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 Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: On line 4 “said water mount assembly” is missing the term “bottle”. Appropriate correction is required.
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 –
Claim(s) 1-2, 4, 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Gu (US 11,352,089).
Regarding claim 1, Gu (hereafter “D1”) discloses a water bottle mount assembly (10), said water bottle mount assembly comprising: a water bottle mount body (all of figure 1), said water body mount body comprising: central section (board 11, clamp units 20), said central section comprising a mounting surface (bottom surface of 20, mounts to bike seat rails 41) on a bottom portion of the water bottle mount (figure 4), said mounting surface defining a first plane (bottom plane of 20), and a mounting hole (groove 214 or pin 22 hole; figure 22) perpendicular to said first plane; a right side connecting structure (right link 12, right support unit 30) coupled to said central section, said right side connection structure comprising: a right side bottle cage mounting surface (surface of plate 31; figure 8; col. 2, lines 59-61); and an upper fastening feature (upper hole 311) at an upper end of said right side bottle cage mounting surface; and a lower fastening feature (lower hole 311) at a lower end of said right side bottle cage mounting surface; and a left side connecting structure (left link 12, left support unit 30) coupled to said central section, said left side connection structure comprising: a left side bottle cage mounting surface (surface of plate 31 of left side); and an upper fastening feature (upper hole 311) at an upper end of said left side bottle cage mounting surface; and a lower fastening feature (lower hole 311) at a lower end of said right side bottle cage mounting surface (col. 2, line 67- col. 3, line 2).
Regarding claim 2, D1 discloses further comprising: a right side bottle cage (right side water bottle holder 50) coupled to said right side bottle cage mounting surface (at 31); and a left side bottle cage (left side bottle holder 50) coupled to said left side bottle cage mounting surface (col. 3, lines 46-52).
Regarding claims 4 and 6, D1 discloses wherein a line through a center said upper fastening feature (upper 311) of said right side connecting structure and a center of said lower fastening feature (lower 311) and parallel to said right side bottle cage mounting surface defines a first axis (figure 9), and wherein a line perpendicular to said first plane (plane of bottom surface of 20) defines a second axis (axis would be that of an opening 214), and wherein said first axis and said second axis are offset at an angle in the range of 15-25 degrees (figure 6 best shows the axis offset angle, the angle of the support unit 30 is adjustable to be within the range of 15-25 degrees of the first axis – col. 3, lines 25-30).
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(s) 3, 5, 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gu (US 11,352,089).
Regarding claim 3, D1 discloses wherein said right side bottle cage and said left side bottle cage comprise an upper and a lower through hole (not indexed, shown in figure 9; col. 3, lines 18-21), and wherein said upper and lower fastening features (311) of said right side and left side connecting structures receive securing parts coupling said right side bottle cage and said left bottle cage through said upper and lower through holes to said right side connecting structure and said left side connecting structure (12, 30). D1 does not specify the type of securing parts which connect the connecting structure and bottle cage. However, D1 discloses use of threaded holes and bolts for connecting members (at 122, bolt 33 – col. 2, lines 63-65). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to utilize a threaded hole (311) and bolt connection for the connecting structure to bottle cage fastening members as D1 suggests this type of known releasable securing means used for securing other parts of the device.
Regarding claims 5 and 7, see the discussion in regards to claims 4 and 6 above.
Regarding claims 8-10, D1 discloses mounting holes (either 214 or pin 22 hole meet the limitation) that receive a pin and a bicycle seat rail (41) and further discloses where in the mounting hole (214) is able to be adjusted to different sizes (col. 3, lines 31-34). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to utilize hole (214) diameter sized to secure seat rails, which are known in the art to commonly have 7 mm diameter, and as such the diameter of opening should include in its adjustable range at least 7 mm as it is adjustable in size to grip the seat rail and if that range would not include 6 mm it further noted that the pin (22) opening is shown to be proportionally smaller (figure 3) and correspondingly it would be obvious to be in the range of 5-6 mm based on the proportion to the opening (214).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See notice of references cited form PTO-892. References not applied but cited are relevant as disclosing or suggesting at least one feature in the claims or disclosure of the present application.
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/PATRICK D HAWN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3631