DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. This Non-Final office action is in response to application 18/016,535, application filed on 01/17/2023, and Preliminary Amendment filed on 01/17/2023. Claims 1-14 and 16-17 are currently pending in this application.
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/17/2023 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
6. Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kruer (US PG Pub No. 2002/0125247) in view of Gretz (US Patent No. 7,582,827).
7. With respect to claim 1, Kruer teaches:
A docking unit for mounting in a block wall (see docking unit 10 shown in Fig 1, which is a “brick box” designed to be mounted in a brick/block wall, invention applicable to stone, block, brick, and other masonry applications, para 40; box mounted within brick or mortar walls, para 1, 37, 39), comprising:
a docking unit hollow body (see recessed cavity, para 38) for incorporation into a block wall (see hollow body box 16 shown in block wall as illustrated in Fig 2, para 25; 35),
the docking unit hollow body having a substantially rectangular profile with first opposed walls, second opposed walls, an open face, and a closed face (see box 16 being of rectangular profile having opposed walls on both sides and a closed face on the backside, Fig 2, para 25-26),
the closed face of the docking unit hollow body is closed by a back plate having an opening to allow an electric supply cable to be fed into the docking unit hollow body (see closed end of box 12 as shown in Fig 4, which has openings 42 to allow for electrical cable connections to pass through, see Fig 4), and
an electrical connector positioned within the docking unit hollow body and having connectors for connection to the electric supply cable, and contacts for connection to a charging unit (see electrical outlet connector 52 mounted/installed in box 18, as shown in Fig 3, see electrical wire 50 connecting to electrical load, Fig 6, para 25-26).
Kruer appears to be silent regarding:
wherein: the outer surfaces of the first opposed walls each have a plurality of upstanding ridges, each ridge extending in a face to face, or side to side direction,
the backplate defines a flange extending around the outside of the docking unit hollow body beyond the first and second opposed walls,
wherein the flange stands further from the first and second opposed walls than the upstanding ridges.
However, Gretz teaches:
wherein: the outer surfaces of the first opposed walls each have a plurality of upstanding ridges, each ridge extending in a face to face, or side to side direction (see member tabs 30 acting as ridges which extend out on every face of the box 26, as shown in Fig 1, as described in Col 4, lines 25-55),
the backplate defines a flange extending around the outside of the docking unit hollow body beyond the first and second opposed walls (see base leg 72/74/76 acting as a flange which extends out from the back/back-plate of the electrical box as shown in Fig 12),
wherein the flange stands further from the first and second opposed walls than the upstanding ridges (see flange extending further than tabs/ridges, as shown in Fig 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the invention to have incorporated Gretz’ ridges on the opposed walls and back plate onto the hollow cavity mounting box of Kruer for at least the following reason(s): the peripheral tabs/ridges and flanges of Gretz enable an improved assembly of a wiring cavity/hollow box for an electrical connection into a stone, brick, or masonry as taught by Gretz.
8. With respect to claim 2, while Kruer is silent regarding the limitations of claim 2 below, Gretz teaches:
A docking unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outer surfaces of the second opposed walls also have a plurality of upstanding ridges extending in a face-to-face direction (see upstanding ridges/tabs 30 on all sides/walls of box 26, as shown in Fig 1).
(For motivation to combine references, see rejection of claim 1 above).
9. With respect to claim 3, Kruer teaches:
A docking unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the docking unit hollow body has dimensions corresponding to that of blocks in the block wall (see Figure 2, showing brick-box having electrical wiring connection which is made to look like a brick among other bricks in/on a brick wall, Fig 2, para 5, 9, claim 12).
10. With respect to claim 4, Kruer teaches:
A docking unit as claimed claim 1, wherein the hollow body further comprises anchor points to which a cover unit or charging unit can be secured (see anchor/screw points for installing a cover, as shown in Fig 5).
11. With respect to claim 5, Kruer teaches:
A docking unit as claimed in claim 4, wherein the anchor points comprise screw anchors located in the corners of the docking unit hollow body (see Fig 1 showing multiple screw/anchors points as illustrated in the Figure).
12. With respect to claim 6, Kruer teaches:
A docking unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electrical connector opening in the back plate is offset to one side of the back plate and the electrical connector is offset to the other side of the back plate (see wire entry holes 42 which are each on the side and off to a side of the backplate 18, as shown in Fig 4).
13. With respect to claim 7, Kruer teaches:
A docking unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contacts of the electrical connector for connection to a charging unit face the open front face of the docking unit hollow body (see electrical connection is on the top surface of the box, Fig 3).
Reasons For Allowance
14. Claims 8-14 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
15. With respect to claim 8 (and claims 9-10 which depend therefrom), the prior art made of record fails to teach the combination of steps recited in claim 8, including the following particular combination of steps as recited in claim 8, as follows:
A cover unit for use with a docking unit as claimed in claim 1, comprising:
a cover unit hollow body for insertion into the docking unit hollow body through the open face,
the cover unit hollow body having a substantially rectangular profile with first opposed walls, second opposed walls, an open face, and a closed face, wherein:
the outer surfaces of the first and second opposed walls have aligned upstanding ridges extending in a direction from the closed face towards the open face, and a front plate defines the closed face and provides a flange extending around the cover unit hollow body beyond the first and second opposed walls of the cover unit hollow body, wherein the flange extends further from the first and second opposed walls than the upstanding ridges; wherein, when the cover unit hollow body is inserted into the docking unit hollow body: the aligned ridges on the walls of the cover unit hollow body engage inner surfaces of the docking unit hollow body first and second opposed walls; and the docking unit electrical connector extends into the cover unit hollow body through the open face.
16. With respect to claim 11 (and claims 11-14 which depend therefrom), the prior art made of record fails to teach the combination of steps recited in claim 11, including the following particular combination of steps as recited in claim 11, as follows:
A charging unit for use with a docking unit as claimed in claim 1, comprising: a charging unit hollow body for insertion into the docking unit hollow body through the open face, the charging unit hollow body having first opposed walls, second opposed walls, an open face, and a closed face including an opening into the charging unit hollow body, wherein: the outer surfaces of the first and second opposed walls each have a plurality of aligned upstanding ridges extending from the closed face towards the open face, and the closed face is closed by a front plate that includes a charger housing extending beyond the first and second opposed walls of the cover unit hollow body; and a charger module is located in the charger housing and extends through the opening in the front plate into the charging unit hollow body, the charging module including contacts for connecting to the docking unit electrical connector, and a cable connector for connecting a charging cable; wherein, when the charging unit hollow body is inserted into the docking unit hollow body: the aligned ridges engage inner surfaces of the docking unit hollow body first and second opposed walls; the docking unit electrical connector extends into the cover unit hollow body through the open face; and the charger module contacts engage the contacts on the docking unit electrical connector.
17. With respect to claim 16 (and claim 17 which depends therefrom), the prior art made of record fails to teach the combination of steps recited in claim 16, including the following particular combination of steps as recited in claim 16, as follows:
wherein: the outer surfaces of the first and second opposed cover unit walls have aligned upstanding cover unit ridges extending in a direction from the closed cover unit face towards the open cover unit face, and a cover unit front plate defines the closed cover unit face and provides a cover unit flange extending around the cover unit hollow body beyond the first and second opposed cover unit walls of the cover unit hollow body, wherein the cover unit flange extends further from the first and second opposed cover unit walls than the upstanding cover unit ridges; wherein, when the cover unit hollow body is inserted into the docking unit hollow body: the aligned cover unit ridges on the cover unit walls of the cover unit hollow body engage inner surfaces of the docking unit hollow body first and second opposed docking unit walls; the docking unit electrical connector extends into the cover unit hollow body through the cover unit open face; and (c) a charging unit hollow body for insertion into the docking unit hollow body through the open docking unit face, the charging unit hollow body having first opposed charging unit walls, second opposed charging unit walls, an open charging unit face, and a closed charging unit face including a charging unit opening into the charging unit hollow body, wherein: the outer surfaces of the first and second opposed charging unit walls each have a plurality of aligned upstanding charging unit ridges extending from the closed charging unit face towards the open charging unit face, and the closed charging unit face is closed by a front charging unit plate that includes a charger housing extending beyond the first and second opposed cover unit walls of the cover unit hollow body; and a charger module is located in the charger housing and extends through the charging unit opening in the front charging unit plate into the charging unit hollow body, the charging module including contacts for connecting to the docking unit electrical connector, and a cable connector for connecting a charging cable; wherein, when the charging unit hollow body is inserted into the docking unit hollow body: the aligned charging unit ridges engage inner surfaces of the docking unit hollow body first and second opposed docking unit walls; the docking unit electrical connector extends into the cover unit hollow body through the open cover unit face; and the charger module contacts engage the contacts on the docking unit electrical connector.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUCHIN PARIHAR whose telephone number is (703)756-1970. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8am-5pm.
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/SUCHIN PARIHAR/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851