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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “distance between one indication and the next being constant for the entire set of indications” claim 3; “pulsometric” scale claim 5 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Note claim figure 8 depicts a pulsometric display. But figure 8 does not display the claimed pulsometric display in conjunction with a first mobile being arranged to be connected to the current time mobile.
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.
Claim 11 is 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 11 recites one recess, in order to reduce their unbalance when the indicator member is reset to zero. The meaning of this phrase is not understood. It is unclear what structural limitation of the recess must exist in order to achieve the reduction in unbalance, since reduction is always relative to some alternative. If applicant does not clearly or distinctly state the alternative that is improved upon, the degree or structure of the achievement is not correspondingly clear or distinct. Claim 11 is therefore indefinite.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Brown (US 2565017).
With regard to claim 1 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch comprising a timepiece mechanism, the timepiece mechanism comprising:
a current time mobile (35, 37), comprising an axis and being arranged to rotate about this axis (36);
a first mobile (either 27 or 28), comprising a first axis and being arranged to be connected to the current time mobile (25) and to rotate about this first axis with a constant speed of rotation,
an indicator member (29);
a second mobile (23), arranged to mesh with the first mobile (25), and to be connected to the said indicator member (29);
an element bearing a scale (31) comprising a set of indications (31), said indicator member (29) allowing to display information on this scale (31);
an actuating device (16); and
a clutch mechanism (23), arranged so as to be able to connect (once in the zero position the system stops driving and is not effectively connected. The user resets to a non-zero value using 16 which allows the subsequent connection for the duration of timing) the current time mobile (35, 37) with the first mobile under the action of the actuating device (16 allows the hand system 29 to be driven down to zero. It allows connection between the driven display and 17 and 35 through the slip gear system 22, 23. The disclosure refers to element 23 as the clutch member),
wherein the first mobile and the second mobile (27, 28 are spiral gears figure 1) are arranged so as to obtain a gear ratio between the first mobile and the second mobile which varies as a function of their relative angular position (note the compressed timing scale on 31 to the left and the spiral shape of the gears figure 1), so that the indicator member rotates with a variable speed of rotation in correspondence with at least one subset of said set of indications (note the compresses timing scale on 31 to the left and the spiral shape of the gears figure 1).
With regard to claim 2 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch according to claim 1, comprising:
an input mobile (15), comprising an input axis (15) and being arranged to rotate about this input axis (figure 1), the input mobile being arranged to be driven in rotation by the current time mobile (35),
the clutch mechanism (23) being arranged to be able to connect, under the action of the actuating device (16), the current time mobile (35) with the first mobile via the input mobile (15).
With regard to claim 4 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch according to claim 1, the scale comprising a plurality of indications, the distance between one indication and the next being variable at least for a subset of said set of indications (31 figure 1 the distance is variable).
With regard to claim 6 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch according to claim 1, the first mobile and the second mobile having the same shape (27, 28 figure 2 both are a spiral shape).
With regard to claim 7 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch according to claim 6, said shape being defined by radius of different lengths (27, 28 figure 2 both are a spiral shape), the first mobile and the second mobile being arranged in such a way that the sum of the radius of each mobile in correspondence with the gearing of the two mobiles is constant, the sum of these radii being equal to the distance between the axes of the two mobiles (27, 28 figure 2 both are a spiral shape; if the axes don’t change, which they don’t, then it follows the combined radius must be complementary).
With regard to claim 9 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch according to claim 1, said subset of scale indications being a first subset, the set of indications comprising a second subset distinct from the first subset, each of the first mobile and second mobile is arranged so that the rotation of the second mobile remains constant, in correspondence with the second subset of scale indications (the mobiles 27 28 are driven at a constant rate by escapement including parts such as 45 using the balance 51. While 28 may change its rate of rotation, the source gear 27 would be driven at a constant rate owing to its input 24 through 14.
With regard to claim 10 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch according to claim 1, in which the first mobile and the second mobile have a logarithmic spiral shape (see spiral shape figure 1 elements 27 and 28. See also the corresponding scale 31).
With regard to claim 11 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch according to claim 1, in which each of the first mobile and second mobile comprises at least one recess, in order to reduce their unbalance when the indicator member is reset to zero (“The hollow shaft 25 also carries spiral-shaped snail gear 27”; the snail has a hollow recess to facilitate mounting on the hollow shaft.)
With regard to claim 14 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch according to claim 10, comprising a play-limiting means between the first mobile and the second mobile-which allows a rotation of the second mobile before it is driven by the first mobile (both spiral gears 27 and 28 have a hard stop that can reasonably be construed to be the play limiting means).
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With regard to claim 15 Brown discloses a chronograph-watch according to claim 14, the second mobile comprising the play-limiting means (hard wall at the end of the spiral figure 1).
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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 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brown (US 2565017) in view of Hoffman US 2261723.
With regard to claim 16 (depends from claim 15) Brown does not disclose the claimed: the play-limiting means being a protrusion of an arm of the second mobile.Hoffman teaches a protruding arm on the spiral cams to act as the play limiting feature. See figures 1, 2.
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It 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 to configure Brown’s system with the play-limiting means being a protrusion of an arm of the second mobile, as taught by Hoffman. The reason for doing so would have been to reduce the risk of seizure by reducing the interface surface and controlling the contact point, as taught by Hoffman.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brown (US 2565017)
With regard to claim 8 (depends from claim 7) Brown does not disclose the claimed: the sum of the radii belonging to the range from 3 mm to 8 mm.
The range of 3 to 8 mm is a normal range for the gears in a wristwatch or timepiece or clock. The ratio would correspond to a display relative proportional size. While the figure cannot be construed to have a particular to scale dimension it does follow that the display would be proportional to the gear size. This is turn would correspond to a display of several mm. This is on its face a reasonable size and proportion for both the final display and the spiral gears. For these reasons it is concluded that: It 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 to configure Brown’s system with the sum of the radii belonging to the range from 3 mm to 8 mm. The reason for doing so would have been to select a normal gear size to achieve a visible display that a user can reasonably observe on a wristwatch or clock.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brown (US 2565017) in view of Schneider (US 2017/0082978).
With regard to claim 5 (depends from claim 1) Brown does not disclose the claimed: the scale being a tachometric, pulsometric or telemetric scale.
Schneider teaches a heart rate display and additional display types paragraph 69.
It 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 to configure Brown’s system with a scale being a tachometric, pulsometric or telemetric scale. The reason for doing so would have been to indicate tachometric, pulsometric or telemetric information to a user, as taught by Schneider. Further the scale could be combined with a discrete separate display to achieve unique displays and results.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brown (US 2565017) in view of Ruleseh (US 3992960).
With regard to claim 3 (depends from claim 1) Brown does not disclose the claimed the scale (31) comprising a plurality of indications, the distance between one indication and the next being constant for the entire set of indications.
See Ruleseh as an example of the desirability of linear constant speeds combined with non-linear speeds. See figure 1.
It 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 to provide a second linear display where every indication in the scale is constantly spaced. The reason for doing so would have been to allow a user to use the finer precision of a larger angular display range to set the display to a more refined setting than otherwise would be possible with the compressed scale. Thus a user can choose between fast setting using the compress scale, and precision setting using the linear scale.
Claims 12-13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brown (US 2565017) in view of Zaugg (US 2021/0181681).
With regard to claim 12 (depends from claim 10) Brown does not disclose the claimed a heart piece coaxial with the second mobile, and a connecting means between the second mobile and the heart piece, allowing to secure them together, and thus to reduce or avoid any offset caused during a reset to zero.
Zaugg teaches a reset to zero heart cam coaxial with a wheel figure 5.
It 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 to provide Brown’s system with a heart piece coaxial with the second mobile, and a connecting means between the second mobile and the heart piece, allowing to secure them together, and thus to reduce or avoid any offset caused during a reset to zero, as taught by Zaugg. The reason for doing so would have been to allow fast controlled reset to zero as taught by Zaugg thus improving the function and operation of the system, as taught by Zaugg.
With regard to claim 13 (depends from claim 12) Brown does not disclose the claimed: the connecting means comprising a pin carried by the heart piece and arranged to be received by a through hole of the second mobile.
Zaugg teaches a connecting pin - figure 5 paragraph 64.
It 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 to provide Brown’s system with a pin carried by the heart piece and arranged to be received by a through hole of the second mobile, as taught by Zaugg. The reason for doing so would have been to attach the reset heart to the wheel in a known and common fixed way to allow them to operate in conjunction through rotation and achieve the desired reset operation as taught by Zaugg.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEAN KAYES whose telephone number is (571)272-8931. The examiner can normally be reached 10-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Renee Luebke can be reached at 571-272-2009. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SEAN KAYES/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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