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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is the first non-final office action on the merits. Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN202210082452.3, filed on 01/24/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/16/2024 has been received and considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are accepted.
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.
Claims 6-10 and 14-20 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 6, 14, and 19 recite the limitations “a sink platform is opened and disposed on a rail surface”, “the sink platform is opened and disposed with a housing area therein”, and “the sink platform is opened and disposed with a lever housing hole therein”. The terms “opened” and “disposed” seem to be past-tense manufacturing actions that do not define physical structural relationships. For examination purposes and structural clarity, the phrase “opened and disposed” has been construed as “formed”.
Claims 7-10 are rejected for their dependency on claim 6.
Claims 15-18 are rejected for their dependency on claim 14.
Claim 20 is rejected for its dependency on claim 19.
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 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo et al. (CN 213799693 U, provided), in view of Li et al. (CN 108166338 A, provided).
Regarding claim 1, Luo teaches (Fig. 1-4): A traveling rail jointing device (Fig. 1) for a pivot-type suspended monorail multi-way turnout beam (turnout beams 300, 400; Fig. 4), comprising: a jointing plate (joint plate 200), a lever (rod 203) and a push-pull assembly (push rod 102); a first end of the lever (203) is fixed on the jointing plate (200)(Fig. 3), and a second end of the lever (203) is connected to the push-pull assembly (102) (Fig. 1).
Luo does not teach a rotating support seat, wherein the jointing plate is disposed with a rotation shaft thereon along an extension direction of a plate surface thereof, the rotation shaft being rotatably embedded on the rotating support seat,
However, Li teaches an alternate suspended monorail assembly with a turnout beam, having (Fig. 11-13): a rotating support seat (lower base 710), wherein a jointing plate (compensation rail 5 and upper connection seat 712) is disposed with a rotation shaft (shaft of crankshaft 711; Fig. 10-11) thereon along an extension direction of a plate surface thereof (Fig. 11), the rotation shaft (shaft of crankshaft 711) being rotatably embedded on the rotating support seat (710)(Li, Fig. 10-11, para. 0070 and 0072).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Luo to provide the jointing plate connected to a rotation shaft that is rotatably embedded on a rotating support seat, as disclosed by Li, with a reasonable expectation of success because it would enable the jointing plate to be rotatable between an upper position and a lower position through the crankshaft and electric push rod mechanisms, allowing the jointing plate to be raised and lowered in place, which can greatly reduce the movement space of the turnout jointing plate, simplify the turnout beam structure, and allow the turnout width to be further reduced (Li, para. 0067, lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 5, Luo teaches (Fig. 1-4): A pivot-type suspended monorail multi-way turnout beam (300, 400)(Fig. 4), comprising: a turnout beam body (300, 400) and a traveling rail jointing device (locking device 100 and joint plate device 200) for a pivot-type suspended monorail multi-way turnout beam (Fig. 4), wherein the traveling rail jointing device (100, 200) for the pivot-type suspended monorail multi-way turnout beam comprises: a jointing plate (200), a lever (203) and a push-pull assembly (100); a first end of the lever (203) is fixed on the jointing plate (200)(Fig. 1), and a second end of the lever (203) is connected to the push-pull assembly (100)(Fig. 1); the traveling rail jointing device is provided at an end of the turnout beam body (Fig. 4).
Luo does not teach a rotating support seat, wherein the jointing plate is disposed with a rotation shaft thereon along an extension direction of a plate surface thereof, the rotation shaft being rotatably embedded on the rotating support seat,
However, Li teaches an alternate suspended monorail assembly with a turnout beam, having (Fig. 11-13): a rotating support seat (lower base 710), wherein a jointing plate (compensation rail 5 and upper connection seat 712) is disposed with a rotation shaft (shaft of crankshaft 711; Fig. 10-11) thereon along an extension direction of a plate surface thereof (Fig. 11), the rotation shaft (shaft of crankshaft 711) being rotatably embedded on the rotating support seat (710)(Li, Fig. 10-11, para. 0070 and 0072).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Luo to provide the jointing plate connected to a rotation shaft that is rotatably embedded on a rotating support seat, as disclosed by Li, with a reasonable expectation of success because it would enable the jointing plate to be rotatable between an upper position and a lower position through the crankshaft and electric push rod mechanisms, allowing the jointing plate to be raised and lowered in place, which can greatly reduce the movement space of the turnout jointing plate, simplify the turnout beam structure, and allow the turnout width to be further reduced (Li, para. 0067, lines 1-5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 and 6-20 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 claims and if all claim objections and rejections in view of 35 USC § 112 second paragraph are overcome.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 2 and its depending claim(s) 3-4, the prior art fails to teach that a body of the lever is disposed with a waist-shaped hole thereon, wherein a pin shaft is disposed on a push rod head, and is embedded in the waist-shaped hole; and a push-pull direction of the axial push-pull member intersects with a direction of a long axis of the waist-shaped hole. While Luo further teaches (Fig. 1-4): a body of the lever (203)(Fig. 3), and the push-pull assembly (100) comprises an axial push-pull member (electric push rod 102), a push rod head (105; Fig. 1-2) and a pin shaft (rolling shaft 204)(Fig. 1-2); the push rod head (105) is connected to an axial moving end of the axial push-pull member (102)(Fig. 1-2), the examiner finds no obvious reason to modify Luo such that a body of the lever is disposed with a waist-shaped hole thereon, wherein a pin shaft is disposed on a push rod head, and is embedded in the waist-shaped hole; and a push-pull direction of the axial push-pull member intersects with a direction of a long axis of the waist-shaped hole. Such a modification would require improper hindsight reasoning.
It is noted that while the secondary reference Li teaches (Fig. 11-13): a sliding block (111) disposed at the end of a push rod (114), the sliding block having an inclined sliding groove (1111) that may be defined as a waist-shaped hole, the examiner finds no obvious reason to add the waist-shaped hole of Li’s sliding block to Luo’s lever body. Li does not teach a lever body in connection with the jointing plate and a push-pull assembly. Modifying the sliding block 111 of Li to become a lever, and modifying the lever to have a waist-shaped hole would require improper hindsight reasoning and additional modifications to a modifying reference.
Regarding claim 6 and its depending claim(s) 7-10, the prior art fails to teach that a sink platform is opened and disposed on a rail surface of the turnout beam body, and the rotating support seat is disposed in the sink platform; the sink platform is opened and disposed with a housing area therein, and the jointing plate is placed in the housing area; the sink platform is opened and disposed with a lever housing hole therein that passes through the turnout beam body, and the lever is deflectably arranged in the lever housing hole. While Luo further teaches (Fig. 1-4): a turnout beam body (300, 400) shaped for receiving a joint plate (200)(Fig. 4), the examiner finds no obvious reason to modify Luo such that a sink platform is disposed on the rail surface of the turnout beam body for deflectably housing the lever, and further modify the rotating support seat of the secondary reference Li to be disposed in the seat platform in a housing area. Such a modification would require improper hindsight reasoning and modifications to a modifying reference.
Claim 11 and its depending claims 12-20 are objected to for the same reasons as claims 2-4 above. Claim 11 recites the limitations “a body of the lever is disposed with a waist-shaped hole thereon, wherein a pin shaft is disposed on a push rod head, and is embedded in the waist-shaped hole; and a push-pull direction of the axial push-pull member intersects with a direction of a long axis of the waist-shaped hole”.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure of a pivot-type suspended monorail turnout beam and with jointing plate push-pull assembly: CN 215481975 U, CN 211713528 U, CN 111041907 A, WO 2018209367 A1, CN 202705822 U, KR 20080095217 A, CN 101235617 A, EP 1726503 A2.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHENG XI LIN whose telephone number is (571)272-6102. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. through Fri. 9:00am to 6:00pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Samuel (Joe) Morano can be reached at 5712726684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHENG LIN/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
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