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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 2-8 and 21-28 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on July 06, 2026.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 9, and 11-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jiang (CN 112145942A).
Regarding claim 1, Jiang discloses a composite bearing (FIGS. 2-12), applied to a photographic device (FIGS. 1, 11, (100)/(200)/(300), [0050]), comprising: a housing ((1), [0051]) defined with a mounting hole (FIGS. 3, 6, 10); two locking assemblies ((23)/(28), (24)/(28), [0068]), rotatably arranged in the mounting hole in sequence along an axial direction of the mounting hole (FIGS. 2, 3, 9, 10, [0068]), both of the two locking assemblies being defined with a through hole along an axial direction of the housing (FIGS. 6, 10), and the through hole being configured to mount an external shaft (FIGS. 5, 6, 9, 10, (5), [0062-0065]); a side wall of each of the locking assemblies being provided with a plurality of rolling members (FIGS. 6, 10, (28), [0062, 0063]) arranged at intervals and along a periphery of the locking assembly (FIGS. 6, 10, [0062, 0063]), and the rolling members being located between an inner wall of the mounting hole and the external shaft (FIG. 6, [0062]); a transmission assembly (FIGS. 3, 4, 10, (3), [0068]) connected to the two locking assemblies respectively to allow the two locking assemblies clamping the external shaft in the through hole of the locking assemblies ([0052, 0068]); and an unlocking assembly (FIG. 10, (4), [0052, 0067, 0068]) connected to the two locking assemblies respectively, and configured to drive the two locking assemblies to rotate to release the external shaft ([0052, 0069, 0070]).
Regarding claim 9, Jiang further discloses the composite bearing of claim 1, wherein the locking assembly further comprises an annular retaining frame (FIGS. 6, 10, (23), (24), [0068]) located inside the housing (FIGS. 6, 10, [0068]), the annular retaining frame is defined with a plurality of mounting slots arranged at intervals and along a periphery wall of the annular retaining frame, the rolling members are correspondingly arranged in the mounting slots (FIGS. 6, 10, (28) is circumferentially embedded in (23)/(24), [0062]) and are capable of moving in a radial direction of the annular retaining frame (gradually converges towards or moves away from the central axis, [0064]); an inner peripheral wall of the housing is provided with a plurality of contacting portions (FIGS. 6, 7, 10, (27)/(272), wherein (27) can be locked in (1), [0064]; [0066, 0067]) distributed along the inner peripheral wall of the housing (FIGS. 6, 7), each of the contacting portions corresponds and contacts to one of the rolling members (FIG. 6, [0066]); the contacting portions, corresponding to one of the annular retaining frames, have heights gradually increases in a first circumferential direction of the mounting hole (gradually increases, [0067]); and the contacting portions, corresponding to the other annular retaining frame, have heights gradually decreases in the first circumferential direction of the mounting hole ((23) and (24) rotate in opposite directions to lock and unlock; therefore, the contacting portions of one must have heights gradually increases while the other must have height gradually decreases when viewed in the same direction, [0067]).
Regarding claim 11, Jiang further discloses the composite bearing of claim 9, wherein an end of each of the two locking assemblies adjacent to the other locking assembly is provided with an annular pawl (indicated below); each annular retaining frame comprises an end adjacent to the other annular retaining frame, with each of the two adjacent ends connected with one of the annular pawl (shown below);
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a peripheral side of the housing is defined with a pawl mounting port extending along a circumferential direction of the mounting hole (indicated below),
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the pawl mounting port is arranged facing to a side wall of the two annular pawls (FIGS. 3-5), and the unlocking assembly is connected to the two annular pawls from the pawl mounting port (FIGS. 3-5).
Regarding claim 12, Jiang further discloses the composite bearing of claim 11, wherein the transmission assembly comprises a tension spring (FIGS. 3, 4, 10, (3), [0056, 0068]) arranged around an outer peripheral wall of the housing (FIG. 3, [0068]), the tension spring is in a stretched state and connects to the locking assemblies to allow the two locking assemblies clamping the external shaft in the through hole ([0053, 0056, 0068, 0082]); and the tension spring extends in a circuitous manner along a circumference of the housing (FIG. 3).
Regarding claim 13, Jiang further discloses the composite bearing of claim 12, wherein a middle section of the tension spring comprises a plurality of S-shaped portions or Z-shaped portions; openings of the S-shaped portions are toward an end of the housing, or openings of the Z-shaped portions are toward the end of the housing;
and/or, both ends of the tension spring are provided with a hook, and each of the two hooks is connected to one of the two locking assemblies (FIGS. 2, 10, (3) connects to (26) of (23)/(24), [0068]);
and/or, the outer peripheral wall of the housing is defined with an annular groove, and the tension spring is arranged in the annular groove (limiting groove, [0082]).
Regarding claim 14, Jiang further discloses the composite bearing of claim 12, wherein the annular pawl is provided with a connecting post (FIGS. 2, 3, 10, (26), [0058]) located outside of the pawl mounting port (FIGS. 2-4), the tension spring is wrapped around a side of the housing away from the pawl mounting port (FIG. 3, (3) wraps under the housing away from the port), and the tension spring has two ends with each end connecting to the connecting post of one of the two annular pawls (FIG. 3, [0058, 0059, 0061, 0068]).
Regarding claim 15, Jiang further discloses the composite bearing of claim 14, wherein an inner side of each of the two annular pawls is projected with several first protrusions along a radial direction of the annular pawl, the several first protrusions are arranged at intervals in a circumferential direction of the annular pawls, two adjacent ends of the two annular retaining frames are provided with several second protrusions along an axial direction of the annular retaining frames, the several second protrusions are arranged at intervals in a circumferential direction of the annular retaining frames; the several second protrusions of each annular retaining frame are staggered with the several first protrusions of the corresponding annular pawl, and each second protrusion is clasped between two adjacent first protrusions;
and/or, an inner wall of the housing is defined with an annular pawl positioning groove, the pawl mounting port is defined on a bottom surface of the pawl positioning groove, and the two annular pawls are fitted and clasped in the pawl positioning groove (the limiting groove around the outer surface of (1) also serves as annular pawl positioning groove on the inside of (1) where (23)/(24) are positioned with (26) protruding out from the pawl mounting port, [0079, 0082]).
Regarding claim 16, Jiang further discloses the composite bearing of claim 1, wherein the unlocking assembly comprises a first pulling member (FIG. 3, (91), [0071]), a second pulling member (FIG. 3, (92), [0071]), a connecting member (FIG. 2, a screw fastened to (42), [0071]), and an unlocking member (FIG. 2, (41), [0071]); an end of the first pulling member is rotatably connected to one of the locking assemblies ((91) connected to (23), [0071]), the other end of the first pulling member is rotatably connected to an end of the connecting member (FIG. 3, the end closer to the screw head, [0071]); an end of the second pulling member is rotatably connected to the other one of the locking assemblies ((92) connected to (24), [0071]), the other end of the second pulling member is rotatably connected to the other end of the connecting member (FIG. 3, the end farther from the screw head, [0071]); the unlocking member drives the connecting member to move upward to drive the first pulling member and the second pulling member to drive the two locking assemblies to rotate to release the external shaft ([0071, 0072]).
Regarding claim 17, Jiang further discloses the composite bearing of claim 16, wherein the unlocking assembly further comprises a first shaft rod (FIG. 2, (43), [0057, 0072, 0077]), the first shaft rod has two ends with one provided with a first connecting portion and the other provided with a second connecting portion (two opposite ends of (43)), the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion are protruded on a front side and a rear side of the connecting member respectively ((43) protrudes on both sides of (42)), the first connecting portion is connected to the first pulling member, and the second connecting portion is connected to the second pulling member (FIG. 3, both ends of (43) are connected to both (91) and (92)).
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) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang (CN 112145942A) as applied to claims 1, 9, and 11-17 above.
Regarding claim 10:
Jiang discloses the composite bearing of claim 9, wherein a difference between a maximum distance and a minimum distance from the contacting portions to an axis of the mounting hole is set as L, a diameter of the mounting hole is set as R (indicated below).
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Jiang does not specifically disclose that the L is 0.3mm to 1.5mm, or the L is within 0.5mm; and/or, a ratio of the L to a radius of the rolling member is 0.1 to 0.6; and/or, a ratio of the L to the R is 0.012 to 0.05; and/or, an outer diameter of the housing is within 25mm; and/or, a radius of each rolling member is 0.3mm to 20mm.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enable the L to be 0.3mm to 1.5mm, or the L to be within 0.5mm; and/or, a ratio of the L to a radius of the rolling member to be 0.1 to 0.6; and/or, a ratio of the L to the R to be 0.012 to 0.05; and/or, an outer diameter of the housing to be within 25mm; and/or, a radius of each rolling member to be 0.3mm to 20mm, 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.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FANG-CHI CHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5299. The examiner can normally be reached MRF 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, STEPHANIE BLOSS can be reached at 5712723555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FANG-CHI CHANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2852
/STEPHANIE E BLOSS/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
