DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the amendment filed on 11/21/2025.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JAPAN 2021-050057, filed on 03/24/2021.
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 – 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cho (US 20050049016, cited on the IDS on 9/19/2023) in view of Wang (US 20120250272).
Regarding claim 1, Cho teaches (figures 16, 17, annotation) an electronic device (10; ¶0035) comprising:
a housing (see figure 17) having a substantially rectangular plate shape (see shape of housing in figure 12) and the housing (see figure 17) including a first surface (52a) which constitutes a side surface expanding along a thickness direction (i.e. direction in which 52a is expanding to) of the substantially rectangular plate shape (see shape of housing in figure 12), a corner (53a) including a curved surface (55a) and an opening (opening at 201), the curved surface (55a) connecting the first surface (51a) and the second surface (52a), the opening (opening at 201) extending along the curved surface (55a) and along a placement direction of the first surface (51a), the second surface (52a), and the corner (53a);
a cover (300) disposed inside the housing (see figure 17) while being movable along the placement direction between a closed position (see figure 16) where the opening (opening at 201) is closed and an open position (see figure 17) where the opening (opening at 201) is opened; and
a connection part (i.e. ¶0051 “the port cover unit of the portable communication terminal 10 is mounted on a port”) disposed at a position inside the housing where the cover (300) is positioned between the connection part and the opening (opening at 201), the connection part (i.e. ¶0051 “the port cover unit of the portable communication terminal 10 is mounted on a port”) including a connection port (201) exposed to an outside through the opening (opening at 201) when the cover (300) is positioned at the open position (see figure 17).
But Cho does not explicitly disclose a second surface which constitutes another side surface differing from the side surface and expanding along the thickness direction of the substantially rectangular plate shape, intersecting the first surface.
Wang teaches (figures 4 – 7, annotation) an electronic device (i.e. see figure 4) wherein a second surface (65b) which constitutes another side surface (i.e. 65b is a side surface) differing from the side surface (i.e. see figure 4) and expanding along the thickness direction (i.e. see annotation, 65a and 65b clearly extend in the thickness direction) of the substantially rectangular plate shape (i.e. see shape of 9 in figure 4), intersecting the first surface (65a).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Cho with the device as disclosed by Wang to provide a second surface which constitutes another side surface differing from the side surface and expanding along the thickness direction of the substantially rectangular plate shape, intersecting the first surface, to provide improved resistance to external impact and reduce stress concentration at the edges when the electronic device contacts an external surface, which are predictable mechanical effects of increasing the thickness of the edge of the electronic device.
~ Please see annotation of figure 17 in the Cho reference, where the first surface 51a, the second surface 52a, the corner 53a, the curved surface 55a, the lid part 61a, and the first end part 62a can be seen.
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~ Please see annotation of figure 4 in the Wang reference, where the first surface 65a, the second surface 65b, and the thickness direction can be seen.
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Regarding claim 2, Cho teaches (figures 16, 17, annotation) the electronic device according to Claim 1, wherein
the cover (300) is in a plate shape (see shape in figure 17) extending along the curved surface (55a) and includes a lid part (61a) configured to cover the connection port (201) when the cover (300) is positioned at the closed position (see figure 16), and a first end part (62a) that is far from the connection port (201) in the placement direction, and
the first end part (62a) has a thickness smaller than a thickness of the lid part (61a).
Although Cho does not explicitly disclose that the first end part has a thickness smaller than a thickness of the lid part, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to make the first end part have a thickness smaller than the thickness of the lid part as a matter of design choice, since varying relative thickness is a well-known practice in the art to improve factors such as ease of manufacture, savings in materials, and desired flexibility/rigidity.
Regarding claim 3, Cho teaches (figures 8, 16, 17, annotation) the electronic device according to Claim 1, further comprising an operation member (see multiple operation members on 300 in figures 16, 17) that protrudes from the cover (300) to the outside of the housing (see figure 17) through the opening (opening at 201), wherein the operation member (see multiple operation members on 300 in figures 16, 17) includes a knob (303) extending in a thickness direction of the cover (300), and a reinforcement part (500) connected to the knob (303) and the cover (300).
Claim(s) 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cho (US 20050049016, cited on the IDS on 9/19/2023) in view of Wang (US 20120250272) and further in view of Ono (JP H0577978, cited on the IDS on 9/19/2023).
Regarding claim 4, Cho teaches (figures 8, 16, 17, annotation) the electronic device according to Claim 1.
But Cho and Wang do not explicitly disclose further comprising a sealing member disposed surrounding a periphery of the connection port, wherein the sealing member includes a contact part that comes into contact with the cover when the cover is positioned at the closed position to seal between an opening edge of the connection port and the cover in a watertight manner.
Ono teaches (figures 3 and 4) a device further comprising a sealing member (22) disposed surrounding a periphery of the connection port (12), wherein the sealing member (22) includes a contact part (20a) that comes into contact with the cover (17) when the cover is positioned at the closed position (¶0017) to seal between an opening edge of the connection port (12) and the cover (17) in a watertight manner (¶0017).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Cho and Wang with the device as disclosed by Ono to provide a sealing member disposed surrounding a periphery of the connection port, wherein the sealing member includes a contact part that comes into contact with the cover when the cover is positioned at the closed position to seal between an opening edge of the connection port and the cover in a watertight manner, to provide improved protection against environmental factors, such as liquids and debris.
Claim(s) 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cho (US 20050049016, cited on the IDS on 9/19/2023) in view of Wang (US 20120250272) and further in view of Liu (US 20100279527).
Regarding claim 5, Cho teaches (figures 8, 16, 17, annotation) the electronic device according to Claim 1, wherein
the cover (300) includes a second end part (end part near 61a) close to the connection port (201) in the placement direction, the housing (see figure 17) includes
an accommodation part (204) that is disposed between the connection port (201) and the opening (opening at 201) in a direction intersecting the curved surface (55a) inside the housing (see figure 17) and that accommodates the second end part (end part near 61a) when the cover (300) is positioned at the closed position (see figure 16).
But Cho and Wang do not explicitly disclose the second end part including a first protrusion that protrudes in a direction intersecting the curved surface and being away from the connection port, and a second protrusion that protrudes in a direction approaching the connection port from an inner surface far from the connection port in a direction intersecting the curved surface, the inner surface being included in inner surfaces constituting the accommodation part of the housing, the second protrusion being positioned closer to the opening than the first protrusion in the placement direction when the cover is positioned at the closed position to restrict movement of the cover from the closed position to the open position in the placement direction.
Liu teaches (figures 1 – 6) a device comprising the second end part (end near 1128) including a first protrusion (1128) that protrudes in a direction intersecting the curved surface and being away from the connection port (12), and a second protrusion (1323) that protrudes in a direction approaching the connection port (12) from an inner surface far from the connection port (12) in a direction intersecting the curved surface, the inner surface being included in inner surfaces constituting the accommodation part (1124) of the housing (11), the second protrusion (1323) being positioned closer to the opening (16) than the first protrusion (1128) in the placement direction when the cover (13) is positioned at the closed position (see figure 2) to restrict movement of the cover (13) from the closed position (see figure 2) to the open position (see figure 1) in the placement direction.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Cho and Wang with the device as disclosed by Liu to provide a first protrusion that protrudes in a direction intersecting the curved surface and being away from the connection port, and a second protrusion that protrudes in a direction approaching the connection port from an inner surface far from the connection port, to improve the mechanical stability of the cover when the cover is closed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5 – 7, filed on 11/21/2025, with respect to the objection to the specification have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of the specification regarding the title of the invention has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of claim(s) 1 – 5 have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Carlos E. Lopez-Pagan whose telephone number is (703)756-5734. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30a - 5:00p.
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/CARLOS E LOPEZ-PAGAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/TULSIDAS C PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834