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 .
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 1-4,6-21 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.
In claim 4 the phrase “improved retention of the tablet” is unclear, as it is unclear what the retention is being compared to, i.e. what the retention is meant to be an improvement over.
In claims 1,4,6,7 and 9 the phrase “preferably” renders the claim indefinite, as it is unclear if the limitations following “preferably” are meant to be required by the claim. For the purposes of examination it was assumed that the term “preferably” merely presented options for the claim, and the limitations following “preferably” were not required by the claim, as this is what was meant to be claimed per the examiner’s best understanding of the claimed invention.
In claim 15 it is unclear if the “mounted state of the wall mount system” is meant to be the same as the “assembled state” of claim 1, or a different orientation of the system.
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) 1-4,6-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nyberg(US12251008) in view of Tseng et al.(US9997880) in view of Cheung et al.(US10809764) and further in view of Martin et al.(US10810570).
[claim 1] Nyberg teaches a wall mount system for a tablet (ABS), the wall mount system comprising: - a frame member (26), the frame member having the following features: a receptacle (26) to provide a retention for the tablet in the receptacle, a rear side (side facing wall mount 24,32, fig 2) which faces a wall in the assembled state, a front side (front side shown in fig 1), which is opposite the rear side, a first fastening means (28), the first fastening means being arranged at the rear side of the frame member, a screen cutout (30) for a screen of the tablet; and - a wall mount (32,24), the wall mount having the following features: a first counterpart fastener(hole receiving screw 28), the first counterpart fastener being configured for connection to the first fastening means of the frame member, holes (shown in fig 1, connecting to swivel mount 148) for fixing the wall mount of the wall(i.e. through swivel mount 148). Nyberg however may not teach the use of at least one foam pad for retaining the tablet, a central recess to allow the wall mount to be positioned above a power supply unit, and that the first fastening means is formed as a magnet and the first counterpart fastening means is formed of a metal material for releasably fastening the frame member with the magnet to the wall mount, the metal material preferably at least partially forming the wall mount, and further preferably the wall mount being made of the metal material.
With regards to the foam pad, Tseng teaches a similar mount system for a tablet, and further teaches the use of protecting pads(232, fig 12) on a wall mount(23) for contacting a tablet device and providing shock absorption and preventing scratching of the tablet(C6 L42-46). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to use protective pads on the wall mount of Nyberg, as this would help provide shock absorption and prevent scratching of the tablet as taught by Tseng. Tseng however does not detail the material used for the protecting pads, or that they are foam pads. It further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to use any known resilient material, such as foam rubber, to make the protecting pads, as this would merely be using known materials for their known functions.
With regards to the central recess, Cheung teaches a similar wall mount system, and further teaches the use of a central recess in the wall mount to be positioned over a power supply unit(figs 14-16), allowing the wall mount to directly connect to the power supply unit and conceal any connection thereto. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to use a central recess on the wall mount of Nyberg, as this would allow the mount to be directly connected to a power supply as well as concealing any connection thereto, as taught by Cheung.
With regards to the first fastening means being formed as a magnet, and the first counterpart fastening means being formed as a metal material, Martin teaches a similar mount system for a tablet, and teaches the use of first fastening means comprising magnets(210, fig 2) and counterpart fasteners of the frame member(130) being a metal material(C8 L32-35). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to use the magnetic fastening means of Martin in place of the first fastening means of Nyberg, as this would provide a quick attaching and detaching fastening means for the frame member as taught by Martin, and would merely be using known elements for their known functions.
[claim 2] wherein the frame member further comprises a second fastening means (104), said second fastening means being arranged at the rear side of said frame member, and wherein said wall mount further comprises a second counterpart fastener (90), said second counterpart fastener being adapted for connection to said second fastening means of said frame member.
[claim 3] wherein the receptacle is formed as a protruding edge (shown at reference numeral 30 in fig 2, and extending around the frame member) at the front side of the frame member with a sidewall (sidewall extending to rear face of frame 26) extending towards the rear side to lock an insertion of the tablet into the receptacle with the protruding edge.
[claim 4] Nyberg in view of Tseng in view of Cheung in view of Martin teaches a system as detailed above, and Nyberg further teaches that the frame member further comprises spring members(46) for retention of the tablet, wherein the spring members are arranged in the sidewall of the frame(fig 2). Nyberg however may not teach that the spring members are compressible silicone pads to retain the tablet. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to replace the spring members of Nyberg with another resilient material, such as compressible rubber or silicone, as a matter of simple design choice, as the materials are the known equivalents of one another.
[claim 6] as seen in figure 2 of Martin, at least 2, preferably four and further preferably eight magnets are provided as the first fastening means on the rear side of the frame member.
[claim 7] wherein the second fastening means is formed as a recess(104) on the rear side of the frame member and wherein the second counterpart fastener on the wall mount is formed as a snap element(latch 90) for fastening the frame member to the wall mount, preferably in a detachable manner.
[claim 8] wherein at least two snap elements are provided as counterpart fasteners and/or wherein the snap element(s) is/are formed in one piece with the wall mount(fig 1, snap element formed in one piece with the wall mount).
[claim 9] wherein a third fastening means (72) is provided, which is preferably formed as a hole in the frame member with a matching safety screw for detachably fastening the frame member to the wall mount.
[claim 10] wherein the frame member is substantially rectangular and has inner rounded corners around the screen cutout, wherein at least one inner rounded corner is composed of circular partial areas with different radii as can be seen in figure 3.
[claim 11] wherein the frame member is substantially rectangular and has outer rounded corners, wherein at least one outer rounded corner is composed of circular partial areas with different radii as can be seen in figure 3.
[claim 12] wherein a recess(48) is formed in at least one inner corner of the frame member such that a gap is formed at the inner corner when the tablet is mounted.
[claim 13] wherein at least one sidewall of the frame member is thicker than the other sidewalls of the frame member(fig 3, shorter side sidewalls shown thicker than longer top and bottom side walls).
[claim 14] wherein the frame member comprises a recess(50) in the sidewall for storage of the different connector types and/or adapter types.
[claim 15] wherein the wall mount comprises a cable passage(52) which is preferably aligned with the recess in the mounted state of the wall mount system.
[claim 16,17] Nyberg in view of Tseng in view of Cheung teaches a wall mount system as detailed above, where Nyberg teaches that the frame member and wall mount are made of plastic(C3 L4-5 and C3 L46-47). Nyberg however may not teach that the frame member comprises aluminum or is made of aluminum, or that the wall mount comprises steel or is made of steel. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to make the frame member and wall mount out of any known suitable material, such as aluminum and steel, as a matter of simple design choice, as one of ordinary skill in the art would be able to select from known materials to provide the desired strength and weight for the device.
[claim 18,19] Nyberg in view of Tseng in view of Cheung teaches a wall mount system as detailed above with foam pads and silicone pads. Nyberg in view of Tseng in view of Cheung however may not teach that the foam pads and silicone pads are detachably attached to the wall mount and frame member respectively. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date, without undue experimentation, to detachably attach the foam pads and silicone pads to the wall mount and frame member respectively, as first there is only a finite number of possible attachment methods, i.e. detachably attaching or permanently attaching, and detachably attaching the pads would allow for removal and replacement of the pads if desired.
[claim 20] Nyberg in view of Tseng in view of Cheung teaches a wall mount system as detailed above. It further would have been obvious to place the foam pads anywhere on the wall mount, such as aligned with one of the holes, as a matter of simple design choice, as this could help prevent any contact between the fastener received in the hole and the supported tablet device.
[claim 21] wherein the frame member has a recess(50) in the area of the first fastening means, which is formed in such a way as to receive the wall mount(pedestal 25 of wall mount) in the assembled state.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 22 is 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 well as being amended to overcome the above 112 rejections.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art teaches a wall mount system as detailed above with foam pads, however the cited prior art does not teach that the number of foam pads corresponds to the number of holes, and that the foam pads are arranged at the holes to cover the same, as recited in claim 22.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/5/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. First applicant argues that Nyberg does not teach a wall mount as recited in claim 1, since Nyberg teaches a base plate(24) attached to a base assembly(32). The examiner disagrees, as the base plate(24) and base assembly(32) together form the wall mount as recited in claim 1.
In response to applicant's argument that adding a central recess to the base plate of Nyberg could impede the sliding coupling of the base plate to the base assembly, or that the foam pads of Tseng are placed on the fastening frame, the test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRADLEY H DUCKWORTH whose telephone number is (571)272-2304. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Terrell McKinnon can be reached at 5712724979. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRADLEY DUCKWORTH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3632
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