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 1-6 are pending in the current application.
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.
Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Specifically, each of Claims 5 and 6 are rejected since it is not clear to which component or element the “trigger is attachable and detachable” from.
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.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GE (Chinese Pat. No. CN108269710 A) in view of Wang (Taiwanese Pat. No. TWl711063 B).
Specifically, regarding Claim 1, GE discloses a switch, comprising a trigger (6, 7) that moves from a release position (FIG. 1) in a pulling direction (direction PL; FIG. 1, reproduced and annotated below) in response to a pulling operation (e.g., a depression upon 6 from a device user; FIG. 1), a return spring (13) that urges the trigger (6, 7) in a direction opposite to the pulling direction (FIG. 1), wherein the return spring (13) is pressed in the pulling direction by movement of the trigger (6, 7) and increases an urging force in accordance with a force of pressing (p. 3, line 11, and the 14th and 15th to the last lines of the attached English machine translation), and an adjustment member (12) that adjusts the urging force of the return spring (13) at the release position of the trigger (6, 7; FIG. 1, p. 3, ll. 27-29).
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GE discloses that the switch of FIG. 1 is utilized in a keyboard, but GE does not disclose that the switch is a trigger switch. However, Wang discloses a trigger switch (150; see, e.g., FIG. 1, and p. 10, the 4th complete paragraph of the attached English translation). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wang with those of GE to provide a fast and precise trigger function suitable for a variety of key structure designs (Wang, p. 8, ll. 5-6).
Regarding Claim 2, GE discloses that the adjustment member (12) is configured to move in conjunction with the movement of the trigger (FIG. 1, p. 3, ll. 27-29), comprises an abutting part (any of the threads of 12; FIG. 1) that abuts the return spring (13; FIG. 1), and is capable of adjusting the urging force by adjusting a position of the abutting part (17) at the release position of the trigger (6, 7; p. 3, ll. 17-20).
Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of GE and Wang in view of Matthew et al (U.S. Pat. No. 8,124,898, hereinafter “Matthew”).
The combination of GE and Wang discloses substantially all of the limitations of the present invention and GE further discloses that the trigger (6, 7) is attachable (inherently disclosed in, e.g., FIG. 1) and detachable (e.g., during an assembly process and prior to a coupling of 4 and 5), and in a case where the trigger (6, 7) is removed (e.g., removed from assembly with 5, prior to 5 being positioned in a final assembly location), the urging force of the adjustment member (12) is adjustable, but does not disclose that the adjustment member is adjustable by a jig that operates the adjustment member.
However, Matthew discloses an adjustment member (122; FIG. 1, col. 4, ll. 5-15) adjustable by a jig (col. 4, ll. 15-19) that operates the adjustment member (122; FIG. 1). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matthew with those of GE and Wang to provide ease of adjustment utilizing a tool and free from accidental positional manipulation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 4 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 prior art fails to teach, disclose, or suggest, either alone or in combination, a trigger switch comprising a holding part that holds an adjustment member, and moves in conjunction with a movement of a trigger and presses a return spring via an abutting part of the adjustment member being held, as recited in Claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY R. JIMENEZ whose telephone number is 313-446-6518. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday, 1030am - 9pm.
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/ANTHONY R JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2833