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 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)(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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nozawa (U.S. 2020/0339179).
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Nozawa discloses a steering system for steer-by-wire that holds an operating member (110) movably between a first position that is a position of the operating member at which the operating member is able to be operated by a driver, and a second position that is further forward in a vehicle than the first position, the steering system comprising: a fixed member (169) that is attached to a vehicle body; a movable member (165) that supports the operating member (110) and that is attached to the fixed member (169) so as to be movable in a front-rear direction of the vehicle; a drive device (170) that moves the movable member (165) in the front-rear direction relative to the fixed member (169) and fixes the operating member (110) at the first position and the second position; and an impact absorbing mechanism (180) that is connected between the movable member (165) and the drive device (170) in a manner interposed therebetween, and that, in a case in which a first load is applied to the movable member (165) from forward toward rearward in the vehicle by primary collision of the vehicle, is deformed by the first load and also allows the movable member (165) to move rearward in the vehicle.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-17 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claims 10-16, the closest prior art as to Nozawa discloses every element of the invention as discussed above except that wherein in the impact absorbing mechanism, in a case in which a second load is applied to the movable member from rearward toward forward in the vehicle, the movable member is deformed by the second load and is also allowed to move forward in the vehicle.
Regarding claims 11-12, the closest prior art as to Nozawa discloses every element of the invention as discussed above except that the impact absorbing mechanism includes a deformable member of which a part is fixed to the movable member and another part is fixed to the drive device.
Regarding claims 13-17, the closest prior art as to Nozawa discloses every element of the invention as discussed above except that wherein: the impact absorbing mechanism includes a first member that is fixed to the movable member, and a second member that is fixed to the drive device; and the first member and the second member move relative to each other in the front- rear direction to absorb impact.
Conclusion
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/TOAN C TO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3614 August 8, 2026
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