FIRST NON-FINAL REJECTION
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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Seitz U.S. Patent 4,836,033.
With respect to claims 1 and 2, Seitz teaches a dielectric elastic base material (compressible dielectric elastomer 20, 21, col. 4 lines 62-65); and plurality of electrode elements that are integrally aligned (figures 4 and 5), each of the plurality of electrodes being a combination of a first electrode and three second electrodes that sandwich the elastic base material from both sides in a predetermined direction (capacitor surface 10 and capacitor surfaces 14 and 15, figures 4 and 5), wherein in a plan view seen along the predetermined direction (figures 4 and 5), the three second electrodes are arranged to overlap portions of the first electrode that are different from one another (capacitor surfaces 14 and 15 overlap capacitor surfaces 10, figures 4 and 5), and in each case where an external force acts on the elastic base material along each of a first direction and a second direction that form a predetermined angle on a plane orthogonal to the predetermined direction (col. 4 lines 38-68), among areas of the portions where each of the three second electrodes overlaps the first electrode, the areas corresponding to at least two of the second electrodes change (capacitor surface 10 may overlap at least two of the capacitor surfaces 14 and 15, figures 4 and 5), and each of the three second electrodes in the plurality of electrode elements is aligned along three different straight lines that are parallel to one another (interpreted as the alignment of the capacitor surfaces 14 and 15, figures 4 and 5).
With respect to claims 3 and 4, Seitz teaches a process portion (interpreted as basic circuit for evaluating the measurement signals, figure 6) that sets, with reference to any one of the three second electrodes, a correction coefficient of a capacitance to other two second electrodes in accordance with the areas of the portions where each of the three second electrodes overlaps the first electrode (interpreted as the values corresponding to the capacities C13-C16 and direction signals Ux, Uy, Uz being calculated from the values), and acquires an external force that acts on the elastic base material based on the correction coefficient and the capacitance of each of the three second electrodes (the force being acquired from the capacity values and a direction signals, col. 5 lines 9-68).
Conclusion
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FREDDIE KIRKLAND III
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2855
/Freddie Kirkland III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855 6/26/2026
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