Office Action Predictor
Last updated: April 15, 2026
Application No. 18/666,124

ELECTROMAGNETIC RELAY

Final Rejection §103
Filed
May 16, 2024
Examiner
HOMZA, LISA NHUNG
Art Unit
2837
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Xiamen Hongfa Automotive Electronics Co., LTD.
OA Round
2 (Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
2y 2m
To Grant
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allow Rate
675 granted / 780 resolved
+18.5% vs TC avg
Minimal +4% lift
Without
With
+3.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 2m
Avg Prosecution
19 currently pending
Career history
799
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.1%
-39.9% vs TC avg
§103
47.6%
+7.6% vs TC avg
§102
35.1%
-4.9% vs TC avg
§112
13.7%
-26.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 780 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 § 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, 2, 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (CN 110164731A). Regarding claim 1, CN 4731 discloses a relay comprising: a base (see the drawing below); a casing (see the drawing below) fixedly connected to the base (see the drawing below); a coil (15), a movable contact piece (19) and a fixed contact piece (see the drawing below), both the coil (15) and the movable contact piece (19) being located between the casing (see the drawing below) and the base (see the drawing below), the fixed contacts (4) on the fixed contact piece (see the drawing below) corresponding to the movable contacts (5) on the movable contact piece (19); a plurality of conductive lead-out members (see the drawing below), each conductive lead-out member (see the drawing below), being electrically connected to the fixed contact piece (see the drawing below) or the coil (15), the plurality of conductive lead-out members (see the drawing below), being electrically insulated from each other (see claim 1, & the drawing below), each conductive lead-out member (see the drawing below), being provided with a welding part (see claim 1), at least a portion of the welding part (see claim 1) of each conductive lead-out member (see the drawing below) passing through an abdicating through hole (2) on the casing (see the drawing below), the welding part (see claim 1) being provided with a welding end surface, all of the welding end surfaces of the welding parts (see claim 1, & the drawing below/above) of the conductive lead-out members (see the drawing below) being positioned at the same plane. Regarding claim 1, CN 4731 teaches the claimed subject as disclosed above, however, fails to explicitly disclose the electromagnetic relay is installed, the welding part being welded with a pad for surface mounted technology by the welding end surface. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to make the welding part as taught by CN 4731 being welded with the pad for surface mounted technology by the welding end surface for the purpose of having a strong, reliable, and low-resistance electrical connection. CN 4731 teaches the claimed subject as disclosed above, however, fails to explicitly disclose the welding end surface is planar. Welding is commonly used for switches of this type. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to make the welding end surface is planar for the purpose of facilitating to maintain the parts stronger together, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70. Regarding claim 2, CN 4731 discloses: a plurality of conductive pins (see the drawing below) electrically insulated from each other, one end of each conductive pin (see the drawing below) is connected to the electrical connecting part of the conductive lead-out member (see the drawing below), and the other end is connected to the fixed contact piece. [AltContent: textbox (Conductive pin)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Fixed contact piece)][AltContent: textbox (Insulation, welding)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Bobbin )][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Conductive lead-out members)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Base)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Casing)][AltContent: arrow] PNG media_image1.png 309 321 media_image1.png Greyscale Regarding claim 13, CN4731 discloses: a bobbin (see the drawing below/above) indirectly fixedly connected to the base; the coil (15) is installed on the bobbin. Regarding claim 14, CN4731 discloses: the fixed contact piece (see the drawing above) is indirectly fixedly connected to the base (see the drawing below). PNG media_image2.png 330 560 media_image2.png Greyscale Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments filed11/25/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In the REMARKS: Page 9, applicant argued that: ”CN4731 fails to disclose a "each conductive lead-out member being provided with a welding part, the welding part being provided with a welding end surface, the welding end surface is planar"”. This argument is not found to be persuasive, because welding is commonly used for switches of this type. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to make the welding end surface is planar for the purpose of suitability of the intended use, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 3-12 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 does not teach or suggest the electromagnetic relay comprising: Claim 3: each conductive lead-out member is provided with a snapping part, the snapping part and the welding part are connected by a bending part, the plurality of conductive pins are embedded in the base, the plurality of electrical connecting parts are parallel with each other and located at one end of the base, the abdicating through hole is positioned on the casing close to the electrical connecting part, the snapping part of each conductive lead-out member passes through the abdicating through hole and is snapped on the electrical connecting part so as to realize electrical connection. 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 should be directed to Lisa Homza whose telephone number is (571) 272-3592. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Shawki Ismail can be reached on (571) 272-3985. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Lisa Nhung Homza/ Patent Examiner - Art Unit 2837 January 19, 2026 /SHAWKI S ISMAIL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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Prosecution Timeline

May 16, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 07, 2025
Examiner Interview (Telephonic)
Aug 23, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Nov 25, 2025
Response Filed
Jan 24, 2026
Final Rejection — §103
Mar 30, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12597574
SPECIALLY PACKAGED RELAY AND PACKAGING METHOD THEREOF
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12592353
RELAY
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12567549
CONTACTOR AND AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 03, 2026
Patent 12537124
ELECTROMAGNETIC ACTUATING DEVICE AND CAMSHAFT ADJUSTER WITH AN ELECTROMAGNETIC ACTUATING DEVICE
2y 5m to grant Granted Jan 27, 2026
Patent 12537155
NON-POLARIZED SNAP-ON ELECTROMAGNETIC RELAY
2y 5m to grant Granted Jan 27, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
86%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+3.8%)
2y 2m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 780 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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