Detailed Action
1. This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s communication, preliminary amendment, filed on 03/09/2026. In virtue of this communication, claims 12-27 are currently pending in this Office Action.
Response to Arguments
2. In Remarks, applicant’s arguments are mainly based on the amended claim limitations. However, the amended claim limitations are considered obvious by the rationales explained in the claim rejection section set forth below.
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Indeed, Liao discloses a rotating shaft mechanism (fig. 6-11, main shaft body 11 is rotatably connected using a hinge or folding assembly including swing arms). What’s more, Liao 2 teaches the rotating shaft mechanism (see 10 in fig. 1-2 & 8).
To address the obviousness of the amended claim limitations “wherein the first end and the second end are disposed along a thickness direction of the rotating shaft mechanism”, it’s to note that thickness is reasonably interpreted as a value. In particular, Liao teaches that when the left housing and the right housing are completely folded, the rotating shaft mechanism is completely folded, there is no large gap to achieve equal thickness of a structural design in the folding state (par. 0097). Additionally, it could be considered as finding an optimum value and it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980). See the discussing the thickness in Seo et al. Pub. No.: US 2018/0110139 A1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. 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 35 U.S.C. 103 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.
5. Claims 12-16 and 24-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao et al. Pub. No.: US 2021/0181808 A1 in view of Liao et al. Pub. No.: US 2021/03368032 A1, hereinafter, Liao 2, and Hsu et al. Pub. No.: US 2021/0381289 A1.
Claim 12
Liao discloses a foldable mobile terminal (foldable mobile terminal 10 in fig. 5), comprising: a rotating shaft mechanism (fig. 6-11, main shaft body 11 is rotatably connected using a hinge or folding assembly including swing arms), wherein the rotating shaft mechanism comprises:
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a main shaft body (fig. 15-17, synchronization assembly in par. 0103, 0110 & 0113), comprising a shaft cover (main body 11 or inner housing 111 in fig. 6-20 or support plates 124 & 134 with inner housing 111 combined in fig. 13) and first supports (first wing links 121, first driven arms 123 in fig. 12 and see fig. 13-20);
a floating plate (support plate 124 & 134 in fig. 13), the floating plate is disposed at one side of the first support away from the shaft cover and extends from one end of the shaft cover to the other end of the shaft cover along the axial direction of the main shaft body (the support plate is connected to the swing link 121 and the swing arm 122 or the driven arm 123 in fig. 13 as explained in par. 0065);
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the shaft cover is fixedly connected to at least the first supports at two ends in a length direction of the shaft cover (if fig. 15 or main body 11 in fig. 6-20 as shaft, the shaft cover as inner housing or the combination of 124, 134 & 111 of fig. 13 are fixed connected to swing links and driven arms as depicted in fig. 7-14), and
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a connecting member (driven arm 123 or swing arm 122 in fig. 14), a first end of the connecting member is located in the shaft body (driven arm 123 or swing arm 122 starts from the folding body or ends at the main body 11 as depicted in fig. 7-12), a second end of the connecting member passes through a channel on the first support to connect the floating plate (driven arm 123 or swing arm 122 starts from the folding body to the support plate 124 of fig. 7 & 10, as depicted in fig. 7-12); and
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an elastic support member (retainer spring 174 in fig. 15-17 includes gears, cam structure and abutment springs), the elastic support member can be compressed between the first end of the connecting member and the first support when the foldable mobile terminal is in a flattened state (par. 0106, the abutment spring 173a-b can be compressed to provide a certain damping force and see fig. 15-17 for uncompressing and compressing states, consider fig. 15-17 as the foldable mobile terminal flattened otherwise it could be a position of fig. 12).
Although Liao does not explicitly show: “there is a cavity between the shaft cover and each of the first supports; a first end of the connecting member is located in the cavity; wherein the first end and the second end are disposed along a thickness direction of the rotating shaft mechanism; an elastic support member, located in the cavity”, the claim limitations are considered obvious by the following rationales.
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Firstly, to address the obviousness of the claim limitations “there is a cavity between the shaft cover and each of the first supports and a first end of the connecting member is located in the cavity”, initially, recall that Liao depicts that if the hinge 10 of fig. 6 would include a gap or a space or a cavity as depicting the gaps or spaces between the driven arm and the swing arm, i.e., connecting channel between the support plate the main body in fig. 7 & 14 (see fig. 20 for 11 in which seems to form gears and spring rod and cavity). Hence, the addressing claim limitations could have been rendered obvious by the above teaching mentioned from Liao to one of ordinary skill in the art. However, to advance the prosecution, further evidence is provided herein, and it could be seen in fig. 9 of Liao 2. In particular, Liao 2 teaches forming a cavity inside the main inner shaft (fig. 9) and inserting an end of each of the left connecting rod and the right connecting rod in the cavity (par. 0068).
Secondly, to consider the obviousness of the amended claim limitation “wherein the first end and the second end are disposed along a thickness direction of the rotating shaft mechanism”, initially, it’s to note that a thickness is a reasonably interpreted as a value. In particular, Liao teaches that when the left housing and the right housing are completely folded, the rotating shaft mechanism is completely folded, there is no large gap to achieve equal thickness of a structural design in the folding state (par. 0097). Additionally, it could be considered as finding an optimum value and it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify hinge of a mobile terminal of Liao by providing rotatable shaft mechanism of a mobile terminal as taught in Liao 2. Such a modification would have provided an electronic device a foldable hinge to include a rotatable shaft so that the folded terminal is more effective in structural design with requiring less thickness as suggested in par. 0003-0004 of Liao 2.
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Thirdly, to address the obviousness of the claim limitation “an elastic support member, located in the cavity”, initially, it’s important to note that claim does not specifically define what are required to be an elastic support member. If so, Liao 2 depicts that the two gears, i.e., the elastic support member (se fig. 7-8 & 11-14) are located in the cavity (par. 0081). Indeed, these teachings from Liao 2 could have rendered the addressing claim limitation obvious. Alternatively, to advance the prosecution, the cavity could be reasonably interpreted in light of fig. 7 of disclosure in this instant application. In particular, Hsu teaches the cavity for facilitating the operation arm and an axial direction (par. 0032-0033 and see fig. 3-8).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify hinge of a mobile terminal of Liao in view of Liao 2 by providing complex moving and rotating pivot shaft device as taught Hsu in to obtain the claimed invention as specified in the claim. Such a modification would have provided a complex moving and rotating pivot shaft device to move and rotate an operation arm of the pivot shaft so that the assembling and moving space of the device could be reduced as suggested in par. 0001 of Hsu.
Claim 13
Liao, in view of Liao 2 and Hsu, discloses the foldable mobile terminal according to claim 12, wherein the connecting member further comprises a guide shaft segment that cooperates with the channel on the first support to slide (Liao, positioning shaft on swing arm in fig. 14; arc shaped arm and connecting rod in fig. 7-8 of Liao 2), and the guide shaft segment is connected between the first end and the second end (Liao, in fig. 17, swing arm 122 connected to the shaft and the other end to the support plate, as shown in fig. 13; Liao 2, see swing arm and connecting rod in fig. 7 to be connected to support plate and the main shaft body in fig. 4-8; Hsu, cavity in fig. 3; for these reasons, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim, see MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F).
Claim 14
Liao, in view of Liao 2 and Hsu, discloses the foldable mobile terminal according to claim 12 , wherein the shaft cover is provided with a groove that faces an opening of the connecting member (Liao, see fig. 14 for having opening of main body 11 of fig. 13, i.e., the shaft cover, towards contact members or driven arm 123 or swing arms 122 and see sliding grove 1242 and arc grove 1213 in fig. 13; Liao 2, sliding slot 131 in fig. 7), and when the rotating shaft mechanism is in a folded state (Liao, see fig. 12 and par. 0097 & 0100-0101), under the action of a restoring force of the elastic support member (Liao, see fig. 14-15 for abutment spring 173a-b), a first end of the connecting member abuts against a bottom of the groove or the floating plate abuts against the first support (Liao, see driven arm 123 and abutment springs 173a-b in fig. 15; accordingly, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious; alternatively, it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involved only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70 CCPA 1950).
Claim 15
Liao, in view of Liao 2 and Hsu, discloses the foldable mobile terminal according to claim 12, wherein the main shaft body further comprises at least one second support fastened to the shaft cover (Liao, 111-112 of fig. 13 connecting to the driven arm 123 in fig. 14; see fig. 4-19 of Liao 2), the second support is located between the two first supports (Liao, see first and second driven arms 123 & 133 in fig. 15 and there are gear, cam structure between them in fig. 15 or see fig. 13, 111-112 are between the two driven arms; for these reason, the combined prior art reads on the claim).
Claim 16
Liao, in view of Liao 2 and Hsu, discloses the foldable mobile terminal according to claim 15, wherein a first guide (Liao, sliding groove 1242 in fig. 13) component is disposed on the second support (Liao, par. 0099, the sliding groove 1242 may be disposed on driven arm 123 or disposed on the first plate, and see fig. 14), and is configured to cooperate with a second guide component disposed on the floating plate to provide floating guide (Liao, see driven arm and swing arm in fig. 14 in view of fig. 15, therefore, slide rails, position shaft, sliding groove, sliding rail, swing link, arc shaft and arc grove in fig. 3 could be a first guide and a second guide component); one of the first guide component and the second guide component is a guide post, and the other is a guide hole that cooperates with the guide post to slide (Liao, par. 0097 explains how the support plate, the swing link, the arc groove, the positioning shaft, the driven arm and the sliding groove are disposed to rotate and slide and see fig. 12-14; for these reasons, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim, see MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F).
Claim 24
Liao, in view of Liao 2 and Hsu, discloses the foldable mobile terminal according to claims 12, wherein the first support comprises a first connector and a second connector (Liao, support as driven arm 123 or swing arms 122 in fig. 7-14 would having connectors to connect support plate 124 and main shaft body 11); the first connector and the second connector each are connected to a support part on a side that is close to the connecting member (Liao, see sliding rails 1231, arc shaft 1241, swing link 12 in fig. 13); the first connector, the second connector, and each support part form an accommodating groove that extends in a length direction of the main shaft body (Liao, see fig. 14, driven arm 123 and swing arm 122 extend in a length direction of the main shaft body, see arc groove 1231 and sliding rails 121 in fig. 13 connecting to fig. 14; see fig. 3-14 of Liao 2; for these reasons, the one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim).
Claim 25
Liao, in view of Liao 2 and Hsu, discloses the foldable mobile terminal according to claim 24, wherein the first connector and the second connector each have a top surface to support the flexible display that is in an unfolded state (Liao, see fig. 13-14, driven arm 123 and swing arm 122 in fig. 14 depicts that they have two surfaces in unfolding state and the two surfaces could be referred to a top surface or a bottom surface or a front surface or a side surface or a back surface and see par. 0097 & 0101 for unfolding; hence, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 26
Liao, in view of Liao 2 and Hsu, discloses the foldable mobile terminal according to claims 12, the first end of the connecting member comprises a support surface facing the first support (Liao, see fig. 7, there are surfaces in driven arm 123 and swing arms facing to support plate 124 or 134 in fig. 8-14), a lower end of the elastic support member is supported on the support surface (Liao, see swing arm 122 of fig. 14 is at the lower end of abutment spring 173 a-b of fig. 15), and an upper end of elastic support member against a bottom wall of the first support (Liao, driven arm 123 and swing arm 122 of fig. 14 are located at each end of the upper and lower of abutment springs 173 a-b of fig. 15; in addition, it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involved only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70 CCPA 1950; accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim).
Claim 27
Liao, in view of Liao 2 and Hsu, discloses the foldable mobile terminal according to claim 12, comprising a flexible display (Liao, flexible display 103 in fig. 5; Liao 2, ), the flexible display comprises a bending part (Liao, 1st & 2nd housings 101-102 or hinge 10 in fig. 5), at least a part of the bending part is opposite to the main shaft body (Liao, as shown in fig. 12, part of 1st & 2nd housing of fig. 5 would be opposite to the main shaft 11; accordingly, the combined prior art read on the claims).
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 17-23 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
7. 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.
Contact Information
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAN HTUN whose telephone number is (571)270-3190. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7 AM - 5 PM.
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/SAN HTUN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643