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 .
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to the amendment filed 01/02/26. Claim(s) 1, 7, 9-10, and 15 have been amended, no new claims have been added, and claims 4-5 and 12-13 have been cancelled. Thus, claims 1-3, 6-11, and 14-18 are presently pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-3, 6-11, and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the user" in line 9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the user" in line 9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
All remaining claims are rejected based on their dependency of a rejected base claim.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6-11, and 14-18 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marton (9968513) in view of Solana (2022/0015984) and Owusu (2020/0375841).
With respect to claim 1, Marton discloses a vibrator device (120, fig 5) for a massage assembly (see col. 3, lines 45-49), comprising a housing (150, fig 5); at least one motor (330, fig 8) disposed in the housing (see fig 9) and a shaft (340, fig 10) extending from the motor (see figs 10 and 12 and col. 5, lines 44-47) comprising one or more weights (eccentric mass; 350, fig 12) disposed within the housing (see location in fig 10), the motor is mechanically coupled to the massage assembly (see col. 4, lines 8-17), the motor is configured to induce vibratory amplitude to vibrate the massage assembly (see col. 6, lines 58-67), and a power source (320, fig 8) positioned within the housing, the power source is electrically connected to power the motor (see col. 1, lines 54-60); the power source comprises a battery assembly (battery cells 320, fig 8 and see col. 5, lines 7-20), but lacks the battery assembly having a lithium polymer battery.
However, Solana teaches a vibrating massage roller (10, fig 1) with a battery assembly (83, fig 14) having a lithium polymer battery (see [0030]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have replaced the battery assembly of Marton with a lithium polymer battery as taught by Solana so as to replace one known battery type with another known battery to provide a rechargeable power source.
Further, the modified Marton shows a recharging port (404, fig 8) to charge the battery assembly (see col. 7, lines 11-19), but lacks the port being a USB port.
However, Owusu teaches a vibrating massage roller (100, fig 1) with USB charging port (28, fig 2B) to recharge a battery (see [0050]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the charging port of Marton to be a USB port as taught by Owusu so as to provide a known charging port to allow for providing electrical power from an external electrical source.
With respect to claims 2 and 10, the modified Marton shows a switch (power switch; 408, fig 5 of Marton) configured to enable a user to turn on and turn off the vibrator device (see col. 7, lines 19-24 of Marton).
With respect to claims 3 and 11, the modified Marton shows the housing comprises at least two sections (156/158, fig 5 of Marton), the two sections are joined together via one or more fasteners (176, fig 5; see col. 4, lines 32-33 and 40-41 of Marton).
With respect to claim 6, the modified Marton shows the massage assembly includes a foam roller (110, fig 1; see col. 3, lines 50-54 of Marton).
With respect to claims 7 and 15, the modified Marton shows the motor is configured to operate at different speeds with respective to different frequencies (see col. 8, lines 11-21 of Marton).
With respect to claims 8 and 16, the modified Marton shows a level indicator (410 and 438, fig configured to display a power level of the battery (see col. 7, lines 25-28 of Marton) and a speed of the vibrator device (see col. 7, lines 40-42 and 51-54 of Marton).
With respect to claim 9, Marton discloses a massage assembly (100, fig 1), comprising a body (110, fig 3) having a cavity (bore; 140, fig 3) and an opening (see opening of 140 in fig 3 and bore has opening to insert 120; col. 4, lines 8-11) to access the cavity, and a vibrator device (120, fig 1) received within the cavity and mechanically coupled to the massage assembly (see col. 4, lines 8-17), the device comprises a housing (150, fig 5) having at least one motor (330, fig 8), a shaft (340, fig 10) having one or more weights (eccentric mass; 350, fig 12) extends from the motor (see figs 10 and 12 and col. 5, lines 44-47), and a power source (320, fig 8) electrically connected to the motor to supply power to the motor (see col. 1, lines 54-60), the motor is configured to induce vibratory amplitude to vibrate the massage assembly (see col. 6, lines 58-67) ); the power source comprises a battery assembly (battery cells 320, fig 8 and see col. 5, lines 7-20), but lacks the battery assembly having a lithium polymer battery.
However, Solana teaches a vibrating massage roller (10, fig 1) with a battery assembly (83, fig 14) having a lithium polymer battery (see [0030]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have replaced the battery assembly of Marton with a lithium polymer battery as taught by Solana so as to replace one known battery type with another known battery to provide a rechargeable power source.
Further, the modified Marton shows a recharging port (404, fig 8) to charge the battery assembly (see col. 7, lines 11-19), but lacks the port being a USB port.
However, Owusu teaches a vibrating massage roller (100, fig 1) with USB charging port (28, fig 2B) to recharge a battery (see [0050]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the charging port of Marton to be a USB port as taught by Owusu so as to provide a known charging port to allow for providing electrical power from an external electrical source.
With respect to claim 14, the modified Marton shows the massage assembly is a foam roller (the body 110, fig 1 is a foam roller; see col. 3, lines 50-54 of Marton).
With respect to claim 17, the modified Marton shows the body is made of foam material (see col. 3, lines 50-54 of Marton).
With respect to claim 18, the modified Marton shows a sleeve (142, fig 3 of Marton) fixed within the cavity (see fig 3 of Marton), the sleeve is shaped to contour the shape of the cavity and receives the vibrating device therein (see col. 4, lines 8-25 of Marton).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/02/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues on pg..
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KELSEY E BALLER whose telephone number is (571)272-8153. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 AM - 4 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy Stanis can be reached at 571-272-5139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KELSEY E BALLER/ Examiner, Art Unit 3785
/TU A VO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3785