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 . Claims 1-9 are pending in the current application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-3, 8, and 9, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kao et al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2022/0342497 A1, hereinafter “Kao”).
Specifically, regarding Claim 1, Kao discloses a roller (10) module (FIG. 1), comprising: a roller (10; FIG. 1) comprising an operating part (OP; FIG. 1, reproduced and annotated below) and a turntable part (TP; FIG. 1 below), wherein the operating part (OP) and the turntable part (TP) are rotatable synchronously along a rotation axis line (FIGS. 2 and 3), and a first rotating shaft (an end portion of 11, hereinafter “11A,” extending outwards on a same side as 24A and best shown in FIG. 1) and a second rotating shaft (an end portion of 11 extending outwards on a same side as 24B and best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, hereinafter “11B”) are respectively protruded from two opposite sides of the turntable part (TP) along the rotation axis line (FIG. 3), a circuit board (2; FIG. 1), wherein an encoder (50; ¶ [0018]) and a push switch (32a, 32b) are disposed on the circuit board (2; FIG. 3), and the first rotating shaft (11A) is connected with the encoder (50; FIG. 4, as 11 extends from a side comprising 32a to an opposite side and through encoder 50), and a bracket (BR; FIG. 1) comprising a fulcrum part (FP; FIG. 1 above), an effort part (EP; FIG. 1 above) and a load part (22a, 22b; FIG. 1), wherein the effort part (EP) is arranged between the fulcrum part (FP) and the load part (22a, 22b), the effort part (EP) comprises a sleeve (SL; FIG. 1 above), the second rotating shaft (11B) is accommodated within the sleeve (SL), and the load part (22a, 22b) is contacted with a top side of the push switch (32a, 32b), wherein when the roller (10) is pressed down, the fulcrum part (FP) is a support structure (FIG. 1), and the load part (22a, 22b) is moved downwardly to trigger the push switch (32a, 32b; ¶ [0016]).
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Regarding Claim 2, Kao discloses that the circuit board (2) has a top surface (TS; FIG. 1 above), a bottom surface (BS; FIG. 1 above) and an opening (OPN), wherein the opening (OPN) is in communication with the top surface (TS) and the bottom surface (BS; FIG. 1), and a portion of the roller (10) is penetrated downwardly through the opening (OPN; FIG. 1).
Regarding Claim 3, Kao discloses that the roller (10) module further comprises a base member (BM; FIG. 2 below), and the base member (BM) is located under the circuit board (2; FIG. 2), wherein the base member (BM) comprises a hook (HK; FIG. 2 below), and the hook (HK) is penetrated upwardly through the opening (OPN) and then exposed outside (FIG. 2; best shown in FIG. 2).
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Regarding Claim 8, Kao discloses that a protrusion structure (PS; FIG. 2 above) is formed on a bottom side of the load part (22a, 22b) of the bracket (BR), and the protrusion structure (PS) is contacted with the push switch (32a, 32b; FIG. 2).
Regarding Claim 9, Kao discloses that a width of the bracket (BR) is smaller than a width of the push switch (32a, 32b) along a direction in parallel with the rotation axis line (FIG. 3).
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 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kao in view of Sasaki et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,057, hereinafter “Sasaki”).
Kao discloses substantially all of the limitations of the present invention, and further discloses that the first rotating shaft (11A) is inserted into the mechanical encoder (50; FIG. 4), but does not disclose that the encoder is mechanical.
However, Sasaki discloses an encoder (70) that is a mechanical encoder (50; col. 2, ll. 4-12, col. 7, ll. 6-8). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Sasaki with those of Kao to simplified means of rotational input detection (e.g., in contrast to an optical encoder requiring increased design complexity).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 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 prior art fails to teach, disclose, or suggest, either alone or in combination, a roller module, comprising: a bracket comprising a fulcrum part, an effort part and a load part, and wherein the fulcrum part and the effort part are connected with each other through a first arm, and the effort part and the load part are connected with each other through a second arm, wherein the second arm comprises a position-limiting hole, and the base member comprises the claimed positioning piece, as recited in Claim 4, and the claimed rotating shaft, as recited in Claim 6.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY R. JIMENEZ whose telephone number is 313-446-6518. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday, 1030am - 9pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Renee Luebke, can be reached at (571) 272-2009. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY R JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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