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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-8 are pending in the application.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Taiwan on 09 December 2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the TW111147391 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sousa (US Patent 9,482,052).
Re Claim 1: Sousa discloses a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 1-5)comprising:
a housing unit (comprising spool housing 20, top cap 11, and winding spring cover 3) formed with a housing teeth set (12; see Fig 3) therein;
a rotating unit (comprising spool halves 5, 7 and spline lock 14) disposed in and rotatable relative said housing unit, an end portion (at 14) of said rotating unit being formed with a shaft teeth set (15; see Figs. 3 and 4) engaging said housing teeth set (12), said shaft teeth set (15) and said housing teeth set (12) cooperatively preventing said rotating unit from rotating relative to said housing unit in a first turning direction, said shaft teeth set cooperating with said housing teeth set to allow said rotating unit to rotate in a second turning direction opposite to said first turning direction relative to said housing unit (“The spline lock 14 is formed with an angular toothed surface, 15, disposed and arranged to engage and disengage with the interiorly disposed angular cap teeth 12 to prevent rotation in one rotational direction and permit rotation in the opposite rotational direction.”; see Col. 4 lines 55-60); and
a retractable unit (2), a portion of said retractable unit being assembled and wound on said rotating unit, another portion (at 23; see Fig. 5) of said retractable unit protruding out of said housing unit, and being able to be pulled so as to lengthen an extent of said retractable unit out of said housing unit, and to drive said rotating unit to rotate in the second turning direction.
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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.
Claims 2-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sousa (US Patent 9,482,052), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Taketsuna (US Patent 8,684,295).
Re Claim 2: Sousa further discloses a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 1-5), further comprising a resilient unit (1) assembled between said housing unit (at winding spring cover 3) and said rotating unit (at spool housing halves 5, 7), and a switching unit (comprising lock release 13 and compression spring 16), said switching unit including a biasing member (16), and a pushing member (13) extending through said housing teeth set (12; Examiner notes that the upper portion of spline lock 14 can be considered a part of the “pushing member” along with the lock release 13 since connected together and operate as a single unit) and abutting against said shaft teeth set (15), said pushing member (13) protruding out of said housing unit (for example, above the upper surface of top cap 11; see Fig. 2), and being depressable to switch said rotating unit between a first state (see Fig 2) and a second state (see Fig 3), in the first state (Fig. 2), said shaft teeth set (15) engaging said housing teeth set (12), and said rotating unit being rotatable only in the second turning direction, in the second state (Fig. 3), said shaft teeth set (15) being disengaged from said housing teeth set (12), and allowing said resilient unit (1) to drive said rotating unit to rotate in the first turning direction.
Sousa fails to explicitly disclose wherein the biasing member is disposed between said housing unit and the other end of said rotating unit opposite to said shaft teeth set.
Taketsuna teaches the use of a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 9-13) comprising a housing unit (for example, casing 42 in combination with first bobbin 33) formed with a housing teeth set (33f, 33j, 33k; see Fig. 12); a rotating unit (second bobbin 34 in combination with rotation shaft 35) having on end formed with a shaft teeth set (35f, 35j, 35k), said shaft teeth set and said housing teeth set cooperatively preventing rotation in a first turning direction and to allow relative rotation in a second turning direction; a retractable unit (lower cord 31), a portion of said retractable unit being assembled and wound on the rotating unit (34), another portion (31a) of said retractable unit protruding out from said housing unit; a resilient unit (36) assembled between the housing unit and the rotating unit; and a switching unit (43, 44) including a biasing member (43) and a pushing member (44); and further wherein the biasing member (43) is disposed between said housing unit (at lower casing member 43) and the other end of said rotating unit (35) opposite to said shaft teeth set, for the purpose of biasing the housing teeth set and the shaft teeth set against one another.
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Further, it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70 [discussed in MPEP 2144.04].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Sousa, with a reasonable expectation of success, such that the biasing member is disposed between said housing unit and the other end of said rotating unit opposite to said shaft teeth set, as taught by Taketsuna, for the purpose of biasing the housing teeth set and the shaft teeth set against one another, and since such a mitigation would amount to a design consideration involving routine skill in the art.
Re Claim 3: Sousa further discloses a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 1-5), wherein said housing unit comprises a housing body (spool housing 20 in combination with winding spring cover 3), and a cover body (11, 19) covering said housing body, said housing body (20, 3) comprising a top housing portion (20) receiving said rotating unit (5, 7, 14), said retractable unit (2) and said resilient unit, and a bottom housing portion (3) extending downwardly from said top housing portion (20), said cover body (at 11) being formed with said housing teeth set (12).
Sousa fails to explicitly disclose wherein said bottom housing portion being for disposition of said biasing member of said switching unit. Rather, in this case, the bottom housing portion (3) is for disposition of the resilient unit (1).
As discussed above, it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70 [discussed in MPEP 2144.04].
In addition, Taketsuna further teaches the use of a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 9-13) comprising a housing body (lower casing 42) and a cover body (upper casing 42), the housing body comprising a top housing portion (at 42; Fig. 11) and a bottom housing portion (at 42b; Fig. 11) and further wherein the bottom housing portion (at 42b) being for disposition of the biasing member (43) of said switching unit, for the purpose of biasing the housing teeth set and the shaft teeth set against one another.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the device of Sousa, with a reasonable expectation of success, such that said bottom housing portion being for disposition of said biasing member of said switching unit, as taught by Taketsuna, for the purpose of biasing the housing teeth set and the shaft teeth set against one another, and since such a mitigation would amount to a design consideration involving routine skill in the art.
Re Claim 4: Sousa further discloses a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 1-5), wherein said rotating unit comprises a rotating shaft (5, 7, 14) abutting between said housing teeth set (12) of said cover body and said resilient unit (1), said rotating shaft (5, 7, 14) comprising a top shaft portion (14) formed with said shaft teeth set (15), a bottom shaft portion (at spool stud 6; Fig. 1) inserted into said bottom housing portion (3) of said housing body, and a middle shaft portion (5, 7) located in said top housing portion (20) of said housing body and permitting said retractable unit (2) to be assembled and wound thereon.
Sousa fails to explicitly disclose wherein the rotating shaft abuts between the housing teeth set of said cover body and the biasing member of said switching unit; and wherein the bottom shaft portion abuts against said biasing member.
As discussed above, it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70 [discussed in MPEP 2144.04].
In addition, Taketsuna further teaches the use of a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 9-13), wherein the rotating unit comprises a rotating shaft (rotation shaft 35 in combination with second bobbin 34) including a top shaft portion (at 35b) formed with the shaft teeth set, a bottom shaft portion (at 35c, 35d) inserted into the bottom housing portion (at 42b), and a middle shaft portion (at 34); and further wherein the rotating shaft abuts between the housing teeth set (33f, 33j, 33k) of said cover body and the biasing member (43) of said switching unit; and wherein the bottom shaft portion (at the lower surface of 35c; see Fig. 11) abuts against said biasing member (43), for the purpose of biasing the housing teeth set and the shaft teeth set against one another.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the device of Sousa, with a reasonable expectation of success, such that the rotating shaft abuts between the housing teeth set of said cover body and the biasing member of said switching unit; and wherein the bottom shaft portion abuts against said biasing member, as taught by Taketsuna, for the purpose of biasing the housing teeth set and the shaft teeth set against one another, and since such a mitigation would amount to a design consideration involving routine skill in the art.
Re Claim 5: Sousa further discloses a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 1-5), wherein said rotating unit further comprises a ring unit (the upper ring-shaped portion of spline geometry 18; Fig. 4) extending radially and outwardly from said rotating shaft to form a ring, said ring unit being located between said top (at 14) and middle (at 5, 7) shaft portions, said resilient unit (1) being a spiral spring (1).
Sousa fails to explicitly disclose wherein the spiral spring is disposed on said ring unit, and having one end connected to said top shaft portion and the other end connected to said top housing portion of said housing body.
As discussed above, it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70 [discussed in MPEP 2144.04].
In addition, Taketsuna further teaches the use of a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 9-13), wherein the resilient unit (36) comprises a spiral spring (36) and is disposed on a ring unit (at 33b) at an upper portion of the rotating unit (35), and having one end connected (via slit 35a) to a top shaft portion and the other end connected to a top housing portion (33) of said housing body, for the purpose of rotationally biasing the rotating unit.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the device of Sousa, with a reasonable expectation of success, such that the spiral spring is disposed on said ring unit, and having one end connected to said top shaft portion and the other end connected to said top housing portion of said housing body, as taught by Taketsuna, for the purpose of rotationally biasing the rotating unit, and since such a mitigation would amount to a design consideration involving routine skill in the art.
Re Claim 6: Sousa further discloses a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 1-5), wherein said rotating unit further comprises an additional ring unit (4; Fig. 4) extending radially outwardly from said rotating shaft (5, 7) to form a ring, and located between said bottom shaft portion (at 6) and said middle shaft portion (5, 7).
Re Claim 7: Sousa further discloses a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 1-5), wherein said retractable unit (2) comprises a retractable member (2), and an engaging member (the in-turned tab of sheet 2 to be fixed to spool halves 5 and 7; see Fig. 4) and an operating member (23) respectively disposed on two opposite ends of said retractable member, said retractable member being wound around said middle shaft portion (5, 7) of said rotating shaft, said engaging member being engaged with said middle shaft portion (5, 7) of said rotating shaft so as to interlink said retractable member (2) and said rotating shaft (5, 7, 14), said operating member (23) being disposed outside of said housing body (20, 11), and being operable for pulling said retractable member (2) out of said top housing portion (20) of said housing body from said middle shaft portion.
Re Claim 8: Sousa further discloses a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 1-5), wherein said housing teeth set (12) includes a plurality of tooth structures (12), each of said tooth structures of said housing teeth set including a restricting tooth surface (to prevent rotation in one rotational direction), and an inclined tooth surface (to allow rotation in the opposite rotational direction; “The spline lock 14 is formed with an angular toothed surface, 15, disposed and arranged to engage and disengage with the interiorly disposed angular cap teeth 12 to prevent rotation in one rotational direction and permit rotation in the opposite rotational direction.”; see Col. 4 lines 55-60) that extends from an end of said restricting tooth surface proximate to said rotating unit in said first turning direction and away from said rotating unit, said shaft teeth 915) set including a plurality of tooth structures (15), each of said tooth structures of said shaft teeth set including a restricting tooth surface (to prevent rotation in one rotational direction) that abuts against said restricting tooth surface of a respective one of said tooth structures of said housing teeth set (12), and an inclined tooth surface (to allow rotation in the opposite rotational direction) that abuts against said inclined tooth surface of another one of said tooth structures of said housing teeth set (12).
Sousa fails to explicitly disclose wherein the restricting tooth surface of each of the housing tooth set and the shaft tooth set comprises a straight tooth surface that extends in an axial direction.
Taketsuna further teaches the use of a retractable apparatus (see Figs. 9-13), wherein the housing tooth set and the shaft tooth set each comprise a plurality of tooth structures (see Fig. 12), each of said tooth structures of including a restricting tooth surface (33j, 35j) and an inclined tooth surface (33k, 35k), and further wherein the restricting tooth surface of each of the housing tooth set and the shaft tooth set comprises a straight tooth surface (33j, 35j) that extends in an axial direction, for the purpose of forming a simple surface that blocks relative rotation in a first rotational direction.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the device of Sousa, with a reasonable expectation of success, such that the restricting tooth surface of each of the housing tooth set and the shaft tooth set comprises a straight tooth surface that extends in an axial direction, as taught by Taketsuna, for the purpose of forming a simple surface that blocks relative rotation in a first rotational direction.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW R MCMAHON whose telephone number is (571)270-3067. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amber Anderson can be reached at (571) 270-5281. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW R MCMAHON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3678