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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(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, 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Richardson (US 4987868).
With respect to claim 1: Richardson teaches “a spark plug (12) comprising: a metal shell (28) having a cylindrical shape (see Figs. 1, 3) extending along an axial line (16), the metal shell including a front end being open (see Fig. 1); and a cover (48) having one or more injection holes (30, 32) passing through the cover, the cover closing the front end of the metal shell (see Fig. 1), wherein, in at least one of the one or more injection holes, in a section including a center line of the at least one injection hole and parallel to the axial line, a distance in an axial direction between, of two intersection points at which an outer surface of the cover and the at least one injection hole intersect, a first intersection point on a front end side and a front end of the cover is 1 mm or more (column 5 lines 57-58 and column 6 lines 10-11)”.
With respect to claim 2: Richardson teaches “The spark plug according to Claim 1 (see above), wherein the distance is 5 mm or less (column 5 lines 57-58 and column 6 lines 10-11)”.
With respect to claim 3: Richardson teaches “The spark plug according to Claim 1 (see above), wherein, in the section, an angle (angle complementary to 110) formed by the at least one injection hole including the first intersection point and the outer surface of the cover is 57° or more and 123° or less (column 6 lines 14-16; Richardson measures the angle with respect to the bottom of the cover while applicant measures the angle with respect to the sides, so Richardson’s preferred angle of 16° is the same as an angle of 74° as measured in the claim)”.
With respect to claim 5: Richardson teaches “the spark plug according to Claim 1 (see above), wherein the front end of the cover exists on the section (see Fig. 1), and, in the section, a line of the outer surface of the cover connecting the first intersection point and the front end of the cover includes a line segment starting from the first intersection point (see Fig. 1)”.
With respect to claim 6: Richardson teaches “the spark plug according to Claim 1 (see above), wherein at least a portion, of the outer surface of the cover, on the front end side relative to the at least one injection hole includes a conical surface whose diameter decreases toward the front end of the cover (see Figs. 1, 2)”.
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.
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Richardson as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Richardson (US 5105780), hereinafter Richardson II.
With respect to claim 1: Richardson teaches “the spark plug according to Claim 1 (see above), wherein the front end of the cover exists on the section (see Fig. 1)”.
Richardson does not specifically teach that in the section, a length of a shortest line segment of line segments connecting the first intersection point and the front end of the cover is larger than a maximum value, excluding infinity, of a curvature radius of a line of the outer surface of the cover connecting the first intersection point and the front end of the cover.
However, Richardson II, teaches embodiments of the spark plug (Fig. 5) in which the section, a length of a shortest line segment of line segments connecting the first intersection point and the front end of the cover is larger than a maximum value, excluding infinity, of a curvature radius of a line of the outer surface of the cover connecting the first intersection point and the front end of the cover (see Fig. 5) and recognizes this configuration as being an equivalent spark plug configuration to embodiments (Fig. 6) in which the section, a length of a shortest line segment of line segments connecting the first intersection point and the front end of the cover is smaller than a maximum value, excluding infinity, of a curvature radius of a line of the outer surface of the cover connecting the first intersection point and the front end of the cover.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the spark plug of Richardson by selecting the cover shape in which the curvature radius of a line of the outer surface of the cover connecting the first intersection point and the front end of the cover is small compared to the shortest line segment of line segments connecting the first intersection point and the front end of the cover due to the art recognized suitability of such a cover to introduce a combustible mixture into an ignition chamber (Richardson II column 6 lines 23-34).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gozawa et al. (US 10742002 B1), which teaches a spark plug.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANIEL J. LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-5721. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5 EST 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, ABDULMAJEED AZIZ can be reached at (571)270-5046. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHANIEL J LEE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2875
/EVAN P DZIERZYNSKI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875
