DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claims 1-8 and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Moritz (US 8727278 B2). Moritz discloses:
1. A luggage compartment unit for an aircraft, comprising:
a luggage compartment housing (40+44+42+38) enclosing a storage space for hand luggage (22),
a door part (52),
a pivoting device(66) by means of which the door part can be pivoted between a closed position (70) closing a loading opening of the luggage compartment housing and an open position (68) releasing the loading opening of the luggage compartment housing,
wherein the door part comprises a recess (122) at an upper (54) corner region (upper corners in Fig. 8), such that an adjoining section (top lip of door 52, at 54) of the door part at a side of the recess is guided into (See location of 54 in Fig. 2) an interior (32) of the storage space during transfer from the closed position to the open position.
2. The luggage compartment unit according to claim 1, wherein the door part comprises a recess at each of the two upper corner regions (best shown in Fig. 8, there is a slot 122 in each upper corner).
3. The luggage compartment unit according to claim 1, wherein the recess extends over less than half a length (appears to be about one third in Fig. 8) of a side edge of the door part.
4. The luggage compartment unit according to claim 1, wherein the recess is essentially rectangular (long rectangle) in plan view.
5. The luggage compartment unit according to claim 1, wherein a covering part (58) is connected to the luggage compartment housing, and wherein the covering part substantially completely fills the recess (136; when 100 is flattened by interior luggage) in the closed position of the luggage compartment housing.
6. The luggage compartment unit according to claim 5, wherein an outer side of the door part in the closed position is arranged essentially in the same plane (always in the same plane since they are attached) as an outer side of the covering part.
7. The luggage compartment unit according to claim 1, wherein, in the closed position, a section of the side edge of the door part below the recess is essentially flush (See Fig. 1 where all the closed doors 70 are flush with bins) with the outside of a side panel of the luggage compartment housing.
8. The luggage compartment unit according to claim 1, wherein the pivoting device comprises a pivot arm (66) which is connected in each case to the door part (52) and a side panel (38) of the luggage compartment housing.
10. The luggage compartment unit with at least two luggage compartments (see two adjacent ones with open doors in Fig. 1), which are each designed according to claim 1.
11. An aircraft (10) with the luggage compartment unit according to claim 1.
12. The luggage compartment unit of claim 3, wherein the recess extends over less than one third (appears to be about one third in Fig. 8) of the length of the side edge of the door part.
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.
Claims 9, 13, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moritz as applied to Claim 1 above and further in view of Chadwell (US 10801244 B1). Moritz discloses the luggage compartment as described above and further discloses (re. claim 14) an overhead luggage compartment (“stowage bin which may be included with the overhead structure”; Col 2 Line 54). Moritz is silent on a force support device. Chadwell teaches a very similar luggage door (13) including:
9. The luggage compartment unit according to claim 1, wherein the pivoting device (14) comprises a force support device (24) to support the pivoting (24 is a “self-opening mechanism”) of the door part from the closed position into the open position.
13. The luggage compartment unit according to claim 9, wherein the force support device comprises a spring (35) and/or damper device.
At the time of filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the pivot of Moritz with the force support device of Chadwell. The motivation for doing so would have been to increase storage capacity by using a compact hinge as taught in Col 1 Line 39 of Chadwell.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/24/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On Page 5, applicant argues that elements (122 and 100) are not a portion of a door part. Since 100 is attached to a swinging door, it becomes a portion of a door part.
On Page 6, applicant argues that the top of door 52 (at 54) does not guided into the interior of the storage space during transfer from the closed position to the open position. Fig. 2 of Moritz clearly shows a portion of 52 at 54 entering the interior of the luggage compartment.
On Page 6, applicant makes a similar argument that elements 122 and 120 do not meet the limitations of Claim 1 because they are not related to the recess of claim 1. Similar to the earlier argument, since these elements are attached to a door, they become a portion of a door part.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Savian (US 8955805 B2) discloses an overhead bin which includes notches 41a and 41b in top corners of a door 28.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN M O'HARA whose telephone number is (571)270-5224. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9AM - 5PM eastern.
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/BRIAN M O'HARA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3642
