DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to Applicant’s March 27, 2026, submission. Claims 1, 2, and 14-20, are pending in the current application.
Claim Objections
Regarding Claim 16, line 5, it appears that the term “trigger” should be changed to “trigger body.”
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, 2, and 4-14, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen et al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2017/0154741 A1, hereinafter “Chen”).
Specifically, regarding Claim 1, Chen discloses a key structure (FIG. 8, reproduced and annotated below), comprising: an elastic element (3, 11; FIGS. 3 and 8), comprising: a movable portion (35; FIG. 8), a fixed portion (31) enclosing surrounding the movable portion (35), and a connection portion (32) connecting the fixed portion (31) with the movable portion (35; FIG. 8), and a keycap (21) disposed on the elastic element (3, 11), comprising: a first connection portion (1CP; FIG. 8) in contact with a lower surface of the elastic element (LSEE), wherein the lower surface face away from the keycap (21; FIG. 8).
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Regarding Claim 2, Chen discloses that the keycap (21) further comprises a second connection portion (22) corresponding to the movable portion (35; FIG. 8), and the second connection portion (22) of the keycap (21) abuts on the movable portion (35) when the key structure is in a released state (FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 4, Chen discloses a spacer (SP; FIG. 8), wherein the fixed portion (31) of the elastic element (3, 11) is located above the spacer (SP).
Regarding Claim 5, Chen discloses a bracket (BR; FIG. 8), and a circuit layer (CL; FIG. 8), wherein the spacer (SP) and the circuit layer (CL) are fixed between the bracket (BR) and the elastic element (3, 11; FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 6, Chen discloses a trigger body (21) disposed at a position corresponding to a hollow portion of the spacer (SP; FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 7, Chen discloses that the movable portion (35), the connection portion (32) and the fixed portion (31) are coplanar when the key structure is in a released state (see, e.g., TS in FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 8, Chen discloses that the elastic element (3, 11) further comprises a triggering portion (22) connected to the movable portion (35), the key structure further comprises a switch (41) disposed between the keycap (21) and the elastic element (3, 11) at a position corresponding to the triggering portion (22; FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 9, Chen discloses a trigger body (21) disposed at a position corresponding to a through hole of the movable portion (35) of the elastic element (3, 11; FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 10, Chen discloses a groove (GR; FIG. 8) is disposed between the movable portion (35) and the fixed portion (31; FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 11, Chen discloses that the first connection portion (1CP) comprises a connection section (CS), and the connection section (CS) has an inclined surface overlapping the groove (GR) in a lifting direction of the keycap (21; FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 12, Chen discloses a spacer (SP) having an upper surface (FIG. 8), wherein the fixed portion (31) has a lower surface abutting on the upper surface of the spacer (SP; FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 13, Chen discloses that the movable portion (35), the fixed portion (31) and the connection portion (32) are an integrally-formed sheet (FIG. 8).
Regarding Claim 14, Chen discloses that the keycap (21) further comprises a second connection portion (22) corresponding to the movable portion (35; FIG. 8), and the second connection portion (22) comprises a positioning section (36) and an abutting section (CS), wherein the abutting section is connected to the positioning section (FIG. 8 above) and has a lower surface facing the movable portion (35; FIG. 8), and the positioning section protrudes relative to the abutting section and passes through the elastic element (through adjacent portions 31; FIG. 8).
Claims 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Houze et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,484, hereinafter “Houze”).
Regarding Claim 16, Houze discloses a key structure (FIG. 10, reproduced and annotated below), comprising: a bracket (54A), a keycap (KC) disposed on the bracket (54A; FIG. 10), a trigger body (TB) disposed between the keycap (KC) and the bracket (54A; FIG. 10), and a switch (34) disposed at a position corresponding to the trigger (FIG. 10), wherein the keycap (KC) is directly connected to the bracket (via 54; FIG. 10), wherein the switch (34) is disposed between the keycap (KC) and the bracket (54A; FIG. 10).
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Regarding Claim 17, Houze discloses that the keycap (KC) comprises a keycap connection portion (an outer surface of TB, hereinafter “KCP”), the bracket (54A) comprises a bracket connection portion (an outer edge surface of 54, hereinafter “BCP”) connected to the keycap connection portion (KCP) in a lifting direction of the keycap (KC; FIG. 10).
Regarding Claim 18, Houze discloses that the keycap (KC) comprises a peripheral portion (PP; FIG. 10) and a keycap connection portion (KCP), and the keycap connection portion (KCP) protrudes relative to a bottom surface of the peripheral portion (PP).
Regarding Claim 19, Houze discloses that the keycap (KC) comprises a key cap connection portion (KCP), and the bracket (54A) has a connecting hole (CH; FIG. 10), the key cap connection portion (KCP) is spaced from a bottom surface of the connecting hole by an interval when the key structure is in a released state (FIG. 10), the key cap connection portion (KCP) abuts on the bottom surface of the connecting hole(a top surface of 34) by an interval when the key structure is in a pressed state (FIG. 10, when KC is depressed by a device user).
Regarding Claim 20, Houze discloses that the bracket (54A) comprises: a body (54A, 54B), and a bracket connection portion (BCP) combined with the body (54A, 54B) and having a connecting hole (between 54A, 54B), wherein an extension direction of the connecting hole is parallel to a lifting direction of the keycap (KC; FIG. 8).
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 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen.
Chen discloses substantially all of the limitations of the present invention but does not disclose the claimed plurality of elastic units. 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 a plurality of adjacent elastic units connected together to provide multiple input capability since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 U.S.P.Q. 8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY R. JIMENEZ whose telephone number is 313-446-6518. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday, 1030am - 9pm.
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/ANTHONY R JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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