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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in South Korea on August 31, 2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the Korean application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the guide (or table) formed to be unfolded flat when the box body is opened must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered. (claim 2)
The drawings are objected to because in Fig. 2B, it does not appear that member 121 could exit member 130’.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. For claim 2, the guide formed to be unfolded flat when the box body is opened has not been shown in the figures or discussed in the specification, as originally filed. Only the table is discussed as being unfolded flat when the box body is opened in the specification. However, even that has not been shown in the figures.
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 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR19980044614 in view of KR102524313. KR’614 teaches a table-and-glove box (Fig. 1) for vehicles, comprising a box body (10, 20) mounted on a dashboard of a vehicle (see abstract), wherein the box body includes: a guide (22) formed on an inside of a front surface (of 20); a table (30) configured to slide within the guide via a pin (32) and used by being pulled out from the guide when the box body is opened (Fig. 1). For claim 1, KR’614 fails to teach one-touch stoppers for the table in both its extended and retracted positions. KR’313 teaches a one-touch stopper pin (40,S) to hold a moving structure in place and allow release thereof via attachment with respective stopper blocks (50). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the glove box of KR’461 by making the pins one-touch stoppers and adding stop blocks at each ends of the guide (with the angled portions facing the interiors of the guide), such as is taught by KR’313, to hold the table in either the closed or open position while still allowing its release. When the table of KR’614 in view of KR’313 is pressed into the guide (22 of KR’461) and a hand is taken away therefrom, at least one protrusion (40 of KR’313) formed on an inner edge of the table is caught or released by the first stopper block (50 of KR’313); and a second one-touch stopper block (50) mounted at an entrance of the guide so that when the table (30) is pushed in a traveling direction of the vehicle in a state where the box body is opened and the table is unfolded, the protrusion is caught or released.
For claim 2, KR’614 in view of KR’313, as best understood, further teaches that the guide is formed to be unfolded flat when the box body is opened (Fig. 1).
Because the foreign priority document of KR10-2023-0115070 has not been provided, the effective filing date is August 13, 2024. Therefore, the following rejection applies:
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN117533217. Tian teaches table-and-glove box for vehicles (Fig. 6), comprising a box body (14) mounted on a dashboard of a vehicle (abstract), wherein the box body includes: a guide (11) formed on an inside of a front surface; a table (2) configured to slide within the guide and used by being pulled out from the guide when the box body is opened (Fig. 2); a first one-touch stopper (3) mounted inside the guide so that when the table is pressed into the guide and a hand is taken away therefrom, at least one protrusion (22) formed on an inner edge of the table is caught or released. For claim 1, Tian fails to teach a second one-touch stopper mounted at an entrance of the guide. Since Tian already teaches the use of a one-touch stopped at the distal end of the guide, it also would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the proximal end of the guide (behind guide portion 112) by adding a second one-touch stopped thereto, so that when the table is pushed in a traveling direction of the vehicle in a state where the box body is opened and the table is unfolded, the protrusion is caught or released.
For claim 2, as best understood, Tian further teaches that the guide is formed to be unfolded flat when the box body is opened.
For claims 3 and 4, Tian further teaches that the box body is configured to be used as a glove box so that the table is unfolded and used when the box body is opened at a smaller angle than when the box body is fully opened (Fig. 7).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. References CN-110329161-A; CN-117533217-A; EP-3052343-B1; FR-2921876-A3; WO-2015050518-A1; WO-9817501-A1; KR-970010396-A; and KR-19980045060-U teach various glove boxes.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JANET M WILKENS whose telephone number is 571-272-6869. The examiner can normally be reached Mon thru Thurs 7am-5:30pm EST.
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Wilkens
February 10, 2026
/JANET M WILKENS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3637