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 Objections
Claims 1, 3-6 are objected to because of the following informalities: recitation of “pole” may be a poor translation of “pawl”. The applicant is entitled to be his or her own lexicographer. However non-representative or random term choice serves to confuse rather than clarify the structure and function of a given apparatus. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yong (CN214786723).
Regarding claim 1, Yong discloses a door lock device being connected to a door closer via a tensile member (25) and holding a door of a vehicle in a closed state while allowing the door to be opened, the door lock device comprising:
a housing (19);
a latch (11) being rotatably supported by the housing and movable to a full latch position (Fig.1) where the door is held in a fully closed position, a half latch position (abstract lines 6 and &) where the door is held in a half closed position and prevented from moving to an open position, and an unlatch position (Fig.3) where the door is allowed to open;
a pole (12) being disposed in the housing and movable between a regulating position where the pole engages the latch and holds the latch in the full latch position (Fig.1) and a non-regulating position (Fig2,3) where the latch is allowed to move from the full latch position to the unlatch position side;
a closing member (21, swing claw) being rotatably supported by the housing and connected to the tensile member, and moving, when the latch is in the half latch position and the tensile member is pulled by the door closer, the latch from the half latch position to the full latch position (Detailed description 12th paragraph, Since the lock ring 09 is typically mounted to the other side of the body or door relative to the door lock, this movement forces the body and door closer together and into the locked position, a self-closing process);
an ice breaker (abstract, 43) being movable between an unactuated position where the ice breaker is stationary relative to the housing and allows rotation of the closing member and an actuated position where the ice breaker engages the closing member (21), and moving, when the ice breaker is in the actuated position and the tensile member( 25) is pulled by the door closer, together with the closing member and pressing the latch in such a way as to move the latch from the full latch position to the unlatch position side; and
a cancel member (41) being movable between a retraction permitting position and a retraction cancel position, holding the ice breaker, when in the retraction permitting position, in the unactuated position, moving from the retraction permitting position to the retraction cancel position, and moving the ice breaker (43) from the unactuated position to the actuated position.
Regarding claim 4, Yong discloses the door lock device according to Claim 1, further comprising:
a pole holding member (16)being movable between a holding position where the pole holding member engages the pole and holds the pole in the regulating position and a non-holding position where the pole is allowed to move from the regulating position to the non-regulating position; and
a drive member (18) being movable from a first position to a second position, by either driving force of an actuator or manual opening operation of the door, moving the pole holding member from the holding position to the non-holding position, and being movable from the first position to a third position passing the second position, by either the driving force of the actuator or the manual opening operation, and moving the pole from the regulating position to the non-regulating position 9Fig.3), wherein
the cancel member is connected to the drive member via a connection member (48), and, in response to movement of the drive member from the first position to the third position by either the driving force of the actuator or the manual opening operation, moves from the retraction permitting position to the retraction cancel position.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 (3, 5, and 6 by dependency) 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Yong (CN214786723) discloses the door lock device except for:
the ice breaker includes: a first hole extending in a predetermined direction, into which the support shaft is inserted in such a way that the support shaft is movable between one end associated with the unactuated position and another end associated with the actuated position; a second hole extending along an are centered on the support shaft located at the one end of the first hole and slidably guiding the guided part of the closing member; and a third hole extending from the second hole in such a way as to be separated from the first hole along the predetermined direction and engageable with the guided part of the closing member, and
the cancel member restricts, when in the retraction permitting position, movement of the ice breaker in the predetermined direction being caused by biasing force of the biasing member in such a way that the support shaft is located at the one end of the first hole, and moves from the retraction permitting position to the retraction cancel position, and allows movement of the ice breaker in the predetermined direction being caused by biasing force of the biasing member in such a way that the guided part of the closing member engages the third hole.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure as it may affect the patentability of applicant’s claimed invention is listed on the attached PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Thomas L. Neubauer whose telephone number is 571.272.4864. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM through 5:00 PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kristina R. Fulton can be reached on 571-272-7376. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/T. L. N./
Examiner, Art Unit 3675
/KRISTINA R FULTON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3675
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