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 .
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.
Claims 1 – 15 are pending.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 9, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung et al. (US 2012/0175231 A1; hereinafter Chung) in view of Desbiolles et al. (US 2002/0024336 A1; hereinafter Desbiolles). Note: Figs. 1 – 5 are different views of the same embodiment.
Regarding Claim 1, Chung discloses an encoder (embodiment of Fig. 1), comprising:
PNG
media_image1.png
732
220
media_image1.png
Greyscale
a light emitting diode (Fig. 1, item 4);
a switch module (para [0051]; pushbuttom switch not showed in the figures), including:
an insulating base (Fig. 1, item 10) having a main chamber (Fig. 2, item 12) and a terminal part (Fig. 1, combination of 21 – 25);
PNG
media_image2.png
756
436
media_image2.png
Greyscale
a conductive elastic piece (Fig. 1, item 3) accommodated in the main chamber (Fig. 2, item 12) and disposed above the terminal part (Fig. 1, combination of 21 – 25); and
a pressing driving body (Fig. 5, item 51) accommodated in the main chamber (Fig. 2, item 12) and disposed above the conductive elastic piece (Fig. 1, item 3), and provided with an accommodation portion (Fig. 5, item 52) for accommodating (para [0042]; encoder substrate assembly 5 covers on the insulating base 10, and covers on both the conductive elastic piece 3 and the tri-color LED assembly 4) the light emitting diode (Fig. 1, item 4);
PNG
media_image3.png
916
490
media_image3.png
Greyscale
PNG
media_image4.png
830
576
media_image4.png
Greyscale
an encoder module (Fig. 1, item 5) at least partially accommodated (Fig. 5, by terminals 57 – 59) in the main chamber (Fig. 2, item 12), and
PNG
media_image5.png
920
580
media_image5.png
Greyscale
a control shaft (Fig. 1, item 7) passing through the penetration hole (Fig. 1, item 81) and disposed above the pressing driving body (Fig. 5, item 51).
But Chung does not specifically teach provided with a magnetic sensor, a magnetic ring, and a rotating driving body having a penetration hole.
However, Desbiolles suggests provided with a magnetic sensor (Fig. 2, item 16), a magnetic ring (Fig. 2, item 11), and a rotating driving body (Fig. 2, item 2) having a penetration hole (Fig. 2, item 5).
PNG
media_image6.png
330
446
media_image6.png
Greyscale
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify Chung in view of Desbiolles in order to provide a device for determining the absolute angular position of a turning component in relation to a fixed structure by means of a relative angular position (Desbiolles, para [0006]).
Regarding Claim 6, Chung and Desbiolles disclose the encoder as claimed in claim 1, Desbiolles also suggests further comprising a bearing having a through hole, wherein the bearing is sleeved on the control shaft via the through hole and disposed on the insulating base (para [0086]; ring can be mounted on a turning collar of a ball bearing or roller bearing, with the sensor being mounted, for example, on the fixed collar).
Regarding Claim 9, Chung and Desbiolles disclose the encoder as claimed in claim 1, Chung also discloses wherein the terminal part (Fig. 1, combination of 21 – 25) includes a first terminal and a second terminal that are not connected to each other (para [0036]; a first terminal 21, a second terminal 22, a third terminal 23, a fourth terminal 24, and a fifth terminal 25 which are not in contact with one another).
Regarding Claim 14, Chung and Desbiolles disclose the encoder as claimed in claim 1, Chung also discloses further comprising a fixing plate (Fig. 2, item 1) attached to the insulating base (Fig. 1, item 10), and the fixing plate (Fig. 2, item 1) has at least one lead (Fig. 2, any of items 212, 222, 242,252, and 213) to enable a body of the encoder (embodiment of Fig. 1) to be positioned on a counterpart (para [0036]; abutting portion 213 of the first terminal 21 and the contact portion 232 of the third terminal 23 are received in the receiving hole 13 of the insulating base 10).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung in view of Desbiolles, and further in view of Mazur (US 2005/0236263 A1; hereinafter Mazur).
Regarding Claim 7, Chung and Desbiolles disclose the encoder as claimed in claim 1. But Chung and Desbiolles do not specifically teach wherein the control shaft is a hollow structure, or at least part of the control shaft is made of a transparent material.
However, Mazur suggests wherein the control shaft is a hollow structure, or at least part of the control shaft is made of a transparent material (claim 15; wherein said hollow shaft is clear or translucent).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the combination of Chung and Desbiolles in view of Mazur in order to provide a visual indication to the user as to the level of the underlying signal being controlled (Mazur, para [0015]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 5, 8, 10 – 13, 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:
Regarding Claim 2, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein the control shaft drives the rotating driving body to rotate in the horizontal direction, and the magnetic ring is fixed on an outer surface of the rotating driving body” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 2.
Regarding Claims 3 – 5, the claims would be allowable as they further limit claim 2.
Regarding Claim 8, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein the insulating base is further provided with at least one steel ball and at least one spring, the at least one steel ball is correspondingly disposed below a toothed structure of the rotating driving body, and the at least one spring is disposed below the at least one steel ball; or the switch module further includes an annular elastic piece disposed in the insulating base, the rotating driving body is disposed above the annular elastic piece, and a protruding portion of the annular elastic piece is disposed corresponding to the toothed structure of the rotating driving body” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 8.
Regarding Claim 10, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein, when the control shaft moves toward the pressing driving body, the pressing driving body resists the conductive elastic piece so that the conductive elastic piece achieves electrical connection of the first terminal and the second terminal” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 10.
Regarding Claims 11 – 12, the claims would be allowable as they further limit claim 10.
Regarding Claim 13, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein the pressing driving body has an accommodation portion corresponding to a shape of the light emitting diode for accommodating the light emitting diode and, when the light emitting diode is accommodated in the pressing driving body, a pin of the light emitting diode is exposed on a bottom of the switch module for being electrically connected to a circuit board” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 13.
Regarding Claim 15, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “further comprising a fixing member, and a bearing provided with one or more fixing holes, wherein the one or more fixing holes of the bearing correspond to one or more fixing holes of the insulating base and one or more fixing holes of the fixing plate, so that the bearing, the insulating base and the fixing plate are locked together through the fixing member” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 15.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Wang (US 2021/0018994 A1) teaches a rotary encoder coupled to the processor; an electromechanical switch coupled to the processor, the electromechanical switch comprising a slider configurable in one position of a plurality of positions; a set of light emitting diodes (LEDs) configurable to emit light having a color in a visible spectrum; and a memory medium, coupled to the at least one processor (see claim 1).
Beyhs et al. (US 10,698,489 B1) suggests a force sensor configured to sense an input force applied to the input surface along an input direction oriented perpendicular to the input surface; a permanent magnet attached to the button; a body; a pivot coupling the body to the button, the pivot having a pivot axis, the input direction intersecting the pivot axis; and an electromagnet adjacent the permanent magnet; wherein the electromagnet is configured to generate a magnetic field in response to the force sensor sensing the input force, thereby rotating the permanent magnet and the button about the pivot axis to provide haptic feedback to the button (see claim 1).
Eugene et al. (US 3,619,594) discloses interior hollow shaft passageway generally conforms to the shape of the control shaft so as to provide frictional engagement therewith (see column 2, lines 66 – 68).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GIOVANNI ASTACIO-OQUENDO whose telephone number is (571)270-5724. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Phan can be reached at 571-272-7924. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GIOVANNI ASTACIO-OQUENDO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858 3/21/2026