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 are pending.
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 (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 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.
The factual inquiries 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(s) 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kanaya et al. (US 20170328441 A1).
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Regarding claim 1, Kanaya discloses a vibration actuator (fig. 1) comprising:
a movable body (movable body, annotated fig. 1) comprising: a disk-shaped magnet (magnet, annotated fig. 1); a pair of magnetic cores (cores, annotated fig. 1; para [0052]: “In these permanent magnet 88 and upper and lower yokes 90, 92, a through hole 94 is formed extending on the central axes thereof in the axial direction.”) respectively fixed to front and rear surfaces of the disk-shaped magnet (see annotated fig. 1 and para [0052]: “The mover 26 has an armature in a structure wherein an upper yoke 90 and a lower yoke 92 as inner yokes are superposed on the respective upper-lower sides of a permanent magnet 88.”); and a pair of spring stopper parts (retainers, annotated fig. 1) respectively connected to the pair of magnetic cores (see annotated fig. 1);
a pair of elastic support parts (springs, annotated fig. 1; para [0006]: “plate springs”) each of which comprises a flat-plate-shaped leaf spring (para [0055]: “the upper plate spring 18”) connected to a corresponding spring stopper part and extending in a radial direction (see annotated fig. 1) and is configured to support the movable body (implied);
a fixing body (fixing body, annotated fig. 1) configured to connect to the pair of elastic support parts in a state where an annular protection wall portion (wall, annotated fig. 1), a pair of annular coils (coils, annotated fig. 1) and a magnetic shield (shield, annotated fig. 1; outer yokes: see para [0034]) are disposed at an outer circumferential side of the movable body, and accommodate therein the movable body such that the movable body is capable of reciprocally vibrating in an axial direction (implied); and
a cylindrical case (case, annotated fig. 1) having, on a circumferential wall portion, an opening portion (opening, annotated fig. 1) for wires (wires, annotated fig. 1) for supplying power to the pair of annular coils and configured to close upper and lower faces of the circumferential wall portion (implied, it closes the opening) and accommodate therein the fixing body, wherein
a lid portion of the cylindrical case (lid, annotated fig. 1) is disposed at a height such that a moving space (space between the spring and the top wall, annotated fig. 1) as a movable range for the movable body is secured and the movable range is limited by contact of the movable body and the lid portion upon extension of the elastic support parts (implied, physically, the lid is the axial displacement limit for the movable body).
Kanaya does not disclose: the cylindrical case is made of a resin. However, selecting a resin casing is within the skills of a person having ordinary skills in the art.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the cylindrical casing is made of a resin.
Regarding claim 5, Kanaya does not disclose an electronic apparatus comprising the vibration actuator according to claim 1. However, this limitation is an intended application for the actuator and does not limit the scope of the actuator. Besides, utilizing a vibration actuator in an electronic device such as a phone is within the skills of a person having ordinary skills in the art.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kanaya et al. (US 20170328441 A1) in view of Sakai et al. (JP 2003300013 A).
Regarding claim 3, Kanaya discloses the vibration actuator according to claim 1, but does not disclose: wherein the lid portion of the cylindrical resin case comprises a vent hole.
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Sakai teaches a cylindrical vibration device wherein the cylindrical casing and its top and bottom lid plate are made of a non-magnetic material such as a resin (“a material other than metal (for example, a synthetic resin such as nylon or ABS) may be used, and the non-magnetic casing 2 may have a rectangular tubular shape.”) wherein the lid plate (7, fig. 2) includes a plurality of vents: “Vents (7a, 8a) are formed in the structure. With this configuration, when the vibrator vibrates, its air resistance is reduced and smooth movement can be obtained.”
To reduce air resistance and obtain a smooth movement, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the actuator of claim in such a way that: the lid portion of the cylindrical resin case comprises a vent hole.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kanaya et al. (US 20170328441 A1) in view of Hine et al. (JP 2017158274 A).
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Regarding claim 4, Kanaya discloses the vibration actuator according to claim 1, but does not disclose: wherein the cylindrical resin case comprises a wire fixation portion configured to fix wires in the circumferential wall portion.
Hine teaches an electric device having a cylindrical casing wherein a wire fixation portion ( 17a, fig. 2) configured to fix incoming wires in the circumferential wall portion.
To secure the incoming wires to the actuator, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the actuator of claim in such a way that: the cylindrical resin case comprises a wire fixation portion configured to fix wires in the circumferential wall portion.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 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.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
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/MASOUD VAZIRI/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/OLUSEYE IWARERE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834