DETAILED ACTION
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 . Claims 1-10 are pending in the current application.
Drawings
Each of Figures 8A and 8B are objected to because each individual waveform discussed in the specification must be identified with a separate letter designation adjacent to the vertical axis. 37 C.F.R. 1.84(d).
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, 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 Objections
Regarding Claim 2, line 2, perhaps the language “has the” should be changed to “has a.”
Regarding Claim 5, line 2, it appears that the term “is” should be changed to “that is.”
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.
Claims 3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Specifically, Claim 3 is rejected since it is not clear what is meant by the language “variation of a top portion” recited in the 3rd to the last line.
Regarding Claim 6, the acronyms “SUS301” and “SUS304” are 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, and 7-9, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Toshihiko et al. (JP 2012-64401 A, hereinafter “Toshihiko”).
Specifically, regarding Claim 1, Toshihiko discloses a push switch (Abstract) comprising: a case (2; FIG. 2) having a recess with an open upper portion (3; FIG. 2), and
a fixed contact (13, 14; FIG. 2) inside the recess (FIG. 2), a dome shaped movable contact member (4), formed of a metal plate (¶ [0002] or the attached English machine translation) and accommodated inside the recess of the case (2; FIG. 1), and an operation member (21) configured to press the movable contact member (4), to cause an inversion operation of the movable contact member (4; FIG. 8), wherein the movable contact member (4) has a sidecut shape having both sides of a circular shape forming a pair of linear portions in a top view (FIGS. 2 and 6), and a sidecut ratio represented by (B/A) x 100 within a range of 40% to 70%, where A denotes a diameter of the circular shape (that of 43; FIG. 10, reproduced and annotated below), and B denotes a distance between the pair of linear portions (distance S, FIG. 10; Toshihiko teaches against a ratio utilizing diameter Φ, and not a diameter of 43).
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Regarding Claim 2, Toshihiko discloses that the movable contact member (4) has the sidecut ratio that decreases as a height of the dome shape increases, so that the movable contact member (4) exerts a constant actuating force during the inversion operation.
Regarding Claim 7, Toshihiko discloses that the sidecut ratio is within a range of 60% to 70% (FIG. 10 above).
Regarding Claim 8, Toshihiko discloses that the recess of the case (2) has a gap at a position opposing each linear portion of the pair of linear portions of the movable contact member (a gap between an outermost surface of 27 that extends to an outermost surface of 28; FIG. 6(b)).
Regarding Claim 9, Toshihiko discloses a protective sheet (3) covering an upper surface of the case (2) and bonded to the upper surface of the case (2; inherent for device housing requirements).
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.
Claims 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toshihiko.
Toshihiko discloses substantially all of the limitations of the present invention but does not disclose the claimed ranges. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to utilize such ranges to provide a reduced size and user-friendly tactile feedback 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. In re Aller, 105 U.S.P.Q. 233.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure. Kaneko et al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2021/0335558 A1) discloses a push switch comprising a case and a dome portion with cutout portions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY R. JIMENEZ whose telephone number is 313-446-6518. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday, 1030am - 9pm.
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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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/ANTHONY R JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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