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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 20 uses the phrase “tends to” which is being interpreted as “likely to act in a certain way,”
rendering the scope of the claim indefinite. The Examiner recommends changing this language to either “a reset element which engages the locking pin” or “a reset element capable of engaging the locking pin” or similar.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(a) as being anticipated by Xu (CN 204978315 U).
Regarding Claim 1, Xu (most notably in Figure 5) discloses a base for a child safety seat, wherein the base comprises: a housing; a base bracket (24) received in the housing; and an anchor assembly (20, 23, 25) telescopically and pivotably connected to the base bracket, and at least partially extends out of the housing.
Regarding Claim 2, Xu discloses the base according to claim 1, wherein the anchor assembly comprises a pivot shaft (25), and the base bracket is provided with a first sliding groove (241), wherein the pivot shaft is slidably arranged in the first sliding groove to form a pivot point.
Regarding Claim 3, Xu discloses the base according to claim 2, wherein the anchor assembly further comprises a connecting part (isofix shown at the left and right sides of 20), wherein the connecting part is capable of being anchored to a fixing rod of a seat of a vehicle to form an anchoring point.
Regarding Claim 4, Xu discloses the base according to claim 3, wherein the anchor assembly further comprises a sliding part (23), wherein the pivot shaft is located at an end of the sliding part, and the connecting part is fixedly connected to the other end of the sliding part, so that a distance is formed between the pivot point and the anchoring point.
Regarding Claim 5, Xu discloses the base according to claim 4, wherein the sliding part comprises a reinforcement element (protrusions that jut up from 21 with holes for springs) fixedly connected to the sliding part.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-20 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
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William J. Kelleher
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3648-B
/William Kelleher/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
Prosecution Insights