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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on May 10, 2024 and July 15, 2024 have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5, 12 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Thorsell et al (U.S. Patent Publication 2018/0252938).
With regard to independent claim 1, Thorsell et al teaches eyewear (page 1, paragraph [0001] and Figure 7, element 200) comprising: a lens (Figure 7, element 212); a frame coupled to a portion of a periphery of the lens (Figure 7, element 222); a nose support frame formed by extending the frame from a center bottom of the lens or formed by being coupled to the lens (Figure 7, element 219); a coupling portion comprising a plurality of coupling shaft that extend from the nose support frame to protrude toward a user's face (Figure 7, element 219-3), extend in a vertical direction (Figure 7, elements 219-3, wherein the coupling shaft extends vertically toward element 219-1), and are spaced apart from each other (Figure 7); an adjustment tip coupled to the coupling portion to be movable in the vertical direction along the coupling shaft of the coupling portion (page 5, paragraph [0040], wherein element 219-3 is adjustable), and rotating horizontally about the coupling shaft (page 5, paragraph [0040], wherein element 219-3 is pivotally coupled to element 219-2); and a nose support pad coupled to the adjustment tip (Figure 7, element 219-1) and movable according to vertical movement and horizontal rotation of the adjustment tip (page 5, paragraph [0040]).
With regard to dependent claim 2, Thorsell et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches eyewear wherein: one end of the adjustment tip is coupled to the coupling shaft (Figure 7, wherein element 219-3 is attached to element 219-2), and the other end is coupled to the nose support (Figure 7, wherein element 219-3 attaches to element 219-1), and the other end of the adjustment tip further comprises a pad fixing part protruding in the vertical direction and inserted into an inner space of the nose support to fix the nose support (see annotated Figure 7 below).
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With regard to dependent claim 3, Thorsell et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches eyewear wherein the plurality of coupling shaft of the coupling portion protrude from both ends of the nose support frame toward the user's face (Figure 7, left and right occurrences of element 219-3), sloping from top to bottom, and the coupling shafts oppose each other and are symmetrical to a virtual line crossing a center of the lens in the vertical direction and spaced apart with an increasing distance therebetween from top to bottom (Figure 7, elements 219-3, wherein element 219-3 are angled and symmetrical to 219-2).
With regard to dependent claim 4, Thorsell et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches eyewear wherein: the coupling portion comprises a connecting portion that connects the coupling shaft and the nose support frame at a distance (see annotated Figure 7 above), with a thickness smaller than a thickness of the coupling shaft (page 5, paragraph [0040], wherein elements 219-3 snap fit to element 219-2), and the adjustment tip comprises a fitting portion formed as an empty space in a shape corresponding to a shape of the coupling shaft so as to fit to the coupling shaft (see Figure 7 above).
With regard to dependent claim 5, Thorsell et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to dependent claim 4, and further teaches eyewear wherein an opening of the fitting portion into which the coupling shaft of the adjustment tip is inserted has a width greater than a thickness of the connecting portion of the coupling portion (page 5, paragraph [0040] and Figure 7, wherein the opening of element 219-3 snap fits onto element 219-2, i.e., the opening of element 219-3 is inherently larger than element 219-2 so that 219-3 snaps onto element 219-2).
With regard to dependent claim 12, Thorsell et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to dependent claim 4, and further teaches eyewear wherein the adjustment tip is movable upward and downward along the coupling shaft (page 5, paragraph [0040], wherein element 219-3 is adjustable with respect to element 219-2).
With regard to dependent claim 15, Thorsell et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to dependent claim 4, and further teaches eyewear wherein: the adjustment tip further comprises a pad portion coupled to an inner surface of the adjustment tip (Figure 7, element 219-1), forming the fitting portion, and disposed between the inner surface of the coupling portion and a surface of the coupling shaft, and the pad portion is moved in contact with the coupling shaft when the adjustment tip is rotated (page 5, paragraph [0040], wherein when element 219-3 is adjusted, element 219-1 is flexibly moved).
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.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thorsell et al (U.S. Patent Publication 2018/0252938), as applied to claim 4 above.
With regard to dependent claim 11, although Thorsell et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to dependent claim 4, Thorsell et al fails to explicitly teach such eyewear wherein a vertical length of the adjustment tip coupled to the coupling shaft is smaller than a vertical length formed by the coupling shaft. However, it has been held that such a modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art (In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955)), therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the eyewear, as taught by Thorsell et al, so that the vertical length of the adjustment tip is smaller than the vertical length of the coupling shaft as a known alternative.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-10, 13 and 14 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art taken either singularly or in combination fails to anticipate or fairly suggest the limitations of the independent claims, in such a manner that a rejection under 35 U.S.C. §102 or §103 would be proper. Although the prior art teaches eyewear comprising: a lens; a frame coupled to a portion of a periphery of the lens; a nose support frame formed by extending the frame from a center bottom of the lens or formed by being coupled to the lens; a coupling portion comprising a plurality of coupling shaft that extend from the nose support frame to protrude toward a user's face, extend in a vertical direction, and are spaced apart from each other; an adjustment tip coupled to the coupling portion to be movable in the vertical direction along the coupling shaft of the coupling portion, and rotating horizontally about the coupling shaft; and a nose support pad coupled to the adjustment tip and movable according to vertical movement and horizontal rotation of the adjustment tip, wherein: the coupling portion comprises a connecting portion that connects the coupling shaft and the nose support frame at a distance, with a thickness smaller than a thickness of the coupling shaft, and the adjustment tip comprises a fitting portion formed as an empty space in a shape corresponding to a shape of the coupling shaft so as to fit to the coupling shaft, the prior art fails to teach such eyewear: wherein: the adjustment tip further comprises stoppers formed by repeating a plurality of recessed areas on a surface facing the coupling shaft coupled to the fitting portion, and the coupling portion further comprises an angle adjuster formed to protrude from the coupling shaft and be inserted into any one of the stoppers, as claimed in dependent claim 6; wherein: the adjustment tip further comprises a stopper protruding from a surface facing the coupling shaft coupled to the fitting portion, the coupling portion further comprises angle adjusters formed by repeatedly forming a plurality of recessed areas on the surface of the coupling shaft, and the stopper is inserted into any one of the angle adjusters so that an angle of the adjustment tip is adjusted by moving the stopper between the angle adjusters, as claimed in dependent claim 8; wherein: the adjustment tip further comprises rotation stoppers formed at both ends of the fitting portion to stop rotation of the adjustment tip when one end of the adjustment tip contacts the nose support frame, and a thickness of the rotation stoppers increases toward a position facing the coupling portion, as claimed in dependent claim 9; or wherein the adjustment tip is movable upward and downward along the coupling shaft and wherein: the adjustment tip further comprises a plurality of adjustment steps spaced apart from each other and recessed, the coupling portion further comprises a protruding stopping projection to be inserted into one of the adjustment steps, and a position of the adjustment tip is adjusted in the vertical direction by the stopping projection, as claimed in dependent claim 13.
With regard to dependent claims 7, 10 and 14, claims 7, 10 and 14 are allowable as they depend, directly or indirectly, from dependent claims 6, 9 and 13, respectively, and therefore inherit all of the limitations of the claim from which they depend.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Chen (U.S. Patent Number 7,472,991), Brandt (U.S. Patent Number 2,501,259), Lin (U.S. Patent Publication 2016/0103332), Chin (U.S. Patent Publication 2015/0205144), Chen (U.S. Patent Publication 2015/0049298) and Yang (U.S. Patent Publication 2009/0021691) all teach eyewear comprising a nose support.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARRYL J COLLINS whose telephone number is (571) 272-2325. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 5:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky L Mack can be reached at 571-272-2333. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DARRYL J COLLINS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
02 March 2026