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 § 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) 1-3, 7-11, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2010/075293 to Jorgensen in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0066716 to Rao.
Claims 1 and 7-9, Jorgensen discloses a reversible mattress topper 102 comprising a core having a first foam layer 110 directly on a second foam layer 112 having an uppermost surface and a lowermost surface (fig. 1), and a cover 114 encasing the core comprised of different materials having different thermal properties on opposite sides wherein layers of different material, and first and second cover portions 126, 130 are capable of being located adjacent any material desired. The layer comprising a material that is relatively cool to the touch or initial contact (and that in some embodiments has thermally conductive properties or is at least more thermally conductive than the other cover portion) is located adjacent a layer of reticulated visco-elastic or an open cell foam defined by apertured windows surrounded by cell struts (fig. 1B) to enhance the cooling effect of that side of the mattress topper 102 [0018];[0025]-[0027];[0029]-[0031];[0039]. The filler material uppermost surface comprises cooling chemistry defined by phase change materials or thermally conductive materials thereon effective to contribute to the cooling effect at the uppermost surface, the phase change materials being exclusively on the uppermost surface defined by a second cover portion130 and absent from remaining portions of the reversible mattress topper [0038]. Jorgensen is silent to a plurality of heating elements. Rao discloses a plurality of heating elements [0063]-[0064]. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the heating elements of Rao with the support of Jorgensen with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have allowed the user to change the temperature of the support.
Claim 2, Jorgensen discloses the reversible mattress topper, further comprising:
a first surface defined by a first panel, wherein the first surface is configured to provide the cooling effect to an end user in contact therewith; and a second surface defined by a second panel opposing and underlying the first surface that does not provide the cooling effect [0018][0027][0028].
Claim 3, Jorgensen discloses the reversible mattress topper, but is silent to indicia on the first and second surface, wherein the indicia is indicative of cooling provided by the first surface and warmth provided by the second surface. Embossing indicia on surfaces is considered an obvious modification and it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to emboss indicia upon the first and second surfaces of Jorgensen with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have provided a readily apparent means to distinguish between the first and second surfaces thereby indicating which side is cooing or warming.
Claim 10, Jorgensen discloses the reversible mattress topper, but is silent to the phase change material having a melting point in a range of about 22° C to about 40° C. Selecting a range of melting point temperatures for the phase change material is considered an obvious modification and it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to select the range as stated above for the support of Jorgensen with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have provided an equivalent and alternative range of temperatures for the phase change materials.
Claim 11, Jorgensen discloses the reversible mattress topper wherein the first panel comprises a fabric comprising fibers defined within materials such cotton, flannel, fleece, or wool, and fibers defined by materials that are cool to the touch such as satin, silk that determine the degree of warming and cooling and phase change material coupled to the fibers [0031][0038].
Claim 13, Jorgensen discloses the reversible mattress topper wherein the one layer is capable of having a thickness that is less than that of a second layer [0019].
Claim(s) 4-6 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2010/075293 to Jorgensen in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0066716 to Rao, and further in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2017/0208958 to Alletto.
Claims 4-5 and 14, Jorgensen discloses the reversible mattress topper, but is silent to a gusset and zipper. Alletto discloses a topper having a gusset 44 and zipper 58 a gusset material 44 extending between first and second panels that includes a zipper 58 extending about a portion of the perimeter of a mattress topper. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the gusset and zipper of Alletto with the support of Jorgensen with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have allowed the user to access the cavity of the mattress topper of Jorgensen.
Claim 6, Jorgensen, as modified, discloses the reversible mattress topper wherein Alletto further comprises an elastic anchoring band 56 extending about each corner of the reversible mattress topper, wherein each elastic anchoring band corresponds to a respective corner of an underlying mattress assembly for securement of the reversible mattress topper to the underlying mattress when in use (fig. 6).
Claim 15, Jorgensen discloses the reversible mattress topper configured to overlay a mattress assembly, with any desired thickness such as a thickness within the range of 0.25 inches to 3 inches defined by a thickness no less than 3cm equal to 1.18 inches [0019].
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2010/075293 to Jorgensen in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0066716 to Rao., and further in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0120967 to Murphy et al.
Claim 12, Jorgensen discloses the reversible mattress topper, but is silent to the second panel and/or the portion of the filler material proximate the lowermost surface comprising embedded warming additives thereon. Murphy discloses embedded additives defined by warming materials that reflect heat back to the human body [0155][0158]. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the warming materials of Murphy for the support of Jorgensen with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have provided a sensation of heating and heat to the user.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. 2020/0187670 to DeFranks et al. discloses a resistive heating element
U.S. Pub. No. 9,962,008 to Omiste discloses a mattress and topper having a zipper and gusset.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FREDRICK C CONLEY whose telephone number is (571)272-7040. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm.
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/FREDRICK C CONLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3679
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