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 .
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D’Angelo et al 3,785,358 in view of Shi et al 9,737,782.
D'Angelo shows a tennis training machine, which includes a housing; ball entry area 60 at the top of the housing; a ball serving area with a rotating disk 65 with multiple ball ports, a track; an upper serving wheel 32; a lower serving wheel 25; the rotating disk below a ball entry opening, driven by a central motor; the track below the rotating disk; the housing has a ball-serving opening. The track has a transition section 61 and a slope section 62, with the upper serving wheel above the track, and the lower serving wheel in line with the track. D'Angelo shows wheels at the bottom of the housing, but it does not appear that the wheels are driven. Driving wheels would be desired so the machine can travel and change direction in a playing area. For example, Shi shows a tennis ball serving machine with a housing, and drive wheels 13 with a motor 12 to simulate a moving player. These driven wheels would be an obvious addition to the tennis training machine of D'Angelo.
Claims 5-6 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN A RICCI whose telephone number is (571)272-4429. The examiner can normally be reached Mon to Fri.
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/JOHN A RICCI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3711