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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 23 July 2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, and 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Wang (US 2014/0093326 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Wang discloses a control device (see Fig. 6), comprising:
a head portion (10, 20); and
a body portion (30) movably fitted to the head portion (see Figs. 6-8), wherein lateral buoyancy level, vertical buoyancy level (see Figs. 6-8) or rotational buoyancy level between the head portion and the body portion enables shifting (see Figs. 6-8), tightening, restrictive abutment or rotational abutment between the head portion and the body portion;
wherein the head portion has an axial portion (10, 20) such that the axial portion is movably fitted to the body portion (see Fig. 6);
wherein the body portion has a variable portion (A in annotated Figure 6 below) deformable under an applied force to therefore abut against and restrict movement of a corresponding structure (22) of the axial portion so as to be movably fitted to the head portion (see Fig. 6 and NOTE below).
NOTE: The claim recites deformable and therefore only requires the prior art to be capable of being deformed in the manner claimed. Accordingly, the variable portion is capable of being deformed under an applied force.
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Figure 1. Annotated Figure 6.
Regarding claim 2, Wang discloses wherein a resilient component (40) is disposed between the head portion (10, 20) and the body portion (30) and adapted to abut against the head portion (see Fig. 6) or the body portion and thereby cause the head portion (see Fig. 6) or the body portion to undergo a lateral, vertical (see Figs. 6-8) or rotational movement, or a restoring movement performed after motion and intended to restore to a pre-motion position.
Regarding claim 3, Wang discloses wherein the resilient component (40) laterally, vertically (see Fig. 6), or rotationally abuts against the head portion (10, 20) or the body portion.
Regarding claim 5, Wang discloses wherein the variable portion (A in annotated Figure 6 above) of the body portion (30) is an upward-protruding element (see A in annotated Figure 6 above) or a downward-protruding element with a hole portion (B in annotated Figure 6 below) such that, as soon as a corresponding structure (10, 20) of the axial portion (10, 20) passes through the hole portion and thus is subjected to pressure under an applied force (see Fig. 7), the hole portion of the variable portion is smaller than the corresponding structure of the axial portion (see NOTE below), thereby allowing the body portion to be movably fitted to the head portion (see Figs. 6-8).
Applicant is reminded that "[E]ven though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process." In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
Accordingly, all the process limitations of “as soon as a corresponding structure of the axial portion passes through” and “subjected to pressure” are given limited patentable weight, all that is required of claim 5 is that the axial portion is capable of being passed through and being subjected to pressure.
NOTE: See in Fig. 6 that the axial portion (10, 20) passes through the hole portion and further has a portion (22) that is larger in size than the hole portion.
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Figure 2. Annotated Figure 6.
Regarding claim 7, Wang discloses wherein forward or lateral (see Fig. 6) rotational buoyancy displacement occurs between the body portion (30) and the head portion (10, 20, see Figs. 6-8).
Regarding claim 8, Wang discloses wherein the rotational buoyancy level is defined as a variation in an angle between the head portion (10, 20) and the body portion (30) to thereby vary a distance between different positions thereof (see Figs. 6-8 for example), wherein the distance resulting from the angular variation equals a difference in the distance variation between different parts of the head portion or equals a difference in the distance variation between different parts of the head portion and different parts of the body portion (see Figs. 6-8 for example).
Regarding claim 9, Wang discloses wherein the axial portion (10, 20) is a cylindrical element, raised element, dented element, hole element, slot element, fitting element (see Fig. 6), engaging element or resilient element.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZACHARY A HALL whose telephone number is (571)272-5907. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday 8:00am to 4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amber Anderson can be reached on 571-270-5281. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZAH/Examiner, Art Unit 3678
/AMBER R ANDERSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3678