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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(b)(1) because Figure 2 is a photograph and Figures 3-4 appear to be photocopies of hand drawings.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(l) because Figures 3-4 do not use clean, uniformly thick lines.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference characters “68” and “78” have both been used to designate the same component illustrated in Figures 6A-6B.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: “78a” and “78b”.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-9, 13, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mellick (US 10, 967,719).
Regarding Claim 1, Mellick, Figures 1A-8, teaches a tensioning mechanism 200 associated with a tension member 102, the tensioning mechanism 200 comprising:
a housing 220;
at least one webbing roller 204 rotatably mounted within the housing 220, the at least one webbing roller 204 being connectable to at least one end of the tension member 102 (See Mellick, Col. 4, Ln. 45-52); and
an electric motor 208 operably coupled to the at least one webbing roller 204, wherein the electric motor 208 is operable to drive the at least one webbing roller 204 to adjust a tension of the tension member 102 (See Mellick, Col. 5, Ln. 7-13).
Regarding Claim 2, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches wherein the at least one webbing roller 204 is a single webbing roller (See Mellick, Col. 4, Ln. 53-54).
Regarding Claim 3, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches wherein the single webbing roller 204 is operable to adjust the tension of a single end of the tension member 102 (See Mellick, Col. 4, Ln. 46-52).
Regarding Claim 4, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches wherein the single webbing roller 204 is operable to adjust the tension of both a first end and a second end of the tension member 102 (See Mellick, Fig. 4A, Col. 4, Ln. 46-52, Col. 7, Ln. 28-33).
Regarding Claim 5, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches wherein the at least one webbing roller 204 includes a first webbing roller and a second webbing roller (dual rotational reels; See Mellick, Col. 7, Ln. 43).
Regarding Claim 6, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches wherein the first webbing roller is operable to apply a first tension to a first end of the tension member 102 and the second webbing roller is operable to apply a second tension to a second end of the tension member 102 (See Mellick, Fig. 4B, Col. 7, Ln. 47-60).
Regarding Claim 7, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches wherein both the first webbing roller and the second webbing roller (dual rotational reels; See Mellick, Col. 7, Ln. 43) are operably coupled to the electric motor 208 such that the first webbing roller and the second webbing roller are rotatable simultaneously (See Mellick, Fig. 4B, Col. 7, Ln. 47-60).
Regarding Claim 8, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches a transmission device 206, the transmission device 206 being operably coupled to the electric motor 208 and to the at least one webbing roller 204, wherein the transmission device 206 is operable to transmit rotation of the electric motor 208 to the at least one webbing roller 204 (See Mellick, Col. 5, Ln. 7-9).
Regarding Claim 9, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches wherein the transmission device 206 includes a gear train (a gearbox with a plurality of gears; See Mellick, Col. 5, Ln. 9-13).
Regarding Claim 13, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches a power source 560 operably coupled to the electric motor 208 (See Mellick, Col. 9, Ln. 37-40).
Regarding Claim 15, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches a controller 500 operable to:
receive a signal from a user device, the user device being located remotely from the tensioning mechanism 200 (See Mellick, Col. 10, Ln. 20-32, Col. 11, Ln. 23-30); and
energize the electric motor 208 in response to the signal (See Mellick, Col. 10, Ln. 64 - Col. 11, Ln. 12).
Regarding Claim 16, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick further teaches at least one sensor operably coupled to the controller 500, the at least one sensor being operable to monitor one or more parameters of the tensioning mechanism 200, the controller 510 being operable to control operation of the electric motor 208 in response to the one or more parameters being monitored by the at least one sensor (See Mellick, Col. 5, Ln. 55 - Col. 6, Ln. 1, Col. 11, Ln. 4-12).
Claims 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Freytag (WO 2008/12033).
Regarding Claim 17, Freytag, Figures 1-3, teaches a method of installing a cover 2 (See Freytag, Pg. 4, Ln. 13-18) comprising:
providing the cover 2, the cover 2 being in a loosened configuration (See Freytag, Pg. 6, Ln. 10-12);
positioning the cover 2 about a watercraft 1 (See Freytag, Pg. 6, Ln. 14-15); and
automatically operating a tensioning mechanism 6 to transform the cover 2 from the loosened configuration to a tightened configuration (See Freytag, Pg. 7, Ln. 3-6).
Regarding Claim 18, Freytag is advanced above.
Freytag further teaches sending a signal from a user device 25 to a controller 16 associated with the tensioning mechanism 6, wherein the tensioning mechanism 6 is automatically operated to transform the cover 2 to the tightened configuration in response to the signal (See Freytag, Pg. 5, Ln. 25-29).
Regarding Claim 19, Freytag is advanced above.
Freytag further teaches wherein the user device 25 is a mobile device (See Freytag, Pg. 5, Ln. 25-29).
Regarding Claim 20, Freytag is advanced above.
Freytag further teaches automatically operating the tensioning mechanism 6 to transform the cover 2 from the tightened configuration to the loosened configuration (See Freytag, Pg. 7, Ln. 10-15).
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 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mellick (US 10, 967,719), as applied to claims 1-9, 13, and 15-16 above, and further in view of Huang (US 8,905,379).
Regarding Claim 10, Mellick is advanced above.
Although Mellick does not explicitly teach a pinion and an intermediate gear, Mellick discloses “driving gear 206 may comprise a gearbox with a plurality of gears. The gears may be selected to provide the desired force from the tensioning motor 208 to tension the security cable 102 to a desired tension,” (See Mellick, Col. 5, Ln. 9-13), which implies an embodiment wherein the gear train further comprises: a pinion, the pinion being rotatably coupled to the electric motor; and at least one intermediate gear, the at least one intermediate gear being positioned between the pinion and the at least one webbing roller.
Additionally, Huang, Figures 1-2 and 5-6, teaches wherein the gear train 60 further comprises: a pinion 70, the pinion 70 being rotatably coupled to the electric motor 51; and at least one intermediate gear 76, the at least one intermediate gear 76 being positioned between the pinion 70 and the at least one webbing roller 42 (See Huang, Col. 2, Ln. 60-64).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Mellick with a pinion and an intermediate gear, as taught by Huang, for the purpose of altering the reeling speed of the webbing roller relative to the motor speed (i.e., altering the gear ratio between the motor and the webbing roller) (See Huang, Col. 2, Ln. 64 - Col. 3, Ln. 1).
Regarding Claim 11, Mellick and Huang are advanced above.
Mellick further teaches wherein the at least one webbing roller 204 further comprises a first webbing roller and a second webbing roller (dual rotational reels; See Mellick, Col. 7, Ln. 43), wherein the second webbing roller is intermeshed with and driven by the first webbing roller (See Mellick, Fig. 4B, Col. 7, Ln. 43-52).
Huang further teaches wherein the first webbing roller 42 is intermeshed with and driven by the at least one intermediate gear 76 (See Huang, Col. 2, Ln. 60-64).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Mellick and Huang to provide an intermediate gear driving the first webbing roller and the first webbing roller intermeshed with and driving the second webbing roller for the purpose of driving the webbing rollers simultaneously (See Mellick, Col. 7, Ln. 52-60), while altering the reeling speed of the webbing rollers relative to the motor speed (i.e., altering the gear ratio between the motor and the webbing rollers) (See Huang, Col. 2, Ln. 64 - Col. 3, Ln. 1).
Regarding Claim 12, Mellick and Huang are advanced above.
Mellick further teaches wherein the at least one webbing roller 204 further comprises a first webbing roller and a second webbing roller (dual rotational reels; See Mellick, Col. 7, Ln. 43).
Huang further teaches wherein the first webbing roller 42 is intermeshed with and driven by the at least one intermediate gear 76 (See Huang, Col. 2, Ln. 60-64).
Although neither Mellick nor Huang explicitly disclose a second webbing roller intermeshed with and driven by the at least one intermediate gear separately from the first webbing roller, reconfiguring a gear train for the purpose of altering rotational parameters including speed, torque, and rotation direction is a well-known and commonly used technique by those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a first webbing roller and a second webbing roller, wherein the first webbing roller is intermeshed with and driven by the at least one intermediate gear and the second webbing roller is intermeshed with and driven by the at least one intermediate gear separately from the first webbing roller.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mellick (US 10, 967,719), as applied to claims 1-9, 13, and 15-16 above, and further in view of Freytag (WO 2008/12033).
Regarding Claim 14, Mellick is advanced above.
Mellick teaches all the elements of the tensioning mechanism except for the power source being rechargeable and comprising solar cells.
However, Freytag, Figures 1-3, teaches wherein the power source 17 is rechargeable (See Freytag, Pg. 5, Ln. 3-5) and further comprising a solar panel 31 associated with the power source 17 (See Freytag, Pg. 6, Ln. 8-10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Mellick with a rechargeable power source and a solar panel, as taught by Freytag, for the purpose of maintaining the power source voltage without tethering the device to an external power outlet or requiring battery replacement (See Freytag, Pg. 3, Ln. 13-14).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIFFANY DOMONIQUE JEFFERSON whose telephone number is 571-272-0403. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10am-7:30pm ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Victoria Augustine can be reached at 313-446-4858. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/T.D.J./Examiner, Art Unit 3654
/Victoria P Augustine/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3654
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