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 .
1) In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
2) 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.
Japan 507
3) Claims 16, 18-22, 25 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japan 507 (JP 2010-208507) in view of Miyazaki (US 2022/0048333).
Japan 507 discloses a pneumatic tire (passenger tire size 225/45R17) having an asymmetric tread pattern comprising blocks 24, 23, 22, 21, 20 separated by four circumferential grooves 11, 12, 13, 13, 14 and transverse grooves 14, 15, 16 wherein each transverse groove extends continuously from an INSIDE TREAD EDGE (FIRST TREAD EDGE) to an OUTSIDE TREAD EGDE (SECOND TREAD EDGE). The transverse grooves 14, 15, 16 are parallel to each other. The transverse grooves between blocks 24 are inclined at angle θE with respect to the circumferential direction. The transverse grooves between blocks 23 are inclined at angle θD with respect to the circumferential direction. The transverse grooves between blocks 22 are inclined at angle θC with respect to the circumferential direction. The transverse grooves between blocks 21 are inclined at angle θB with respect to the circumferential direction. The transverse grooves between blocks 20 are inclined at angle θA with respect to the circumferential direction. Japan 507 discloses:
θE = 0o plus/minus 5o with respect to the axial direction,
θD = 10o plus/minus 5o with respect to the axial direction,
θC = 15o plus/minus 5o with respect to the axial direction,
θB = 30o plus/minus 5o with respect to the axial direction,
θA = 45o plus/minus 5o with respect to the axial direction.
FIGURE 2 of Japan 507 is reproduced below:
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In FIGURE 2, the right tread edge is an INSIDE TREAD (FIRST TREAD EDGE) and the left tread edge is an OUTSIDE TREAD (SECOND TREAD EDGE). The leading edge corners of blocks 24, 23, 22, 21 and 20 are inclined at angles θE, θD, θC, θB, θA with respect to the axial direction respectively wherein θE < θD < θC < θB < θA. The claimed first, second and third circumferential grooves read on circumferential grooves 11, 10 and 12 respectively. FIGURE 2 illustrates first circumferential groove 11, second circumferential groove 10 and third circumferential groove 12 being arranged in an axial portion of the tread having an axial width equal to at most 75% of the axial width of the tread. The claimed first, second and third circumferential column of blocks reads on blocks 20, 23 and 22 respectively. The claimed additional circumferential column of blocks reads on blocks 20. Japan 507 substantially discloses the claimed invention, but is silent as to the width of the circumferential grooves in millimeters.
As to claim 16, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Japan 507's pneumatic passenger tire such that each of the circumferential grooves (circumferential lines not intersecting any block) has an axial width greater than or equal to 2 mm since Miyazaki, also directed to a pneumatic passenger tire having an asymmetric tread pattern comprising four circumferential grooves, teaches that the circumferential grooves should have a width of greater than or equal to 5 mm [FIGURE 2, paragraph 27]. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use a known groove width (greater than or equal to 5 mm) for the circumferential grooves of Miyazaki's pneumatic passenger tire.
As to angle [claim 16], the leading edge corner of each of the first, second and third blocks 24, 23, 22 respectively has a mean direction forming an angle with respect to the circumferential direction greater than an angle with respect to the circumferential direction of a mean direction of the leading edge corner of the additional blocks 20 [FIGURE 2].
As to claim 18, note locations of first circumferential groove 11, second circumferential groove 10 and third circumferential groove 12.
As to claim 19, note locations of first blocks 24, second blocks 23 and third blocks 22.
As to claim 20, note locations of first circumferential groove 11, second circumferential groove 10 and third circumferential groove 12 and note locations of first blocks 24, second blocks 23 and third blocks 22.
As to claims 21 and 22, the claimed first, second, third and fourth blocks read on blocks 24, 23, 21 and 22 respectively. As to angles, note above discussion regarding angles of transverse grooves and leading edge corners. An angle of the leading edge corner of the fourth blocks 22 with respect to the circumferential direction is greater than an angle of a leading edge corner of the additional blocks 20 with respect to the circumferential direction [FIGURE 2].
As to claim 25, blocks 24 are single blocks and blocks 23 are single blocks [FIGURE 2].
As to claim 28, Japan 507 teaches a pneumatic tire (passenger size 225/45R17) having an asymmetrical tread pattern having an INSIDE TREAD EDGE and an OUTSIDE TREAD EDGE wherein the INSIDE TREAD EDGE faces the vehicle when mounted on the vehicle. Since a passenger vehicle has four tires, one of ordinary skill in the art would readily appreciate that Japan 507 teaches a pair of a first tire and a second tire each having an asymmetrical tread pattern as shown in FIGURE 2, wherein the tread of the first tire is symmetrical to the tread of the second tire with respect to a plane of symmetry substantially perpendicular to an axis of rotation common to the first tire and the second tire so that a left tire having the asymmetrical tread pattern of FIGURE 2 and a right tire having the asymmetrical tread pattern of FIGURE 2 may be mounted on a four wheel passenger vehicle.
4) Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japan 507 (JP 2010-208507) in view of Miyazaki (US 2022/0048333) as applied above and further in view of Europe 322 (EP 3517322).
As to claim 17, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Japan 507's pneumatic passenger tire such that an angle formed by a variable main direction of each transverse groove and the circumferential direction exhibits a non-zero monotonous variation between the first and second tread edges since Europe 322, also directed to a pneumatic passenger tire (e.g. passenger size 205/65R15) having an asymmetric tread pattern comprising transverse grooves continuously extending from an INSIDE TREAD EDGE to an OUTSIDE TREAD EDGE, teaches that each transverse groove should have a smooth curve to obtain excellent edge effect and allow excellent cornering grip and traction performance to be stably exhibited in traveling on rough terrain [FIGURE 1, paragraphs 5-9, 29-33].
5) Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japan 507 (JP 2010-208507) in view of Miyazaki (US 2022/0048333) as applied above and further in view of Europe 929 (EP 475,929).
As to claim 26, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Japan 507's pneumatic passenger tire such that the third circumferential column of blocks comprises at least two blocks between two circumferentially continuous transverse grooves since Europe 929 teaches providing a pneumatic tire having a tread comprising blocks separated by circumferential grooves and transverse grooves which continuously extend from one tread edge to the other tread edge such that the number of blocks between two consecutive transverse grooves increases from a shoulder row of blocks to a central row of blocks to reduce noise [FIGURE 1, machine translation]. It is noted that the claimed first second and third blocks reads on either (1) blocks 24, 23 and 22 respectively or (2) blocks 24, 23 and 21 respectively.
6) Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japan 507 (JP 2010-208507) in view of Miyazaki (US 2022/0048333) as applied above and further in view of Japan 204 (JP 11-286204).
As to claim 27, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Japan 507's pneumatic passenger tire such that the leading edge corner of at least one portion of the blocks of the third circumferential column of blocks has a curvilinear length greater than a curvilinear length of each lateral edge corner of the block since (1) Japan 507 shows providing central blocks 21, 23 such that length of the leading edge corner is greater than length of the lateral edge corner [FIGURE 2] and (2) Japan 204 teaches providing a pneumatic tire (passenger size 195/65R15) having a tread comprising blocks separated by circumferential grooves and transverse grooves which extend continuously from one tread edge to the other tread edge such that all edges of each central block are curvilinear to suppress uneven wear and improve steering stability [FIGURES 1, 3A, machine translation]. It is noted that the claimed first second and third blocks reads on either (1) blocks 24, 23 and 22 respectively or (2) blocks 24, 23 and 21 respectively.
Europe 503
7) Claims 16, 18-24, 26 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Europe 503 (EP 1,992,503) in view of Toyoshima (US 5,702,545) and Losi et al (US 2013/0213540).
Europe 503 discloses a pneumatic tire (passenger tire size 225/45R17) having an asymmetric tread pattern comprising blocks separated by longitudinal grooves
4A-4F and transverse grooves 3 wherein each transverse groove 3 extends continuously from an INSIDE TREAD EDGE Ti (FIRST TREAD EDGE) to an OUTSIDE TREAD EDGE To (SECOND TREAD EDGE). The transverse grooves 3 are parallel to each other. The groove widths of the longitudinal grooves 4 are not less than 5 mm [paragraph 16]. An annotated copy of FIGURE 2 of Europe 503 is provided below:
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In the above MARKED UP FIGURE, the markings were added by the examiner to facilitate discussion of Europe 503. In the MARKED UP FIGURE:
G1 is a first longitudinal groove,
G2 is a second longitudinal groove,
G3 is a third longitudinal groove,
B1 is a first block,
B2 is a second block,
BX is either a third block or a fourth block,
BY is either a fourth block or a third block,
A1 is a first additional block,
A2 is a second additional block.
The claimed first, second and third circumferential grooves correspond to longitudinal grooves G1, G2 and G3 respectively. FIGURE 2 illustrates first longitudinal groove G1, second longitudinal groove G2 and third longitudinal groove G3 being arranged in an axial portion of the tread having an axial width equal to at most 75% of the axial width of the tread. The claimed first, second and third circumferential column of blocks reads on blocks B1, B2 and either blocks BX or blocks BY respectively. The claimed first additional circumferential column of blocks reads on blocks A1. The claimed second additional circumferential column of blocks reads on blocks A2. In the MARKED UP FIGURE:
an angle of a leading edge corner of first block B1 is greater than either an angle of a leading edge corner of additional block A1 or an angle of an inside region of a leading edge corner of additional block A2,
an angle of a leading edge corner of second block B2 is greater than either an angle of a leading edge corner of additional block A1 or an angle of an inside region of a leading edge corner of additional block A2,
an angle of an inside region of a leading edge corner of third block B3 is greater than either an angle of a leading edge corner of additional block A1 or an angle of an inside region of a leading edge corner of additional block A2.
In FIGURE 2, longitudinal groove 4A is a straight circumferential groove (defining a circumferential line having a width > 5 mm) and longitudinal grooves 4B to 4F are inclined longitudinal grooves [paragraphs 16, 25]. Thus, additional block A2 has one lateral edge corner defined by an oblique groove and additional block A1 has both lateral edge corners defined by oblique grooves. Europe 503 teaches that longitudinal groove 4B may be a straight circumferential groove (defining a circumferential line having a width > 5 mm) as an alternative to being an inclined longitudinal groove [paragraphs 16, 44]. Thus, Europe 503 teaches that the tread may comprise one or two straight circumferential grooves. Europe 503 does not recite that the tread comprises three straight circumferential grooves.
As to claim 16, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Europe 503's pneumatic passenger tire such that the asymmetric tread pattern comprises three straight circumferential grooves since:
(1) Europe 503 teaches that the asymmetric tread pattern of the pneumatic passenger tire may comprise one or two straight circumferential grooves. wherein each straight circumferential groove defines a circumferential line having a width of at least 5 mm,
(2) Toyoshima et al teaches providing a pneumatic tire (passenger tire size 225/50R16) having an asymmetric tread pattern, which is generally similar to Europe 503's asymmetric tread, such that the asymmetric tread pattern comprises three straight circumferential grooves [FIGURE 1] and
(3) Losi et al teaches providing a pneumatic tire for cars having an asymmetric tread pattern, which is generally similar to Europe 503's asymmetric tread pattern, such that
the asymmetric tread pattern comprises three straight circumferential grooves [FIGURE 2].
As to claim 16, one of ordinary skill in the art would readily appreciate that the use of three straight circumferential grooves improves drain performance. See, for example, col. 1 lines 16-26 of Toyoshima et al.
As to claims 18-24 and 26, see above MARKED UP FIGURE.
As to claim 28, see FIGURE 1 of Europe 503.
Remarks
8) The remaining references are of interest.
9) No claim is allowed.
10) Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN D MAKI whose telephone number is (571)272-1221. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30AM-6PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Katelyn B Smith (Whatley) can be reached at 571-270-5545. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/STEVEN D MAKI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749
September 30, 2026
