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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim 1, and thus its dependent claims 3-5, 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 head supporting shaft" in line 10, however there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim, as the “head supporting shaft” has not been introduced previously in the claim. Similarly, claim 1 recites the limitation “the guiding groove” in line 12, however there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim, as the “the guiding groove” has not been introduced previously in the claim. Furthermore, Applicant’s specification and/or drawings does not provide any further details or description regarding what component/feature the head supporting shaft or the guiding groove is. Therefore, it is unclear what both the head supporting shaft and the guiding groove are referring to structurally.
Similarly, claim 2 recites the limitation of “the guiding rod” in line 2, however there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim, as the “the guiding rod” has not been introduced previously in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim (see 112b rejection presented above), but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 1, Rossi (US 2017/0239134 A1), the closest prior art of record, teaches telescopic machine core comprises a shell (sex toy 100 comprising a body 110, Paragraph 0066 and Figure 1), a sliding wheel disc (sliding traveler 160, Paragraph 0068 and Figure 9), which is characterized in that the top of the shell is bolted with a motor (top portion of body 110 comprises a motor 120, Figure 9 and Paragraph 0066), the output shaft of the motor is connected with a reciprocating screw rod (output shaft 130 of motor 120 is connected to reciprocating screw rod 136, Paragraph 0074 and Figure 3) through the coupling, two symmetrical spiral grooves are arranged on the reciprocating screw rod (rod 136 comprises helical grooves 132, Paragraph 0074 and Figure 3), the inner cavity of the spiral groove is slidably connected with a driving block (a shoe 180 is slidably mounted with the helical grooves 132, Paragraph 0075 and Figure 3), the spiral groove of the reciprocating screw rod drives the sliding wheel disc through the driving block (when the motor 120 turns the shaft 130, the helical grooves 132 slides over the shoe 180 and therefore moving the shoe 180, and hence the traveler 160 moves up or down the shaft 130, Paragraph 0074 and Figure 9), and the top of the head supporting shaft is in contact with a vibrating head (top portion comprises a vibrator 164 disposed within the head 162, Paragraph 0068 and Figure 9)
However, although Rossi teaches a screw rod extending towards the top of the device, Rossi is silent on a bracket, and wherein the top of the reciprocating screw rod penetrates through the bracket and is connected with two eccentric wheels by key connection, both sides of the top of the bracket are integrally formed with a fixing bracket, the opposite side of the fixing bracket is rotatably connected with the head supporting shaft, the bottom of the vibrating head is provided with the guiding groove matched with the eccentric wheels. A radical structural modification of Rossi’s reciprocating rod mechanism and head configuration would be required in order to achieve the structure that is recited in claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Kotlov (US 2017/0100303 A1) and Levy (US 2013/0197302 A1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH B LEDERER whose telephone number is 571-272-7274. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 7:30 AM - 4:30 PM.
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/SARAH B LEDERER/Examiner, Art Unit 3785
/MARGARET M LUARCA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3785