DETAILED ACTION
This action is a first action on the merits. The claims filed on September 11, 2024 have been entered. Claims 1-20 are pending and addressed below.
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 filed on September 11, 2024 has been considered by the Examiner.
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 “viscous damper 120” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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 Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: The recitation of “a tray configured to be located on an instrument panel in a vehicle” in line 5 should likely be -- the tray configured to be located on the instrument panel in the vehicle --. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8-16, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goupil, Jr., US 2011/0121599 (hereinafter Goupil) in view of Beckley, US 2006/0132007 (hereinafter Beckley).
Claim 1: Goupil discloses a vehicle storage bin assembly (see Fig 7-9), comprising:
a tray (auxiliary article compartment 104) configured to be located on an instrument panel (dash board or instrument panel 50) in a vehicle (see Fig 8, par [0019]), the tray (104) defining an open receptacle (as shown in Fig 8); and
a thermal insulated storage bin (auxiliary article module 90) configured to be stored in the tray (104), wherein the storage bin (90) has a housing base having an outer shape configured to be received in the open receptacle of the tray (par [0023]), the bin (90) further comprising a lid (access door 160 supported by wall 92) coupled (via access hinge 161) to the housing base (90, as shown in Fig 9) via at least one pivot (access hinge 161) and configured to move between an open position (shown in Fig 8) and a closed position (shown in Fig 7), wherein the lid comprises a thermal insulation (each of the walls define an interstitial space 202 internal to each wall, insulation filler 204 is fixedly disposed in and fills each interstitial space 202, par [0039]).
Goupil fails to discloses at least one pivot arm.
Beckley discloses a storage bin assembly with a lid (door) moveably connected to an enclosure by pivot arms (pivoting mechanisms 20 with pivoting arms 26 attached to damping arms 30) (Fig 1-2, par [0014]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the pivots of Goupil with the pivot arms of Beckley, as one of ordinary skill in the art could have easily substituted the known pivot mechanism of hinges of Goupil with the pivoting mechanism of pivot arms as disclosed by Beckley and the results of the substitution would have been predictable by coupling the lid to the housing base and allowing movement of the lid between an open and closed position.
Claim 11: Goupil discloses a vehicle (shown in Fig 1) comprising:
an instrument panel (dash board or instrument panel 50);
a tray (auxiliary article compartment 104) provided in the instrument panel (50); and
a vehicle storage bin assembly (Fig 7-9), comprising:
a tray (auxiliary article compartment 104) configured to be located on an instrument panel (dash board or instrument panel 50) in a vehicle (see Fig 8, par [0019]), the tray (104) defining an open receptacle (as shown in Fig 8); and
a thermal insulated storage bin (auxiliary article module 90) configured to be stored in the tray (104), wherein the storage bin (90) has a housing base having an outer shape configured to be received in the open receptacle of the tray (par [0023]), the bin (90) further comprising a lid (access door 160 supported by wall 92) coupled (via access hinge 161) to the housing base (90, as shown in Fig 9) via at least one pivot (access hinge 161) and configured to move between an open position (shown in Fig 8) and a closed position (shown in Fig 7), wherein the lid comprises a thermal insulation (each of the walls define an interstitial space 202 internal to each wall, insulation filler 204 is fixedly disposed in and fills each interstitial space 202, par [0039]).
Goupil fails to discloses at least one pivot arm.
Beckley discloses a storage bin assembly with a lid (door) moveably connected to an enclosure by pivot arms (pivoting mechanisms 20 with pivoting arms 26 attached to damping arms 30) (Fig 1-2, par [0014]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the pivots of Goupil with the pivot arms of Beckley, as one of ordinary skill in the art could have easily substituted the known pivot mechanism of hinges of Goupil with the pivoting mechanism of pivot arms as disclosed by Beckley and the results of the substitution would have been predictable by coupling the lid to the housing base and allowing movement of the lid between an open and closed position.
Claims 2 and 12: Goupil, as modified by Beckley, discloses the thermal insulation storage bin (90) is removably connected to the tray (Goupil, ejection-retention mechanism 114 retains the auxiliary article module 90 in a secured position and moves the auxiliary article module 90 from the secured position to an unsecured position, par [0024]-[0025])
Claims 3 and 13: Goupil, as modified by Beckley, discloses one or more fasteners (ejection-retention mechanism 114) for fastening the storage bin (90) on the tray (104), wherein the one or more fasteners (114) allow the storage bin (90) to be removed from the tray (104) (Goupil, ejection-retention mechanism 114 retains the auxiliary article module 90 in a secured position and moves the auxiliary article module 90 from the secured position to an unsecured position, Fig 5, par [0024]-[0025]).
Claims 4 and 14: Goupil, as modified by Beckley, discloses wherein the at least one pivot arm (Beckley, pivoting arms 26 with attached damping arm 30) comprises a first pivot arm spaced from a second pivot arm (Beckley, as shown in Fig 2), wherein the first and second pivot arms pivot about a common axis (pivoting mechanism 20 pivot about a common axis as shown in Fig 2, 3A-3B, par [0015]).
Claims 5 and 15: Goupil, as modified by Beckley, discloses wherein at least one of the first and second pivot arms (26/30) comprises a plurality of teeth (teeth 38) operatively coupled to a gear (dampening gear 32).
Claims 6 and 16: Goupil, as modified by Beckley, discloses wherein the gear (dampening gear 32) comprises a gear damper (gear teeth 34) for dampening the movement of the lid (Beckley, dampening gears 32 include gear teeth 34 that mesh with corresponding teeth 38 of the dampening arm 30 to permit damped movement of the door 12 relative the enclosure 14, par [0014]).
Claims 8 and 18: Goupil, as modified by Beckley, discloses wherein the thermal insulation (Goupil, insulation inserts 210) comprises an insulation mat (Goupil, insulation inserts 210 that are insulative are removably inserted in each of the pockets 208, par [0039]).
Claims 9 and 19: Goupil, as modified by Beckley, discloses wherein the housing base (90) further comprises at least one opening for receiving one or more electrical cords (Goupil, electrical power supply port 132, par [0028]).
Claims 10 and 20: Goupil, as modified by Beckley, discloses comprising:
a latch mechanism (to cause unlatching, par [0011], necessarily requires a latch); and
a release button (button 16) for releasing the latch mechanism to allow the lid to move to the open position (button 16 located on the storage bin assembly 10 at any desirable location to cause an un-latching or to initiate movement of the door 12 relative the enclosure 14, par [0011]).
Claim(s) 7 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goupil in view of Beckley as applied to claims 6 and 16, and further in view of Santillan Gutierrez et al., US 2019/0217750 (hereinafter Santillan Gutierrez).
Claims 7 and 17: Goupil, as modified by Beckley, discloses a torsion spring (biasing spring) for biasing the lid (door) to the open position (deployed position) (see Fig 2, par [0021]).
Goupil, as modified by Beckley, fails to disclose wherein each of the first and second pivot arms further comprises the torsion spring.
Santillan Gutierrez discloses a spring (168) operably coupled to a pivot assembly (148). The spring (168) is used to bias the pivot assembly to the desired position (par [0046]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the first and second pivot arms of Beckley to each include a torsion spring (spring 168) to bias the pivot assembly into the desired position as disclosed by Santillan Gutierrez as one of ordinary skill in the art would could have combined the first and second pivot arms to include torsion springs by known methods, such that each element merely performs the same function as it does separately, thereby yielding the predictable results of biasing the lid to the open position.
Conclusion
Claims 1-20 are rejected. No claims are allowed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CAROLINE N BUTCHER whose telephone number is (571)272-1623. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10-6 pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tara E Schimpf can be reached at (571) 270-7741. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CAROLINE N BUTCHER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3676
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