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
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) 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okamoto et al. (US 2024/0072625).
Regarding claim 1: Okamoto discloses a vibration motor (100) comprising: a housing (1) with a containment space (see Fig. 4); a vibration component (102) contained in the containment space, including a mass block (6) spaced apart from the housing, a magnet assembly (7) fixed to the mass block (6), and an elastic component (103) supporting the mass block in the containment space; and a stator component (101); wherein the magnet assembly includes a magnet fixed to the mass block [0035, 0037, 0038, 0047, 0053-0059].
Okamoto does not disclose the Halbach array structure. However, Okamoto discloses that the magnetic portion could be configured with a plurality of magnet pieces in a Halbach array [0058]. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to have use a plurality of magnet pieces in a Halbach array as mentioned by Okamoto to maximize the magnetic field intensity.
Regarding claim 2: Okamoto discloses that the magnetic portion could be configured with a plurality of magnet pieces in a Halbach array [0058]. Thus, it would be obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilized a plurality of magnetic pieces to form a three-pole magnetizing magnetic circuit or a five-pole magnetizing magnetic circuit that are integrated into the vibration motor.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-14 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
-Cui et al. (US 11,462,984) discloses a linear vibration motor, including a housing having an accommodating space, a vibrator disposed in the accommodating space, and a coil fixed in the housing and driving the vibrator to move. The vibrator includes a magnetic circuit system.
-Mao et al. (US 12,051,957) discloses a linear vibration motor, including a housing with a receiving space; a vibration unit arranged in the receiving space; an elastic member that suspends the vibration unit in the receiving space; and a coil assembly fixed to the housing and driving the vibration unit to vibrate.
-Zhuang et al. (US 11,681,374) discloses a haptic feedback system is disposed on a device, including a fixed portion, a movable portion, a connecting assembly, and a driving assembly.
-Tang et al. (US 2020/0212779) discloses a linear vibration motor including a housing with; a vibrator and a stator accommodated in the housing; and elastic support parts suspending the vibrator in the accommodation space.
-Ling et al. (US 2020/0212776) discloses a linear vibration motor, which includes a base, a vibration unit, an elastic part and a coil assembly.
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/TOAN N PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685 9/18/25