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 . The instant application with Application Number 18/561,056 filed on 11/15/2023 is presented for examination. As per the remarks of 11/15/2023, claims 1-10 have been amended. Claims 1-10 ae pending.
Information Disclosure Statment
The Information Disclosure Statement dated 11/15/2023 is acknowledged and the cited references have been considered in this examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
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 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 present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 of this title, 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.
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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1- 3 and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Castillo et al. (US 2010/0320961) (Hereinafter, Castillo) in view of Wagman et al. (US 2017/0093079).
With respect to claim 1, Castillo discloses a charging box (Fig. 2, 100) comprising a lower housing (Fig. 2, 110) and an upper housing (Reproduced Fig. 9, 410 upper housing) slidably connected to a top opening (Fig. 9, 416/415) of the lower housing (Fig. 9, 415 Lower housing), wherein the lower housing (Fig. 9, Lower housing) is provided with a lower inner housing (Fig. 9, 415) therein, a top part of the lower inner housing (Fig. 9, 415/416) is opened and provided with an earphone slot (Para. # 0015, 0060), the lower inner housing (Fig. 9, 415 Lower housing) connected to the
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lower housing (Fig. 9, 415 Lower housing), and the upper housing (Fig. 9, 410 upper housing ) is connected to the lower inner housing (Fig. 9, 415/416) by a transmission structure (Para. # 0065), and wherein the transmission structure is configured to, during an opening movement of the upper housing (Fig. 9, upper housing 410),
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drive the lower inner housing (Fig. 9, 415/416), such that at least a part structure of the lower inner housing (Fig. 9, 415/416) protrudes upward out of the top opening (Para. # 0044: leather or plastic, and has openings 151, 152, by way of which the electrical container charging contact 111 and the actuable charging pushbutton LT).
Castillo, does not expressly disclose an upper and lower housing that fits when rotating.
Wagman, on the other hand, discloses a disclose an upper and lower housing that open or close when rotating (See Para. # 0011/0012: lid resists rotating from the open position to the closed position until the lid is moved past the over center position when the lid is then attracted to the closed position).
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CASTILLO and Wagman are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor namely container and rechargeable earphones and waterproof receptacle assembly.
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the upper and lower housing of a charging box that rotates when open or close to the rechargeable earphone of Castillo in view of Wagman for the benefit of free movements of the enclosure without being separated from each other in order to keep the upper and lower cases of the housing n safe position.
With respect to claim 2 and 7, the combined references of Castillo and Wagman discloses the charging box as described above, further Wagman discloses wherein the transmission structure comprises a connecting rod structure connected between the upper housing and the lower inner housing and the upper housing pulls the lower inner housing to rotate by the connecting rod structure (Par. # 0193/0194:lid 2210 includes an extension 2225 attached to the lid and disposed on an opposite side of pivotable joint 2230 from the lid. That is, when lid 2210 rotates about pivotable joint 2230, extension 2225 also rotates about the pivotable joint).
With respect to claims 3, 8 and 10, the combined references of Castillo and Wagman discloses the charging box as described above, further Castello discloses wherein the upper housing (Fig. 9, upper housing 410), is slidable in a preset straight direction with respect to the lower housing (Fig. 9, 415 Lower housing), and during the opening movement of the upper housing (Fig. 9, upper housing 410), a part of a starting end of the lower inner housing (Fig. 9, 415/416) in an opening movement direction of the upper housing (Fig. 9, upper housing 410) gradually protrudes out of the top opening (see protrusion of Fig. 2, 100 in the center part).
With respect to claim 9, the combined references of Castillo and Wagman discloses the charging box as described above, further Wagman discloses wherein a cover plate (Fig. 3, 120;top cover) is fixed and disposed in the lower housing (3), the cover plate (Fig. 3, 120;top cover) and the lower housing enclose to form a mounting chamber, a battery (Fig. 3, 227: Para. # 0122) and a PCB (Par.# 216) are disposed in the mounting chamber, and the lower inner housing is located outside of the mounting chamber (Para. # 216: electrical contacts 2930 can further include electrical leads 2955 that extend out of interconnection face 2820 (see FIG. 28) of connector assembly 2800 that can couple the receptacle connector to a printed circuit board or similar substrate).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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. Claims 5 and 6 are depend on the above objected claim 4.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YALKEW FANTU whose telephone number is (571)272-8928. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DREW A DUNN can be reached at 571-272-2312. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YALKEW FANTU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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