DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Raniere (USPUB 2016/0347450)
As to Claim 1, Raniere discloses a charging connection device for a drone, comprising: a core provided in a drone (Figure 6A, Element 230); a current carrying member disposed on an outer periphery of the core and formed of an electrically conductive material (Element 257); and a tension unit disposed between the core and the current carrying member to absorb shock or impact transferred from the current carrying member (Element 255A).
As to Claim 5, Raniere discloses the device according to claim 1, wherein the current carrying member is provided in plurality, which are sequentially disposed on a single core (Figure 6A).
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.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Raniere in view of Akens et al. (USPUB 20190077505).
As to Claim 2, Raniere discloses the device according to claim 1, but does not expressly disclose wherein the tension unit is provided in plurality and arranged in a circular form around the outer periphery of the core. Akens discloses the tension unit is provided in plurality and arranged in a circular form around the outer periphery of the core (Figure 3). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of this invention to take the teachings of Akens and use circular landing gear in the device of Raniere, in order to allow the device to roll into positions.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3-4 and 6 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT J GRANT whose telephone number is (571)270-5820. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9am - 5:30pm.
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/ROBERT GRANT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859