DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to Applicant’s November 11, 2026, submission. Claims 1-20 are pending in the current application.
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 1-8, 11, 14-16, 19, and 20, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhou (Chinese Pat. No. CN110138949A).
Specifically, regarding Claim 1, Zhou discloses a button (310) configured to mount to a housing (100) of an electronic device (Abstract), and slidable relative to the housing (100; in an X direction, FIG. 3), the button (310) comprising: a connecting portion (CP; FIG. 3, reproduced and annotated below) at one end (a distal end of 310; FIG. 3) and a hook (313) at another end (an end of a main surface 310; AE, FIG. 3), wherein the connecting portion (CP) protrudes from the button (310) in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the button (310) is slidable (FIG. 3), wherein the housing (100) defines a button groove (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170; see, e.g., FIGS. 3, 4, and 6) for accommodating the button (310; FIG. 3), wherein the button groove (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170) defines a guide groove (130) on a side wall of the button groove (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170), the connecting portion (CP) being accommodated in the guide groove (130; FIG. 3) and slidable in the guide groove (130) along with movement of the button (310), and wherein the hook (313) is limited in the button groove (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170) by a locking member (390; FIG. 3).
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Regarding Claim 2, Zhou discloses that the housing (100) defines a positioning hole (140; FIG. 3) corresponding to the locking member (390; FIG. 3), the locking member (390) comprises a connecting rod (CR; FIG. 4, reproduced and annotated below) and a positioning portion (PP) disposed on an outer periphery of the connecting rod (CR; FIG. 4), the connecting rod (CR) is inserted into the positioning hole (140), and the positioning portion (PP) is in interference fit with the positioning hole (140; FIG. 4).
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Regarding Claim 3, Zhou discloses that the housing (100) defines an accommodation groove (130) corresponding to the hook (313), the locking member (390) extends through the hook (313) and is positioned in the positioning hole (140), and the hook (313) is limited in the accommodation groove (130; FIG. 3).
Regarding Claim 4, Zhou discloses that the positioning hole (140) is in communication with the accommodation groove (130; FIG. 4), one end of the positioning hole (140) is defined on a top surface of the housing (100) or a bottom surface of the housing (100; FIG. 4), and the locking member (390) is inserted into the positioning hole (140) from the top surface of the housing (100) or the bottom surface of the housing (100; FIG. 4).
Regarding Claim 5, Zhou discloses that the locking member (390) is positioned in the positioning hole (140), and one end of the positioning portion (PP) is in interference fit with the positioning hole (140; FIG. 4).
Regarding Claim 6, Zhou discloses that the positioning portion (PP) is a protrusion surrounding one end of the outer periphery of the connecting rod (CR; FIG. 4), and the protrusion is provided with guide surfaces (GS) respectively at two sides of the protrusion that are arranged opposite to each other in an axial direction of the protrusion (FIG. 4).
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Regarding Claim 7, Zhou discloses that the guide surface (GS) is in smooth transition connection with the outer periphery of the connecting rod (CR; FIG. 4).
Regarding Claim 8, Zhou discloses that an outer periphery of the positioning portion (PP) is an arc-shaped surface that protrudes outwards (FIG. 4), and the outer periphery of the positioning portion (PP) is in smooth transition connection with the outer periphery of the connecting rod (CR; FIG. 4).
Regarding Claim 11, Zhou discloses that the positioning portion (PP) is engaged with or adhered to the connecting rod (CR) so that the positioning portion (PP) is fixed to and sleeved on the connecting rod (CR; FIG. 4).
Regarding Claim 14, Zhou discloses a button post (320) connected to the button (310; FIG. 3), wherein one end of the button post (320) penetrates through the housing (100) and extends into an accommodation space of the housing (100; FIG. 3).
Regarding Claim 15, Zhou discloses a sealing ring (330; FIG. 3) is sleeved on an outer periphery of the button post (320).
Regarding Claim 16, Zhou discloses a connecting pad (AE; FIG. 3) connecting the button post (320) and the button (310).
Regarding Claim 19, Zhou discloses at least one elastic member (340) disposed between the button (310) and the housing (100).
Regarding Claim 20, Zhou discloses an electronic device (FIG. 1), comprising: a housing (100) and a button (310), wherein the button (310) is mounted to and slidable relative to the housing (100), wherein the button (310) is provided with a connecting portion (CP) at one end and a hook (313) at another end, the connecting portion (CP) protruding from the button (310) in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the button (310) is slidable, wherein the housing (100) defines a button groove (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170) for accommodating the button (310), wherein the button groove (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170) defines a guide groove (130) on a side wall of the button groove (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170), the connecting portion (CP) being accommodated in the guide groove (130) and slidable in the guide groove (130) along with movement of the button (310), and wherein the hook (313) is limited in the button groove (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170) by a locking member (390).
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 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou.
Zhou discloses substantially all of the limitations of the present invention but does not disclose the claimed material. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize such material to increase a touch softness of the button felt by a device user since it has been held to be within the general ordinary skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9, 10, 12, 13, and 17, 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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/ANTHONY R JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2833