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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1-20 have been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5 ,6, 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nezaki (US 7922195) in view of Turvill et al. (US 5380067) (“Turvill”). Nezaki teaches a protection reinforcing device of a multi-point seat belt system for a vehicle, configured to be mounted in the multi-point seat belt system of a vehicle seat; the multi-point seat belt system having two webbings configured to wrap and secure both sides of a user’s body on the vehicle seat (fig. 2: 12); the protection reinforcing device being capable of connecting the two webbings, and including: two webbing adjustment buckles configured to be mounted on the two webbings (fig. 2: 36); a bottom end of each one of the webbing adjustment buckles having: a buckle connection located in front of a respective one of the webbings and forming: a curved guiding section located on at least one side of the buckle connection (fig. 2: 36A, 36B form a curved guide); and a connecting buckle assembly detachably connected between the two webbing adjustment buckles, and including: a first webbing buckle (fig. 2: 30); and a second webbing buckle (fig. 2: 32); the first webbing buckle being capable of locking or releasing the second webbing buckle; the first webbing buckle and the second webbing buckle movably and rotatably connected to the curved guiding section; thereby the protection reinforcing device connected between the two webbings and horizontally positioned on a front side of the user's body by locking between the first webbing buckle and the second webbing buckle; wherein when the first webbing buckle and the second webbing buckle are unlocked, the first webbing buckle and the second webbing buckle are capable of naturally rotating and hanging down on the curved guiding section to a front side of the webbings by gravity, respectively (as shown in fig. 1).
Nezaki does not teach wherein the two webbing adjustment buckles of the embodiment of fig. 2 are configured to adjust height positions and positioning on the webbings. However, Nezaki teaches wherein the first and second webbing buckles (30, 32) are height adjustable along the entirety of the webbing in the embodiment of figs. 8A and 8B. Further, height adjustment slots for buckles on a webbing are considered old and well known in the art (as shown by fig. 2: 60 of Turvill). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the sewn connection of 36 to the webbing with a slotted connection taught by Turvill in order to provide the desired height adjustment range for the webbing buckles without them falling to the bottom of the webbing upon unlocking.
As concerns claim 2, Nezaki, as modified, teaches wherein each one of the webbing adjustment buckles includes: a positioning section having: a frame; and a crossbar located within the frame; wherein a width of an interior space of the frame and a length of the crossbar match a width of a corresponding one of the webbings; thereby the corresponding webbing is capable of evenly passing through the frame and winding on the crossbar (as shown in Turvill, fig. 2); a top end of the buckle connection is connected to a bottom end of the frame (it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to connect 36 to a lower end of the frame).
As concerns claims 5 and 6, Nezaki, as modified, teaches wherein: the first webbing buckle has: a first connecting webbing (Nezaki, fig. 3A: 38); one end of the first connecting webbing wound on one of the buckle connections; the first webbing buckle being capable of rotating on the buckle connection; and a first buckle connected to another end of the first connecting webbing (as shown in fig. 3A); the second webbing buckle has: a second connecting webbing (Nezaki, fig. 2: 38 other side); one end of the second connecting webbing wound on another one of the buckle connections; the second webbing buckle being capable of rotating on the buckle connection; and a second buckle connected to another end of the second connecting webbing (as shown in fig. 2); wherein the first buckle and the second buckle are respectively a male buckle and a female buckle configured to be locked together (Nezaki, fig. 2).
As concerns claims 9 and 10, Nezaki, as modified, teaches wherein the first connecting webbing and the second connecting webbing are fixed-length belts (as shown in Nezaki, fig. 3A).
Claim(s) 4, 8 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nezaki, as modified by Turvill, in view of Ziv (US 11571047). Nezaki, as modified, does not teach wherein a right side surface and a left side surface of the frame each have a respective anti-slip section formed thereon. However, Ziv teaches providing a buckle with anti-slip sections on the right and left sides (fig. 2: 24). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to provide an anti-slip portion on the sides of the buckles of Nezaki in order to provide easier adjustment/attachment of the buckle elements.
As concerns claim 8, Nezaki, as modified, teaches wherein: the first webbing buckle has: a first connecting webbing (Nezaki, fig. 3A: 38); one end of the first connecting webbing wound on one of the buckle connections; the first webbing buckle being capable of rotating on the buckle connection; and a first buckle connected to another end of the first connecting webbing (as shown in fig. 3A); the second webbing buckle has: a second connecting webbing (Nezaki, fig. 2: 38 other side); one end of the second connecting webbing wound on another one of the buckle connections; the second webbing buckle being capable of rotating on the buckle connection; and a second buckle connected to another end of the second connecting webbing (as shown in fig. 2); wherein the first buckle and the second buckle are respectively a male buckle and a female buckle configured to be locked together (Nezaki, fig. 2).
As concerns claims 12, Nezaki, as modified, teaches wherein the first connecting webbing and the second connecting webbing are fixed-length belts (as shown in Nezaki, fig. 3A)
Claim(s) 13, 14, 17 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nezaki, as modified by Turvill, in view of Bredeson (US 10099651). As concerns claims 13, 14, 17 and 18, Nezaki does not teach wherein one of the first connecting webbing or second connecting webbing, or both, are length-adjustable by a position adjustment component on the belt body. However, Bredeson teaches buckle belts (figs. 3, 4: 76) extending between shoulder belt portions which is length adjustable by way of a position adjustment component (figs. 3 and 4 show belts 76 are length adjustable by way of conventional mechanisms). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to employ the known pull tightening adjustment mechanisms of Bredeson on either or both of the connecting webbings in order to provide the desired fit to a user.
Claim(s) 16 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nezaki, as modified by Turvill and Ziv, further in view of Bredeson (US 10099651). As concerns claims 16 and 20, Nezaki does not teach wherein one of the first connecting webbing or second connecting webbing, or both, are length-adjustable by a position adjustment component on the belt body. However, Bredeson teaches buckle belts (figs. 3, 4: 76) extending between shoulder belt portions which is length adjustable by way of a position adjustment component (figs. 3 and 4 show belts 76 are length adjustable by way of conventional mechanisms). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to employ the known pull tightening adjustment mechanisms of Bredeson on either or both of the connecting webbings in order to provide the desired fit to a user.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 7, 11, 15 and 19 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 prior art references of Nezaki and Turvill fail to teach:
wherein a step is located between the buckle connection and the positioning section; the buckle connection is located in front of the corresponding webbing; a gap is formed between the buckle connection and the webbing.
Further, there is no teaching, suggestion or motivation to modify the prior art absent hindsight.
Conclusion
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/TIMOTHY J BRINDLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3636