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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the character of the lines, numbers, and letters are not sufficiently dense and dark, uniformly thick and well-defined as required by MPEP §608.02(V)(l). The lines of the drawings are not uniformly thick and well-defined. See Fig. 1-5. Furthermore, the lead lines for the numerals in the figures are obscured by the heavy cross-hatching.
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
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 1-4 and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Viault U.S. 2011/0133379.
Re clm 1, Viault discloses a strut bearing (Fig. 1) for use in a suspension strut of a vehicle, the strut bearing comprising: an upper housing (40, Fig. 2); a lower housing (42) including an insert (66) and an isolator (64), the insert having a first surface (surface of insert 66 that contacts 62) and a second surface (surface of insert 66 that contacts 64) and being attached to the lower housing with the first surface, the isolator being attached to the second surface (top of 64 contacts bottom of 66) of the insert with an attaching surface provided on the isolator such that at least a part of the isolator is directly attached to the insert; and a rolling bearing (46,48 and 50) arranged between the upper housing and the lower housing and including an outer race (48), an inner race (46) and rolling elements (50) arranged between the outer race and the inner race; wherein one of the outer race and the inner race is attached to the upper housing, and another one of the outer race and the inner race is attached to the lower housing (shown in Fig. 2).
Re clm 2, Viault further discloses the insert is provided with an auxiliary attaching part (hole in 66 through which 81 passes).
Re clm 3, Viault further discloses a through hole is provided in the insert and a part of the isolator extends through the through hole and is attached to the lower housing so as to provide the auxiliary attaching part (shown in Fig. 2).
Re clm 4, Viault further discloses a plurality of the auxiliary attaching parts are provided on the lower housing in a circumferential direction ([0046] and [0051]; Fig. 1).
Re clm 8, Viault further discloses the lower housing includes a radial portion (at 60) and an axial portion (at 66), the second surface of the insert is provided only on the radial portion (shown in Fig. 4), and the attaching surface of the isolator is attached to the second surface that is provided on the radial portion (shown in Fig. 2 and 4).
Re clm 9, Viault further discloses a method for manufacturing the strut bearing according to claim 1, the method comprising the steps of: a first mold injection step ([0046]) for injection molding of the lower housing to the first surface of the insert; and a second mold injection step ([0047]) for performing injection molding of the isolator to the second surface of the insert.
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 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Viault U.S. 2011/0133379 as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Blanchard U.S. 2020/0240465.
Viault discloses all the claimed subject matter as described above.
Re clm 5, Viault is silent as to the specifics of the auxiliary attaching parts and does not explicitly disclose the plurality of the auxiliary attaching parts are circumferentially spaced apart in equal intervals.
Blanchard teaches a strut bearing in which the plurality of the auxiliary attaching parts (34, Fig. 1 and 3) are circumferentially spaced apart in equal intervals.
Since both Viault and Blanchard disclose a plurality of auxiliary attaching parts, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the undisclosed layout of the auxiliary attaching parts of Viault with the circumferentially evenly spaced parts of Blanchard to achieve the predictable result of securely anchoring the isolator to the lower housing.
Re clm 6, the improvement of Blanchard further discloses the through hole has a circular cross section (shown in Fig. 3).
Re clm 7, although the improvement of Blanchard discloses the through holes 34 may be of any suitable shape, Blanchard does not explicitly disclose the through hole has a cross section with a polygonal shape.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Viault in view of Blanchard and provide the through hole has a cross section with a polygonal shape, since it has been held that shape of a device is a matter of choice which a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found obvious absent persuasive evidence that the particular shape of the claimed device was significant. In re Dailey, 357 F.2d 669, 149 USPQ 47 (CCPA 1966). See MPEP §2144.04(IV)(B).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAN B WAITS whose telephone number is (571)270-3664. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday from 6-4 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, John R Olszewski can be reached at 571-272-2706. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALAN B WAITS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
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