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 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 1-4, 9, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Goldman in US Patent 2017753.
Regarding Claim 1, Goldman teaches a disassembly and assembly structure for a frame rod and a canopy fabric of a canopy frame with eaves, wherein: the frame rod of the canopy frame with the eaves comprises a plurality of eave rods (16), each of the plurality of eave rods has an outer end (19) that is suspended, a plurality of connecting members (17/18) are connected to the canopy fabric, the plurality of connecting members are detachably sleeved outside the outer ends of the plurality of eave rods (see Fig. 5) or are detachably disposed in ports of the outer ends of the plurality of eave rods, each of the plurality of connecting members has a fixed portion (17), the fixed portion comprises a through hole (20), and a connecting belt (21) is configured to pass through the through hole and is connected to the canopy fabric.
Regarding Claim 2, Goldman teaches that the through hole is a long-hole structure, the long-hole structure is perpendicular to a corresponding one of the plurality of connecting members (see Fig. 5-6 – the hole is perpendicular to the length of the member), and two ends of the connecting belt are sewn (“stitched through the material of the covering” – see Column 2, lines 3-4), welded, or fused to a bottom surface of the canopy fabric.
Regarding Claim 3, Goldman teaches that each of the plurality of connecting members has a connecting portion (18) fixedly connected to the fixed portion, two ends (the top and bottom of 17 surrounding 20) of the fixed portion extend out of the connecting portion, the connecting belt is configured to connect the fixed portion and the canopy fabric, and the connecting portion is detachably sleeved outside the outer end of a corresponding one of the plurality of cave rods (see Fig. 5) or is detachably disposed in the port of the outer end of the corresponding one of the plurality of eave rods.
Regarding Claim 4, Goldman teaches that the connecting portion comprises a cap-shaped sleeve (see Figs. 4-5), the cap-shaped sleeve has an opening, and the opening of the cap-shaped sleeve is detachably sleeved outside the outer end of the corresponding one of the plurality of eave rods (see Fig. 5).
Regarding Claims 9 and 10, Goldman teaches that the canopy fabric comprise a plurality of corners (at the end of each rod 16), and the plurality of connecting members are connected to the plurality of corners.
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.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goldman as applied to Claim 4 above in view of Harris in US Patent 2628581. Goldman is silent on the use of strips on the sleeve. Harris teaches a connecting portion with a cap-shaped sleeve (9), wherein: at least two guiding strips (10) arranged at intervals in a circumferential direction of the cap-shaped sleeve protrude from an inner wall of the opening of the cap-shaped sleeve, and a front end of each of the at least two guiding strips comprises a guiding inclined surface (see Fig. 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Goldman by adding guiding strips as taught by Harris in order to better align the rod within the cavity.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goldman as applied to Claim 3 above in view of Gonet in US Patent 5068955 Goldman is silent on the use of a connecting portions that are detachably disposed in ports of the outer ends of the plurality of eave rods. Gonet teaches (see Fig. 2) connecting members (16) with connecting portions (19) that are disposed in ports at the outer end of eave rods (7), wherein: the connecting portion comprises a pin (19), and the pin is detachably disposed in the port at the outer end of the corresponding one of the plurality of eave rods (Fig. 2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Goldman by using connecting portions that are inserted into the outer ends of the eave rods as taught by Gonet in order to provide a more secure attachment between the connecting members and eave rods.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 8 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Katz, Choi, and You teach connecting members for eave rods. Choi, Chen et al., Arbeiter et al., Huang, and Xu et al. teach eave rods.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NOAH C. HAWK whose telephone number is (571)272-1480. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Dunn can be reached at 5712726670. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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NOAH C. HAWK
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3636
/Noah C. Hawk/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3636
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