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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kiwamu et al. (JP 2016-014809).
Regarding claim 1, Kiwamu discloses a housing structure 40 (par. 0035, fig. 6) comprising: a first frame (fixing member 70, par. 0035, fig. 6); a second frame (reinforcing member 60, par. 0035, fig. 6) positioned below the first frame and provided with a handle part 44a (par. 0033, fig. 6), the second frame having an action surface 63 that extends in a direction crossing a vertical direction and on which external force applied to the handle part 44a acts (par. 0046, fig. 6); and an accommodation part (space between part 70 and 44, fig. 6) accommodating a substrate (i.e. hard disk HDD50, par. 0035, fig. 6) positioned between the first frame 70 and the second frame 60 (fig. 6), the accommodation part including an overlapping part (area between part 70 and 44, fig. 6) overlapping the action surface 63 of the second frame 60 in an up-down direction (fig. 6).
Regarding claim 2, Kiwamu discloses wherein the handle part 44a is positioned below the action surface 63 of the second frame 60 and is a hollow part recessed, toward an inner side of the second frame (see “recessed inward”, par. 0033), to form an inner surface including an upper-side inner surface 44b that is a guiding surface for guiding a finger of a user in a depth direction (par. 0033, fig. 6).
Regarding claim 3, Kiwamu discloses wherein an end portion of the hollow part in the depth direction is positioned within a section corresponding to the overlapping part (par. 0033, fig. 6).
Regarding claim 4, Kiwamu discloses wherein in the accommodation part, when external force is applied to the handle part 44a of the second frame 60, a predetermined portion of the overlapping part receives the external force from the action surface and transmits the external force to the first frame (par. 0046).
Regarding claim 5, Kiwamu discloses wherein the predetermined portion is apart from the action surface when no external force is applied to the handle part (par. 0046).
Regarding claim 6, Kiwamu discloses wherein the second frame 60 does not include a portion 44c directed downward from the action surface 63 (par. 0044, fig. 6).
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 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kiwamu et al.
Regarding claim 7, Kiwamu does not specifically disclose that the accommodation part is made of a nonflammable resin. However, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to make the material for the accommodation part to be a nonflammable resin, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the known material and would be recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
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/HOANG X NGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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