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 § 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 (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 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) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 6406376).
Regarding claim 1, Lin discloses a fastener Fig. 15 comprising: a screw head 3 having four driven wall portions 40, 41, 42, 43 and four guiding wall portions (3a of Annotated Fig. 15, below) that are disposed about a central axis of the fastener in an alternating arrangement, the driven wall portions being equiangularly spaced apart from each other, each of the guiding wall portions being straight and having two opposite ends that are respectively connected to two of the driven wall portions adjacent to the guiding wall portion, the driven wall portions and the guiding wall portions cooperatively defining a driven recess 4 that has an opening, each of the driven wall portions having a curved section that defines an arc of a circle and that has two opposite ends, and two straight sections (3b of Annotated Fig. 15, below) each of which extends from a respective one of the ends of the curved section, interconnects the respective one of the ends of the curved section and a respective one of two of the guiding wall portions adjacent to the driven wall portion, has a curvature that is 0, and is non-parallel to the respective one of the two of the guiding wall portions adjacent to the driven wall portion, a central angle of the curved section of each of the driven wall portions being smaller than 180 degrees; and a screw shank extending from one side of the screw head opposite to the opening of the driven recess in an axial direction of the central axis, and having at least one thread that helically extends therealong Fig. 13. However, Lin fails to explicitly disclose a dimensional range where a ratio of a longest distance between two of the driven wall portions that are non-adjacent to each other to a longest distance between two of the driven wall portions that are adjacent to each other being greater than 1.16. Nevertheless, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the distance between portions to any number of ranges (i.e. greater than 1.16) disclosed by Applicant in order to scale and otherwise optimize the disclosed structure to achieve its intended use in a particular environment of intended use benefitting from same wherein scaling fasteners to intended use is well known in the art and would not otherwise affect function of the invention and since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
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Regarding claims 2 and 6, the Lin as modified discloses the invention as claimed above fails to explicitly disclose wherein a radius of curvature of the curved section of each of the driven wall portions 40-43 is greater than a length of each of the straight sections of the driven wall portion of the fastener head and driver bit. Nevertheless, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention since it has been held that, where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device. In re Gardner v. TEC Syst., Inc., 725 F.2d 1338, 220 USPQ 777 (Fed. Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 830, 225 USPQ 232 (1984)
Regarding claim 3, Lin as modified discloses wherein the screw head 3 is formed with an engaging recess 44 that extends from the driven recess 4 along the axial direction, and that is located below the driven wall portions 40-43 and the guiding wall portions 41.
Regarding claim 4, Lin as modified discloses wherein a cross section of the engaging recess 44 of the screw head 3 on an imaginary plane perpendicular to the central axis is configured to be one of a circular shape, a quadrilateral shape, an octagonal shape, and a cross shape.
Regarding claim 5, Lin as modified discloses a driver bit 1 Fig. 10 adapted for driving the fastener, the driver bit comprising: a connecting member 1; and a head end member 2 disposed on one end of the connecting member and having four driving wall portions 20 and four guiding wall portions 240 that are disposed about a central axis of the driver bit in an alternating arrangement, the driving wall portions of the driver bit being equiangularly spaced apart from each other, a distal edge of each of the guiding wall portions of the driver bit distal from the connecting member being straight and having two opposite ends that are respectively connected to two of the driving wall portions of the driver bit adjacent to the guiding wall portion of the driver bit, a distal edge of each of the driving wall portions of the driver bit distal from the connecting member having a curved section that defines an arc of a circle and that has two opposite ends, and two straight sections each of which extends from a respective one of the ends of the curved section of the driver bit and interconnects the respective one of the ends of the curved section of the driver bit and a respective one of two of the guiding wall portions of the driver bit adjacent to the driving wall portion of the driver bit, a central angle of the curved section of the distal edge of each of the driving wall portions of the driver bit being smaller than 180 degrees.
Regarding limitations to dimension of the driver bit, the combination fails to explicitly disclose where a dimensional range of a ratio of a longest distance between two of the driven wall portions that are non-adjacent to each other to a longest distance between two of the driven wall portions that are adjacent to each other being greater than 1.16. Nevertheless, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the distance between portions to any number of ranges (i.e. greater than 1.16) disclosed by Applicant, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding claim 7, Lin as modified discloses an engaging member 24 that protrudes from the head end member 2, and that protrudes away from the connecting member along the central axis of the driver bit. Regarding claim 8, Lin as modified wherein a cross section of the engaging member 24 of the driver bit 1 on an imaginary plane perpendicular to the central axis of the driver bit is configured to be one of a circular shape, a quadrilateral shape, an octagonal shape, and a cross shape.
Regarding claims 9-12, Lin as modified discloses the limitations as claimed above and discloses the use of a punch tool (Col. 1, Ln. 32-35) adapted for forming the driven recess of the fastener 1, but fails to explicitly disclose all the components of the punch tool. However, the office takes official notice that it would have been to one of ordinary skill in the art that the punch tool would have matched the dimensions of the fastener recess in which it was making the recess therein.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-12 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
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 EUGENE G BYRD whose telephone number is (571)270-1824. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm.
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/EUGENE G BYRD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675
