Appeal No. 2005-2656
Application No. 09/805,586
above the seat belt X, the seat belt X is prevented from obstructing
deployment of the air bag [column 8, line 36, through column 9, line 27].
In applying Yamamoto against the appealed claims (see page 3 in the final
rejection), the examiner finds correspondence between the expansion restraining
elements recited in independent claims 1, 11 and 12 and the air bag seams 55 and 57
disclosed by Yamamoto. The examiner concedes, however, that Yamamoto’s seams,
considered together, do not respond to the limitations in these claims requiring the
expansion restraining elements to remain operative upon full inflation of the air bag
cushion without failing. In this regard, only one of Yamamoto’s seams (seam 55)
remains operative upon full inflation of the air bag cushion without failing. To overcome
this deficiency, the examiner turns to Okumura.
Okumura discloses a side impact air bag made from a one-piece cloth member 9
(see Figure 9) which is folded upon itself and stitched along its adjacent peripheral
edges. The air bag 11 includes an inner side wall 12, and outer side wall 13, an upper
side 14, an oblique side 15, a lower side 16, a rear side 17 and a cylindrical gas inlet 19.
The bag also includes a linear array of tensing joints 22 formed by stitching the inner
side wall 12 to the outer wall 13 at spaced locations on the bag. When the bag is
inflated, these joints establish a tension line which provides the bag with the restraining
characteristics necessary to protect a passenger’s head. Okumura teaches that the
8
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