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 .
Application Status
Claims 1-8 are pending and have been examined in this application.
This communication is the first action on the merits.
Claims 1-8 are rejected herein.
Information Disclosure Statement
As of the date of this action, an information disclosure statement (IDS) has been filed on 10/10/2024 and reviewed by the Examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2, 4, 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 2 is indefinite because claim 2 is an apparatus claim that recites method type recitations for example “…wherein the coupling structure is brought into the locked state by being brought into a first/second/third abutting state…” the Examiner suggests the use of term “configured to”. Claims 7-8 contain similar issues.
Claim 4 is indefinite because claim 4 recites “a plurality the control bodies”, “the first control body and the second control body. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Additionally, it is unclear how many control bodies are being claimed. In other words, it is unclear whether any of these control bodies referring to the control body recited in claim 2 or to some other body.
Dependent claims 6 and 8 are rejected based on their respective dependencies.
Appropriate correction/explanation is required.
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 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 pre-AIA 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lundstrom (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 5108066).
Regarding claim 1, Lee teaches a coupling structure capable of coupling a support object, which is an object of support, to a support device that supports the support object, the coupling structure comprising:
a lock mechanism (1) capable of switching between a locked state (as shown in Fig. 1) in which axial movement of a shaft-shaped portion (shaft inserted in 1) of shaft shape provided in the support device is suppressed and an unlocked state (when 2 is pressed) in which the axial movement is permitted,
wherein the lock mechanism comprises:
a control body (2) that includes a shaft insertion portion (central opening of 2) into which the shaft-shaped portion is inserted and that is made swingable with respect to the shaft-shaped portion in a state in which the shaft-shaped portion is inserted into the shaft insertion portion; and
a biasing member (3) that exerts a bias force in a direction of swinging the control body inserted into the shaft insertion portion, and
wherein when the control body swings due to an influence of the bias force by the biasing member, and the control body swings about a swing axis (central axis of 2) intersecting an axis (vertical axis) of the shaft-shaped portion while turning in a direction around the axis of the shaft-shaped portion inserted into the shaft insertion portion, and interferes with the shaft-shaped portion and is brought into a pried state, the coupling structure is brought into the locked state (see Fig. 1 for configuration).
Regarding claim 2, Lundstrom teaches a coupling structure capable of coupling a support object, which is an object of support, to a support device that supports the support object, the coupling structure comprising:
a lock mechanism (1) capable of switching between a locked state (as shown in Fig. 1) in which axial movement of a shaft-shaped portion (shaft inserted in 1) of shaft shape provided in the support device is suppressed and an unlocked state (when 2 is pulled upward) in which the axial movement is permitted,
wherein the lock mechanism comprises:
a control body (2) that includes a shaft insertion portion (central opening of 2) into which the shaft-shaped portion is inserted and that is made swingable with respect to the shaft-shaped portion in a state in which the shaft-shaped portion is inserted into the shaft insertion portion; and
a biasing member (26) that exerts a bias force in a direction of swinging the control body inserted into the shaft insertion portion,
wherein a first abutting portion (L1 see annotated figure below), a second abutting portion (L2 see annotated figure below), and a third abutting portion (L3 see annotated figure below) that are capable of abutting against an outer peripheral surface of the shaft-shaped portion inserted into the shaft insertion portion when the control body swings due to an influence of the bias force by the biasing member are provided at positions separated from each other in a circumferential direction of the shaft insertion portion, and
wherein the coupling structure is brought into the locked state by being brought into a first abutting state in which the first abutting portion abuts against the outer peripheral surface of the shaft-shaped portion when the control body is inclined with respect to the shaft-shaped portion due to the influence of the bias force by the biasing member,
by being brought into a second abutting state in which the second abutting portion abuts against the outer peripheral surface of the shaft-shaped portion when the control body turns in a direction around an axis of the shaft-shaped portion with a position where the control body is out of the first abutting portion due to the influence of the bias force by the biasing member as a turning fulcrum point in the first abutting state, and
by being brought into a third abutting state in which the control body interferes with the shaft-shaped portion in the first abutting portion, the second abutting portion, and the third abutting portion when, in the second abutting state, the control body swings about a swing axis intersecting the axis of the shaft-shaped portion with points where the first abutting portion and the second abutting portion respectively abut against the outer peripheral surface of the shaft-shaped portion as a swing fulcrum point due to the influence of the bias force by the biasing member, and the third abutting portion abuts against the outer peripheral surface of the shaft-shaped portion (see Fig. 1 for configuration).
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Regarding claim 7, Lee teaches the lock mechanism has an accommodating portion (cavity of 1) that accommodates the control body (2), and
wherein the control body has an inner wall abutting portion (L4 see annotated figure below) that abuts against an inner wall portion of the accommodating portion (L5 see annotated figure below) when the control body swings due to the influence of the bias force by the biasing member, and turns in the direction around the axis of the shaft-shaped portion inserted into the shaft insertion portion with an abutting point of the inner wall portion of the accommodating portion and the inner wall abutting portion as a turning fulcrum point (see Fig. 1 for configuration).
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Regarding claim 8, Lee teaches the lock mechanism has an accommodating portion that accommodates the control body, and
wherein the control body has an inner wall abutting portion that abuts against an inner wall portion of the accommodating portion when the control body swings due to the influence of the bias force by the biasing member, and turns in the direction around the axis of the shaft-shaped portion inserted into the shaft insertion portion with an abutting point of the inner wall portion of the accommodating portion and the inner wall abutting portion as a turning fulcrum point [capable].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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. See attached PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUHAMMAD IJAZ whose telephone number is (571)272-6280. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 11:00 am-10:00 pm.
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MUHAMMAD IJAZ
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3631
/Muhammad Ijaz/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3631