Appeal No. 2006-1546
Application No. 09/974,262
Based on Appellants’ specification and Otsuka’s disclosure,
we find that the Examiner properly construes breakage parts 16a
and 16b as “tear lines”, whereas Otsuka’s recess region 23 is
simply a depression used to aid in molding the tear lines.
(Otsuka, ¶¶ [0016], [0028], [0044]). Appellants indicate that
the prior art describes “tear lines” as brittle grooves that
provide an area on an airbag cover where breakage occurs when an
airbag is deployed. (Specification, page 1, lines 16-19).
Correspondingly, Otsuka refers to elements 16a and 16b as
“breakage parts.” (English Translation, ¶ [0005]). Moreover,
Otsuka describes that fracturing occurs along the “breakage
parts” when the airbag is deployed. (English Translation,
¶ [0005]). Otsuka also describes how the “breakage parts” 16a
and 16b combine to form “breakage part” 16, for the airbag
cover. (English Translation, ¶ [0005]). Moreover, breakage
parts 16a and 16b are the thinnest parts of the airbag cover.
(English Translation, ¶¶ [0042],[0046] and Figure 2; i.e.,
“breakage part” (16a) thickness “A” ranges from 0.6 to 1.2 mm
and “general thickness part” (24) thickness “C” may be 3.5 to
5.0 mm). Generally, fracturing occurs along the thinnest area
of a sheet of material, as this is the area with the highest
stress. Additionally, paragraphs [0016], [0028], [0044] of
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