DETAILED ACTION
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 .
This communication is in response to RCE received on 04/01/2026.
Claims 1, 3 – 9 and 11 – 16 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 3 – 9 and 11 – 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
As to claim 1, it is unclear what is meant by the phrase “a device interior having at least two device openings”. It is unclear what is location of the device openings in the device interior?
Claims 3 – 9 and 11 – 16 are rejected by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
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) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DE10201908152 (hereinafter ‘152) in view of Wehler et al. (2005/0172606).
As to claim 1 (in so far as understood), ‘152 discloses a distance measuring device comprising a housing element (12) having a plurality of shell element (14, Fig. 1 and 2b) which at least partially encloses a device interior having at least two device openings (Fig. 1 and 2), at least one fastening element (22; Fig. 2a, 2b) which is arranged on the housing element (12) and is configured to be detachably arranged on a fastening device (24, Fig. 2a), at least one length compensating element (30) arranged in the device interior and having a spring (22, Fig. 3a) which is fixed to one of the shell elements and has a cable guide (16) or corrugated hose housing (Fig. 3a), wherein the cable guide or corrugated hose housing is adapted to be arranged on a cable guide or on a corrugated hose, wherein the device has at least a first sensor element (34) arranged in the device interior (Fig. 3a) and adapted to detect a change in the length compensating element and/or a spring elongation of the spring of the length compensating element (Abstract), (Fig. 3a).
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‘152 fails to explicitly disclose a housing element having a plurality of shell elements and wherein each of the plurality of shell elements is arranged on at least one further shell element so as to be pivotable about a rotational axis. Wehler et al. (hereinafter Wehler) discloses a robot with a line guidance device comprising a housing element (2) having a plurality of shell elements (21) and wherein each of the plurality of shell elements (21) is arranged on at least one further shell element (26) so as to be pivotable about a rotational axis (Fig. 1, 9 and 10, [0073], [0074]).
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Therefore, at the time of the invention, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of ‘152 in view of the teachings of Wehler a housing element having a plurality of shell elements and wherein each of the plurality of shell elements is arranged on at least one further shell element so as to be pivotable about a rotational axis would result in secure and reliable housing cable guide.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REENA AURORA whose telephone number is (571)272-2263. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8:00AM-5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lee Rodak can be reached at 5712705628. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/REENA AURORA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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