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 under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, “a locking disc and a swing rod assembly,” recited in claim 12, must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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
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, 9, and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 108216111.
Regarding claim 1, CN ‘111 discloses a safety belt retractor (figure 1) comprising a retractor frame 1, a rotating shaft 2, rotatably mounted in the retractor frame, a positioning rod seat 15, disposed outside the retractor frame and linked to the rotating shaft (i.e., a part of 2, see figure 1), a snap-fit portion (i.e., no reference number, near 32, see figure 6) being disposed at an axial outer end of the positioning rod seat, a steel ball seat 9, pivotally connected to the outside of the retractor frame, the steel ball seat being provided with a fan-shaped positioning gear 14, and a positioning rod 16 (i.e., made of a metal material, see paragraph [0031], claim 11), comprising a first end (i.e., near 15) and a second end (near 31), the first end being linked to the snap-fit portion (see figure 6) of the positioning rod seat 15, and the second end (near 31) being used to engage with or disengage from the fan-shaped positioning gear 14 of the steel ball seat 9 (see figure 1), wherein the first end (near 15) is provided with a snap-fit ring 32 (i.e., an aperture as an opening, claim 3), the snap-fit portion (near 32) is provided with a slot 33, and the snap-fit ring 32 is snapped and inserted into the slot 33 and has an interference fit with the slot (see paragraph [0031], which is interference-fitted, which is forced axially and providing some sort of deformation, claim 2); a gear (18a connected to the rotating shaft 2) is further provided at an axial inner end of the positioning rod seat (near 15), the gear is integrally molded with the snap-fit portion (near 32), and the gear is linked to the rotating shaft (see paragraph [0032], see figures 6-7, claim 9); a locking disc 10, a swinging rod assembly (11-12), a steel ball (no reference number) located in a circular arc-shaped recess between the steel ball seat 9 and the swinging rod assembly (see figure 3, claim 12), see figures 1-8.
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 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 108216111.
Regarding claim 10, as stated above, CN ‘111 shows the positioning rod seat, but does not explicitly explain the material.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to select the known material as such as plastic (i.e., applicant did not invent any plastic material) for producing easy manufacturing products. Furthermore, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8 and 13 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The claims 4-8 and 13 are patentable over the prior art of record because the teachings of the references taken as a whole do not show or render obvious the combination set forth in claims 4 and 13, including every structural element recited in the claim, especially the concept of a first flange extends toward an axial inner end at a radial edge to form a hook portion, and a second flange extends towards an axial outer end at a radial edge to form a support portion, and the distance is less than the thickness of the snap-fit ring.
None of the references of the prior art teach or suggest the elements of the device as advanced above and such do not provide the necessary motivation, absent applicant's specification, for modifying the device in the manner required by the claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANG K KIM whose telephone number is 571-272-6947. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday through Thursday from 10:30 A.M. to 9 P.M or Tuesday through Thursday from 10:30 A.M. to 7 P.M.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Robert Hodge, can be reached on (571) 272-2097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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SK
7/23/26
/SANG K KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654
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