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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Paragraph 0006, line 3, the letter “t” between “clamp” and “integrally” should be deleted.
Appropriate correction 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Campbell (US 6,092,854) in view of Asano (JP 2004027383 A).
With regard to claim 1, Campbell teaches (esp. Fig. 2) a vehicle front portion structure, comprising:
a dash panel (12) (element 17 in Fig. 2 is the vehicle firewall between the engine compartment and the cabin); and
a clamp (30) integrally formed with the dash panel and holding a wire harness (22) that is arranged at the dash panel.
Campbell fails to teach the panel being made of resin. Campbell teaches a “relatively stiff elastomeric material.”
Asano teaches that sound-absorbing panels in vehicles “may be composed of a synthetic resin sheet, or a laminate of rubber sheets.” In other words, Asano teaches the functional equivalence of elastomer and resin materials in interior vehicle panels.
It would have been considered obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have modified Campbell by making the panel of a resin material, rather than an elastomer material, with a reasonable expectation of success given that such a modification would have amounted to the simple substitution of one known vehicle interior material for another to achieve a predictable result.
With regard to claim 2, Campbell teaches that the clamp stands up from a surface at a vehicle cabin side of the dash panel (see protruding portions 34) and holds, together with the surface of the dash panel, the wire harness (the wire harness 22 is held between portions 34 and the trough 20 of the dash panel, see Fig. 2).
With regard to claim 3, Campbell teaches a first claw portion (i.e. element 34, left side of Fig. 2) that holds the wire harness between the first claw portion and a surface of the dash panel (i.e. the bottom of channel 20); and
a second claw portion (element 34, right side of Fig. 2) that is formed facing the first claw portion (elements 34 face each other across the gap between them), and a gap (unlabeled space between elements 34), through which the wire harness can pass, is provided between the second claw portion and the first claw portion (see Fig. 2).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Campbell in view of Asano as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Lee (KR 0130435 Y1).
With regard to claim 4, Campbell teaches that
the gap is deformed between the second claw portion and the first claw portion by elastic deformation of the second claw portion (“the fingers [34] flex away from each other until the outer surface 26 of the wiring harness clears the fingers and the wiring hardness is seated in the channel,” column 3, lines 39-42).
Campbell fails to teach that one of the claws projects further from the panel than the other. Instead, both claws (34) extend the same distance.
Lee discloses a clip that fixes a wire (10) to a panel (9) in a vehicle. The clip has two legs, one of which extends further than the other, in order to lock the wire in place (see Fig. below).
PNG
media_image1.png
204
538
media_image1.png
Greyscale
It would have been considered obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have modified Campbell in view of Asano by providing the clamp legs of Lee, in which one leg extends beyond the other and bends around it to form a locking mechanism, in order to decrease the likelihood of the wire accidentally escaping from the mounting groove.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT E FULLER whose telephone number is (571)272-6300. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30AM - 5:30PM.
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, Tara Schimpf can be reached at 571-270-7741. 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.
/ROBERT E FULLER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3676
Prosecution Insights