Appeal No. 97-4455
Application 08/616,605
deployed. The airbag is made up of a plurality of panels of flexible material and is inflatable to a4
predetermined three-dimensional configuration. As manifested in independent claim 9, the panels
comprise an inner side panel having a neck portion and an enlarged wall portion projecting from the
neck portion, an outer wall panel having a neck portion and an enlarged wall portion projecting from
the neck portion that is “of greater cross-sectional dimensions than the enlarged wall portion of said
inner side panel,” and a center panel complementary to the peripheral edges of the inner and outer side5
panels and attaching the two together. The examiner finds in Kalberer an airbag having the same shape
as that of the claimed invention when in the inflated state but lacking the claimed panel construction.
However, it is the examiner’s position that it would have been obvious to construct the Kalberer airbag
of multiple panels meeting the terms of the claim 9, in view of the teachings of Japanese ‘859.
Like the appellant’s invention, the Kalberer airbags are shaped to provide more extensive
protection to one side for the occupant of the vehicle (see Figure 1). Kalberer is silent as to the
construction of the airbags. Therefore, this reference fails to teach that the airbag is comprised of two
opposed panels attached together by a third panel, much less that the cross-sectional dimensions of one
of the opposed panels are greater than the other.
Japanese ‘859 discloses airbags constructed of three panels. This reference does not,
4The “A” pillar is the roof support pillar located between the windshield and the adjacent door.
5We interpret this to mean simply that the enlarged wall portion of the outer panel is larger than
that of the inner panel.
4
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