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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vialpando et al. (US 9,480,344) in view of Derosier (US 5,205,450).
Regarding claim 1, Vialpando discloses a system comprising: a child safety seat having a seat portion (19); a child supporting part (Fig. 5) installable on and removable from the seat portion, wherein the child supporting part includes a body support panel (at 35) and a child attachment (at 38) connected with each other, the child attachment being operable to attach the child supporting part to a child around the child's waist; and a carrying harness (Fig. 9, at 60) installable over a caregiver′ torso; and the child supporting part is attachable to the carrying harness to form a child carrier usable independently of the child safety seat for holding a child close to a caregiver. See Figs. 1-10. Vialpando does not disclose the carrying harness attachable as claimed.
Derosier, which is drawn to a carrier, discloses a carrying harness (18) being attachable to and detachable from the child supporting part (11). Thus, 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 to have the harness of Vialpando be attachable/detachable as disclosed by Derosier such that the child supporting part is installable on the seat portion separate from the carrying harness in order to facilitate attachment/detachment from the seat portion, and to facilitate the storage and transport of the device when not in use.
Regarding claim 6, the child safety seat includes a crotch strap (28), and the child supporting part includes an opening (29) adapted to receive the passage of the crotch strap. See Fig. 1.
Regarding claim 14, the carrying harness includes a support panel (35) having two shoulder extensions (base of 45, 46) and a back portion (at 35), two first attaching parts (at 45, 46) respectively coupled to the two shoulder extensions, and two second attaching parts (48, 49) coupled to the back portion, the two first attaching parts being operable to respectively engage with or disengage from two first anchor structures (41, 42) provided on the child supporting part, and the two second attaching parts being operable to respectively engage with or disengage from two second anchor structures (54, 55) provided on the child supporting part. See Figs. 5-10.
Regarding claim 15, Vialpando discloses any of the first and second attaching parts including a snap link. See Figs. 1-10. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have any of the first and second anchor structures include a loop, since it was known in the art that loop are used to attach various parts.
Claim(s) 2-4, 7, 8, 16-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vialpando and Derosier as applied above in further view of Kataoka (US 5,690,258).
Regarding claim 2, Vialpando discloses a crotch support (38), but does not necessarily disclose a crotch pad as claimed. Kataoka, which is drawn to a child carrier, discloses a child attachment (4) that includes a crotch pad (Abstract) connected with the body support panel. See Fig. 6. Thus, 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 to use a pad, as disclosed by Kataoka, on the crotch support of Vialpando in order to provide more comfort to a child within the carrier.
Regarding claim 3, as modified above, the crotch pad is rotatable relative to the body support panel.
Regarding claim 4, as modified above, the crotch pad has two transversally opposite ends provided with two fastening parts (54, 55), the crotch pad being attachable to the body support panel around a child's waist by engaging two strips (49) provided on the body support panel with the two fastening parts. See Fig. 5.
Regarding claim 7, as modified above, the child attachment includes a crotch pad connected with the body support panel, and the opening is located below the crotch pad.
Regarding claim 8, Derosier discloses a crotch pad (50) that includes a slot (51) for holding a crotch strap with the crotch pad. See Fig. 1. Thus, 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 to use a slot on the crotch pad of Vialpando, as disclosed by Derosier, in order to secure a strap.
Regarding claim 16, as modified above, the child supporting part includes a body support panel connected with a waist belt, and the child attachment includes a crotch pad that is connected with the body support panel and has a transversal portion, the body support panel being configured to hold to a child while being completely detached from the carrying harness by positioning the crotch pad from an underside of the child's crotch between the child's two legs to the child's waist and by attaching the transversal portion of the crotch pad across the child's waist to the body support panel so that the body support panel and the crotch pad respectively extend at two opposite sides of the child. See Figs. 1-10
Regarding claim 17, as modified above, the body support panel of the child supporting part is configured to be completely detachable from the carrying harness while the crotch pad and the waist belt remain connected with the body support panel.
Regarding claim 18, the child supporting part is configured to install to a caregiver independently of the carrying harness by encircling the waist belt around the caregiver's waist.
Regarding claim 20, the child supporting part includes an opening (at 30) located below the crotch pad, the opening being adapted to receive the passage of a crotch strap. See Fig. 2.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vialpando, Derosier, and Kataoka as applied above in further view of Jung et al. (US 2012/0298702).
Regarding claim 5, Vialpando does not disclose buttons. Jung, which is drawn to a child carrier, discloses two fastening parts that include buttons (400). See Fig. 10. Thus, 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 to use buttons as disclosed by Jung on the carrier of Vialpando in order to fasten and unfasten parts. Additionally, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use buttons, since it was known in the art that buttons can be used as fasteners.
Claim(s) 9, 11 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vialpando and Derosier as applied above in further view of Kassai et al. (US 2004/0149790).
Regarding claim 9, Vialpando does not disclose a waist pad as claimed. Kassai, which is drawn to a child carrier, discloses a child supporting part further including a waist pad (503) that is connected with a body support panel and is provided with two waist straps (601) that are attachable to each other around a caregiver's waist. See Fig. 19; and [0173]. Thus, 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 to have the waist belt of Vialpando have a pad, as disclosed by Kassai, in order to provide more comfort to a user when attached to the carrier.
Regarding claim 11, Vialpando discloses a child safety seat (Fig. 7) including two storage compartments (Fig. 3, side portions under the seat) respectively provided at a left and a right side of a seat portion for respectively receiving at least partially two waist straps. See Fig. 7.
Regarding claim 19, as modified above, the waist belt comprises a waist pad and a waist strap.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vialpando and Derosier as applied above in further view of Caperon (US 7,766,199).
Regarding claim 10, the child supporting part further includes two hip support panels (600, 620) connected with a body support panel (200), the two hip support panels being foldable over the body support panel and unfolded and attached to a waist pad (380) to provide hip support for a child. See Figs. 1-4. Thus, 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 to use hip support panels, as disclosed by Caperon, on the carrier of Vialpando in order to adjust the carrier to fit different sized children.
Claim(s) 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vialpando as applied above in further view of Bangert (US 7,686,195).
Regarding claims 12 and 13, Vialpando does not disclose a pocket as claimed. Bangert, which is drawn to a child carrier, discloses a child safety seat including a pocket (16) for receiving a carrying harness separate from a child supporting part; wherein the child safety seat has a carry handle, and the pocket is provided on the carry handle. See Figs. 1-2. Thus, 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 to have a pocket as disclosed by Bangert on the carrier of Vialpando in to store items.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEREK J BATTISTI whose telephone number is (571)270-5709. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathan Newhouse can be reached at 571-272-4544. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DEREK J BATTISTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3734
Prosecution Insights