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 .
This is a non-final Office Action for serial number 18/821,292, Electronic Device, filed on August 30, 2024.
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 1-17 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the same" in line 11. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the same" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the same" in line 9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the structural form" in line 7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being (a)(2) by U.S. Patent Publication No. 2024/0324119 to Ma.
Ma ‘119 discloses an electronic device (Fig. 2 – marked up below) comprising: a first body; a second body and a connecting assembly including a first structural assembly movably connected to the first body and a second structural assembly movably connected to the second body, wherein the electronic device is configure to switch to different device forms through a first relative movement between the first body and the first structural assembly and a second relative movement between the second body and the second structural assembly, and in different device forms, a relative position between the first structural assembly and the second structural assembly is different.
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Regarding claim 2, Ma ‘119 discloses wherein the relative position between the first structural assembly and the second structural assembly changes with the relative movement between the first body and the second body (the first and second structural assemblies slide toward / outward), a type of third relative movement between the first structural assembly and the second structural assembly is different from the type of relative movement between the first body and the second body.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 5-7, 8-14, and 15-17 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 3, the prior art fails to disclose a third structural assembly movably connected to the first structural assembly and the second structural assembly.
Regarding claim 5, the prior art fails to disclose wherein a first clamping structure being disposed on a first side of the first body.
Regarding claim 8, the prior art fails to disclose a second clamping structure being disposed on a second side of the second body.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent No. 7,529,083 – Monitor apparatus
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TODD M. EPPS whose telephone number is (571) 272-8282. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am - 5pm.
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/TODD M EPPS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3632 January 9, 2026