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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Embodiment 5, Figures 11 and 12, Claims 1-16 and 20 in the reply filed on 04/10/206 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on07/27/2024, 12/26/2024, 07/24/2025, 10/14/2025, 02/13/2026 and 06/05/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “1121” has been used in Figure 1 to designate both second bending portion of contact piece structure 1 and contact piece structure 1’. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “shape of each of the bending portions is any one of a trapezoid, a rectangle, a square, a pentagon, a hexagon and an octagon” (claim 7) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. It is unclear how the shape of each bending portion is any one of a trapezoid, a rectangle, a square, a pentagon, a hexagon and an octagon when at most when described or illustrate the bending portions only have 3 sides. All the recited shapes require a minimum of contiguous 4 sides.
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 1-6, 8, 9 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhong [EP 3608938 A1], applicant cited prior art.
Claim 1, Zhong discloses a contact piece structure [figure 1] comprising two movable contact pieces [1/2] arranged side by side, each movable contact piece comprising: a piece body [11/21]; a movable contact [12/22] and a static contact [14/24] located at opposite ends of the piece body [figure 1]; wherein the movable contact and the static contact of one of the movable contact pieces correspond to the static contact and the movable contact of the other movable contact piece respectively [figure 1], so that when the movable contact and the static contact being in contact, the two movable contact pieces form a parallel circuit structure [figure 1]; each piece body [11/21] has at least one bending portion [111/211,112/212], and bending portions of two piece bodies are arranged one-to-one to form a bending pair [figure 1]; in each of the bending pairs, top ends of two bending portions are parallel with each other, and two bending portions protrude along a same protruding direction [figure 1], a first distance between the two bending portions [111/211, 112/212] is smaller than a second distance between the two ends of two piece bodies [see annotated figure 1 below].
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Claim 2, Zhong discloses the contact piece structure according to claim 1, wherein the two bending portions [111/211,112/212] forming the bending pair are respectively a first bending portion [111 or 112] and a second bending portion [211 or 212], at least a portion of the first bending portion is accommodated in a space formed by a protruding portion of the second bending portion [figure 1].
Claim 3, Zhong discloses the contact piece structure according to claim 1, wherein there are a plurality of bending pairs [111/211 and 112/212], and there is a third distance between the two piece bodies located between adjacent bending pairs, and the third distance is greater than the first distance [see annotated figure 1].
Claim 4, Zhong discloses the contact piece structure according to claim 2, wherein there are a plurality of bending pairs [111/211 and 112/212], and there is a third distance between the two piece bodies located between adjacent bending pairs, and the third distance is greater than the first distance see annotated figure 1].
Claim 5, Zhong discloses the contact piece structure according to claim 3, wherein the protruding direction comprises a first direction and a second direction which are opposite to each other [figure 1], among the plurality of the bending pairs [111/211 and 112/212], a part of the bending pairs [111/211] protrude toward the first direction, and another part of the bending pairs [112/212] protrude toward the second direction [figure 1].
Claim 6, Zhong discloses the contact piece structure according to claim 2, wherein in each of the bending pairs [111/211 and 112/212], a size of an opening of the second bending portion [111 or 212] is larger than a size of a top end of the first bending portion [211 or 122], so that the top of the first bending portion is accommodated in the opening of the second bending portion [figure 1].
Claim 8, Zhong discloses the contact piece structure according to claim 1, wherein each piece body comprises a plurality of spring pieces stacked with each other [figure 8], a gap is formed between adjacent spring pieces [figures 5 and 8].
Claim 9, Zhong discloses the contact piece structure according to claim 8, wherein the piece body has a plurality of gaps in a direction in which the spring piece is stacked, and the sizes of the gaps are different [figure 5, gaps pf various sizes are illustrated between the stacked spring pieces].
Claim 20, Zhong discloses a magnetic latching relay [abs], comprising the contact piece structure of claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-16 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bernard Rojas whose telephone number is (571)272-1998. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. thru Fri. 7:00 am - 4:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shawki S Ismail can be reached at (571) 272-3985. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BERNARD ROJAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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