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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ueda (JP 2002357290).
Regarding claim 1, Ueda discloses an O-ring vacuum sealing structure A Fig. 1, comprising: an vacuum sealing assembly, and an O-ring 16; wherein, the vacuum sealing assembly has an O-ring groove 10a; the O-ring is arranged within the O-ring groove; and the O-ring vacuum sealing structure further comprises an O-ring retainer housing 15a, and an O-ring retainer 15; the O-ring retainer housing is formed on either side of the O-ring groove; and the O-ring retainer is removably arranged within the O-ring retainer housing and abuts the O-ring. Regarding claim 2, Ueda discloses wherein the O-ring retainer 15 has a through hole , and a fastener 30 runs through the through hole to connect with the vacuum sealing assembly 1. Regarding claim 3, Ueda discloses wherein the fastener 30 is provided as an anti-loosen screw, and the fastener is flare-mounted on the O-ring retainer 15. Regarding claim 4, Ueda discloses wherein the through hole is a counter bore, and a head of the fastener 30 is positioned within a countersunk head part of the counter bore Fig. 4.
Regarding claim 7, Ueda discloses wherein a joint at which a top surface 15b and a first side surface of the O-ring retainer 15 meet, is a chamfered and curved surface.
Regarding claim 8, Ueda discloses wherein the first side surface abuts against the O-ring 16, and the first side surface (at 15a) is an arc surface.
Regarding claim 9, Ueda discloses wherein a height at an inner side of the O-ring groove 10a is lower than the height at an outer side of the O-ring groove Fig. 4.
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(s) 10-13 and 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ueda in view of Ishigaki (JP 4985973).
Regarding claims 10-13 and 16-18, Ueda discloses the invention as claimed above but fails to explicitly disclose the intended use of the claimed sealing structure. Ishigaki discloses a sealing structure 3 Fig. 1 for a vacuum apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the seal of Ueda in a vacuum apparatus as taught by Ishigaki with a reasonable expectation of success since Ishigaki shows a similar sealing structure as claimed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 6, 14 and 15 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: In view of a review of the prior art by the Examiner; the prior art of record neither teaches nor suggests all of the claimed subject matter of claims 5 and 6 including where the fastener has a venting hole along an axial direction of the fastener and the O-ring retainer is provided with a venting path that joins the O-ring groove. There is no motivation to modify the prior art references, absent the applicant’s own disclosure, in the manner required by the claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENE G BYRD whose telephone number is (571)270-1824. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm.
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/EUGENE G BYRD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675