (e.g. 74 to 86%) [FIGURE 2A, paragraphs 2, 46];
and optionally:
(4) Miyazaki discloses BR150B is a high cis butadiene rubber from Ube Industries having a glass transition temperature = -108oC [paragraphs 40-42, 71]
As to claims 1-9, the following additional comments are made:
As to claims 1-2 and 6-7, Watanabe motivates one of ordinary skill in the art to use a rubber composition comprising a rubber component comprising greater than 50% by mass of a butadiene rubber and styrene butadiene rubber (total styrene amount in the rubber component being 25% by mass or less) and 50 parts by mass or more silica for the tire tread of Japan 117 to obtain the expected and predictable benefit of balanced improvement in wet grip performance and resistance to low temperature brittleness (resistance to crack formation during storage of the tire). Furthermore, Georges et al renders obvious using a land ratio of 70-90% (or 74-86%) for the heavy load tire of Japan 117. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use the known land ratio of 70-90% (or 74-86%) for the heavy load tire of Japan 117 since Georges et al teaches that this known land ratio is suitable for a heavy load tire. See MPEP 2143. FOR EXAMPLE: When Japan 117’s tread is provided such that %butadiene rubber = 50% [as per EXAMPLE #8 of Watanabe] and land ratio is 70% [as per Georges et al], then ABR X L = 3500 [50 x 70 = 3500]. This value of 3500 falls within the claimed range of greater than 3000 [claim 1] and greater than 3250 [claim 6]. When Japan 117’s tread is provided such that %butadiene rubber = 50% [as per EXAMPLE #8 of Watanabe] and land ratio is 74% [as per Georges et al], then ABR X L = 3700 [50 x 74 = 3700]. This value of 3700 falls within the claimed range of greater than 3000 [claim 1], greater than 3250 [claim 6] and greater than 3500 [claim 7]. As to total styrene amount, the styrene content of 25% by mass for SBR2 in EXAMPLE #8 falls within the claimed range of “25% by mass or less [claim 1]. When Japan 117’s tread is provided such that %butadiene rubber = 50% [as per EXAMPLE #8 of Watanabe], styrene content = 25% by mass for SBR2 [as per Example #8 of Watanabe] and land ratio = 70% [as per Georges et al], then (ABR/ASTY)xL = 140 [(50/25)x70 = 140]. This value of 140 falls within the claimed range of greater than 130 [claim 2].
As to claim 3, Watanabe et al teaches using 7 to 50 parts resin and discloses using 40 parts resin in EXAMPLE #8.
As to claim 4, Watanabe et al discloses using 100 parts silica in EXAMPLE #8.
As to claim 5, the rubber component in EXAMPLE #8 comprises 50 parts styrene butadiene rubber (Tg = -49oC) and butadiene rubber BR150B, which has Tg = -108oC (as evidenced by optional Miyazaki). Thus, the rubber component in EXAMPLE #8 of Watanabe inherently has a glass transition temperature lower than -30oC.
As to claim 8, the content of butadiene rubber in EXAMPLE #8 is 50% by mass.
As to claim 9, the glass transition temperature of SBR2 in EXAMPLE #8 is -49oC [paragraph 137].
As to claims 11-13, note main circumferential grooves (3) and narrow circumferential grooves (6,7) in Japan 117’s tire tread.
4) Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japan 117 (JP 06-001117) in view of Watanabe (US 2020/0040168) and Georges et al (US 2010/0154963) and optionally Miyazaki (US 2014/0144566) as applied above and further in view of Korea 994 (KR 2004-0038994).
As to claim 10, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Japan 117’s pneumatic tire such that the shoulder land parts have one or more small holes each having an opening area of greater than 0.1 mm² and less than 15 mm² since Korea 994 teaches providing a heavy load pneumatic tire having a tread comprising land portions separated by circumferential main grooves such that holes (diameter D = 3-10 mm) are formed in a shoulder land portion to facilitate radiation of heat accumulated in the shoulder land portion and thereby improve durability of the tire [FIGURES 2-3, machine translation]. When diameter D = 3 mm [end point of Korea 994’s range for D], then area of a hole is 7.1 mm2 [D=3 mm → R=1.5mm → A = πR2 → A = πx(1.5mm)2 → A = 7.1 mm2]. This value of 7.1 mm2 falls within the claimed range of greater than 0.1 mm2 and less than 15 mm2.
Remarks
5) The remaining references are of interest.
6) No claim is allowed.
7) Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN D MAKI whose telephone number is (571)272-1221. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30AM-6PM.
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/STEVEN D MAKI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749
April 2, 2026
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