Appeal No. 96-1256
Application 08/257,080
regarding airbag placement in a seat
mounted armrest.
The examiner also, on pages 3 and 4 of the answer, refers to
claim 2 of Sinnhuber as further disclosure of an airbag in a
seat armrest.
After fully considering the record in light of the
arguments presented by appellant and the examiner, we conclude
that claim 42 is unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Appellant argues that it would not have been obvious,
from the applied references, to locate an airbag in an
armrest. With regard to Sinnhuber, appellant states on page 5
of the brief:
The Sinnhuber patent discloses side
airbags and at column 4, line 29, states:
"the airbag may be accommodated in an
armrest of the seat in the unactivated
state." Sinnhuber neither illustrates the
armrest nor in any way suggests that it may
be moveable between a withdrawn and a
working position, as called for by the
claim at issue. For that matter, it is not
even clear from Sinnhuber that the armrest
is carried by the seat. The words "of the
seat" in Sinnhuber could equally well mean
that the armrest of the seat is located in
the door adjacent the seat, as is
conventional in the motor vehicle art.
Sinnhuber actually seems to be suggesting
this, since column 4, lines 24-29 only
references the door mounted airbag 15. If
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