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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I, claims 1-14, in the reply filed on 02/25/2026 acknowledged.
Claims 15-20 have been cancelled by the Applicant and thereby withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected methods of insertion and removal of expansion cards, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 02/25/2026.
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.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 discloses “when the bracket is coupled to the housing, movement of the first handle between the insertion orientation and the ejection orientation causes the bracket and the second handle to move linearly within the housing, and wherein movement of the second handle between the locked orientation and the unlocked orientation causes the locking structure to move between a locked position and an unlocked position” (lines 9-14; emphasis added). The claim is explicitly directed to the statutory class of being a product, and is not directed to a method of using the product. While language which explains what a product is capable of doing is not inherently indefinite, that language must clearly dictate some structural definition or limitation to the product. In this instance it is impossible to guess what structures are implied and/or which structures are intended to be defined or further modified by the method language cited. As such, the scope or metes and bounds of the claim cannot be ascertained. The Applicant is encouraged to amend the claims to ensure that functional language further defines the structure instead of vaguely implying that the structure may have unclaimed features by virtue of how it is intended to be used.
Claims 2-14 are also rejected as indefinite, so rendered by virtue of their dependency upon the indefinite subject matter of claim 1.
Claims 3-5, and 8-14 are further rejected as indefinite for the same reasons as detailed above with respect to claim 1. Each of these claims discloses method of use language which does not clearly define any of the claimed structures and leaves the reader to guess what structures would be required or modified to achieve the claimed method language. Further, most of these claims use the conditional term “when” which causes them to be more indefinite, because the reader has no idea how they are intended to define anything in the claims in the equally likely conditional instance of “when not”. The Applicant is strongly encouraged to determine what the product claimed is and to define those structures, rather than to nebulously claim what the product can do, and leave the reader to guess what structures enable such functionality.
NOTE: All of the examined claims (i.e. claims 1-14) have been interpreted and examined as best understood according to the 112(b) rejections, above. All of the method limitations are being interpreted to intend that the device would be capable of performing the intended function and are not understood to be positively recited limitations of the structure of the claimed assembly product.
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 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Howell et al. (US 2015/0131227 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Howell discloses a handle assembly (10) for interacting with an expansion card configured to be inserted into a computing device, the handle assembly comprising: a bracket (30 and/or 15) configured to be movably coupled to a housing (68: not part of claimed assembly) of the computing device (fig. 2; pars. 0027 and 0033); a first handle (50) movably coupled (by way of 51, 56) to the bracket, the first handle being movable between an insertion orientation and an ejection orientation (figs. 6A-6D; pars. 0030-0032); and a second handle (32, 40) movably coupled (by way of 12, 13, 38, 42) to the bracket and movable between a locked orientation and an unlocked orientation, the second handle including a locking structure (40) configured to lock the expansion card within the housing (figs. 1 and 6A-6D; pars. 0027-0028), wherein when the bracket is coupled to the housing, movement of the first handle between the insertion orientation and the ejection orientation causes the bracket and the second handle to move linearly within the housing, and wherein movement of the second handle between the locked orientation and the unlocked orientation causes the locking structure to move between a locked position and an unlocked position (figs. 6A-6D; pars. 0037-0040).
Regarding claim 2, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 1, wherein the first handle is rotatably coupled to the bracket and rotates (rotation shown in fig. 6D) between the insertion orientation and the ejection orientation (figs. 6A-6D; par. 0031).
Regarding claim 3, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 2, wherein when the expansion card is at least partially inserted into the housing of the computing device, rotation of the first handle between the insertion orientation and the ejection orientation causes the expansion card to move linearly within the housing (figs. 6A-6D; pars. 0037-0040).
Regarding claim 4, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 3, wherein when the expansion card is at least partially inserted into the housing of the computing device and the locking structure engages the expansion card, rotation of the first handle from the ejection orientation to the insertion orientation causes the locking structure to move linearly and push the expansion card in a first linear direction (to the right as shown in fig. 6A) within the housing (figs. 6A-6D; pars. 0037-0041).
Regarding claim 5, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 4, wherein when the expansion card is fully inserted into the computing device, rotation of the first handle from the insertion orientation to the ejection orientation causes the bracket to move linearly and push the expansion card in a second linear direction (to the left as shown in fig. 6D) within the housing that is opposite the first linear direction (figs. 6A-6D; pars. 0037-0041).
Regarding claim 6, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 2, wherein the first handle includes a channel (opening in 36) defined therein and the bracket includes an aperture (opening under 16 through which 50 extends) defined therein, the first handle being coupled to the bracket via a pin (16) that extends through the channel and the aperture, and wherein rotation of the first handle between the insertion orientation and the ejection orientation causes the pin to slide within the channel and move the bracket linearly (figs. 1-2; pars. 0027-0029).
Regarding claim 7, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 1, wherein the second handle is rotatably coupled to the bracket (by way of 42) and rotates (see arrow associated with 40/46 in fig. 6A) between the locked orientation and the unlocked orientation (fig. 6A; par. 0037).
Regarding claim 8, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 7, wherein when the expansion card is at least partially inserted into the computing device, rotation of the second handle between the locked orientation and the unlocked orientation causes the locking structure to engage or disengage the expansion card (fig. 6A: disengaging).
Regarding claim 9, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 8, wherein when the expansion card is at least partially inserted into the computing device, rotation of the second handle from the locked orientation to the unlocked orientation causes the locking structure to move to the unlocked position and away from the expansion card such that the locking structure disengages the expansion card (fig. 6A: disengaged and unlocked).
Regarding claim 10, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 8, wherein when the expansion card is at least partially inserted into the computing device, rotation of the second handle from the unlocked orientation to the locked orientation causes the locking structure to move to the locked position and toward the expansion card such that the locking structure engages the expansion card (fig. 6B: rotated downwardly and engaged and locked).
Regarding claim 11, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 7, wherein the locking structure includes a projection (46) extending from the second handle, the projection extending through a gap (76, not part of claimed assembly) in the expansion card when the expansion card is at least partially inserted into the computing device and the locking structure is in the locked position (figs. 6A-6D; par. 0034).
Regarding claim 12, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 11, wherein the projection has a curved surface (48) that is configured to contact a front edge of the expansion card in response to the expansion card being inserted into the computing device when the locking structure is in the locked position (figs. 6A-6D; pars. 0028 and 0034).
Regarding claim 13, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 12, wherein the contact between the curved surface of the projection and the front edge of the expansion card causes the locking structure to move from the locked position to the unlocked position (figs. 6A-6D; par. 0028).
Regarding claim 14, Howell discloses the handle assembly of claim 13, wherein the second handle is biased toward the locked orientation (by way of rigidity of “spring latch”, 40, which is fixedly mounted at 13) such that in response to a gap in the expansion card aligning with the projection as the expansion card is further inserted into the housing, the locking structure moves from the unlocked position to the locked position such that the projection extends through the gap in the expansion card (figs. 1 and 6A-6D; pars. 0027-0028).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please refer to the concurrently mailed PTO-892, as all of those cited references are considered to be pertinent to the claimed invention. For example, Escamilla et al. (US 10,863,647 B1) is held to disclose most if not all of the limitations of at least claim 1 (see, e.g. figs. 4-8). The Escamilla reference is not currently applied as an anticipation rejection due to the completeness of the above applied art, and in order to avoid an overly long Office Action or duplicative rejections.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jeffrey T Carley whose telephone number is (571)270-5609. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sunil Singh can be reached at (571)272-3460. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JEFFREY T CARLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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