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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the elastic part in contact with the roof plate or the fastener as referenced in claim 12 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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, the 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
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: the phrase “second blocking port” should be “second blocking part.” Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities: the phrase “is below or flushes with” should read “is below or flushed with.” Appropriate correction is required.
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 4, 6-12 and 16 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the rail connector" in Line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 4 should be amended to depend from claim 2 or otherwise amended to not use antecedent basis language to overcome this issue.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the rail connector" in Line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 6 should be amended to depend from claim 2 or otherwise amended to not use antecedent basis language to overcome this issue.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the grooves" in Line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 10 should be amended to read “into grooves” in order to overcome this issue.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the upper surface" in Line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 11 should be amended to read “an upper surface of the rail” in order to overcome this issue.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "the rail connector" in Line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 12 should be amended to depend from claim 2 or otherwise amended to not use antecedent basis language to overcome this issue.
Claim 14 recites the limitation "the clamping part" in Line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is unclear if the Applicant is intended to refer to the first or second clamping parts established in claim 6 or a different part altogether. It is suggested that Applicant either remove the antecedent basis terminology or amend claim 14 so that it specifies which clamping part (first or second or both) ana change the dependency of claim 14 to overcome this issue.
Claim 16 recites the limitation "the clamping part" in Line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Applicant has not previously established a clamping part so therefore it is unclear what the Applicant is referring to. Further, it appears as if this may be a typographical error since the specification refers to the chucking part as applying upward pressure on the frame (see Page 8, Lines 10-15 for instance). Appropriate clarification is requested.
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, 3-5, 11-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu US 10749459 (hereinafter Liu).
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Re. Cl. 1, Liu discloses: A quick installation pressing block (Fig. 5), comprising: a roof plate (27, Fig. 5) having a first pressing plate (left half of 27a, Fig. 5) and a second pressing plate (right half of 27a, Fig. 5) adjacent in a first direction (see Fig. 5); a support chucking part (28, Fig. 5) having an installation part (surface with 28a, Fig. 5), a supporting part (see annotated figure 5) and a chucking part (28c, Fig. 5), wherein the installation part and the chucking part are respectively connected to two opposite ends of the supporting part in a second direction (see Fig. 5), the installation part and the chucking part are respectively located on a left side and a right side of the supporting part in the first direction (see annotated figure 5), a lower end of the supporting part is in contact with a rail (see Fig. 7); and a fastener (29, Fig. 5), wherein one end of the fastener passes through the roof plate and the installation part in sequence and extends toward the rail (see Fig. 5-7), wherein when the chucking part does not clamp a frame of a photovoltaic module, at least part of the chucking part is above an upper surface of the rail (see Fig. 16, a part of 28 is above the rail 23).
Re. Cl. 3, Liu discloses: the roof plate has a locating groove (see Fig. 10, between 27b-c), an opening of the locating groove faces the installation part (see Fig. 5), the support chucking part has a locating boss (28b, Fig. 6), and the locating boss protrudes toward the roof plate (see Fig. 6), the locating boss is embedded in the locating groove (see Fig. 7-8).
Re. Cl. 4, Liu discloses: the roof plate has a first through hole (27d, Fig. 5), the installation part has a second through hole (28a, Fig. 5), one end of the fastener passes through the first through hole and the second through hole in sequence and connects to the rail connector (see Fig. 7-8, connects indirectly to rail connector 26 for instance).
Re. Cl. 5, Liu discloses: the supporting part has a first step structure and a second step structure (see Fig. 5, created by 28f), the first step structure and the second step structure are located at a lower end of the supporting part and are oppositely arranged in a third direction (see Fig. 5-6), wherein the first step structure and the second step structure are in contact with the rail (see Fig. 16).
Re. Cl. 11, Liu discloses: a bottom surface of the second pressing plate is higher than a bottom surface of the first pressing plate (see Fig. 8, when the first pressing plate is angled so that its lower end 27g contacts 28b as shown), a height difference between the bottom surface of the second pressing plate and the bottom surface of the first pressing plate is equal to or less than a height of a part of the chucking part above the upper surface of the rail (see Fig. 8, the height difference between the halves of 27a is less than a height of 28b above 23).
Re. Cl. 12, Liu discloses: an elastic part (24, Fig. 5), one end of the elastic part is in contact with the rail connector (28b, Fig. 8, 28b is a “rail connector” since it functions to assist in connecting to rail 23) , and another end of the elastic part is in contact with the support chucking part, the roof plate (see Fig. 8, contacting 27) or the fastener.
Re. Cl. 13, Liu discloses: the elastic part includes a spring (see 24, Fig. 5), and one end of the fastener passes through the spring and connects to the rail connector (see Fig. 8).
Re. Cl. 14, Liu discloses: the chucking part includes a base plate (see annotated figure 5) and a protruding thorn (26, Fig. 6), one end of the base plate connects to the supporting part (see annotated figure 5), and anther end of the base plate extends away from the supporting part (see annotated figure 5), one end of the protruding thorn connects to the base plate (see Fig. 6), another end extends of the protruding thorn extends toward the second pressing plate (see Fig. 5-6), when the fastener is in the tightened state and the clamping part does not clamp the frame, the base plate is below or flushes with the upper surface of the rail, and at least part of the protruding thorn is above the upper surface of the rail (see Fig. 8).
Re. Cl. 16, Liu discloses: the clamping part applies upward pressure to the frame to clamp the frame (see Fig. 8 for instance, part 28 applies upward pressure on frame 21a).
Claims 1-2 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Redel US 2016/0233820 (hereinafter Redel).
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Re. Cl. 1, Redel discloses: A quick installation pressing block (Fig. 1), comprising: a roof plate (110, Fig. 1) having a first pressing plate (115, Fig. 1) and a second pressing plate (111, Fig. 1) adjacent in a first direction (see Fig. 1); a support chucking part (140, Fig. 1) having an installation part (141, Fig. 1), a supporting part (142, Fig. 1) and a chucking part (143, Fig. 1), wherein the installation part and the chucking part are respectively connected to two opposite ends of the supporting part in a second direction (see Fig. 1, 141 is connected to the top of 142 and the bottom 143 is connected to the bottom of 142), the installation part and the chucking part are respectively located on a left side and a right side of the supporting part in the first direction (see Fig. 1), a lower end of the supporting part is in contact with a rail (see Fig. 2, with rail 190); and a fastener (150, Fig. 1), wherein one end of the fastener passes through the roof plate and the installation part in sequence and extends toward the rail (see Fig. 2), wherein when the chucking part does not clamp a frame of a photovoltaic module, at least part of the chucking part is above an upper surface of the rail (see Fig. 2, when 180 is not clamped, part of the chucking part remains above the rail 190).
Re. Cl. 2, Redel discloses: a rail connector (130, Fig. 1), wherein the rail connector connects to the rail (see Fig. 2), the one end of the fastener passes through the roof plate and the installation part in sequence and connects to the rail connector (see Fig. 2).
Re. Cl. 6, Redel discloses: the rail connector includes a first clamping part (132, Fig. 2), a connecting part (131, Fig. 1-2) and a second clamping part (133, Fig. 2), the first clamping part and the second clamping part respectively connects to two opposite ends of the connecting part in a third direction (see Fig. 2), the first clamping part and the second clamping part extend toward the rail (see Fig. 2), the first clamping part and the second clamping part are clamped with the rail (see Fig. 2).
Re. Cl. 7, Redel discloses: the connecting part has an internal thread (Paragraph 0029, Lines 25-28, threaded bore), the fastener is bolted to the rail connector through the internal thread (see Fig. 2).
Re. Cl. 8, Redel discloses: the rail connector also has a first blocking part and a second blocking part (see annotated figure 2), one end of the first blocking part connects to the first clamping part, another end the first blocking part extends toward the second clamping part, one end of the second blocking part connects to the second clamping part, another end of the second blocking part extends toward the first clamping part (see annotated figure 2).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Redel in view of Giraudo US 2016/0069592 (hereinafter Giraudo).
Re. Cls. 9-10, Redel does not disclose the first blocking part and the second blocking port abut against the fastener to prevent the first clamping part and/or the second clamping part from detaching from the rail (Cl. 9) or the first clamping part and the second clamping part are elastic, the first clamping part and the second clamping part are squeezed to clamp protrusions in the rail into the grooves in the first clamping part and the second clamping part respectively (Cl. 10). Giraudo discloses a rail connector (116, Fig. 14a) which includes a first clamping part (left vertical arm Fig. 14a), a connecting part (top where 119 passes through), and a second clamping part (right vertical arm Fig. 14a) and blocking parts (116.1, Fig. 14a) which abut against the fastener to prevent the clamping parts from detaching from the rail (see Fig. 14a, by preventing the sides to be pinched inward; Paragraph 0104); the first clamping part and the second clamping part are elastic (Paragraph 0047), the first clamping part and the second clamping part are squeezed to clamp protrusions in the rail into the grooves in the first clamping part and the second clamping part respectively (see Fig. 7 and Paragraph 0047).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Redel device to have its blocking parts abut the fastener and have its clamping parts elastic as disclosed by Giraudo with reasonable expectation of success since Giraudo states that such a modification preventing the intervention sections from being shifted inside (Paragraph 0104, Lines 6-11) and ensures simple, especially one handed installation of the device (Paragraph 0047, Lines 2-7).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Vari US 2012/0227791 (hereinafter Vari).
Re. Cl. 15, Liu does not disclose the protruding thorn is elastic. Vari discloses an alternate grounding member (300, Fig. 12) in the form of a protruding thorn (see Fig. 12, discussed as biting into wall 222 in Paragraph 0037) which is elastic (by being a spring as disclosed in Paragraph 0037, 300 is elastic since springs are elastic).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the grounding thorn of Liu to be elastic as disclosed by Vari with reasonable expectation of success to enable repeated use of the grounding member if so desired. An elastic material as disclosed by Vari would enable for multiple uses of the grounding member since it would tend to return back to its original form after being deflected/used.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Wildes US 2016/0268958, Kobayashi US 2019/0372507, and Fluhrer US 2012/0193310 disclose other known quick installation locks presented to the Applicant for their consideration.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER E GARFT whose telephone number is (571)270-1171. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Terrell McKinnon can be reached at (571)272-4797. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER GARFT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3632