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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 1/23/2026 has been received; Claims 4-10 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 4-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (U.S. 20030150135) in view of DiBenedetto et al. (U.S. 20070000154), Shand (CA 2911999) and further in view of Bidoia (U.S. Patent 4961544).
Regarding claim 4, Liu teaches a modular footwear apparatus (100) comprising: an upper portion (12, 46, 31) (fig. 1, para. 23) including a lace (at least one of 46) to adjust fit of the upper portion against a foot (para. 25), the lace adjustable between a first position (32 extending into 31, 46 wound on spool, paras. 25,29, fig. 5) and a second position (32 pulled out of 31, 46 loosened, para. 30, fig. 7) based at least in part on manipulation of an effective length of the lace (paras. 25,29,30, figs. 5,7); a sole structure (11) coupled to the upper portion (fig. 1); a battery (43, para. 25), positioned in the sole structure (para. 25); a motorized tensioning device, coupled to the battery, including: a lace spool (45) to engage the lace to enable manipulation of the effective length of the lace through rotation of the lace spool (para. 25); speed reduction gearing (44, fig. 3) operatively coupled to the lace spool (para. 25, fig. 3); and a motor (42) operatively coupled to the speed reduction gearing which includes one or more gears (one or more gears of 44), wherein the motor is configured to turn the speed reduction gearing to rotate the lace spool (para. 25); and a control unit (60), operatively coupled to the motorized tensioning device, configured to cause the motorized tensioning device to rotate the lace spool to adjust between the first position and the second position (para. 27);
But fails to teach the speed reduction gearing includes a worm drive operatively coupled to the lace spool, the motor operatively coupled to the worm drive, wherein the motor is configured to turn the worm drive to rotate the lace spool.
DiBenedetto teaches a system to modify performance characteristic of an article of footwear including a control system, a power source coupled to the control system, an adjustable element and a driver coupled to the adjustable element wherein the driver adjusts the adjustable element in response to a signal from the control system (para. 12) and wherein the driver may comprise a worm drive and a gear train (para. 13).
But fails to teach a worm drive operatively coupled to the lace spool.
Shand teaches a system to modify performance characteristic of an article of footwear including a worm drive operatively coupled to a lace spool (Figures 1-5)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have included a worm drive as part of the speed reduction gearing of Liu in view of DiBenedetto & Shand resulting in the worm drive being operatively coupled to the lace spool, the motor being operatively coupled to the worm drive, and the motor being configured to turn the worm drive to rotate the lace spool because it is known to one of ordinary skill in the mechanical arts that a worm drive offers the added benefits of quiet and smooth operation.
The Liu/ DiBenedetto/Shand combined reference teaches the one or more gears (one or more gears of 44) are operatively coupled to a crankshaft (see annotated fig.) which is coupled to the motor (42)(para. 29), and the one or more gears are operatively coupled to the worm drive (as modified per claim 1)(fig. 3).
The Liu/ DiBenedetto/Shand combined reference fails to teach the worm drive forms a self-locking mechanism.
Bidoia teaches footwear including a cable tensioner wherein a cable is wound around a drum to tighten the cable, the cable tensioner including a gear wheel (29) and worm (30) forming a self-locking mechanism to maintain the cable tension as desired (col. 3, lines 49-68, col. 4, lines 1-19, 40-48).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the worm drive of the Liu/ DiBenedetto combined reference to form a self-locking mechanism in view of Bidoia in order to maintain desired cable tension and prevent against undesired loosening of the cable.
The Liu/ DiBenedetto/Shand/Bidoia combined reference teaches the motorized tensioning device is configured to switch among a plurality of preset tension settings (Liu, tightened state vs loosening state, paras. 29,30), including a fully tightened, a fully loosened and a plurality of intermediate preset positions between fully loosened and fully tightened (Liu, Para. 29 & 30, dependent on the pressure applied on control switch various tightened and loosened position can take place), based on interaction with a user interface (Liu, 324, upper surface of 60).
Regarding claim 5, the Liu/ DiBenedetto/Shand/Bidoia combined reference teaches the motorized tensioning device is further configured to transition among a plurality of transitory states to incrementally increase or decrease the effective length of the lace (Liu, para. 29, plurality of transitory states as lace winds around spool providing incremental decrease in length of lace and/or para. 30, plurality of transitory states as lace unwinds from spool as 32 moves out of 31 providing incremental increase in length of the lace).
Regarding claim 6, the Liu/ DiBenedetto/Shand/Bidoia combined reference teaches a decrease of the effective length of the lace corresponds to a tightening of the lace (Liu, para. 29) and an increase of the effective length of the lace corresponds to a loosening of the lace (Liu, para. 30, fig. 7).
Regarding claim 7, the Liu/ DiBenedetto/Shand/Bidoia combined reference teaches wherein the plurality of preset tension settings include a preset tightened state (Liu, para. 29) and a preset loosened state (Liu, para. 30), wherein the preset tightened state corresponds to a state including a shortest effective lace length (Liu, para. 29) and the preset loosened state corresponds to a state including a longest effective lace length (Liu, para. 30).
Regarding claim 8, the Liu/ DiBenedetto/Shand/Bidoia combined reference teaches the user interface is configured to increase the tension on the lace based on touching the user interface in a first location (Liu, upper surface of 60, para. 29) and decrease the tension on the lace based on touching the user interface in a second location (Liu, 324, para. 30).
Regarding claim 9, the Liu/ DiBenedetto/Shand/Bidoia combined reference teaches the user interface (Liu, 324) is positioned between a first layer of the upper (Liu, top layer of 311, fig. 2) and a second layer of the upper (Liu, 314) and the user interface is configured to receive a touch by a user through the first layer (Liu, by way of opening 313) (figs. 2,5, para. 30).
Regarding claim 10, the Liu/ DiBenedetto/Shand/Bidoia combined reference teaches the user interface (Liu, upper surface of 60) operatively coupled to the battery (Liu, paras. 28, 29); but fails to specifically teach a wiring portion, wherein the wiring portion further operatively couples the user interface to the battery.
DiBenedetto further teaches the power source supplies power to the driver and control system via wires (162)(para. 113).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided the Liu/ DiBenedetto/Bidoia combined reference with a wiring portion operatively coupling the user interface to the battery in view of DiBenedetto in order to enable an electrical connection between the user interface and the battery.
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Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended claims have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection as discussed supra.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/KATHARINE G KANE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3732