August 5, 2026
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 § 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 1-2 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuda (U.S. Patent No. 10,625,565 B2) in view of GRÜNEWALD et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0162244 A1).
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Fukuda teaches the structure substantially as claimed including a blower protection structure of a seatback, comprising:
a pair of left and right lumbar wires 13,14 spanning between an upper portion and a lower portion of a seatback frame of a vehicle seat;
a mounting bracket 12 mounted directly or indirectly to the left and right lumbar wires 13,14;
a blower 12 disposed at a seatback rear side with respect to the mounting bracket but is silent as to whether or not it includes an urging portion urging the blower toward a mounting bracket side. However, GRÜNEWALD et al. teach the concept of an urging portion that can be used to secure the blower to a mounting bracket and urging toward a mounting bracket side (see paragraph [0022] where it reads “The seat ventilation device 5 can also be suspended in the foam using rubber bands for acoustic decoupling.”). It would have been obvious and well within the level of ordinary skill in the art to modify the blower protection cover, as taught by Fukuda, to include an urging portion urging the blower toward a mounting bracket side, as taught by GRÜNEWALD et al., since it would allow the blower to be removably coupled to the mounting bracket of the vehicle seat.
As for claim 2, Fukuda teaches that the blower is mounted to a seatback rear side surface of the mounting bracket.
As for Claim 8, both Fukada teaches a vehicle seat, comprising:
a seat cushion on which an occupant sits; and
a seatback supporting a back of the occupant,
wherein the seatback has the blower protection structure of a seatback.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 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 prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Rodney B. White whose telephone number is (571)272-6863. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 AM-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David R. Dunn can be reached at (571) 272-6670. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Rodney B White/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3636
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