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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Invention I, claims 1-9 in the reply filed on 6/8/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that claims 1-9 are allowable. This is not found persuasive because at least some claim(s) were read upon by prior art as indicated below. The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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) 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Petersen 2022/0011832 in view of Ulrich 9,763,351.
Regarding claim 1, Petersen discloses an information handling system (Figs 1A-5D; also see par 0023) comprising: a housing (102, Fig 1A); a circuit board (106, Fig 1A) coupled in the housing (as depicted Fig 1A); a processor (108, Fig 1A) coupled in the housing and interfaced with the circuit board (as depicted Fig 1A), the processor operable to execute instructions that process information (see par 0031); a memory (2nd sentence par 0030) coupled in the housing and interfaced with the processor through the circuit board (see Fig 1A) and operable to store the instructions and information (par 0030, 0031); an add-in card slot (110, Fig 1A; or 204, Fig 2A) interfaced with the processor through the circuit board (see Fig 1A) and configured to accept an add-in card (112, Fig 1A) to process information in cooperation with the processor (see par 0033); a lifting member (208, Fig 2B) coupled to the circuit board proximate the add-in card slot (Fig 2A); and a actuator member (226, Fig 2A, 2B) coupled to the lifting member distal the add-in card slot (226 cantilevered and distal relative to add in card slot, see Figs 2A-2C).
Petersen discloses the claimed invention except for expressly teaching the lifting member aligned to press away from the add-in card slot at an installed add-in card to move the installed add-in card outward from the add-in card slot.
Ulrich, however, teaches a similar system (Figs 1-12) including a lifting member (112, Fig 6) aligned to press away from an add-in card slot (1442, Fig 16) at an installed add-in card (750, Fig 18) to move the installed add-in card outward from the add-in card slot (see Figs 15-18).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the lifting mechanism of Petersen to be aligned to press away from the add-in card slot at an installed add-in card to move the installed add-in card outward from the add-in card slot, as taught by Ulrich, in order to provide different access points to the interior of the chassis/enclosure to retrieve the add in card inside, whereas, positioning and supporting the card in this way, enables the add in card to be blind mated from a rear access point of the chassis/enclosure if so desired, thereby improving versatility/functionality.
Regarding claim 2, Petersen in view of Ulrich disclose the information system of claim 1 Petersen teaches wherein: the add-in card slot comprises a PCIe card slot see last sentence par 0041); and the installed add-in card comprises a graphics processing unit card (see par 0031).
Regarding claim 3, Petersen in view of Ulrich disclose the information handling system of claim 1, Petersen teaches the system further comprising: a base (lower part of 220 of 208, Figs 2A, 2B) coupled to the circuit board (once assembled, Fig 2A) at an end of the add-in card slot (at lower end of 204 once assembled, Figs 2A-2C); while Ulrich teaches wherein the lifting member (112, Fig 6) rotationally couples to the base (130, Fig 6) to lift up on the add-in card (750, Fig 17) when the actuator member (120, Fig 16) is pressed towards the circuit board (1440, Fig 15).
Regarding claim 4, Petersen in view of Ulrich disclose the information handling system of Claim 3, Ulrich teaches wherein the lifting member has a first arm (116, Fig 18) on a first side of the add-in card slot (left side, Fig 18) and a second arm (170, Fig 18) on a second side of the add-in card slot (right side, Fig 18).
Claim(s) 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Petersen 2022/0011832 in view of Ulrich 9,763,351 and further in view of Chen 11,868,187.
Regarding claim 7, Petersen in view of Ulrich disclose the information handling system of claim 1 except for expressly teaching the system further comprising: a pulley coupled in the lifting member; and a wire interfacing the lifting member and the actuator member to translate a force applied to the actuator member by the pulley to lift the lifting member away from the circuit board and against the installed add-in card.
Chen however teaches a similar system (Figs 1A-5) including a pulley (130, 135, Fig 3) coupled in the lifting member (120, Fig 3); and a wire (131, Fig 3) interfacing the lifting member (see Fig 3) and an actuator member (133, Fig 3) to translate a force applied to the actuator member by the pulley (force from pulling 135, Fig 3) to lift the lifting member away from a circuit board (see 124 lifting away from 110, Figs 4, 5) and against an installed add-in card (10, Figs 4, 5).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the lifting mechanism of Petersen in view of Ulrich to include a pulley and wire interfacing with the lifting member, as taught by Chen, in order to provide a transmission mechanism that rotates to release the add in card from the card slot in such a way that the card using pulley wire system can activate card retrieval through an even force distribution, whereas the tension applied via guided cable pulls the uniformly to release card rather than focused at an end like traditional systems, thereby improving reliability and functionality.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6 and 8-9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The dependent claims listed below, in combination with the remaining
elements of the independent claim(s) from which they directly/indirectly depend,
are not taught, or adequately suggested in the prior art of record.
Claim 5. The information handling system of Claim 4 further comprising a spring coupled to the base to bias the lifting member towards the circuit board and to bias the actuator member away from the circuit board. *Claim 6 depends directly from claim 5 and is therefore allowable for at least the same reason.
Claim 8. The information handling system of Claim 7 further comprising: a push button coupled to the circuit board and the actuator member, the push button accepting a press translated by the actuator member to the wire to press the wire away from a bottom side of the circuit board; and a wire guide coupled to the bottom side of the circuit board opposite the add-in card slot to guide the force applied by the push button to work through the pulley and lift the lifting member. *Claim 9 depends directly from claim 8 and is therefore allowable for at least the same reason.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lai - US 12620737 B2, Figs 1-5. Teaches similar PCIe card adapter slot with retention mechanism.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RASHEN E MORRISON whose telephone number is (571)272-8852. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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/RASHEN E MORRISON/Examiner, Art Unit 2841 /IMANI N HAYMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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