DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 8-9, 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (US 2019/0245167) in view of Harutyunyan et al. (US 2020/0243808).
Regarding claims 1, 8, 9, 11-13, Choi discloses a smart watch and watch strap substantially as claimed, including: a watch head including a display unit and a power supply unit; and watch straps coupled to both sides of the watch head to be worn on a user's wrist (see paragraphs [0002]-[0004], [0018], [0045] and figures 1-4); wherein the watch strap comprises a band assembly (300) comprising: a plurality of strap blocks (302) arranged consecutively in one direction; a plurality of hinge coupling units (303) pivotably coupled to both sides of each of the strap blocks to integrally connect the blocks 302 to each other; a rechargeable battery (100) embedded in at least one of the blocks (302); and first and second electrode terminal units attached to both sides of the battery (100), wherein hinge coupling units (120, 220) are electrically connected to one of the first and second electrode terminal units (see paragraphs [0018]-[0045] and figures 1-4). Claim 1 differs from Choi in that it comprises an "all-solid-state battery" embedded in at least one of the plurality of strap blocks. However, Harutyunyan discloses a flexible lithium-ion battery comprising a solid electrolyte (103) between each of the two flexible self-standing electrodes (102, 104), (see claim 4 and figure 5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to use all solid-state batteries in the device of Choi in order to improve the safety, charging speed and lifespan of the battery.
Regarding claim 2, the battery of Harutyunyan discloses the all-solid-state battery includes a battery body 100, the battery body includes a solid electrolyte 103, a first electrode 102 located on one side of the solid electrolyte, and a second electrode 104 located an opposite side of the solid electrolyte, and the first electrode terminal unit 105 is located on one side of the first electrode, which is not in contact with the solid electrode, and the second electrode terminal unit 106 is located on one side of the second electrode, which is not in contact with the solid electrode.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. in view of Harutyunyan et al. as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Takano et al. (US 2015/0162577).
Regarding claim 3, modified Choi does not disclose the terminal units including terminal protrusions arranged as claimed. However, Takano discloses (see paragraph [0127] and figure 9): a first electrode terminal (413) and a negative electrode terminal (415) are respectively formed to protrude from a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the electrode group (411) is arranged). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to arrange the electrode terminals as disclosed by Takano in order to easily connect the terminals together as needed.
Claim(s) 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. in view of Harutyunyan et al. as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Zhang et al. (CN 104188284 A).
Regarding claim 15, Choi discloses the watch head having a support with internal space and flanges 220 on both sides of the support but does not disclose a pair of input terminals as claimed. Zhang (see paragraph [0030] figures 1-2) discloses: a support of an electronic device (1) exposes a pair of input terminals (204 - see paragraphs [0023]-[0035] figures 1-4: the pair of electrode tips (204) is located between both sides of a support, a watch strap (5) includes a plurality of blocks and a battery (51), and the block includes an electrode (508) electrically connecting the electrode tips (204) and the battery (51). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to electronically connect the watch strap and watch head as taught by Zhang in order to power the watch head via the battery of the strap.
Regarding claims 16 and 17, Zhang discloses (see paragraphs [0023]-[0035] figures 1-4): the pair of electrode tips (204) is located between both sides of a support, the watch strap (5) includes a plurality of blocks and the battery (51), and the block includes an electrode (508) electrically connecting the electrode tips (204) and the battery (51).
Regarding claim 18, Choi already discloses (see figures 2-4): the second electrode connecting portion (220) is attached to the positive electrode, the first electrode connecting portion (120) is attached to the negative electrode.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7, 10, 14, 19-20 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
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/COREY N SKURDAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3734
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