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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-10 are pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because of the following informalities:
In Fig. 4 ref. nos. “15” is objected to because it is partially cut-off
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-10 are 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.
Re Claim 1: It is not clear if the “fixing member” and the “movable member” introduced in line 4 of claim 1 are meant to be positively claimed as part of the claimed “locking mechanism” or if they are meant only as a functional limitation related to an intended use of the “locking mechanism”. The fixing and movable members are first introduced in line 4 the claim as a functional limitation (the first/second cavities are “used to place a fixing/movable member”), which appears to indicate that they are not meant to be positively claimed, but rather is only meant as an intended use limitation. However, further limitations in the claims related to at least the “movable member” (for example, lines 10-12 of claim 1) appear to indicate that perhaps the they are meant to be positively claimed as part of the “locking mechanism”. Accordingly, the metes and bounds of the claim cannot be determined because the scope of the claim is unclear.
For examination purposes, for this Office Action only, the Examiner will interpret the claims as though the “fixing member” and the “movable member” are NOT positively claimed as part of the “locking mechanism”, but rather is recited only as a functional limitation related to an intended use of the “locking mechanism”. Clarification and correction are required.
If this interpretation is correct, lines 10-12 of claim 1 should be amended as follows:
--a locking column, wherein the locking column is configured to be arranged on the fixing member, and an elastic member is further configured to be arranged between the locking column and the fixing member;--
Re Claims 2-10: These claims are considered indefinite because of their dependency from indefinite claim 1.
Examiner notes that any prior art rejections made in this Office Action are made in view of the claims, as best understood by the Examiner, in view of the above indefiniteness rejections.
Allowable Subject Matter
Chen (US Patent Application Publication 2014/0099155) is considered to be the closest prior art device of record to that of the instantly claimed device.
Re Claim 1, as best understood by the Examiner: Chen discloses a locking mechanism (5; see Figs. 2-8), comprising:
a shell (51), wherein the shell comprises a first cavity (511) and at least one second cavity (see annotated Fig. 2 below), the first cavity is not communicated with the second cavity, the first cavity is used to place a fixing member (4), the second cavity is used to place a movable member (7, 8; see Fig. 16A) and the shell is provided with a first pressing hole (512) on an inner side wall where the first cavity is located;
a locking cover (54), wherein the locking cover is arranged on an outer side wall of the shell, the locking cover has a first connecting end (for example, the circumferentially outer end) and a first covering end (for example, the circumferentially inner end), and the first covering end is used to cover the first pressing hole;
a locking column (2), wherein the locking column is arranged on the fixing member (4; see Figs. 5 and 7), and an elastic member (see annotated Fig. 5 below) is further arranged between the locking column and the fixing member;
wherein the locking column (2) is configured to be placed in a locked position (see Fig. 5) and an unlocked position (see Fig. 7), when the locking column is placed in the locked position, the elastic member is in a naturally extended state to enable the locking column to protrude out of the first pressing hole from the first cavity, and the first covering end covers the first pressing hole; when the locking column is placed in the unlocked position, the elastic member is compressed by force, and the locking column (2) retracts from the first pressing hole into the first cavity (see Fig. 7).
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Chen fails to disclose wherein the first connecting end of the locking cover is hinged with the shell; and wherein when the locking column is placed in the unlocked position, the first covering end is separated from the first pressing hole.
Further, none of the other prior art devices of record teach or suggest a locking mechanism including these missing features. As such, it would not have been obvious to modify the device of Chen to include these missing elements, as there would have been no teaching, suggestion or motivation to do so.
For at least these reasons, independent claim 1 (as best understood by the Examiner) would be allowable over the prior art of record if amended to overcome the 35 USC 112 rejection set forth above. Dependent claims 2-10 would be allowable at least due to their dependence from claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW R MCMAHON whose telephone number is (571)270-3067. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
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, Amber Anderson can be reached at (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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/MATTHEW R MCMAHON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3678
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