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 .
Summary
This communication is a First Office Action Non-Final Rejection on the merits.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are currently pending and considered below.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 20 is/are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 19 and 20 are identical; claim 20 is suggested to depend on claim 4, similarly to other claims with identical limitations.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, introduction of “a threaded nut mounted rotatably on the threaded spindle and non-rotatably on the housing body via a bearing unit” renders the claim indefinite because it is generally accepted to one having ordinary skill in the art that a bearing (or “a bearing unit”) is a tool that connects two structures rotatably. Furthermore, written description fails to disclose how the bearing unit of Subject Application differs from a generally accepted bearing unit to somehow mount a threaded nut on the housing body non-rotatably. Therefore, it is confusing to one having ordinary skill in the art as to how a bearing can mount a threaded nut on the housing body non-rotatably. See Examiner Remarks below for Examiner’s interpretation.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the switching unit". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 15 recites the limitation "the switching unit". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 16 recites the limitation "the switching unit". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 17 recites the limitation "the switching unit". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
All dependent claims of the above claims inherit all of the limitations and thus are likewise rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter.
Examiner Remarks
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are currently free of art in view of the 112 rejection(s) above – specifically, limitation “a threaded nut mounted rotatably on the threaded spindle and non-rotatably on the housing body via a bearing unit” discussed. Applicant is kindly reminded that upon amendment which renders a significant change in scope, prior art may be provided in a subsequent action.
The closest prior art of record, Kobayashi to US 2016/0271781 A1, discloses a hand-held pulling and compression device (Figs. 1-7) for driving pulling and pressing tools, with
a tool unit (10), comprising
a screw drive (40a) with a threaded spindle (30a) mounted rotatably on a housing body (41) and a threaded nut (40) mounted rotatably on the threaded spindle and
a coupling unit (35) connected to a tool holder (52/51) for transmitting tensile and compressive forces resulting from the direction of rotation of the threaded spindle from the threaded nut to the tool holder (see between Fig 5a and 5b), and
a drive unit (20), which can be connected to the tool unit via a coupling (30b), with a battery-operated electric motor for driving the threaded spindle (20 is an electric motor-driven drill).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure (See PTO-892 Notice of References Cited).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Himchan Song whose telephone number is (571)272-4142. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anna Kinsaul can be reached at (571) 270-1926. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HIMCHAN SONG/Examiner, Art Unit 3731
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