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 response to applicant’s amendment dated February 04, 2026. The following action is taken: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) 1, 5, 8 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rausch et al (9548068) in view of Kurita et al (7457071).
Regarding independent claims 1 and 20. The claims are not drawn to an independent power supply to the heater element and thus it is interpreted as the power supplied during the controller processing the signals from the heater element. The limitation “starting supply of the electric power to the heater” is merely the use of a heater to move the flying head relative the distance or gape to the disk surface since the claim does not “exclusively” claim the power supply timing. Thus claims 1 and 20 merely read on the standard magnetic head having a heater to move the head up and down and reading or detecting a read error or noise signal related to the data on the disk. the reference in fig 10 discloses a heater clearance controller 1027(see column 2 lines 52-68 showing a heater element wherein the temperature change is determined based on the heater power to determine the height and the read error as cited in column 4 lines 39-57 and column 8 lines 16-45 and column 6 lines 14-35 discloses a signal to noise ratio. However the reference does not disclose gradually increasing the power to the heater element. The secondary reference discloses gradually increasing the power to the heater for the purpose of improving the overall performance of the magnetic head device as cited in column 9 lines 45-58.
Although eh primary reference Rausch et al discloses changing the power to the heater element (column 11 lines 1-5). it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the teachings of the secondary reference Kurita et al and modify the primary reference Rausch et al. such modification of gradually increasing power is within the engineering capability of one skilled in the art for the purpose of enhancing the reading and recording performance of the magnetic head. Thus one of skilled in the art would have been motivated to use the teachings of the secondary reference for the purpose of noise reduction and low power consumption as cited in column 9 lines 1-25.
With respect to the limitation of claim 5. The claim read on reading when the noise or error is within an allowable range or level see column 2 lines 49-68 of the primary reference.
With respect to the limitation of claim 8, mitigation is disclosed in fig 9 step 904 and see column 5 lines 1-36 of the primary reference.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-4, 6, 7, and 9-19 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.
The cited prior art does not sow or teach based on the noise signal not present the power supply to the heater is gradually increased as in claim 2. The selection of the first reading head or the second reading head based on a first or second noise detection signals as in claim 11. While changing the electrical supply tot eh heater at a first frequency based on a servo interval determining a position error signal by the first head in order to determine a noise signal as in claims 16 and 19.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 5, 8 and 20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NABIL Z HINDI whose telephone number is (571)272-7618. The examiner can normally be reached on MON-FRI from 5:30 AM to 1:30 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Lim, can be reached at telephone number 571-270-1210. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NABIL Z HINDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2688