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
Claim(s) 10 objected to because of the following informalities: claim(s) should be amended to recite “A recreational vehicle lock, comprising the single-bolt lock structure according to claim [[1]] 7”. Appropriate correction or clarification is required to avoid rejection under 35 USC § 112(b).
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bacon (US-11377885-B2).
With regards to claim 1, Bacon discloses a single-bolt lock structure (40 Figure 2), comprising a lock body (60, 62 Figure 2), wherein a bolt (54/102 Figure 5, Col. 7 Lines 16-22) and a locking spring (112 Figure 5) are arranged inside the lock body;
the bolt is movably connected to the lock body (as shown Figures 6-7);
two load-bearing ends of the locking spring are respectively abutted against the lock body and the bolt (as shown Figures 6-7), to drive the bolt to extend outwards by a length through a lock hole (104 Figure 7) provided in one side of the lock body and then be inserted into a door frame bolt slot (58 Figure 4), thus achieving a locking operation on a door (Col. 5 Lines 34-41);
the lock body is further rotatably connected with a door opening handle (82 Figure 2, Col. 4 Lines 59-65);
one end of the door opening handle (84 Figure 2) is in transmission connection to the bolt to drive the bolt to move a distance into the lock body and be separated from the door frame bolt slot (as shown Figures 6-7), thus achieving an opening operation on the door (Col. 5 Lines 52-67);
the lock body is further provided with a double-lock mechanism (186, 170, 168 Figure 5); and
the double-lock mechanism is movably connected to the lock body and performs a limiting and locking operation on the bolt, thus limiting the bolt from moving into the lock body and achieving a double-lock operation on the lock body (Col. 8 Lines 12-56).
With regards to claim 2, Bacon discloses the single-bolt lock structure according to claim 1, wherein one end (148 Figure 5) of the bolt (54/102 Figure 5) is set as a latch bolt end for extending out of the lock body (60, 62 Figure 2) and being inserted into the door frame bolt slot (58 Figure 4);
an end portion of another end of the bolt is set as a double-lock end (left end, Figure 5) for being abutted against the double-lock mechanism (186, 170, 168 Figure 5);
the double-lock mechanism is provided with a locking rod (168 Figure 5); and
the locking rod is separably abutted against the double-lock end to perform a releasable locking operation on the bolt (as shown Figures 11-12).
With regards to claim 3, Bacon discloses the single-bolt lock structure according to claim 2, wherein the double-lock mechanism (186, 170, 168 Figure 5) is provided with a double-lock base (170 Figure 5);
one end of the locking rod (top end of 168, Figure 5) is fixedly connected to the double-lock base, and another end of the locking rod (lower end of 168, Figure 5) forms a free end; and
the double-lock base is rotatably connected to the lock body (60, 62 Figure 2) and is rotated by an angle (as shown Figures 11-12) under driving of an unlocking device (186 Figure 5), so as to switch the locking rod between two states of being abutted against the bolt (Figure 12) and being separated from the bolt (Figure 11)(Col. 8 Lines 38-56).
With regards to claim 4, Bacon discloses the single-bolt lock structure according to claim 3, wherein a side wall of the free end of the locking rod (right wall of lower end of 168, Figure 5) is separably abutted (Figures 11-12) against the double-lock end of the bolt (left end of 54/102 Figure 5).
With regards to claim 5, Bacon discloses the single-bolt lock structure according to claim 3, wherein an end portion of the free end of the locking rod (right end portion of lower end of 168, Figure 5) is separably abutted (Figures 11-12) against the double-lock end of the bolt (left end of 54/102 Figure 5).
With regards to claim 6, Bacon discloses the single-bolt lock structure according to claim 1, wherein one end of the door opening handle (upper end of 82, Figure 6) forms a door handle for opening the door, and an unlocking lever (124 Figure 6) is arranged at another end of the door opening handle (lower end of 82, Figure 6); and
one end of the unlocking lever (upper end, Figure 6) is fixedly connected to the door opening handle, and another end of the unlocking lever (lower end, Figure 6) is in transmission connection to the bolt (54/102, Figure 6) and is able to drive the bolt to move a distance into the lock body (60, 62 Figure 2), so that the bolt is released from the door frame bolt slot (58 Figure 4) to achieve the opening operation on the door (Figures 6-7, Col. 5 Lines 52-67).
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.
Claim(s) 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bacon in view of Lu (US-20230053075-A1). All citations refer to the Bacon reference unless otherwise noted.
With regards to claim 7, Bacon discloses the single-bolt lock structure according to claim 3.
Bacon does not disclose wherein the unlocking device (186, 170, 168 Figure 5) is further provided with an electrical unlocking mechanism.
However, Lu discloses a similar lock structure (Figure 2) including an unlocking device comprising an electrical unlocking mechanism (29, 30, 31 Figure 2), and an electronic module (32, 33, 40, 41 Figure 2) for controlling the electrical unlocking mechanism, wherein the electrical unlocking mechanism is provided with an unlocking motor (29 Figure 2) and an unlocking gear set (30, 31 Figure 2); and
one end of the unlocking gear set (30 Figure 2) is in transmission connection to an output shaft of the unlocking motor (output shaft of the motor 29, Para. 0063), and another end of the unlocking gear set (31 Figure 2) is in transmission connection to the double-lock base (27 Figure 2) to drive the double-lock base to drive the locking rod (23 Figure 2)(Paras. 0063-0064). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to integrate Lu’s electrical unlocking mechanism components such that the another end of the unlocking gear set is in transmission connection to Bacon’s double-lock base (170 Figure 5) to drive the double-lock base to drive the locking rod (168 Figure 5) to be abutted against or separated from the bolt (54/102 Figure 5), with a reasonable expectation of success. One would have been motivated to add Lu’s electrical unlocking mechanism to allow for remote electronic of the double-lock mechanism as suggested by Bacon (Col. 11 Lines 45-56).
With regards to claim 8, Bacon in view of Lu teaches the single-bolt lock structure according to claim 7, wherein the unlocking gear set (30, 31 Figure 2 – Lu) is provided with a shaft sleeve gear (30 Figure 2 – Lu) and a runout gear (31 Figure 2 – Lu);
the shaft sleeve gear is in transmission connection to the output shaft of the unlocking motor (output shaft of the motor 29, Para. 0063 – Lu);
the runout gear is in transmission connection to the double-lock base (170 Figure 5); and
the shaft sleeve gear cooperates with the runout gear to form separable transmission connection (Figure 2, Paras. 0063-0064 – Lu).
With regards to claim 9, Bacon in view of Lu teaches the single-bolt lock structure according to claim 8, wherein active end surface teeth are arranged at one end of the shaft sleeve gear (30 Figure 2 – Lu) facing the runout gear (31 Figure 2 – Lu);
passive end surface teeth are arranged at one end of the runout gear facing the shaft sleeve gear; and
the active end surface teeth and the passive end surface teeth cooperate with each other to form a separable meshed connection (Figure 2, Paras. 0063-0064 – Lu).
With regards to claim 10, Bacon in view of Lu teaches a recreational vehicle lock (as shown Figure 1), comprising the single-bolt lock structure (40 Figure 2) according to claim 1 (interpreted as intended to depend from claim 7, see Claim Objections above), and further comprising an electronic module (32, 33, 40, 41 Figure 2 – Lu) for controlling the electrical unlocking mechanism (29, 30, 31, Figure 2 – Lu) to perform an unlocking or locking operation (Paras. 0063-0064 – Lu);
the electronic module is provided with a battery module (40, 41 Figure 7 – Lu), a control module (32 Figure 2 – Lu), and a password button (33 Figure 2 – Lu) that are electrically connected to each other (Paras. 0063-0064, 0067 – Lu);
the battery module is electrically connected to the unlocking motor (29 Figure 2 – Lu) of the electrical unlocking mechanism (Para. 0067 – Lu);
the control module is configured to set and control the recreational vehicle lock (Paras. 0063-0064 – Lu); and
the password button is configured to input a password (Paras. 0063-0064 – Lu).
Additional Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US-20150001859-A1: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-20080258867-A1: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-10378237-B2: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-8733139-B2: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-9085919-B2: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-11989987-B2: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-12692734-B2: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-9816299-B2: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-11692379-B2: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-9940767-B2: A related vehicle lock structure.
US-5927773-A: A related vehicle lock structure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Noah Horowitz, whose telephone number is (571)272-5532. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 11:00AM - 7:00 PM.
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/NOAH HOROWITZ/Examiner, Art Unit 3675
