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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information referred to in the IDS filed April 22, 2025 has been considered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings filed April 22, 2025 are approved.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation “the coupling portion includes an elongated hole formed in the back frame” in lines 1 to 2. It is unclear if the coupling portion is intended to represent part of the back frame, which appears to be what is set forth by this recitation. Such contradicts claim 1, from which claim 2 depends. Claim 1 appears to set forth the back frame (line 3) and the coupling portion (line 10) as separate members. Clarification in the claim language is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, as best understood with the above cited indefiniteness, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Swenson et al (US4181357).
Note a vehicle seat frame, comprising: a cushion frame (34, 18) configuring a framework of a seat cushion (36); a back frame (35) configuring a framework of a seat back (37) and having a lower end rotatably coupled to a rear portion of the cushion frame about a rotation center axis (thru 205) having an axial direction in left-right direction of a seat; a recliner (300, 302) fixed to the cushion frame (at 18) at a seat rear side with respect to the rotation center axis and disposed with the seat left-right direction as an axial direction; a rotary link (232) coupled to the cushion frame (at 18) via the recliner and rotatable about an axis of the recliner with respect to the cushion frame in a state in which the recliner is unlocked; and a coupling portion (231) coupling the rotary link with the back frame slidably along a height direction of the seat back and rotatably about an axis along the seat left-right direction.
Regarding claim 2, note the coupling portion includes: an elongated hole (323) formed in the back frame; and a sliding pin (205) fixed to the rotary link and inserted into the elongated hole.
Regarding claim 3, note the cushion frame includes: a cushion side frame disposed on a side portion of the seat cushion; and a locking portion (340) that is provided at a rear end of the cushion side frame and configured to lock a bracket (306) to which the recliner is fixed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Nagayasu (US9701221) shows a vehicle seat with a tiltable/slidable backrest assembly.
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mn /MILTON NELSON JR/August 19, 2026 Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3636
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