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.
Information Disclosure Statement
Applicant’s information disclosure statement filed 2/10/2025 has been considered and is included in the file.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Friedrich et al. (US 2023/0406414) in view of Kafuku et al. (JP 2003072591, machine translation attached and noted in IDS dated 2/10/2025).
Regarding claim 1, Friedrich et al. discloses a liquid storage structure (Fig. 1) for a vehicle (1), the liquid storage structure being applied to a vehicle in which a vehicle interior outer chamber (4) is provided outside a vehicle interior (Fig. 1), and a trunk (with a cavity (41)) and a liquid tank (connected to the closure (43)) having a liquid storage chamber are disposed in the vehicle interior outer chamber (Fig. 2).
Friedrich et al. does not explicitly disclose wherein a framework portion of the liquid tank is configured by a tank body portion, the tank body portion having a wall portion forming an outer shell portion, the tank body portion has an opening in a part of the wall portion, in a state in which the opening is closed by a part of the trunk, the wall portion of the tank body portion is attached to the trunk at a peripheral edge portion of the opening in a close contact state, and the liquid tank is constituted by the tank body portion and the part of the trunk that closes the opening.
Kafuku et al., like Friedrich, teaches a liquid storage structure and further teaches wherein a framework portion of the liquid tank is configured by a tank body portion (220), the tank body portion having a wall portion forming an outer shell portion (see annotated Fig. 3 below), the tank body portion has an opening in a part of the wall portion (see annotated Fig. 3 below), in a state in which the opening is closed by a part of the vehicle component (Fig. 1, note (210) is integrally formed with the panel (110), and therefore is part of the vehicle component), the wall portion of the tank body portion is attached to the vehicle component at a peripheral edge portion of the opening in a close contact state (Fig. 1), and the liquid tank is constituted by the tank body portion and the part of the vehicle component that closes the opening (Fig. 1).
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Annotated Fig. 3 of Kafuku et al.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the structure of Friedrich et al. to provide an opening in a part of the wall portion of the tank body portion as taught by Kafuku et al., with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to help deal with volume expansion, and to move the structure to the trunk for an electric vehicle with more space rearward of the front panel. Please note in the combination, the vehicle component is the trunk as taught by Friedrich et al.
Regarding claim 2, Friedrich et al. as modified by Kafuku et al. teaches the structure of claim 1 and teaches (references to Kafuku et al.) wherein a liquid stored in the storage chamber is a washer fluid (paragraph [0010] of the machine translation), and the trunk and the tank body portion are each made of a resin material (as modified, paragraph [0021] of the machine translation).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Friedrich et al. (US 2023/0406414) in view of Kafuku et al. (JP 2003072591, machine translation attached) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Iwaski et al. (JP 2018069804, machine translation attached).
Regarding claim 3, Friedrich et al. as modified by Kafuku et al. teaches the structure of claim 1 and teaches wherein the trunk and the tank body portion are made of a resin material or a composite material obtained by reinforcing a resin material (Kafuku et al.: as modified, paragraph [0021] of the machine translation) with a reinforcing material (Friedrich et al.: paragraph [0008]). However, Friedrich et al. as modified by Kafuku et al. does not explicitly teach wherein the wall portion of the tank body portion is joined to the trunk at the peripheral edge portion of the opening by welding.
Iwaski et al., like Friedrich et al., teaches a structure being applied to a vehicle interior outer chamber, and further teaches the wall portion of the tank body portion is joined to the trunk at the peripheral edge portion of the opening by welding (paragraphs [0033], [0049], and [0055] of the machine translation teaches that resin components can be welded together as an option for connecting components).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the structure of Friedrich et al. as modified by Kafuku et al. to connect the wall portion to the trunk by welding as taught by Iwasaki et al., with a reasonable expectation of success. Using a known technique of connecting resin components in a vehicle would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill, since they would have recognized that applying the known technique of Iwaski et al. would yield predictable results for connecting the wall portion to the trunk.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Mangold et al. (WO 2024/227557), Hernandez Aviles et al. (US 2018/0251071), Kashihara (JP 2000108791), Risca et al. (US 2004/0142232), Naohiko (JP 6497572), and Bernhardt et al. (EP 2762696) teach trunk or liquid storage structures for vehicles.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLY W. LYNCH whose telephone number is (571)272-5552. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:30am-5:30pm, Eastern Time, alternate Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter M Poon can be reached at 571-272-6891. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CARLY W. LYNCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3643
