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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I, claims 1-7 in the reply filed on November 18, 2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that searching Group II, claims 8-10 as amended would necessitate a search of the subject matter of Group I. This is not found persuasive because undue burden would exist because searching the subject matter of Group II would involve additional searching, because features are claimed that are not claimed in Group I.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 8-10 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on November 18, 2025.
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.
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.
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 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (CN 103144334; machine translation relied upon) in view of Luo (CN 109774210; machine translation relied upon).
Regarding claims 1-2, Zhang teaches a method for building a tire comprising controlling a side pressure roller 40 (taken to be the claimed attaching mechanism) to attach a triangle rubber (taken to be the claimed bead filler) on a carcass of the tire, and then using the side pressure roller to roll the sidewall of the tire (machine translation at paragraphs [0065]-[0074]; figures 1-4). Zhang does not specifically disclose controlling a turn-up mechanism to support a sidewall of the tire before or when attaching the bead filler. Luo teaches a turn-up rod 5 (taken to be the claimed turn-up mechanism) to support a sidewall of the tire when using a pressing roller 3 to build the tire (machine translation at page 2, last two full paragraphs). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a turn-up mechanism to support the sidewall of the tire as taught by Luo before or when attaching the bead filler of the tire building method of Zhang in order to improve production efficiency and/or improving the quality of the finished tire (see Luo machine translation at page 2, last full paragraph).
Claims 3-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang in view of Luo as applied to claims 1-2 above, and further in view of Guan (CN 113681957; English equivalent US Pub. No. 2024/0375364 relied upon).
Regarding claims 3-4, Zhang does not specifically disclose using two arms, or first rolling the sidewall with the turn-up mechanism and then with the attaching mechanism. Guan teaches using two suspension arms simultaneously, and first using turn-up structures 41 to roll the sidewall and then using suspension arm 21 (taken to be the claimed attaching mechanism) to roll the sidewall (paragraphs [0028]-[0036]; figures 1-4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use two arms rolling the sidewall first with the turn-up mechanism and then with the attaching mechanism as taught by Guan in the tire making process of Zhang in order to save costs and time during the process (see Guan at paragraph [0030]).
Regarding claims 5-6, Guan teaches that the turn-up structure first moves from inside to outside in the radial direction, and then moves from outside to inside, and that the turn-up structure is moved in the radial direction by a first driving assembly 43 (paragraphs [0028]-[0036]; figures 1-4).
Regarding claim 7, Guan teaches a second driving assembly 51 so that the pressure roller assembly always abuts against the sidewall while moving along the radial direction (paragraph [0038]; figure 3).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHILIP N SCHWARTZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1612. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00-5:30.
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/P.N.S/ Examiner, Art Unit 1749 March 26, 2026
/JUSTIN R FISCHER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749
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