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 Objections
Claims 1-19 are objected to because of the following informalities: the claim numbers should not be bracketed. Best practice is to simply number the claims sequentially, indenting/tabbing thereafter, i.e.
--1. A gas generator…--
--2. The gas generator…--.
Claims 13-16 and 19 are objected to as being out of order. Per MPEP § 608.01(m):
Claims should preferably be arranged in order of scope so that the first claim presented is the least restrictive. All dependent claims should be grouped together with the claim or claims to which they refer to the extent practicable. Where separate species are claimed, the claims of like species should be grouped together where possible. Similarly, product and process claims should be separately grouped. Such arrangements are for the purpose of facilitating classification and examination. (Emphasis added.)
The claims depend, directly or indirectly, on claim 1, yet there is an intervening independent claim 11. This is to be avoided.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-10, 13-16, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitations "the at least one first discharge port" and "the at least one second discharge port" in line 19 (i.e., actual count, not those beside the claim: last line). There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Suggested is, e.g., --at least one first discharge port-- or --a plurality of first discharge ports--, as Applicant determines best suits the claimed subject matter, then referring to such as thus set forth, e.g., --the at least one first discharge port--, --the plurality of first discharge ports--, or --the first discharge ports-- throughout, for clarity. Note that all subsequent recitations must conform to whichever is chosen.
Claim 13 recites the limitation "the seal" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The claim depends, perhaps mistakenly, on claim 1, which does not recite a seal.
Claim 14 recites the limitations "the seal" in line 2, "the first discharge ports" and "the second discharge ports" in line 3, and "the second portion" in lines 5-6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. See also claim 13, above.
Claims 15-16 and 19 include similar lack of antecedent basis issues, presumably owing to erroneous claim dependency.
Any unspecified claim is rejected as being dependent upon a rejected base claim.
The claims will be further treated on the merits as best understood only, with claims 13-16 and 19 treated as though dependent on claim 1, directly or indirectly, instead of claim 1. This is presumed best because doing so results in no lack of antecedent basis issues in the claims. Regardless, clarification is required.
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 1-7, 9-16, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2005/0151356 to Ohji et al. (“Ohji”) in view of JP 2012171362 to Hanano et al. (“Hanano”) (all details taken from the included machine translation—should Applicant disagree with or care to challenge any portion thereof, a verified translation will be required).
Re: claim 1, Ohji discloses the claimed invention including a gas generator (e.g., for air bag, per Title), comprising: a housing 3, e.g., Fig. 1; an igniter 12a/b disposed in the housing (shown); a gas generating agent 9a/b that generates a combustion gas, e.g., ¶ [0054], by actuation of the igniter, e.g., ¶ [0050], the gas generating agent being accommodated in the housing (shown); one or more first discharge ports 26a provided in the housing and configured to discharge the combustion gas generated in the housing to an outside (sufficiently covered by “gas discharging ports 26a…” ¶ [0048]); one or more second discharge ports 26b provided in the housing together with the one or more first discharge ports (shown) and configured to discharge the combustion gas generated in the housing to the outside, id.; and a closing member 27 covering at least one of the one or more first discharge ports and at least one of the one or more second discharge ports together, e.g., ¶ [0057], wherein the closing member includes a portion covering the at least one first discharge port and configured to rupture at a first rupture pressure (inherent in any gas discharge port) and a portion covering the at least one second discharge port and configured to rupture at a second rupture pressure higher than the first rupture pressure (because of the “gas discharge ports…having different diameters, ¶ [0056]; see also ¶ [0062]), except for the closing member including a breakage assisting portion configured to reduce a strength of the closing member at at least a boundary portion between the at least one first discharge port and the at least one second discharge port.
Hanano teaches a closing member (“seal tape,” e.g., Abstract) 10A, e.g., Figs. 1a and 1b, including a breakage assisting portion 13 configured to reduce a strength of the closing member at at least a boundary portion between at least one first discharge port 113 and at least one second discharge port 113, in the same field of endeavor for the purpose of “provid[ing] a seal tape for a gas generator that is not scattered into pieces even if it is cleaved by receiving a pressure when being attached to a housing from outside to seal a gas exhaust port,” Abstract.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Ohji as taught by Hanano in order to provide such a seal tape that is not scattered by being cleaved when exposed to sufficiently high pressure with a reasonable expectation of success because Hanano further discloses the seal tape “closing a plurality of gas discharge ports formed in a housing of a gas generator of an occupant restraint device such as an airbag device from the outside,” Page 3, Description-of-Embodiments, 3rd paragraph.
Further rationale: All claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to a skilled artisan at the time the invention was made.
Re: claim 2, Ohji further discloses wherein an opening area of the one or more first discharge ports is larger than an opening area of the one or more second discharge ports (as noted above, e.g., ¶ [0056]).
Re: claims 3-4, Hanano further discloses wherein the breakage assisting portion is a fragile portion 13 provided in the closing member, Page 3, Description-of-Embodiments, 8th paragraph.
Re: claim 5, Hanano further discloses wherein the closing member is a sheet 11 attached along a wall surface of the housing provided with the one or more first discharge ports and the one or more second discharge ports (shown), and the breakage assisting portion is an area of the closing member where a thickness dimension of the sheet is less than a thickness dimension of at least the portion covering the at least one second discharge port, “linear weak portion,” id.
Re: claim 6, Hanano further discloses wherein the closing member is a sheet 11 attached along a wall surface of the housing provided with the one or more first discharge ports and the one or more second discharge ports (shown), and the breakage assisting portion is a linear area (shown) where a cut portion 14 cut in a thickness direction of the sheet and a non-cut portion 13 not cut are alternately arrayed in the closing member (shown), id., and 13th - 14th paragraphs.
Re: claim 7, Hanano further discloses wherein the closing member is a sheet attached to a wall surface of the housing in a circumferential direction of the housing and includes, at a boundary portion between the portion covering the at least one first discharge port and the portion covering the at least one second discharge port in the circumferential direction, a cutout portion 74, 75, e.g., Fig. 6a, where the closing member is cut out, narrowing a width of the closing member in a width direction of the closing member (evidenced by 73), and the breakage assisting portion is an area of the closing member where the width is narrowed by the cutout portion (shown).
Re: claim 9, Ohji further discloses wherein the one or more first discharge ports and the one or more second discharge ports are arrayed on a wall surface of the housing in a circumferential direction of the housing (clearly contemplated, e.g., “Arrangement of the gas discharging ports 26a, 26b, and 26c is not particularly limited, and they may be arranged in the axial direction of the housing 3 as shown in the drawing, or they may be arranged alternately and circumferentially in the peripheral wall of the diffuser shell” emphases added, ¶ [0059]), whereby in combination with Hanano would result in: the closing member is provided in an arrayed direction of the one or more first discharge ports and the one or more second discharge ports, and the breakage assisting portion is provided in a direction in which the portion covering the at least one first discharge port and the portion covering the at least one second discharge port are separated from each other in the closing member, as recited.
Re: claim 10, the combination of Ohji in view of Hanano fairly results in wherein the breakage assisting portion is linearly formed and surrounds the at least one first discharge port or the at least one second discharge port, as recited. See relevant claims, above.
Anent claims 11-16 and 18-19, see relevant claims, above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 17 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.
Claim 8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Reasons for allowance to be included in a future action, if necessary.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Bret Hayes at telephone number (571) 272 – 6902, fax number (571) 273-6902, or email address bret.hayes@uspto.gov, which is preferred, especially for requesting interviews, general questions, etc. Note, however, that return correspondence cannot be made in the event that information subject to the confidentiality requirement as set forth in 35 U.S.C. § 122 has been included. See MPEP §§ 502.03 and 713.01, I, regarding email communications. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays through Fridays from 5:30 AM to 1:30 PM, Eastern.
The Central FAX Number is 571-273-8300.
If attempts to contact the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Troy Chambers, can be reached at (571) 272 – 6874.
/Bret Hayes/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3641
8-Oct-25
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