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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 06/12/2023 and 01/22/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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(s) 1, 3, 7, 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (CN208092660) in view of Erickson (5,482,417).
As to independent claim 1, Zhang teaches a drive exciter (see figure 1-4), characterized by comprising: a bracket comprising an installation member (1) and a guiding structure (4) connected to the installation member (1); a vibration part (2) movably connected to the guiding structure (4) and provided with a vibratile vibration member; a braking part (3) connected to the installation member (1) proximate to the vibration part (2); wherein, the drive exciter (see figures 1-4) has a first state where the latch member (5) abuts against the vibration part (2) and a second state where the latch member (5) is disengaged from the vibration part (2), and, the vibration part (2) is configured to moves- towards the braking part (3) and abuts- against the braking part (3) as shown in figures 1-4
However Zhang teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except a latch part comprising a drive member connected to the installation member and a latch member connected to an output end of the drive member;
Erickson teaches a drive member (16) connected to the installation member (122) and a latch member (50) connected to an output end of the drive member (16) as shown n figure 1-5, for the advantageous benefit of providing a self-locking mechanism that is easy to use and which is reliable.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Zhang by using a latch part comprising a drive member connected to the installation member and a latch member connected to an output end of the drive member, as taught by Erickson, to provide a self-locking mechanism that is easy to use and which is reliable.
As to claim 3/1, Zhang in view of Erickson teaches the claimed limitation as dissed above except wherein the drive member is provided with a rotation shaft, with the latch member being a locking rod, one a first end of the latch member being connected to the rotation shaft, and a length direction of the latch member being arranged at an angle with an extension direction of the rotation shaft.
Erickson teaches the drive member (16) is provided with a rotation shaft (14), with the latch member being a locking rod (50), one a first end of the latch member being connected to the rotation shaft (14), and a length direction of the latch member being arranged at an angle with an extension direction of the rotation shaft (14) as shown in figures 1, 3-5 and 6-14, for the advantageous benefit of providing a self-locking mechanism that is easy to use and which is reliable.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Zhang by using the drive member is provided with a rotation shaft, with the latch member being a locking rod, one a first end of the latch member being connected to the rotation shaft, and a length direction of the latch member being arranged at an angle with an extension direction of the rotation shaft, as taught by Erickson, to provide a self-locking mechanism that is easy to use and which is reliable.
As to claim 7/1, Zhang teaches wherein the drive exciter further comprises a resetting member, which is comprising a spring (43, 44), and wherein two ends of the spring are elastically connected to the vibration part (2) and a surface of the installation member (1) as shown in figure 1-4.
As to claim 10/1, Zhang teaches an electronic device, comprising a drive exciter as shown in figure 1-4
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (CN208092660) and Erickson (5,482,417) as applied in claim 1 above, and further in view of Cronin et al. (6,113,413).
As to claim 2/1, Zhang in view of Erickson teaches the claimed limitation as dissed above except wherein the latch part comprises two latch members, which are located on two sides of the vibration part to form a limiting space, with the drive member connected to at least one of the latch members; wherein in the first state, the vibration part is limited within the limiting space.
Cronin et al. teaches the latch part comprises two latch members (22), which are located on two sides of the vibration part to form a limiting space, with the drive member connected (20) to at least one of the latch members (22); wherein in the first state, the vibration part is limited within the limiting space therebetween in which the vibration part is positioned in the latched condition as shown in figures 1-5, for the advantageous benefit of providing a new and improved latching means or system for an electrical connector.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Zhang in view of Erickson by using the latch part comprises two latch members, which are located on two sides of the vibration part to form a limiting space, with the drive member connected to at least one of the latch members; wherein in the first state, the vibration part is limited within the limiting space, as taught by Cronin et al., to provide a new and improved latching means or system for an electrical connector.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (CN208092660) and Erickson (5,482,417) as applied in claim 1 above, and further in view of Shahoian (6,982,696).
As to claim 8/1, Zhang in view of Erickson teaches the claimed limitation as dissed above except wherein the braking part comprises a spring; or, the braking part comprises-rubber; or, the braking part comprises foam; or, the braking part comprises at least two of a spring, rubber, and foam connected in series or in parallel.
Shahoian teaches the braking part comprises foam (122) as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of providing actuators that output high magnitude, high bandwidth vibrations for more compelling force effects.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Zhang in view of Erickson by using the braking part comprises a spring; or, the braking part comprises-rubber; or, the braking part comprises foam; or, the braking part comprises at least two of a spring, rubber, and foam connected in series or in parallel, as taught by Shahoian, to provide actuators that output high magnitude, high bandwidth vibrations for more compelling force effects.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 9 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.
Conclusion
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/JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834 August 6, 2026
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