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 .
Notification regarding 35 USC § 112f
The following is a quotation of AIA 35 U.S.C. 112f:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
In claim 1: claim limitations “a static contact assembly arranged at …” and “a movable contact assembly arranged at …” have been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), because it uses/they use a generic placeholder “a static contact assembly” and “a movable contact assembly” coupled with functional language “arranged at …” without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function. Furthermore, the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier.
Since the claim limitation(s) invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f), claim 1 has been interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification that achieves the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
A review of the specification shows that, although it is not clear, the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112f: “the static contact assembly comprises a first conductive sheet and a static contact arranged on the first conductive sheet, the movable contact assembly comprises a second conductive sheet and a movable contact arranged on the second conductive sheet” has been described in the present disclosure, especially in the dependent claim 2.
If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
If applicant does not intend to have the claim limitation(s) treated under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), applicant may amend the claim(s) so that it/they will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f), or present a sufficient showing that the claim recites/recite sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112(f).
For more information, see MPEP § 2173 et seq. and Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance With 35 U.S.C. 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
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 1-3 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Satoh et al. (US 20150247650 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Satoh discloses
A temperature controller (bimetal switch 22, fig.3), comprising: a mounting body (housing of bimetal switch 22, fig.3), wherein a first electrical connecting terminal (right terminal 29, fig.3) and a second electrical connecting terminal (left terminal 29, fig.3) are arranged on the mounting body (housing of bimetal switch 22) at an interval, a contact conductive mechanism (fixed contact 27a, movable contact 27b, spring 28, fig.3) and a heating element (electric heater 5d, fig.2) are arranged in parallel between the first electrical connecting terminal (right terminal 29) and the second electrical connecting terminal (left terminal 29), the contact conductive mechanism (fixed contact 27a, movable contact 27b, spring 28) comprises a static contact assembly (fixed contact 27a) arranged at the first electrical connecting terminal (right terminal 29) and a movable contact assembly (movable contact 27b, spring 28) arranged at the second electrical connecting terminal (left terminal 29) and in conductive contact with the static contact assembly (fixed contact 27a), a bimetallic sheet (disc-shaped bimetal 22a, fig.3) is arranged on the mounting body (housing of bimetal switch 22), and the bimetallic sheet (disc-shaped bimetal 22a), when being deformed by heat, is capable of driving the movable contact assembly (movable contact 27b, spring 28) away from the static contact assembly (fixed contact 27a) to enable conduction of the heating element (electric heater 5d) [Par.0043 cited: “…bimetal 22a reaches the critical temperature, thereby deforming so as to project upward, the movable contact 27b biased by the spring 28 separates from the fixed contact 27a, and as a result, a non-energized condition is established…”].
Regarding claim 2, Satoh discloses
the static contact assembly (fixed contact 27a, fig.3) comprises a first conductive sheet (FCS, annotated figure below) and a static contact (fixed contact 27a) arranged on the first conductive sheet (FCS), the movable contact assembly (movable contact 27b, spring 28, fig.3) comprises a second conductive sheet (spring 28) and a movable contact (movable contact 27b) arranged on the second conductive sheet (spring 28), the second conductive sheet (spring 28) elastically recovers towards the first conductive sheet (FCS) to make the movable contact abut against the static contact (fixed contact 27a), a driving rod (pin 26, fig.3) is movably arranged on the mounting body (housing of bimetal switch 22, fig.3), one end (bottom end of pin 26) of the driving rod (pin 26) abuts against the bimetallic sheet (disc-shaped bimetal 22a, fig.3), and the other end (top end of pin 26) of the driving rod (pin 26) abuts against the second conductive sheet (spring 28)to drive the movable contact to separate from the static contact (fixed contact 27a) [Par.0041 cited: “…pin 26 that moves in an axial direction when the bimetal 22a deforms, a fixed contact 27a fixed within a casing, a movable contact 27b biased toward the fixed contact 27a by a biasing force of a spring 28…”].
Regarding claim 3, Satoh discloses
second conductive sheet (spring 28, fig.3) is horizontally “U”-shaped (spring 28, fig.3, has a horizontal U-shaped), the movable contact (movable contact 27b) is arranged at one end of the second conductive sheet (spring 28) close to the first conductive sheet (FCS, annotated figure below), and the other end of the second conductive sheet (spring 28) is electrically connected with the second electrical connecting terminal (left terminal 29, fig.3) through a conductive connecting sheet (middle portion of spring 28, fig.3).
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Regarding claim 10, Satoh discloses
the heating element is a PTC heating unit [Par.0029 cited: “…electric heater 5d is a sheath heater or a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heater…”].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Satoh et al. (US 20150247650 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Satoh discloses substantially all the features as set forth above, such as the mounting body (housing of bimetal switch 22, fig.3) comprises a shell (S, annotated figured above) and a face cover (F, annotated figured above), an interior of the shell (S) is provided with a containing cavity (C, annotated figured above) with an upward opening, the face cover (F) is configured for closing the opening of the containing cavity (C), the heating element (electric heater 5d), the static contact assembly (fixed contact 27a), the movable contact assembly (movable contact 27b, spring 28) and the bimetallic sheet (disc-shaped bimetal 22a) are all located in the accommodating cavity (C), an inner peripheral wall of an upper end of the shell (S) is provided with a positioning groove (G, annotated figure above), an peripheral edge of the bimetallic sheet (disc-shaped bimetal 22a) abuts against a bottom wall of the positioning groove (G), and a middle part of the bimetallic sheet (disc-shaped bimetal 22a) abuts against an inner top wall of the face cover (F).
However, Satoh does not disclose the heating element is located in the accommodating cavity.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to relocate the heater as taught by Satoh, is located in the accommodating cavity, in order to provide an amount of heat in the cavity, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 4, the prior art Satoh does not anticipate or render fairly obvious in combination to teach the limitations …the first electrical connecting terminal is provided with a first vertical conductive part extending upwards and the second electrical connecting terminal is provided with a second vertical conductive part extending upwards, an upper end of the first vertical conductive part is located above an upper end of the second vertical conductive part, both the first conductive sheet and the second conductive sheet are horizontally arranged, one end of the first conductive sheet is connected with an upper part of the first vertical conductive part, the heating element is connected between the other end of the first conductive sheet and the upper end of the second vertical conductive part, the second conductive sheet is connected to the second vertical conductive part and extends below the first conductive sheet, the static contact is convexly arranged on a lower surface of the first conductive sheet, and the movable contact is convexly arranged on an upper surface of the second conductive sheet to abut against the static contact…
The dependent claims 5-8 are also objected by being depended on claim 4.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Slack (US 4864102) is considered as the relevant prior art in field of a temperature controller, as shown in fig.2, with a heater, a static assembly and movable assembly … but does not explicitly disclose a first and a second terminals…
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUONG T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1834. The examiner can normally be reached 9.00am-5.00pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Crabb can be reached on 571-270-5095. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHUONG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
07/27/2026
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