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 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) 1-4, 7, 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Gibby (WO2024/044450) .
Regarding claim 1, Gibby teaches A piston that reciprocates within a cylinder, the piston comprising:
a piston head having a combustion chamber formed on a top surface; (50 figure 2)
a cooling portion formed in an annular cavity inside the piston head and through which lubricating oil flows; (62 figure 3 cooling gallery paragraph 19-20)
a discharge port (66) that communicates with the cooling portion and discharges lubricating oil from the cooling portion to a lower side of the piston head; and (66 figure 2 passage paragraph 20)
a skirt portion (70 figure 2) extending downward from a lower end portion of an outer periphery of the piston head, wherein the skirt portion includes a flow path portion (70, 74 figure path) that is formed in an inner peripheral surface (70, 74 figure 2 surface) opposite to an outer peripheral surface (52 figure 1 body) facing the cylinder, and through which lubricating oil discharged from the discharge port (66) flows along the inner peripheral surface. (70, 74 figure 2).
Regarding claim 2, Gibby teaches wherein the flow path portion (70, 74 figure 2 paragraph 20) is formed in the inner peripheral surface up to a lower end of the skirt portion (70 figure 2 skirt).
Regarding claim 3, Gibby teaches wherein the flow path portion is a groove portion (70, 74) in which the inner peripheral surface of the skirt portion is recessed along an axial direction of the piston. (axis 54 figure 1 and 2)
Regarding claim 4, Gibby teaches wherein a distance between a bottom surface (70-74 figure 2) of the groove portion and the outer peripheral surface (52 figure 1 body) of the skirt portion decreases toward a lower end of the skirt portion.
Regarding claim 7, Gibby teaches wherein the flow path (70 74 figure 2) portion is formed in the inner peripheral surface to extend from an upper end to a lower end of the skirt portion. (
Regarding claim 9, Gibby teaches wherein the flow path portion (70 74 figure 2) is connected to a discharge path having the discharge port formed at a distal end. (62 figure 4 out to 66 figure 2 is the discharge port)
Regarding claim 10, see the rejection to claim 1 as the limitations are substantially similar.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gibby (WO2024/044450) .
Regarding claim 5, Gibby teaches wherein a width of the groove portion (70, 74 figure 2) in a direction perpendicular to a vertical direction and a diameter of the discharge port (66 figure 3).
Gibby does not explicitly teach wherein a width of the groove portion in a direction perpendicular to a vertical direction is larger than a diameter of the discharge port. However Gibby does theca the ports to allow cooling (paragraph 19).
Therefore It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Gibby to teach wherein a width of the groove portion in a direction perpendicular to a vertical direction is larger than a diameter of the discharge port as since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 8 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.
Conclusion
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/GEORGE C JIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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