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 . The instant application with Application Number 18/373,104 filed on 09/26/2023 is presented for examination. As per the preliminary amendments of 09/26/2023, claims 3, 5, 9, 10, 11-18 and 20 are amended. Claims 1-20 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statment
The Information Disclosure Statements dated 09/26/2023, 07/11/2024 and 10/22/2024 are acknowledged and the cited references have been considered in this examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Double Patenting
The non-statutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A non-statutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a non-statutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claim 1 is rejected on the ground of non-statutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1 and 3 of the co-pending application number 18/376,496. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they both deal with a charger with main body to which a charging able is connected and a plurality of cables guides and dampers are provided.
The examined claim 1 of the instant application is anticipated by the co-pending application of 18/376,496.
Claim 1 of instant application: 18/373,104
Claims 1/3 of co-pending appli. US 18/376,496
A charger comprising: a main body; a screen provided on the front surface of the main body; a charging cable connected to the main body; a plurality of cable guides disposed on a first surface other than the front surface of the main body to be raised or lowered and sequentially guiding the charging cable; a lower damper connected to a first cable guide of the plurality of cable guides; and an upper damper connected to a second cable guide of the plurality of cable guides.
A charger comprising: a main body to which a charging cable is connected; a cable guide for guiding the charging cable; and a damper connected to the cable guide; wherein a plurality of charging cables is connected to the main body, wherein a plurality of cable guides and a plurality of dampers are provided.
Clam. 3 … wherein the plurality of cable guides … wherein the plurality of dampers comprise a left damper connected to the left cable guide and a right damper connected to the right cable guide.
Claims 2-15 of the instant application are dependent on rejected instant claim 1 above; hence rejected, at least, for their dependency on rejected claim 1. Claim 16 of the instant application is somewhat similar to claim 1 of the instant application, and rejected the same. Claims 17-20 of the instant application are dependent on rejected instant claim 16 above; hence rejected, at least, for their dependency on rejected claim 16.
Applicant requires to review multiple related applications, such as 18/376,491, if there are also non-statutory doble patenting issues.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiebenthal (US 2017/0203662)(Hereinafter Hieb) in view of Flack (US 2010/0277127).
With respect to claim 1, 5 and 16, Hieb discloses a charger (Para. # 0015) comprising: a main body (Fig. 2, 100); a charging cable connected to the main body (Fig. 1, 104/106); a plurality of cable guides disposed on a first surface other than the front surface of the main body to be raised or lowered and sequentially guiding the charging cable (Fig. 2, 102; Para. # 0016: a retractable cable or hose station 100 can include a guide 102 with a first pulley 104 ); a lower damper connected to a first cable guide of the plurality of cable guides and an upper damper connected to a second cable guide of the plurality of cable guides (Fig. 2, 146/148; Para. # 0023: one or more dampeners 146 for dampening motion of the first pulley 104, the second pulley 110, and/or the trolley 108. A dampener 146 can include, but is not necessarily limited to: a linear dampener, a rotary dampener, a shock absorber 148).
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Hieb, however, does not expressly disclose a screen provided on the front surface of the main body. Flack discloses, on the other hand, a screen provided on the front surface of the main body (Fig. 1, display screen 112).
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HIEB and Flack are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor namely Wireless charging apparatus and battery charger status control.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have added a display screen to the retractable cable charger of HIEB in view of the teachings of Flack for effective controller of the charger cable using the user input a signal via a user interface 112, such as a button, at the handle-connector assembly, that may be communicated to a processor via a communication cable, and/or the user may input a signal via a user interface at the housing (Para. # 0024).
With respect to claim 2, the combined references of Hieb and Flack disclose the charger as described above, further Hieb discloses wherein the plurality of cable guides is elevated in opposite directions (See Fig. 2-3, cable 116 and opposite guiding positions of the cables).
With respect to claims 3 and 10-11, the combined references of Hieb and Flack disclose the charger as described above, further Hieb discloses comprising: a first guide rail for guiding the first cable guide to be raised and lowered; and a second guide rail for guiding the second cable guide to lowered and raised (Fig. 4, multiple guides 102 and 116; Para. # 0021: FIG. 4, the guide 102 can be oriented vertically to position a top shaft 140 and the first pulley 104 stationary with respect to the frame 114).
With respect to claim 4, the combined references of Hieb and Flack disclose the charger as described above, further Hieb discloses wherein the first surface is a rear surface of the main body (Fig. 2, 114 a back side surface).
With respect to claims 6 and 17, the combined references of Hieb and Flack disclose the charger as described above, further Hieb discloses further comprising a cable cover covering the charging cable guided (Fig. 2, sides 106 and 114 are some of the convers for the cables), wherein the cable cover comprises: a side cover disposed on the side of the main body (Fig. 2, 106 side convers); and a rear cover disposed on the rear surface of the main body (Fig. 2, 114 is rear cover).
With respect to claims 7, 8, 18 and 19, the combined references of Hieb and Flack disclose the charger as described above, further Hieb discloses wherein an outlet through which the charging cable passes is formed on the side surface of the main body (Fig. 6, charging cable 118/152 -through main body 102).
With respect to claim 9, the combined references of Hieb and Flack disclose the charger as described above, further Hieb discloses, wherein each of the plurality of cable guides comprises a bracket and at least one pulley rotatably installed on the bracket (See Fig. 1, cable guides with pulley 104 and 110).
With respect to claims 12 and 13, the combined references of Hieb and Flack disclose the charger as described above, further Hieb discloses further comprising an upper cable guide disposed above the main body (Fig. 2, upper cable guide 104/118) wherein the upper cable guide comprises: a fixed bracket having a long extension in the front-rear direction; a fixed cable guide installed on the fixed bracket; a movable bracket arranged to rotate or slide on the extension; and a movable cable guide installed on the movable bracket (See Fig. 2 and Figs. 4/5 and Para. # 0023: the longitudinally extending track 106 and/or the trolley 108, where the flexible cable or hose 116 can be looped around the first pulley 104, the second pulley 110).
With respect to claims 14, 15 and 20, the combined references of Hieb and Flack disclose the charger as described above, further Flack discloses wherein the upper cable guide comprises: an arm body in which an arm space is formed; and a plurality of arm guides accommodated in the arm space (Para. # 0020: these one or more lower pulleys 531-533 may have mass augmentation 541-543, e.g., attached pendulous weights, and these one or more lower pulleys 531-533 may be disposed within guide channels 561-563. In some embodiments, at least a bidirectional rotational drive is applied to at least one of: (a) one or both of the minor guiding pulleys 571, 572).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YALKEW FANTU whose telephone number is (571)272-8928. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DREW A DUNN can be reached at 571-272-2312. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YALKEW FANTU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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