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 .
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by SHIMIZU (JP 2022061358 A).
Referring to claim 1: SHIMIZU discloses a housing structure (1 Fig. 1) of an electric toothbrush, the housing structure being applied to a handle body (handle body of 1), and an end of the handle body being provided with a brush head (611), wherein the housing structure comprises:
an outer housing (31) having an inner cavity, the outer housing being made of metal (“a metal tubular outer case” [0002]), wherein an end of the outer housing (31) away from the brush head (611) is provided with a narrowing section (NS Fig. 1-A inserted below) having a gradually decreasing inner diameter (decreasing inner diameter from brush head to opposite end and also decreases from the opposite end towards the brush head); and
an inner housing (41/ 32) nested within the outer housing (31) and adhesively connected (“gripping housing portion 31 and the vibrating housing portion 41 are adhesively fixed” [0030]) to an inner wall (41) of the outer housing (31),
wherein an end of the inner housing (41/ 32) is provided with a power-connecting component (43, 51, 52, 53, 511, 512),
the power-connecting component (43, 413, 51, 52, 53, 511, 512) is connected to an inner wall (321) of the inner housing (41/ 32) in a buckled manner (43 via 432 and 433),
the power-connecting component (43, 413, 51, 52, 53, 511, 512) is located in the narrowing section (NS Fig. 1-A inserted below), and
a radial outer wall (outer wall of 413) of the power-connecting component (43, 413, 51, 52, 53, 511, 512) abuts against an inner wall (wall of 632) of the narrowing section (NS Fig. 1-A inserted below).
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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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SHIMIZU (JP 2022061358 A) and Ye (US 20240366352 A1).
Referring to claim 5: SHIMIZU discloses the housing structure of an electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein protruding second snapping portions (432 and 433) are provided on the radial outer side of the power-connecting component (43, 413, 51, 52, 53, 511, 512), but is silent on the inner wall of the inner housing is specifically provided with buckling holes, and wherein the second snapping portions is capable of being plugged into the buckling holes.
Ye in an analogous housing structure teaches similar configuration protruding second snapping portions second snapping portions (114 Figs. 7 and 10) are provided on the radial outer side of the similar configuration power-connecting component (110 Fig. 7), and the inner wall (inner wall of 131 Fig. 10) of the inner housing (131 Fig. 10) is provided with buckling holes (holes which accommodate 114 shown in Fig. 10), and wherein the second snapping portions (114 Figs. 7 and 10) is capable of being plugged into the buckling holes (holes which accommodate 114 shown in Fig. 10).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the housing structure of SHIMIZU with the snapping portions and hole configuration as taught by Ye for the purpose of having an additional measure of securing the inner housing.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SHIMIZU (JP 2022061358 A) and Dishon (US 12303014 B2).
Referring to claim 6: SHIMIZU discloses the housing structure of an electric toothbrush according to claim 1, but is silent on wherein an outer wall of the power-connecting component is provided with an accommodating groove accommodating a sealing ring, and the sealing ring elastically abuts against the inner wall of the inner housing.
Dishon in an analogous housing structure teaches wherein an outer wall (outer wall of 26 Fig. 2) of the power-connecting component (26 Fig. 2) is provided with an accommodating groove (154 Fig. 2) accommodating a sealing ring (144 Fig. 2), and the sealing ring elastically abuts against the inner wall (inner wall of 22 Fig. 2; “The speaker assembly 26 may form a sealed closure for the cavity opening 80” Col. 6, lines 23-24) of the inner housing (22 Fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the housing structure of SHIMIZU with the sealing ring configuration as taught by Dishon for the purpose of having an additional sealing measure to prevent liquid damage to the electrical components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 7-9, and 10 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The most relevant art is: SHIMIZU (JP 2022061358 A), Ye (US 20240366352 A1), and Dishon (US 12303014 B2):
Regarding claim 2: SHIMIZU discloses the housing structure of an electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein a motor (43) and a battery compartment (compartment holding 52) are provided in the inner housing (41/ 32), and an end (end of 32) of the inner housing away from the narrowing section (NS Fig. 1-A inserted above) is provided with a covering portion (321).
But SHIMIZU, alone or in combination, does not teach, suggest, or make obvious wherein an end of the inner housing away from the narrowing section is provided with a covering portion and specifically an end of the motor abuts against an inner wall of the covering portion while having the motor away from the narrowing section. SHIMIZU’s motor is located in the narrowing section.
Such a reconstruction would be extensive and there is no motivation to do so. Thus, one would only arrive at the claimed invention by using improper hindsight reasoning knowledge gleaned only from the Applicant’s disclosure, and such a reconstruction would be improper.
Therefore, claim 2 would be allowable.
Claims 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10 would also be allowable based on their dependency to claim 2.
Regarding claim 8: SHIMIZU discloses the housing structure of an electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the power-connecting component (43, 413, 51, 52, 53, 511, 512) comprises a plug-in section (512) and a mating section (511).
But SHIMIZU, alone or in combination, does not teach, suggest, or make obvious wherein the plug-in section is embedded specifically in the inner housing, and an outer wall of the mating section specifically abuts against the inner wall of specifically the narrowing section.
Such a reconstruction would be extensive and there is no motivation to do so. Thus, one would only arrive at the claimed invention by using improper hindsight reasoning knowledge gleaned only from the Applicant’s disclosure, and such a reconstruction would be improper.
Therefore, claim 8 is allowable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER SOTO whose telephone number is (571)272-8172. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8a.m. - 5 p.m..
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CHRISTOPHER SOTO
Examiner
Art Unit 3723
/CHRISTOPHER SOTO/Examiner, Art Unit 3723
/MONICA S CARTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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