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 .
Claims 1-5, 7, 9-10, 13, 17, 19, 21-23, 26, 28, and 30-33 are pending.
Claims 6, 8, 11-12, 14-16, 18, 20, 24-25, 27, 29, and 34-35 are cancelled.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: 20 (Fig. 1), 89 (Fig. 5-6), GH (Fig. 5-6). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7, 9-10, 13, 17, 19, 21-23, 26, 28, and 30-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Feld et al. (US 20210093101), hereinafter Feld.
Regarding claim 1, Feld discloses a current collector (current collector 20, Fig. 6-9) for an electrical load (electrical load 5, Fig. 1) for mounting on a support system (wall member 10, Fig. 3-5), the support system including a plurality of longitudinal electrical conductor paths (electrical conductors 11, 12, Fig. 5) running parallel to one another with alternating electrical potential (Fig. 10), the current collector comprising: at least three electrically conductive contact elements (contact needles 21a, 21b, 21c, Fig. 6-9) with a cross-sectional width, wherein the electrically conductive contact elements form a polygon with a height (see Figs. 6-11), and wherein the electrically conductive contact elements have a contact element length for penetrating the longitudinal electrical conductor paths (Par. 0078, “The current collector 20 is adapted to be mounted on the wall member 10 such that at least one of the contact needles 21a contacts one of the first electrical conductor tracks 11 and at least one other of the contact needles 21b contacts one of the second electrical conductor tracks 12.”).
Regarding claim 2, Feld discloses the current collector according to claim 1, wherein the electrically conductive contact elements are needle-shaped (contact needles 21a, 21b, 21c, Fig. 6-9) and/or pin-shaped.
Regarding claim 3, Feld discloses the current collector according to claim 1, wherein: the cross-sectional width of the electrically conductive contact elements is in a range of 0.25 to 1.5 mm (Par. 0086, “contact area of 0.5 mm”).
Regarding claim 5, Feld discloses the current collector according to claim 1, wherein: the electrically conductive contact elements each have a circumferential contact surface (see Figs. 5-9) which is adapted and arranged to provide an electrical connection of one of the electrically conductive contact elements to a longitudinal electrical conductor path penetrated by the electrically conductive contact element, wherein the circumferential contact surface comprises or consists of at least one electrically conductive material, or the electrically conductive contact elements are arranged in a circular ring having a ring width and an outer circle diameter (circle 41, Figs. 6-9).
Regarding claim 7, Feld discloses the current collector according to claim 5, wherein: the ring width of the circular ring (circle 41, Fig. 10) is in a range of 0.2 x b to 1.5 x b and/or the outer circle diameter is in a range of 1.0 x b to 3.0 x b (see Fig. 10, circle 41 falls within the range of 1 x width 51, 52 and 3 x width 51, 52), wherein b (width 51, 52, Fig. 10) represents a transverse width of each longitudinal electrical conductor path of the plurality of longitudinal electrical conductor paths.
Regarding claim 9, Feld discloses the current collector according to any claim 1, wherein: the polygon (triangle 42, Fig. 6) is equilateral and the electrically conductive contact elements are located on corner points of the polygon (Fig. 6-9).
Regarding claim 10, Feld discloses the current collector according to claim 1, further comprising: a rectifier circuit (rectifier 22, Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 13, Feld discloses the current collector according claim 10, wherein: the current collector comprises a plurality of diodes (Fig. 12-13), or the current collector comprises a plurality of diodes each having a forward voltage of not more than 1 V.
Regarding claim 17, Feld discloses the current collector according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one magnetic holding component (magnet holder 30, Fig. 16) for fixation of the current collector on a magnetic or magnetizable holding layer of the support system from which the electrically conductive contact elements protrude (Par. 0050, “The wall member and the current collector can be arranged such that the current collector can be magnetically attached to the wall member.”), or wherein the current collector has at least two connection receptacles which are adapted and arranged to each receive at least one electrical lead of an electrical load.
Regarding claim 19, Feld discloses a kit-of-parts (exhibition stand 100, Fig. 1), containing: i) at least one current collector (current collector 20, Fig. 6-9) according to claim 1; and ii) a support system (wall member 10, Fig. 3-5) which is equipped with a plurality of longitudinal electrical surface conductor paths (electrical conductors 11, 12, Fig. 5, 10-11) running in each case at a transverse distance from one another, each electrical surface conductor path having a transverse width (width 51, 52, Fig. 10-11), wherein the electrically conductive contact elements of the at least one current collector have a cross-sectional width which is smaller than the transverse distance between adjacent electrical surface conductor paths (see Fig. 10-11).
Regarding claim 21, Feld discloses the kit-of-parts according to claim 19 wherein: the transverse distance between adjacent electrical surface conductor paths is smaller than the transverse width of the electrical surface conductor paths (width 53, Fig. 10), or the plurality of longitudinal electrical surface conductor paths each have a uniform transverse width, or the plurality of longitudinal electrical surface conductor paths has a substantially uniform longitudinal extent, or the plurality of adjacent electrical surface conductor paths are in each case separated from one another by a conductor-free surface.
Regarding claim 22, Feld discloses the kit-of-parts according to claim 19, wherein: at least one pair of contact elements (contact needles 21a-f, Fig. 11) has a contact distance to one another which is greater than a sum of the transverse width (width 51, 52, Fig. 10) of an electrical surface conductor path (conductive tracks 11, 12, Fig. 10-11) and the transverse distance (width 53, Fig. 10) of a conductor-free surface (insulation gap 19, Fig. 10-11) between adjacent electrical surface conductor paths and which is smaller than a sum of twice the transverse width of adjacent surface conductor paths and the transverse distance of the conductor-free surface between adjacent surface conductor paths (position E, Fig. 10), and/or for the height H of the polygon and the transverse distance t between adjacent electrical surface conductor paths: H > (b + 2 x t), and/or a transverse modulus is defined as a sum of the transverse width of an electrical surface conductor path and twice the transverse distance of the conductor-free surface between adjacent electrical surface conductor paths, wherein the contact distance substantially corresponds to the transverse modulus.
Regarding claim 23, Feld discloses the kit-of-parts according to claim 19, wherein: the contact elements have a contact element length which is greater than a path thickness of the conductor bands (see Fig. 10) and/or greater than a system thickness of the support system.
Regarding claim 26, Feld discloses the kit-of-parts according to claim 19 wherein: the plurality of adjacent surface conductor paths extends in parallel (Fig. 10).
Regarding claim 28, Feld discloses the kit-of-parts according to claim 19, wherein: in each case adjacent electrical surface conductor paths of the plurality of longitudinal electrical surface conductor paths have the same transverse distance from one another (width 53, Fig. 10) and/or the transverse width is in a range of at least 1 mm to 50 mm.
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Regarding claim 30, Feld discloses the kit-of-parts according to claim 19, wherein: the transverse distance between adjacent electrical surface conductor paths is in a range of 2.0 to 20 mm and/or the transverse width of the electrical surface conductor paths is in a range of 15 to 50 mm (Par. 0086, see Table above for range of conductor path widths.).
Regarding claim 31, Feld discloses the kit-of-parts according to claim 19 wherein: the electrical surface conductor paths are low-voltage surface conductor paths (Par. 0099, “In general, the conductors 11, 12 usually carry low voltage, for example 12 or 24 V, so that the risk of injury when handling the proposed wall member 10 or the current collector 20 or an electrical device 5 connected to it can be almost completely excluded.”).
Regarding claim 32, Feld discloses the kit-of-parts according to claim 19, wherein: the support system is configured to be magnetizable (Par. 0079, “the current collector 20 can be adapted such that the current collector can be magnetically attached to the wall member. For example, the current collector 20 may comprise one or more magnets 32 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.”).
Regarding claim 33, Feld discloses the kit-of-parts according to claim 19 wherein: the plurality ofPar. 0099, “The application of the conductor tracks 11, 12 on the carrier plate 15 can be done for example by spraying, gluing or welding. In particular, conductive lacquers can also be used for the conductor paths 11, 12 which are sprayed/printed (e.g. by screen printing) onto the carrier plate 15.”).
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(s) 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Feld (US 20210093101).
Regarding claim 4, Feld discloses the current collector according to claim 1.
However, Feld fails to explicitly disclose wherein: the contact element length is in a range of 0.5 to 10 mm.
Feld discloses contact elements (contact needles 21a-c, Fig. 6-9) capable of performing the same intended purpose. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to select contact element lengths that fall within the broad range of 0.5 to 10mm through routine experimentation and engineering judgment. Optimizing such variables is within the ordinary skill in the art and does not require undue experimentation. See MPEP 2144.05(II)(A).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Bombara et al. (US Patent 10,897,114) discloses a configurable low voltage power panel comprising a module having a conductive shank configured to attach to conductive members.
Willemsen et al. (CN 101946116) discloses an electrode device having a base and at least two contact elements.
Verjans et al. (US 20090219712) discloses a conducting wallpaper for contact an electrical device comprising pins and conductive stripes.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jeffrey Mountain whose telephone number is (703)756-1939. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30am - 6:30pm ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tulsidas Patel can be reached at (571)272-2098. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JEFFREY MOUNTAIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/TULSIDAS C PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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