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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP 2021-187797, filed on 11/18/2021.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
In paragraph 0023, lines 9-12, the sentence should be separated into two sentences. The first sentence should begin with "In the following description
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ishikawa et al (U.S. Patent No. 20200130069 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Ishikawa et al teaches a fulcrum opening/closing type air chuck (100) in which a pair of fingers (5) are each supported so as to be pivotable about a pivot support shaft (44) attached to a body (3) (Abstract; Fig. 3, elements 3, 5, 44),
And a drive unit (50) configured to drive the pair of fingers (5) to move away from each other and approach each other is disposed inside the body (3) (Abstract; paragraph 0008, lines 15-21; paragraph 0060, lines 1-5, 12-13),
The fulcrum opening/closing type air chuck (100) comprising a porous body attached to the body (3) and configured to come into contact with the fingers (5), wherein purge air passes through the porous body and is discharged to outside (Paragraph 0053, lines 1-5, 9-12).
Regarding claim 2, Ishikawa et al teaches the fingers (5) are formed of a pivoting portion (9) and a gripping portion (5a), the pivoting portion (9) including a first curved surface and a second curved surface (Paragraph 0058, lines 1-4; Fig. 3, elements 5, 5a, 9),
The body (100) includes a main body (3) and an end plate (6) (Paragraph 0056; Fig. 3, elements 3, 6), and
A first porous body (8) configured to come into contact with the first curved surfaces is attached to the end plate (6) and a second porous body (15) configured to come into contact with the second curved surfaces is attached to the main body (3) (Fig. 3, elements 3, 6, 8 ,15). Additional details are provided in the figure below.
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Regarding claim 5, Ishikawa et al teaches the drive unit (50) includes a drive rod (13) coupled to a piston (12) (Paragraph 0047, liens 1-2, 8-10; Fig. 2, elements 12, 13),
And the second porous body includes a hole portion through which the drive rod (13) is inserted (Paragraph 0047; Fig. 2, elements 13, 15).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 3 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishikawa et al in view of Furuta et al (US 20200340940 A1).
Ishikawa fails to teach a rectangular second porous body. Furuta et al teaches a second porous body (152) having a rectangular shape that includes, at both ends thereof, stepped portions configured to attach the second porous body (152) to the main body (140) by fitting (Fig. 4, elements 140, 152), and
The second curved surfaces (122) come into contact with corner portions of the stepped portions of the second porous body (152) (Fig. 4, elements 122, 152). Additional details are provided in the figure below.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the teaching of Furuta et al to facilitate the creation of a porous body that can connect to the main body as taught by Furuta et al.
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Ishikawa et al fails to teach a second porous body with a hole for purge air. Furuta et al teaches a second porous body (152) that includes a hole portion (141) serving as a passage of purge air (Fig. 4, elements 141, 152).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the teaching of Furuta et al to facilitate the creation of a second porous body that can discharge purge air as taught by Furuta et al.
Claim(s) 6 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishikawa et al in view of Lee (KR 20180085892 A).
Ishikawa et al fails to teach a third porous body. Lee teaches the pivoting portions include an end surface (22) perpendicular to an axis (D) of the pivot support shaft (Fig. 2, elements 22, D), and
A third porous body (34) configured to come into contact with the end surface (22) of each of the pivoting portions is attached to the main body (20).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the teaching of Lee to facilitate the creation of a third porous body that is perpendicular to the pivot shaft as taught by Lee.
Ishikawa fails to teach a third porous body with a hole. Lee teaches a third porous body (34) that includes a hole portion (35) through which the pivot shaft is inserted (Fig. 5, elements 34, 35).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the teaching of Lee to facilitate the creation of a third porous body that can support the pivot shaft as taught by Lee.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SYDNEY JEANINE SIMMONS whose telephone number is (571)272-7472. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 7:30am to 5:00pm.
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/SYDNEY JEANINE SIMMONS/Examiner, Art Unit 3651
/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651