DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to an application filed on August 7, 2024, in which claims 1 through 7 are pending, and ready for examination.
Acknowledgement is made of Applicant’s claim for benefit as a 371 National Stage Application of PCT/JP2022/006127, filed on February 16, 2022.
Acknowledgement is made of Applicant’s preliminary amendment filed on August 7, 2024.
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 § 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 1-7 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 4 each recite, “the number of rows [of the key column]”.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this element in the claim(s).
Claims 1 and 4 each recite, “the end [to each position]”.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this element in the claim(s).
Claims 1 and 4 each recite, “the head [to each position]”.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this element in the claim(s).
Claims 1 and 4 each recite, “the front side”.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this element in the claim(s).
Claims 1 and 4 each recite, “the rear side”.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this element in the claim(s).
Claims 2, 3, and 5-7 are each dependent from either claim 1 or claim 4, and are therefore rejected under the same rationale as claims 1 and/or 4 based upon that dependency.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to J. Brant Murphy whose telephone number is (571)272-6433. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8am - 4pm.
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/J. BRANT MURPHY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2435
January 24, 2026