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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/21/2025 has been entered.
Claim Status
Applicant’s amendment filed 11/21/2025 has been entered.
Claims 1-8 and 10-13 remain pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 4, lines 1-2 recite “the housing defines a handle portion”, however, Claim 1, line 3 recites “a handle connected to the housing”. These limitations render Claim 4 indefinite as it is unclear if the “handle portion” of Claim 4 is referring to the “handle” claimed in Claim 1 and if so, it is unclear as to how the housing can define a handle portion but also be connected to such a handle. It is unclear as to whether or not the same handle structure is being referred to and whether or not the handle/handle portion is part of the housing or connected thereto.
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.
Claims 1-6, 8, 10, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kato (US PGPUB 2015/0298308), in view of Weber (US PGPUB 2019/0143498).
Regarding Claims 1 and 11, Kato discloses a fastening tool (100; Figure 1) comprising:
a housing (101);
a handle (103) connected to the housing (101);
a nosepiece assembly (“tip part” including “guide 141”; Para. 0035; see Figure 3) connected to the housing (101) and including a fastener drive track (141a) having a drive axis (Para. 0037);
a magazine assembly (magazine 105) for feeding a number of fasteners (“nails”; Para. 0033) successively along a fastener channel (of 105) to the fastener drive track (141a) of the nosepiece assembly (141; Para. 0038);
a driver member (piston 123 and driver 125; note including mechanism 120 and compression apparatus 130-see 112(b) rejection above) provided in the housing (101) and configured for movement along the drive axis to drive a lead fastener (“nail”) into a workpiece (see Para. 0037);
a motor (111) disposed within the housing (101) and configured to drive the driver member (123, 125) along the drive axis (of cylinder 121; see Para. 0057-0058);
a power source (110) providing power to the motor (111; Para. 0041);
a controller (109) in the tool housing (101) configured to control a supply of power from the power source (110) to the motor (111) and initiate a first drive cycle (see Para. 0087-0097);
a trigger assembly (103a, 103b, 141, 143; Figures 1, 6) that activates the first drive cycle (Para. 0047-0048), the trigger assembly including a secondary trigger (141, 143; note the contact arm/driver guide 141 acts as a trigger for switch 143) that activates the power source (110) and a primary trigger (103a, 103b) that activates the motor (111; see Para. 0070 which outlines “Upon detecting a change in the state of at least one of the switch 103b or switch 143, the mode (operational mode) is immediately switched from the sleep mode to the drive-enabled mode in order to begin the start up of the control apparatus 109 and prepare for another nail driving operation” and notes that when both are actuated nail driving operation occurs);
a drive assembly (crank mechanism 115) having a drive shaft (crankshaft 115a) rotatably connected to a compression piston (via crank pin 115b and rod 115c to the piston 133; Para. 0043; shown in Figures 3-4);
a sensor target (magnet 151) disposed on one end of the drive shaft (115a) and having a characteristic (magnetic flux) that changes in response to the change in position (Para. 0055); and
a sensor (hall effect device 152) configured to sense the characteristic (magnetic flux) of the sensor target (151) and send a signal to the controller (109) in response to the characteristic (magnetic flux; see Para. 0055 which describes the controller 109 receiving feedback and measuring the position of the crankshaft based on the feedback/detection result),
wherein when the controller (109) receives the signal from the sensor (152), the controller (109) starts a subsequent drive cycle (i.e. see Para. 0058 which describes driving the driver 125 (actuating solenoid) based on detected crank angle position determined by detection unit 109E; Para. 0064 describes detecting movement of shaft via sensor and driving the motor based thereon),
wherein during the first drive cycle, the compressor piston (133) travels between at least two positions (via motor 111; see Para. 0039-0042, 0046).
However, Kato does not readily disclose the trigger assembly, including the primary and secondary triggers, being pivotably connected to the handle.
Attention is brought to the teachings of Weber which includes another fastening tool (10; Figure 1) which includes a trigger assembly (118; Figures 5A-5B), including a primary (26) and secondary trigger (120), pivotably connected to a handle (22; via pivots as shown in Figures 5A-5B), wherein the secondary trigger (120) activates a power source (battery 34; see Para. 0052 where the battery is activated to power the light 154) and the primary trigger (26) activates a motor (54; see Para 0051 which discloses actuating the compressor 30 which is driven by motor 54).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have incorporated an additional/second trigger as taught by Weber and modify the primary trigger of Kato such that the trigger assembly is pivotably connected to the handle as taught by Weber. By use of such a trigger assembly, the actuation of the primary trigger can be blocked until the secondary trigger is actuated such that the combination of trigger actuations in sequence is required to initiate a driving operation as taught by Weber (see Paras. 0007, 0050-0052). Note with such a modification, the safety of the tool is increased as accidental motor activations can be prevented by incorporation of the additional/secondary trigger. It is also noted that such an additional/secondary trigger can be utilized in addition to the secondary trigger of the contact arm/switch (141, 143) of Kato.
Regarding Claim 2, Kato, as modified, discloses wherein the signal sent to the controller indicates whether the sensor is ON or OFF (see switch-detection unit 109B which detects on/off states of switches 103b, 143; Para. 0046)
Regarding Claim 3, Kato, as modified, discloses wherein the controller (109) in the tool housing (101) connects the trigger assembly (103a ,103b, 143) to the drive assembly (crank mechanism 115 via controls of motor 111) .
Regarding Claim 4, Kato, as modified, discloses the housing (101) defines a handle portion (103), and wherein the trigger assembly (at least 103a, 103b) is connected to the tool housing (101), adjacent the handle portion (103 as shown).
Regarding Claim 5, Kato, as modified, discloses the sensor target (151) is a magnet (Para. 0055).
Regarding Claim 6, Kato, as modified, discloses the sensor (hall effect device 152) is a Hall effect sensor (Para. 0055).
Regarding Claim 8, Kato, as modified, discloses the sensor target (152) is mounted on the housing (101 at 101B; Para. 0055).
Regarding Claim 10, Kato, as modified, discloses the compression piston (133) disposed within a first compression chamber (cylinder 131) in the housing (101B) and an eccentric member (eccentric pin 115b) rotatable by the drive shaft (115a) and slidably connected to the compression piston (133 via 115c), wherein the eccentric member (115b) controls a position of a compression piston member (133 or 115c) within the first compression chamber (131; Para. 0043).
Regarding Claim 12, Kato, as modified, discloses the sensor (hall effect device 152) is mounted on the drive shaft (115a; Para. 0055).
Regarding Claim 13, Kato, as modified, discloses the sensor target (151) is mounted the housing (101 at 101b; Para. 0055).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kato (US PGPUB 2015/0298308), in view of Weber (US PGPUB 2019/0143498), and in further view of Douglas (US Patent 7,900,622) and “The Difference Between Bpolar and Omnipolar Hall” (see attached NPL document).
Regarding Claim 7, Kato, as modified, discloses several features of the claimed invention but does not readily disclose the sensor (152) is an omnipolar switch Hall effect sensor.
Douglas teaches an analogous handheld tool (paintball gun 100; Figure 1; col 1, Iines 22-24; col 3, Iines 6-7) including a grip assembly (the grip assembly 214 of the embodiment of Fig 23-27, as applied to the paintball gun 100 of Fig 1; Col. 8, Iines 61-65) including trigger detector sensors (258,260; Fig 24-26; Col. 10, Iines 25-32, 58-66), wherein the sensors (258, 260) include an omnipolar switch Hall effect sensor (260; Fig 24-26; col 10, Iines 58-66: "For example, consider an example in which the first trigger detector 258 is a unipolar Hall effect sensor that switches on in response to a south pole and the second trigger detector 260 is an omnipolar Hall effect sensor that switches on in response to either a north pole or a south pole. In this example, the magnet 256 would be oriented on the trigger 218 such that the south pole would be exposed to the first trigger detector 258 when the user pulls the trigger 218").
Further attention can be brought to the NPL document “The Difference Between Bpolar and Omnipolar Hall” which outlines that an omnipolar hall sensor is able to detect the magnet regardless of the pole orientation and further requires low power consumption and comprises a high sensitivity (outlined on Page 3 of the document).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized an omnipolar Hall sensor as taught by Douglas in the tool of Kato in order to provide a desired sensitivity for signaling the controller when a component of the tool has moved to a predetermined position regardless of the pole orientation. As outlined by “The Difference Between Bpolar and Omnipolar Hall” such omnipolar switch will allow for high sensitivity with low power consumption.
Claims 1-6, 8, and 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US PGPUB 2021/0276170), in view of Weber (US PGPUB 2019/0143498).
Regarding Claims 1 and 11, Li discloses a fastening tool (Figure 1) comprising:
a housing (1);
a handle (2) connected to the housing (1);
a nosepiece assembly (4) connected to the housing (1) and including a fastener drive track (of 4) having a drive axis (see Paras. 0016, 0020; note that in order to drive the nails through the nozzle, a track must be present);
a magazine assembly (6) for feeding a number of fasteners (“nails”) successively along a fastener channel (of 6) to the fastener drive track of the nosepiece assembly (4; note Paras. 0016, 0022);
a driver member (striker 5 including cylinder 101, first piston and connecting rod 11; note 112(b) rejections above) provided in the housing (1) and configured for movement along the drive axis to drive a lead fastener into a workpiece (Para. 0020);
a motor (7) disposed within the housing (1) and configured to drive the driver member (5) along the drive axis (see Para. 0016 which discloses motor connection to first piston which compresses air to drive piston and driver 5 per Para. 0020);
a power source (20) providing power to the motor (7; Para. 0024);
a controller (9) in the tool housing (1) configured to control a supply of power from the power source (20) to the motor (7) and initiate a first drive cycle (Para. 0016, 0021-0023 discloses switching power to the motor with controller);
a trigger assembly (3) that activates the first drive cycle (Para. 0020);
a drive assembly (10) having a drive shaft (1001 connected with “motor shaft” per Para. 0020) rotatably connected to a compression piston ( “first piston” of 101 via connection to rod 11 at eccentric shaft 1002; see Para. 0016);
a sensor target (13) disposed on one end of the drive shaft (1001 via 1002) and having a characteristic (magnetic field) that changes in response to the change in position (via rotation; Para 0016, 0020); and
a sensor (14) configured to sense the characteristic of the sensor target (13) and send a signal to the controller (9) in response to the characteristic (Para. 0016, 0020),
wherein when the controller (9) receives the signal from the sensor (14), the controller (9) starts a subsequent drive cycle (Para. 0023 outlines that the controller 9 receives signal from sensor 14, deactivates the motor to allow for return of striker and then reactivates the motor when the striker 5 returns to the original position; note that the starting of a “drive cycle” can be viewed as the switching off of the motor to allow for the reactivation of the motor as indicated in Para. 0023),
wherein during the drive cycle, the compressor piston (“first piston”) travels between at least two positions (Para. 0020).
However, Li fails to explicitly disclose the trigger assembly (3) pivotably connected to the handle and including a secondary trigger that activates the power source and primary trigger that activates the motor.
Attention is brought to the teachings of Weber which includes another fastening tool (10; Figure 1) which includes a trigger assembly (118; Figures 5A-5B), including a primary (26) and secondary trigger (120), pivotably connected to a handle (22; via pivots as shown in Figures 5A-5B), wherein the secondary trigger (120) activates a power source (battery 34; see Para. 0052 where the battery is activated to power the light 154) and the primary trigger (26) activates a motor (54; see Para 0051 which discloses actuating the compressor 30 which is driven by motor 54).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have incorporated an additional/second trigger as taught by Weber and modify the primary trigger of Li such that the trigger assembly is pivotably connected to the handle as taught by Weber. By use of such a trigger assembly, the actuation of the primary trigger can be blocked until the secondary trigger is actuated such that the combination of trigger actuations in sequence is required to initiate a driving operation as taught by Weber (see Paras. 0007, 0050-0052). Note with such a modification, the safety of the tool is increased as accidental motor activations can be prevented by incorporation of the additional/secondary trigger.
Regarding Claim 2, Li, as modified, discloses wherein the signal sent to the controller (9) indicated whether the sensor is ON of OFF (Paras. 0020-0022).
Regarding Claim 3, Li, as modified, discloses wherein the controller (9) in the tool housing (1) connects the trigger assembly (3) to the drive assembly (10 via motor 7; Para. 0016).
Regarding Claim 4, Li, as modified, discloses the housing (1) defines a handle portion (2), and wherein the trigger assembly (3) is connected to the tool housing (1), adjacent the handle portion (2; Para. 0016).
Regarding Claim 5, Li, as modified, discloses the sensor target (13) is a magnet (eccentric shaft cylinder magnet 13”; Para. 0016).
Regarding Claim 6, Li, as modified, discloses the sensor (14) is a Hall effect sensor (“first Hall induction mechanism 14”; Para. 0016).
Regarding Claim 8, Li, as modified, discloses the sensor (14) is mounted on housing (1; Para. 0016).
Regarding Claim 10, Li, as modified, discloses the compression piston (“first piston”) disposed within a first compression chamber (101) in the housing (1; Para.0016); and an eccentric member (1002) rotatable by the drive shaft (1001) and slidably connected to the compression piston (“first piston”), wherein the eccentric member (1002) controls a position of a compression piston member (11 connected to “first piston”) within the first compression chamber (101; Paras. 0016, 0020).
Regarding Claim 12, Li, as modified, discloses the sensor (14) is mounted on the housing (1; Para. 0016).
Regarding Claim 13, Li, as modified, discloses the sensor target (13) is mounted on the drive shaft (1001 via 1002; Para. 0016).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US PGPUB 2021/0276170). in view of Weber (US PGPUB 2019/0143498) and in further view of Douglas (US Patent 7,900,622) and “The Difference Between Bpolar and Omnipolar Hall” (see attached NPL document).
Regarding Claim 7, Li, as modified, discloses several features of the claimed invention but does not disclose the sensor (14) is an omnipolar switch Hall effect sensor.
Refer to the teachings of Douglas and “The Difference Between Bpolar and Omnipolar Hall” outlined above.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized an omnipolar Hall sensor as taught by Douglas in the tool of Li in order to provide a desired sensitivity for signaling the controller when a component of the tool has moved to a predetermined position regardless of the pole orientation. As outlined by “The Difference Between Bpolar and Omnipolar Hall” such omnipolar switch will allow for high sensitivity with low power consumption.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See “Notice of References Cited”.
-Rajani (US PGPUB 2014/0263535) discloses a secondary switch (255; Figure 3A) which provides power to the PCB and provides power to a worklight (see Para. 0026, 0032).
-Suda (US PGPUB 2010/0116863) disclose a trigger assembly with a secondary trigger.
Fujimoto (US PGPUB 2011/0248062) disclose a trigger assembly with a primary and secondary triggers pivotably connected to a handle.
-Ishikawa (US PGPUB 2019/0375083) and Chien (US PGPUB 20120104069) both disclose a pivotal trigger assembly associated with the work contact elements thereof.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA G KOTIS whose telephone number is (571)270-0165. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 6am-430pm.
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/JOSHUA G KOTIS/Examiner, Art Unit 3731 12/11/2025