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 . Claims 1-16 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12-23-2025,07-29-2025,12-26-2023 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: “VIBRATION DEVICE WITH IMPACT ABSORBING PART”
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a).
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.
(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 1-6,8,9,11-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) and USC 102 (a)(2) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Takahashi (US PG PUB 20200389078A1 hereinafter “Takahashi”).
Re-claim 1, Takahashi discloses a vibration device (Title) comprising: a vibration actuator (inside of case 10, actuator ) configured to vibrate a movable body (20) by driving the movable body in one direction (up and down direction of fig.1) of a vibration direction of the movable body (20, direction of vibration is up and down in fig.1, where f is shown in fig.12), the movable body (20) being supported such that the movable body is allowed to elastically (via components 81) vibrate with respect to a fixing body (806); and a housing part (10) configured to house and seal (enclosed the device) the vibration actuator (1 inside of 10) inside the housing part (10), wherein the vibration actuator is attached at an inner wall (128, inside of 12, wall of 128) of the housing part via a supporting member (support member can be any or combination of 12, 52, 526,528,81-82,) extending in the one direction (vertical direction in fig.2).
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Re-claim 2, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 1, wherein the supporting member ((support member can be any or combination of 12, 52, 526,528,81-82,) extending) supports one of the movable body (20) and the fixing body with respect to the inner wall (inner wall of 128, 12).
Re-claim 3, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration actuator (device inside 10 is the actuators) is attached such that the vibration actuator is suspended (10 and 20) at the inner wall (inside of 10) by the supporting member (support members support member can be any or combination of 12, 52, 526,528,81-82 hold the device inside the case).
Re-claim 4, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 1, wherein the movable body (20) includes a weight member(41).
Re-claim 5, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 1, further comprising a limiting part (26,28,24 and 72) configured to limit a movable range ( they limit spring from moving up and down, as seen in fig.13, swing 20 against the top cover, and also 72, 722, against the top cover) of the movable body (20).
Re-claim 6, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 5, wherein the limiting part (26,28,72) includes an impact absorbing part (26,28 and 72) configured to absorb an impact of the movable body (impact shown in fig.13, top of wall) when the movable body is limited (20 is limited by wall, 122, and 20).
Re-claim 8, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 6, wherein the impact absorbing part (26,28,72) is disposed between the movable body (20) and the inner wall of the housing part (top wall of 122, see fig.2).
Re-claim 9, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 1,wherein the vibration actuator (205, see fig.16) is attached to an inner wall of a contact part (inside of GC, Game controller) where an external vibration object makes contact with the housing part P[0049], 1 is mounted as vibration device inside electronic device portable game terminal device, smart phone, which vibrate notify user, is connected to inside of cellphone inner wall, or play station or game controller inner wall to cause vibrations).
Re-claim 11, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 1, wherein the housing part (12, 112,has a cylindrical shape (112, see fig.1).
Re-claim 12, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 1, wherein the housing part (10) includes: a housing base part (11); a housing lid (12) part fixed to the housing base part (11); and a sealing member (52b) disposed between the housing base part (11) and the housing lid part (12) and configured to seal inside of the housing part (P[0109]).
Re-claim 13, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 12, further comprising a labyrinth structure (12a) provided on outside than a position (126a) where the sealing member (12a, labyrinth structure) is disposed, between (at least diagonally, from end of 122, to 11) the housing base part (11) and the housing lid part (12).
Re-claim 14, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 12, further comprising a step structure (annotated fig.2) provided on outside than a position where the sealing member is disposed (annotated fig.2), between the housing base part (112) and the housing lid part (11).
Re-claim 15, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration actuator includes: the fixing body (54,52,5,50) including a coil (62) and a core (526) around which the coil is wound (fig.2), the movable body including a yoke (22,41,42) comprising a magnetic member (30) and disposed near both end portions (end so f42 ,or 30, or at eds of 30, could be 41,42) of the core to face the both end portions in a direction intersecting a winding axis (up and down axis, vertical axis of coil around device in fig.2) of the coil (62,61), and an elastic part (82,81) configured to support the movable body (20) with respect to the fixing body in a direction of facing at least one end portion of both end portions (both ends of 20 has springs 81,82) of the movable body, the elastic part being elastically deformable (81 and 82 are elastic springs).
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 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 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 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi in view of Chiba (US PG pub 20230103219 hereinafter “Chiba”).
Re-claim 7, Takahashi teach vibration device according to claim 6.
However, Takahashi fails to explicitly teach wherein the impact absorbing part is a damper comprising an elastomer.
However, Chiba teaches wherein the impact absorbing part (150) is a damper (152 is damper) comprising an elastomer (layer 177,881 of damper 150, 850, 950, see P[0074]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to make the material of the damper of Takahashi wherein the impact absorbing part is a damper comprising an elastomer as taught by Chiba which is a material that will be used to reduce torsional resonance and improve oscillation outputs (Chiba, P[0017]).
Claim 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi in view of Kuroda (Japanese Patent 2013255388a hereinafter “Kuroda”).
Re-claim 10, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 9,
Takahashi fails to explicitly teach wherein the contact part is formed such that a center portion of the contact part protrudes to outside.
However, Kuroda teaches wherein the contact part (70) is formed such that a center portion (75a) of the contact part protrudes to outside (annotated fig from Kuroda).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the device of Takahashi wherein the contact part is formed such that a center portion of the contact part protrudes to outside as shown by Kuroda as taught by Kuroda to reduce size of vibrator and generate large vibrations and have large vibration force (Kuroda, Page 21 p[4]).
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Claim 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi in view of Kang et al (US PG Pub 20170332004 hereinafter “Kang”).
Re-claim 16, Takahashi discloses the vibration device according to claim 15.
Takahashi fails to explicitly teach further comprising a half-wave rectifier circuit configured to drive the vibration actuator.
However, Kang teaches further comprising a half-wave rectifier circuit configured to drive the vibration actuator (P[0097],halfwave rectifying unit rectify signal for current received, into half wave, then amplified and detect peaks, see fig.6, 540,500 drives the vibrator, see feedback).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the device of Takahashi comprising a half-wave rectifier circuit configured to drive the vibration actuator as suggested by Kang to provide drive signal and detection for movable unit actuator (Kang, Page 21 p[4]).
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Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure in PTO892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAGED M ALMAWRI whose telephone number is (313)446-6565. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher M. Koehler can be reached on 5712723560. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MAGED M ALMAWRI/ Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834