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
1. 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.
2. Claims 1, 4, and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent 1,108,281 (Uffner).
With respect to claim 1, Uffner shows an enclosure (1, FIg.1, FIg.5) comprising: a housing defining an opening and an interior; a slide bracket (3, FIg.3) positioned in the housing; a tray (10) configured to receive a device is slideably connected to the slide bracket (FIg.1, Fig.3) and moveable between an open position (Fig.1) and an operation position (FIg.3); and a cover (11) connected to the tray (10, Fig.3), wherein in the open position (Fig.1) at least a portion of the tray (10) is positioned outside of the housing, wherein the cover (11) is slidable with the tray to be positioned over the opening (Fig.1, Fig.5), and wherein at least a portion of the tray (10) is pivoted (Fig.3) inside of the housing as the tray is moved to the operation position (Fig.3). With respect to claim 1, Uffner doesn’t disclose the enclosure is for a network device. However a recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim. In this instant case, the enclosure of Uffner is capable of housing a network device.
With respect to claim 4, wherein the operation position (Fig.3) orients the network device at an oblique angle relative to a horizontal plane of the housing (1).
With respect to claim 5, wherein the angle is between approximately 0 and 90 degrees (Fig.3).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 1,108,281 (Uffner) in further in view of EP 0658327 A1 (EP ‘327).
With respect to claim 2, Uffner teaches the slide bracket (3, Fig.4, FIg.3) has a slot but doesn’t show the front portion of the slot is for translation. EP ‘327 shows a slot (5, FIg.1), the slot having a front portion (9, FIg.1) permitting translation of the tray (15) and the cover (front face of tray) relative to the housing (1). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the slot of Uffner such that the front portion of the slot is for translation and the rear part is for rotation of the tray, such as taught by EP ‘327, in order to be able to linearly extend the tray further outwards from the housing to view the item in the tray better and further be able to rotate the tray within the housing and thus requiring less outside space to extract the items in the tray.
With respect to claim 3, the combination (EP ‘327) shows wherein the slot (5) has a curved portion (10, Fig.1) that causes rotation of the tray (15) to the operation position (FIg.1, FIg.4).
5. Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 1,108,281 (Uffner) alone.
With respect to claim 6, Uffner doesn’t disclose the angle is 30 degrees. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to make the angle approximately 30 degrees, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art.
6. Claims 15-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 0658327 A1 (EP ‘327) in view of US 2006/0278426 A1 (Barth) in further view of US 2012/0306329 A1 (Bader).
With respect to claim 15, EP ‘327 shows an enclosure (1, Fig.3) comprising: a housing (1) defining an opening and an interior for receiving a device; a slide portion (5, FIg.1) positioned in the housing, the slide portion including a slot (5) having a front portion (9, FIg.1) and a rear portion (10); a tray (15, FIg.1, FIg.3, FIg.4) having a base (bottom wall), the base configured to receive an item, the tray (15) slideably connected to the slide portion (FIg.3) and moveable between an open position (Fig.1, FIg.3) and an operation position (Fig.4); and a cover (front wall of tray 15) connected to the tray, wherein in the open position (Fig.3) at least a portion of the tray (15) is positioned outside of the housing (Fig.3),wherein the front portion (9, FIg.1) of the slot (5) permits translation of the tray and the cover relative to the housing, and wherein the rear portion (10, Fig.1) of the slot (5) is curved to permit the base to pivot inside of the housing (Fig.1, see dotted lines of tray 15) as the tray (15) is moved to the operation position to orient the base at an oblique angle (Fig.1, FIg.4).
With respect to claim 15, EP ‘327 doesn’t disclose the slot is fixed to a bracket. Barth teaches the slot (124, FIg.2) fixed to a slide bracket (120). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to place the slide slot of EP ‘327 on a bracket, such as taught by Barth, in order to protect the sidewalls of the housing from damage and easily change the bracket when needed without having to change the entire enclosure and to further reinforce the slot and provide efficient support for the tray.
With respect to claim 15, modified EP ‘327 doesn’t teach a faceplate connected to the housing. Bader shows a faceplate (32, 36, Fig.6) connected to the housing (Fig.6). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a faceplate to the housing of modified EP ‘327, such as taught by Bader, in order to reinforce the opening of the enclosure and support the housing. Regarding the recitation of the intended use “for a network device” the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim. In this instant case the enclosure of modified EP ‘327 is capable of enclosing a network device.
With respect to claim 16, the combination (EP ‘327) shows the housing (1) includes an upper body portion (top wall) and a lower body portion (bottom wall).
With respect to claim 17, the combination (Bader) teaches wherein housing includes a forward flange (46, Fig.11) for receiving the faceplate (36’).
With respect to claim 18, the combination (Bader) teaches wherein the housing includes a projection (67, FIg.7) extending from a bottom wall (24) into the interior.
With respect to claim 20, the combination (EP ‘327) shows wherein the slide bracket includes a curved slot (10) extends toward an upper wall of the housing (Fig.1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-14 are allowed.
Claim 19 is 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/HIWOT E TEFERA/Examiner, Art Unit 3637
