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 . The instant application with Application Number 18/157,131 filed on 01/20/2023 is presented for examination. Claims 1-20 are pending.
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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation " at least one of the charging connection or the second connection " on lines 12 and 13. Typically “…one of...” is followed by a plural noun or a list joined by “and”. Using “or” can create ambiguity because it suggests a choice rather than a set. Claim 5 has similar issues as described above. Claim 1 also recites the limitation “…the second connection is configured to allow movement of the second connection relative to the charging connection…” It’s not also clear as to how one connection “…the second connection…” configured to allow movement of the same connection “…second connection…” Correction or explanation is required to address or resolve this ambiguity. As best understood, the following rejections have been considered.
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 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 present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under
the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Navid (US 2012/0217929) in view of Iwao et al. (US 2016/0361640).
With respect to claims 1, 5 and 20, Navid discloses a video game controller charging base assembly (Figs. 15-17, 402 and 420/524; Para. #0092-0095 ) comprising: an electrical connector configured to connect to a power source (Fig. 16, 544); a charging stand that includes a charging connection in communication with the electrical connector to receive electrical power therefrom (Fig. 16/17, charging base 524 and electrical connectors 520; para.# 0095-0096); and a controller with a first connection configured
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to electrically attach to a video game controller (Fig. 17, video dongle connectors 542/522) and a second connection configured to electrically connect to the charging connection (Fig. 16/17 charging power input connection 544).
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Navid, does not expressly disclose, one of the charging connection or the second connection is configured to allow movement between at least two different axis while maintaining between the charging connection and the second connection of the controller dongle.
Iwao et al. (Hereinafter, Iwao) disclose, one of the charging connection or the second connection is configured to allow movement between at least two different axis (along the X-axis and along the Y-axis) while maintaining between the charging connection and the second connection of the controller (see Para. # 127, 694-695, 703: connection extending in the horizontal direction (i.e., the x-axis direction) as in reproduced figure 54 below or extending up-down direction (i.e., the y-direction), and the connection is for multiple controllers-video controllers’ usage either at the same time (702) or different time can be connected or attached (827)).
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NAVID and Iwao are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor namely video game controller charging system and charging device and controller system.
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have added a multiple video game controller having different connections or/and orientations to the video controller of Navid in view of Iwao for the benefit of having multiple connections that help connect more than one video controller for charging or playing different time or simultaneously that would eventually save power.
With respect to claim 2, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses wherein the charging connection includes a vertically elongated contact and the second connection includes a protruding single point contact that corresponds to the vertically elongated contact such that, when the controller dongle is connected to the video game controller, the video game controller is movable vertically while maintaining the electrical connection (Para. # 703-704: the left controller 3 engages with the stop-receiving portion of the left rail member 356; that is, the stop member 319 resists the slide movement of the slider 311).
With respect to claim 3, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses wherein the vertically elongated contact is in a plurality of vertically elongated contacts in the charging connection, wherein the protruding single point contact is in a plurality of protruding single point contacts (Para. # 732: the power supply control section 366 supplies power from the power terminal 360 to the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 via the left-side terminals 367 and the right-side terminals 368, thereby charging the left video controller 3 and the right video controller 4).
With respect to claim 4, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses, wherein the plurality of vertically elongated contacts each have a corresponding protruding single point contact in the plurality of protruding single point contacts (Para. # 823: the second terminal 42 or 64 of the controller are electrically connected to each other).
With respect to claims 6 and 7, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses wherein the charging connection includes a spring-loaded connection and the second connection includes a magnetic portion corresponding to the spring-loaded connection such that the spring-loaded connection is movable horizontally to engage the second connection; and also movable along a spectrum between an initial retracted position and a second extended position (Para. # 0259/417: the leaf spring 305 is an example of an elastic member for applying a force in a direction away from the main unit 2 (the x-axis positive direction).
With respect to claim 8, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses, wherein the second connection is a spring-loaded pin configured to removably retract into a body of the controller dongle (Para. # 568: a predetermined pin included in the terminal of the main unit 2 and/or video controller).
With respect to claim 9, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Navid further discloses, further comprising a base body including a charging cradle shaped to receive a portion of the video game controller when the controller dongle is electrically attached to the video game controller and electrically connected to the charging connection (Para. # 85-87).
With respect to claim 10, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Navid further discloses, further comprising a base body that includes a charging tower that includes the charging stand on a first portion of the charging tower (Para. # 102), wherein the charging tower further includes a charging station on a second portion of the charging tower, wherein the charging station is configured to electrically connect a second video game controller to the electrical connector (Para. # 104: The LED assemblies 550, 552 correspond with the first and second docking bays 512, 514, respectively, so as to indicate the charging).
Claims 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Navid (US 2012/0217929) in view of Iwao et al. (US 2016/0361640).
With respect to claims 11 and 18, Navid discloses a video game controller charging base assembly (Fig. 16, 524) comprising: an electrical connector configured to connect to a power source (Fig. 16, 544); a charging base body in communication with the electrical connector to receive electrical power therefrom (Fig. 16, 510/520electrical contacts to charging), wherein the charging base body further includes a charging cradle shaped to receive and removably retain a first video game controller (Fig. 16, 510/524 cradle to receive video controller 526; Para. # 0095: The docking bays 512, 514 are each dimensioned to accept a hand-held controller 526); wherein the charging base body further includes a charging tower adjacent the charging cradle (Reproduced fig. 17 charging tower 532 in a cradle 520 above),
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a charging stand on a first portion of the charging tower, wherein the charging stand includes a charging connection in communication with the electrical connector (Fig. 17, 516/520).
Navid, does not expressly disclose, one of the charging connection or the second connection is configured to allow movement between at least two different axis while maintaining between the charging connection and the second connection of the controller dongle.
Iwao et al. (Hereinafter, Iwao) disclose, one of the charging connection or the second connection is configured to allow movement between at least two different axis (along the X-axis and along the Y-axis) while maintaining between the charging connection and the second connection of the controller (see Para. # 127, 694-695, 703: connection extending in the horizontal direction (i.e., the x-axis direction) as in reproduced figure 54 below or extending up-down direction (i.e., the y-direction), and the connection is for multiple controllers-video controllers’ usage either at the same time (702) or different time can be connected or attached (827)).
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NAVID and Iwao are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor namely video game controller charging system and charging device and controller system.
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have added a multiple video game controller having different connections or/and orientations to the video controller of Navid in view of Iwao for the benefit of having multiple connections that help connect more than one video controller for charging or playing different time or simultaneously that would eventually save power.
With respect to claim 12, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses, wherein the charging connection includes vertically elongated contacts shaped to permit vertical movement of the controller dongle while maintaining the electrical connection (Para. # 127: the video controller body/shape has a longitudinal direction of the primary surface of the housing 11 (i.e., the x-axis direction shown in FIG. 1) is denoted as the horizontal direction (also referred to as the left-right direction), the width direction of the primary surface (i.e., the y-axis direction shown in FIG. 1) is denoted as the vertical direction (also referred to as the up-down direction).
With respect to claim 13, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses, wherein the charging stand is spring- loaded in the charging tower and configured to move horizontally relative to the charging tower along a spectrum between an initial retracted position and a second extended position to engage the controller dongle (see Para. # 694-695, 703: connection extending in the horizontal direction (i.e., the x-axis direction) as in reproduced figure 54 below or extending up-down direction (i.e., the y-direction), and the connection is for multiple controllers-video controllers’ usage).
With respect to claim 14, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses, further including a second charging station on a third portion of the charging tower, wherein the second charging station is configured to electrically connect a third video game controller to the electrical connector (Para. # 507: have multiple video controller; the main unit 2 can also communicate with a plurality of right video controller).
With respect to claim 15, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Navid further discloses, wherein the electrical connector includes a universal serial bus (USB) connector (Para. # 107: the charging station 510 may be provided with DC power via a mini-USB port).
With respect to claim 16, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses, wherein the charging base body further includes a roughened surface configured to limit movement of the charging base body (Para. # 707: the facing portion of the right rail member 357, it is possible to limit the slide movement of the slider 331 of the right controller 4).
With respect to claim 17, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses, wherein the charging base body further includes an indentation formed to removably receive and retain a portion of the controller dongle (See Para. # 693; reproduced figure 54, 351/355 above; the main section 351 can be said to be a holding portion. The main section 351 includes a connection portion 355).
With respect to claim 19, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses, wherein the second connection includes a single point contact configured to electrically connect to a corresponding vertically elongated contact in the charging connect such that the second connection is movable vertically while maintaining the electrical connection (Para. # 732: the power terminal 360 to the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 via the left-side terminals 367 and the right-side terminals 368, thereby charging the left video controller 3 and the right video controller 4).
With respect to claim 20, the combined reference of Navid and Iwao disclose the video game controller charging base assembly as described above, Iwao further discloses, wherein the second connection includes a magnetic portion that corresponds to a spring-loaded connection of the charging connection such that spring-loaded connection is movable horizontally while maintaining the electrical connection (Para. # 0259/417: the leaf spring 305 is an example of an elastic member for applying a force in a direction away from the main unit 2 (the x-axis positive direction).
Conclusion
Robertson: US 2013/0221923: discloses an interchangeable battery pack system for video game controller.
Zheng: US 2020/0335987: discloses a dual charging station for game controllers, including a base and two power adapters; the base is configured for connecting a power supply.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YALKEW FANTU whose telephone number is (571)272-8928. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Taelor Kim can be reached at 571-270-7166. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YALKEW FANTU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859