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 § 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.
(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, 3-5, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Inagaki et al. (JP 2827837).
With respect to claim 1, Inagaki et al. disclose a spoiler with a morphing skin, the spoiler comprising:
a vehicle body 1/4/6;
a soft outer skin 3 comprising a fixed skin portion attached to the vehicle body and a variable skin portion connected to the fixed skin portion and not attached to the vehicle body 1 as shown below in the image taken from Fig. 2 of Inagaki et al.:
[AltContent: textbox (fixed skin portion)][AltContent: textbox (variable skin portion)][AltContent: ][AltContent: ]
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one or more actuators 5 configured to press the variable skin portion to be deformed between a first position spaced apart from the vehicle body 1/4/6 (as shown in dashed lines in Fig. 2 of Inagaki et al.) and a second position in contact with the vehicle body 1/4/6 (as shown in solids lines Fig. 2 of Inagaki et al.).
With respect to claim 3, Inagaki et al. disclose that the soft outer skin 3 comprises at least one of polypropylene and urethane (“urethane,” see top of page 3 of the machine translation of Inagaki et al.).
With respect to claim 4, Inagaki et al. disclose that the variable skin portion 3 is located at a rear end of a vehicle (as shown in Fig. 1 of Inagaki et al.), and when the variable skin portion is located at the first position, the variable skin portion is inclined to be spaced apart from the vehicle body as being close to the rear end of a vehicle (as show in Fig. 2 of Inagaki et al.).
With respect to claim 5, Inagaki et al. disclose that the vehicle body 1/4/6/ comprises a groove concavely recessed so that the variable skin portion is seated in the seating groove as shown below in the image taken from Fig. 2 of Inagaki et al.:
[AltContent: textbox (groove in vehicle body)][AltContent: ]
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With respect to claim 10, Inagaki et al. disclose that the one or more actuators 5 are provided in plural, and the plurality of actuators are arranged to be spaced apart from each other to press different portions of the variable skin portion (see middle of page 3 of the machine translation of Inagaki et al., Fig. 3).
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Moradnia et al. (US 2024/0300593).
With respect to claim 1, Moradnia et al. disclose a spoiler with a morphing skin, the spoiler comprising:
a vehicle body 14/36/38/40;
a soft outer skin comprising a fixed skin portion attached to the vehicle body and a variable skin portion 28 connected to the fixed skin portion and not attached to the vehicle body 1 as shown below in the image taken from Fig. 9 of Moradnia et al.:
[AltContent: ][AltContent: textbox (fixed skin portion)][AltContent: textbox (variable skin portion)][AltContent: ]
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one or more actuators 20 configured to press the variable skin portion to be deformed between a first position spaced apart from the vehicle body 14/36/38/40 (as shown in Fig. 9 of Moradnia et al.) and a second position in contact with the vehicle body 14/36/38/40 (as shown in Fig. 8 of Moradnia et al.).
With respect to claim 2, Moradnia et al. disclose that the vehicle body14/36/38/40 comprises a roof portion that covers an occupant space of a vehicle 2 (as shown in Fig. 6 of Moradnia et al.), and the fixed skin portion is attached to the roof portion to come into surface contact with the roof portion (as shown in Fig. 8 of Moradnia et al.).
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 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inagaki et al. (JP 2827837), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ki (KR 100262080).
With respect to claim 6, Inagaki et al. disclose the claimed spoiler except for the electric motor, pinion gear and rack gear. However, Ki teaches a similar actuator for moving a spoiler including an electric motor 30; a pinion gear (see bottom of page 2 of the machine translation of Ki and Fig. 2) coaxially rotatably coupled to a motor shaft of the electric motor; and a rack gear 46 meshed with the pinion gear and coupled to the spoiler (in the combination it would be coupled to the variable skin portion of Inagaki et al.).
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to replace the actuator disclosed by Inagaki et al. with the actuator disclosed by Ki because it would have been obvious to try. Cylinders and motor/gear combinations are frequently used and interchangeable mechanical expedients. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the cylinder as disclosed by Inagaki et al. can obviously be replaced by the motor/gear system disclosed by Ki.
With respect to claim 7, Ki discloses that the vehicle body 1 has a rack gear through hole through which the rack gear 46 passes (as shown in Figs. 2-3 of Ki).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inagaki et al. (JP 2827837) in view of Ki (KR 100262080), as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Oxley et al. (US 2016/0159412).
With respect to claim 8, Inagaki et al. in view of Ki disclose the claimed spoiler except that they are silent on how the electric motor is supported. However, Oxley et al. teach a similar spoiler 36 with an actuator including an electric motor 120 for moving the spoiler 36. Oxley et al. further teach a bracket 70 supported on the vehicle body (via mounting section 54 and panel 50) and configured to support the electric motor 120 (Oxley et al., paragraph [0053]; Figs. 7-9).
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to combine the teaching of Oxley et al. with the spoiler disclosed by Inagaki et al. in view of Ki for the advantage of providing a stable base for mounting the motor while also providing protection for the motor.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 9 has been indicated as containing allowable subject matter primarily for the rack gear guide configured to slidably support the rack gear and to be supported on the bracket.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL J COLILLA whose telephone number is (571)272-2157. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 - 4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amy Weisberg can be reached at 571-270-5500. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Daniel J Colilla/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3612
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