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
In the IDS filed 5/1/2025, U.S. patent application publication cite number 1 contained a mistake under the publication number column of “20020041237”. This has been corrected by the examiner to “20220041237” to facilitate consideration of the submitted reference in compliance with 37 CFR 1.98(b)(2).
Foreign patent documents cite number 5 contained a mistake under the foreign document number column of “201320667836”. This has been corrected by the examiner to “203601454” and “U” has been added to the kind code column to facilitate consideration of the submitted reference in compliance with 37 CFR 1.98(b)(4).
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.
Claims 1-7, 10-12, 14-18, 20, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tso (TW-M615332-U).
Claim 1 – Tso teaches a height adjustable seat post for a bicycle (abstract), the height adjustable seat post comprising:
an upper tube (element 100) and a lower tube (element 200) configured in a telescopic arrangement, the lower tube to be coupled to a frame of the bicycle, the upper tube to be coupled to a seat (figure 1);
a piston in the upper tube (element 310), the piston dividing the upper tube into a first chamber and a second chamber, the first and second chambers filled with fluid, the piston defining a fluid passageway between the first chamber and the second chamber;
(Tso teaches, in the background, that when a valve opens, fluid can flow to change the height of the piston in the tube. Pistons naturally create two chambers, one above the piston and one below the piston.)
a plug (described as a valve in the background and disclosure) in the fluid passageway, the plug moveable in a linear direction between an open position to enable fluid flow through the fluid passageway and a closed position to block fluid flow through the fluid passageway;
(Tso teaches, in the disclosure, that element 310 has a valve that opens and closes to make the upper tube rise or fall.)
a motor (element 320 in figure 2); and
a cam assembly to convert rotational motion of the motor to linear movement of the plug (figure 2).
Claim 2 – Tso teaches the cam assembly is in the piston (figure 4).
Claim 3 – Tso teaches the cam assembly includes a first cam (element 350), a second cam (element 340), and a plurality of balls (element 370) between the first cam and the second cam (figure 2).
Claim 4 – Tso teaches the first and second cams are axially aligned with the plug (element 310 in figure 2).
Claim 5 – Tso teaches, when the motor is activated, the second cam is rotated relative to the first cam (Shown in figure 2, and further taught in the second paragraph of the disclosure. Tso states “the motor drives one of the abutment seat and the base to rotate, the abutment seat and the base rotate relative to each other”).
Claim 6 – Tso teaches rotation of the second cam in a first direction causes the first cam to move toward the plug to move the plug to the open position, and wherein rotation of the second cam in a second direction enables the first cam to move away from the plug to enable the plug to move to the closed position (figures 2 and 3).
Claim 7 – Tso teaches the second cam has a first side facing the first cam, the first side having recesses, the plurality of balls disposed in respective ones of the recesses.
(Tso teaches recessed grooves in the mating surface of one of the cam halves to receive a plurality of balls from the other cam half.)
Claim 10 – Tso teaches including a spring to bias the first cam toward the second cam (element 360 in figure 2).
Claim 11 – Tso teaches the motor is coupled to a lower end of the lower tube (element 320 in figure 4).
Claim 12 – Tso teaches the motor is coupled to the piston and disposed in the upper tube (figure 4).
Claim 14 – Tso teaches a height adjustable seat post for a bicycle (abstract), the height adjustable seat post comprising:
a first tube and a second tube configured in a telescopic arrangement, one of the first tube or the second tube to be coupled to a frame of the bicycle, the other of the first tube or the second tube to be coupled to a seat (elements 100 and 200 in figure 1);
a piston in the first tube (element 310), the piston dividing the first tube into a first chamber and a second chamber, the first and second chambers filled with fluid, the piston defining a fluid passageway between the first and second chambers;
(Tso teaches, in the background, that when a valve opens, fluid can flow to change the height of the piston in the tube. Pistons naturally create two chambers, one above the piston and one below the piston.)
a plug (described as a valve in the background and disclosure) in the fluid passageway of the piston, the plug moveable between an open position and a closed position to control a flow of the fluid between the first and second chambers; and
(Tso teaches, in the disclosure, that element 310 has a valve that opens and closes to make the upper tube rise or fall.)
a cam assembly in the piston (figure 2), the cam assembly including:
a first cam (element 350);
a second cam (element 340); and
a plurality of balls between the first and second cams, wherein rotation of the second cam causes the first cam to move in a linear direction to move the plug between the open position and the closed position (element 370).
Claim 15 – Tso teaches the plurality of balls includes three balls (element 370 in figure 2 includes three balls).
Claim 16 – Tso teaches the first and second cams are disc-shaped (elements 350 and 340 in figure 2).
Claim 17 – Tso teaches the first cam has an anti- rotation feature to prevent rotation of the first cam in the piston.
(The flat edges of element 353 ensures that the first cam will not rotate unless the motor is actuated and makes it rotate.)
Claim 18 – Tso teaches including a motor to rotate the second cam, and wherein the motor is axially aligned with the plug (element 320 in figure 2).
Claim 20 – Tso teaches a bicycle component (abstract) comprising:
a first tube and a second tube configured in a telescopic arrangement (figure 1);
a valve (described in the background and disclosure) disposed in the first tube and dividing the first tube into a first chamber and a second chamber, the first and second chambers filled with fluid, the valve operable between a closed state in which the fluid is blocked from flowing across the valve between the first and second chambers and an open state to enable the fluid to flow across the valve between the first and second chambers; and
(Tso teaches, in the background, that when a valve opens, fluid can flow to change the height of the piston in the tube.)
a cam assembly (figure 2) including:
a first cam (element 350);
a second cam (element 340); and
a ball between the first cam and the second cam, at least one of the first cam or the second cam having a recess with a ramped profile, the ball disposed in the recess, wherein rotation of the second cam causes the ball to move the first cam in a linear direction to open or close the valve.
(Element 370 is a ball between the first and second cam. The cams of figure 3 are ramped, and claim 9 discloses recessed grooves for the ball to be disposed in. The rotation of the cams cause the ball to move, and the overall movement causes the valve to open or close.)
Claim 22 – Tso teaches the valve has a valve body, and wherein the cam assembly is disposed in the valve body (element 330 in figure 2).
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.
Claims 13, 19, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tso (TW-M615332-U).
Claim 13 – Tso, disclosed above, teaches a control module to activate the motor, the control module coupled to an outer surface of the lower tube, but does not explicitly teach wires extending through the lower tube between the control module and the motor.
It is obvious that, while not explicitly stated or shown, wires would have to extend through the lower tube as the control module is located at the high end of the lower tube and the motor is located at the low end of the lower tube. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to route the wiring from the control module to the motor through the lower tube.
Claim 19 – Tso, disclosed above, teaches a plug used to block or allow passage of fluid from one chamber to the other, but does not teach a layer of sealing material molded around a portion of the plug.
While sealing material is not explicitly stated or shown, it is routine in the art to use sealing material to keep the fluids from leaking. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include sealing material around a portion of the plug to prevent leaks.
Claim 21 – Tso, disclosed above, does not teach explicitly that the fluid is a compressible fluid.
The main function of a piston is to compress; therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a compressible fluid as the fluid in Tso’s disclosure.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 9, and 23 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TROY A LIBBY whose telephone number is (571)272-6676. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri; 7:00 AM - 2:30 PM EST.
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/T.A.L./Examiner, Art Unit 3636
/DAVID R DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3636