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 .
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 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.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 11-12 and 15 is/are objected to because of the following informalities:
There is insufficient antecedent basis for the following limitation(s) in Claim 11, so line 2 should read, “[the] a battery (7)”;
Claim(s) 12, line 4, should read “[an] the optical bracket”;
Claim 15, in line 1, “as claimed in claim 2” should read “as claimed in claim 12”; currently Claim 15 depends on Claim 2 but it appears that it should have depended on independent Claim 12.
For examination purposes, the examiner understands that Claim 15 depends onto independent Claim 12.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-5 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hou et al. (CN 221280087U, see reference in its entirety).
With respect to independent Claim 1, Hou disclose(s): A multifunctional laser ranging tape measure (Fig. 1), comprising:
a laser ranging assembly (Fig. 1: 7), a laser projecting assembly (Fig. 1: 10), a tape measure assembly (Fig. 1: 3), and a shell (Fig. 1: 1);
wherein the tape measure assembly is disposed inside the shell (Fig. 3), an optical bracket (Fig. 6: 72) is arranged along a radial direction of the tape measure assembly (Fig. 6), the laser ranging assembly and the laser projecting assembly are fixed side by side on the optical bracket (Fig. 6), the optical bracket comprises a rear extension part (see annotated Fig. 6 below), and a printed circuit board (PCB) (Fig. 6: 81) is fixed on the rear extension part (see annotated Fig. 6 below).
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Regarding Claim 2, Hou disclose(s) the measure of Claim 1.
Hou further disclose(s): wherein a battery (section “Specific implementation examples” states “cavity 11 is provided with a battery capable of supplying power”) and a button plate (see annotated Fig. 6 above) are disposed inside the shell (Fig. 6), and functional physical buttons (see annotated Fig. 6 above) are disposed at positions corresponding to the button plate on the shell (Fig. 1).
Regarding Claim 4, Hou disclose(s) the measure of Claim 1.
Hou further disclose(s): wherein the laser ranging assembly comprises a laser emission tube (see annotated Fig. 1 below) and a laser reception component (see annotated Fig. 1 below), the shell defines a light emission window (see annotated Fig. 1 below) corresponding to the laser emission tube (see annotated Fig. 1 below) and a light reception window (see annotated Fig. 1 below) corresponding to the laser reception component (see annotated Fig. 1 below); and the laser projecting assembly comprises a built-in light source (section “Specific implementation examples” states ”It should be note that the marked line laser tube 10 in the present solution can be a cross-line laser tube , a straight line laser tube or an LED lamp and other auxiliary functions”), and the shell defines a laser projecting window corresponding to the light source (see annotated Fig. 1 below).
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Regarding Claim 5, Hou disclose(s) the measure of Claim 1.
Hou further disclose(s): wherein the tape measure assembly comprises a tape measure shell (Fig. 3: 31), a tape core (Fig. 3: 2) is disposed in the tape measure shell (Fig. 3), a tape measure pivot (see annotated Fig. 3 below) is disposed in the tape core (see annotated Fig. 3 below), a tape (see annotated Fig. 3 below) is wrapped around the tape measure pivot (see annotated Fig. 3 below), and the tape measure pivot is fixed to the tape measure shell through a pivot seat (see annotated Fig. 3 below); and a lower part of the tape measure shell defines a first tape outlet (see annotated Fig. 3 below), the shell defines a second tape outlet (see annotated Fig. 3 below) corresponding to the first tape outlet (see annotated Fig. 3 below); a tape limit component (Fig. 3: 5) is disposed on a path from the first tape outlet to the second tape outlet (see annotated Fig. 3 below), and the tape limit component is disposed at a lower side of the optical bracket (Figs. 3 & 6).
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Regarding Claim 11, Hou disclose(s) the measure of Claim 1.
Hou further disclose(s): wherein the PCB (6) is provided with a type-C charging port (Fig. 2: 82) configured for charging the battery (Fig. 2), and a side wall of the shell correspondingly defines an opening for the type-C charging port (see annotated Fig. 2 below).
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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(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hou et al. in view of Kumagai et al (US 9523575 B2, see reference in its entirety).
With respect to independent Claim 20, Hou disclose(s): A multifunctional laser ranging tape measure (Fig. 1), comprising:
a shell (Fig. 1: 1), defining a light emission window (see annotated Fig. 1 below), a light reception window (see annotated Fig. 1 below), a laser projecting window (see annotated Fig. 1 below), and a tape outlet (Fig. 3: 16);
an optical bracket (Fig. 6: 72), disposed inside the shell (Fig. 6);
a PCB (Fig. 6: 81), disposed inside the shell and fixed on a rear end of the optical bracket (Fig. 6);
a laser ranging assembly (Fig. 1: 7), disposed inside the shell, and fixed on a front end of the optical bracket (Fig. 6); wherein the laser ranging assembly is configured to send light through the light emission window (see annotated Fig. 1 below) and receive light through the light reception window (see annotated Fig. 1 below);
a laser projecting assembly (Fig. 1: 10), disposed inside the shell (Fig. 6), and fixed on the front end of the optical bracket (Fig. 6); wherein the laser projecting assembly corresponds to the laser projecting window in positions (see annotated Fig. 1 below); and
a tape measure assembly (Fig. 1: 3), disposed inside the shell (Fig. 3); wherein the tape measure assembly comprises a tape measure shell (Fig. 3: 31), a tape core (Fig. 3: 2), a tape measure pivot (see annotated Fig. 3 below), a tape (see annotated Fig. 3 below), and a pivot seat (see annotated Fig. 3 below); the tape core is disposed in the tape measure shell (see annotated Fig. 3 below), the tape measure pivot is disposed in the tape core (see annotated Fig. 3 below), the tape is wrapped around the tape measure pivot and capable of extending from the shell via the tape outlet (Fig. 1), and the tape measure pivot is fixed to the tape measure shell through the pivot seat (see annotated Fig. 3 below).
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Hou does not specifically disclose: wherein the laser projecting assembly is disposed above the laser ranging assembly.
However, Kumagai teach(es) a measure (Fig. 1) including wherein the laser projecting assembly (Fig. 1: 11) is disposed above the laser ranging assembly (Fig. 1: 9).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Hou, with the teachings of Kumagai , for the purpose of quickly guiding the user (col. 1, lines 36-41).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 3 and 6-10 is/are 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.
Claim(s) 12-19 is/are allowed.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance for Claim(s) 3 and 12-19: the prior art does not disclose or suggest with regards to dependent Claim(s) 3 and with regards to independent Claim(s) 12:
A multifunctional laser ranging tape measure comprising: a laser ranging assembly (1), a laser projecting assembly (2), a tape measure assembly (3), a shell (4), and an optical bracket (5); and wherein the optical bracket (5) comprises a fixing position (52) of the laser ranging assembly (1) and a fixing position (53) of the laser projecting assembly (2); specifically, the laser ranging assembly (1) is fixed to the fixing position (52) of the laser ranging assembly (1), and the laser projecting assembly (2) is fixed to the fixing position (53) of the laser projecting assembly (2), in combination with the remaining limitations of the claims.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance for Claim(s) 6-10: the prior art does not disclose or suggest with regards to dependent Claim(s) 6:
A multifunctional laser ranging tape measure comprising: wherein the tape limit component (36) comprises a soft rubber button (361) and a top plate (362), an upper end of the soft rubber button (361) is provided with a curved surface matching a lower end of the tape (34), and specifically the top plate (362) is fixed inside the shell (4) and located at the lower side of the optical bracket (5); and the tape (34) passes between the soft rubber button (361) and the top plate (362), in combination with the remaining limitations of the claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
The following reference(s) relate to multifunctional tape measures: Luo et al. (US 2025/0155231 A1); Eliyahu (US 2024/0426993 A1); Li (US 9046340 B2); Qu et al. (US 11906296 B1 which is related to CN 116294882A); Unger et al. (US 11802764 B2); Li (US 11143494 B2); Rickman (US 6928029 B2); Guo et al. (CN 112082442A).
The following reference(s) relate to same assignee (SNDWAY TECHNOLOGY): XU et al. (EP 4692717 A1); Li et al. (US 2024/0410982 A1); Xu et al. (US 2025/0208290 A1).
The following reference(s) relate to references found in the ISR of EP 4692717 A1 of the same assignee (SNDWAY TECHNOLOGY) and same inventors (XU and HE): Li (US 2023/0296775 A1); Yu et al. (CN 116294882A).
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/TC/
18 September 2026
/KRISTINA M DEHERRERA/
Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855
