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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in The People’s Republic of China on 04/23/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN2024208353250 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
New corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in this application because the drawings filed 11/27/2024 are not proper black and white line drawings. This is frequently the result of drawings which are filed in a very dark grey (so dark that it is appears black such as RGB value 37, 37, 37) instead of pure black (RGB value 0, 0, 0). While very dark grey may appear black, it causes artifacts and inconsistent line thickness. Applicant is advised to employ the services of a competent patent draftsperson outside the Office, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office no longer prepares new drawings. The corrected drawings are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The requirement for corrected drawings will not be held in abeyance.
All drawings must be made by a process which will give them satisfactory reproduction characteristics. Every line, number, and letter must be durable, clean, black (except for color drawings), sufficiently dense and dark, and uniformly thick and well-defined. The weight of all lines and letters must be heavy enough to permit adequate reproduction. This requirement applies to all lines however fine, to shading, and to lines representing cut surfaces in sectional views. Lines and strokes of different thicknesses may be used in the same drawing where different thicknesses have a different meaning.
The drawings are further objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the supporting walls of claims 1, and 9-11, 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.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
In the instant case, the abstract repeats information given in the title.
Claim Objections
The claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
The preambles of the dependent claims are presented in a manner not consistent with normal US practice. In order to improve readability, it is recommended that, for example, “2. According to claim 1, the gap-adjustable, quick non-penetrating installation roller blind, wherein:” be amended to recite “2. The gap-adjustable, quick non-penetrating installation roller blind according to claim 1, wherein:”.
Claim 7 recites in part “a unidirectionally roller”, and “the unidirectionally roller”. This is grammatically incorrect.
Claim 9 recites in part “the supporting components”. This should be “the supporting component”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-3, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PG Pub US 2020/0305628 A1 – Tan in view of US Pat. 10,415,306 – Lin.
Regarding claim 1.
Tan discloses a gap-adjustable, quick non-penetrating installation roller blind (Fig 8) comprising:
a roller blind mechanism (below 1 in fig 8) and a fixing mechanism (including 1, fig 8 and elements shown in fig 5), and the fixing mechanism is supported between supporting walls (paragraph [0028]; The above structure may be adaptively connected to a traditional roller shutter of which two ends are inserted with connectors 19 for being connected to a wall body.) on both sides of the window, and the lower end of the roller blind mechanism is slidably connected (paragraph [0028]; The connectors 19 can be inserted into two ends of the second connecting chamber 3; See figs 8 and 4) to the fixing mechanism (including 1, fig 8 and elements shown in fig 5);
the fixing mechanism includes a non-penetrating installation mechanism (Fig 5), a supporting rail (1, fig 8), and an end cap assembly (other installation mechanism, fig 3), the non-penetrating installation mechanism and the end cap assembly are located on both sides of the supporting rail (See fig 3), the non-penetrating installation mechanism is used to enable the supporting rail to be fixed without drilling holes (Paragraph [0026]; a hole-free mounting component), and a groove (4, fig 4) is provided at the lower end of the supporting rail (Fig 4);
the roller blind mechanism is installed below the supporting rail (See fig 8), with a slider at the upper end (See fig 8), achieving lateral sliding relative to the supporting rail through the cooperation between the slider and the groove (at least during the installation step).
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Tan does not explicitly disclose the slider and the groove avoid free sliding through either of the following two methods:
the slider engages with the groove through an interference fit;
the upper surface of the slider is equipped with spring pieces, which come into contact with the sliding surface of the groove and exert pressure on the groove through their own elastic force.
However, Lin teaches the slider (51, fig 8) and the groove (on bottom of 2, fig 7) avoid free sliding (along arrows in fig 8) through either of the following two methods:
the slider engages with the groove through an interference fit;
the upper surface of the slider (51, fig 8) is equipped with spring pieces (53, fig 8), which come into contact with the sliding surface of the groove and exert pressure on the groove through their own elastic force (column 12, lines 34-39; Each resilient finger 53 can be configured so that it resiliently flexes, bends, or otherwise moves downward in response to a middle portion of the body of the rail contacting the finger as the rail is slid over the top of the profile 51 and over the finger 53).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, with a reasonable expectation of success, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the blind of Tan with the spring pieces of Lin. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to yield the predictable result of fixing the sliders to the fixing mechanism.
Regarding claim 2.
The combination of Tan and Lin teaches all limitations of claim 1.
Tan further discloses:
the roller blind mechanism (See annotated fig 8) comprises a roller blind installation mechanism (See annotated fig 8) and a roller blind body (See annotated fig 8), and the roller blind installation mechanism mounts the roller blind body below the supporting rail (See annotated fig 8);
the roller blind installation mechanism comprises a roller tube (See annotated fig 8), a first mounting bracket (See annotated fig 8), and a second mounting bracket (See annotated fig 8), the upper end of the roller blind body is fixed to the roller tube (See annotated fig 8), and the roller tube rotates in cooperation with the first and second mounting brackets (See annotated fig 8),
The combination, in Lin, further teaches each of the first and second mounting brackets has a slider (51, fig 8) that engages with the groove on the supporting rail (2, fig 7), enabling lateral sliding (along arrows in fig 8) of the roller blind mechanism relative to the supporting rail (See fig 8).
Regarding claim 3.
The combination of Tan and Lin teaches all limitations of claim 2.
Tan does not explicitly disclose the first and second mounting brackets have identical inverted L-shaped structures, the horizontal right angle edges of the first and second mounting brackets form sliders, while their vertical right angle edges rotate in cooperation with the ends of the roller tube.
However, Lin further teaches the first (3, fig 2) and second mounting brackets (5, fig 20 have identical inverted L-shaped structures (See fig 2), the horizontal right angle edges of the first and second mounting brackets form sliders (51, fig 2), while their vertical right angle edges (at 18 and 22, fig 2) rotate in cooperation with the ends of the roller tube (See fig 2).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, with a reasonable expectation of success, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the blind of Tan with the mounting brackets of Lin. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to yield the predictable result of fixing the sliders to the fixing mechanism.
Regarding claim 11.
The combination of Tan and Lin teaches all limitations of claim 1.
Tan further discloses the lower end of the supporting rail (1, fig 3) extends towards the roller blind mechanism (See fig 8) to form a light-blocking plate (see bottom of front face of 1 in figs 3 and 8), additionally / alternatively, the end cap assembly and the roller blind installation mechanism are provided with anti-slip components (10, fig 5) at one end supported by the supporting wall.
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Tan and Lin as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of PG Pub. US 2014/0338847 A1 – Kao.
Regarding claim 4.
The combination of Tan and Lin teaches all limitations of claim 2.
Tan does not disclose the roller blind mechanism further comprises a roller blind lifting mechanism for controlling the raising and lowering of the roller blind body;
the roller blind lifting mechanism includes a control rope, a fixing shaft, and a pulley assembly, the pulley assembly is mounted on the fixing shaft and fixedly installed at one end of the roller tube;
the control rope winds around the pulley assembly, and under external force, the control rope rotates the pulley assembly relative to the fixing shaft, which in turn rotates the roller tube, thereby raising or lowering the roller blind body.
However, Kao teaches the roller blind mechanism (fig 2) further comprises a roller blind lifting mechanism (3, fig 1) for controlling the raising and lowering of the roller blind body (Paragraph [0028]; When in operation, the user operates the bead-chain disk 33 to drive the control unit 3 to lower or lift the curtain.);
the roller blind lifting mechanism includes a control rope (See at 33 in fig 1), a fixing shaft (312, fig 1), and a pulley assembly (including 33 and 34, fig 1), the pulley assembly is mounted on the fixing shaft (See fig 3) and fixedly installed at one end of the roller tube (1, fig 3);
the control rope winds around the pulley assembly (See figs 1 and 3), and under external force, the control rope rotates the pulley assembly relative to the fixing shaft, which in turn rotates the roller tube, thereby raising or lowering the roller blind body (Paragraph [0028]; When in operation, the user operates the bead-chain disk 33 to drive the control unit 3 to lower or lift the curtain.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, with a reasonable expectation of success, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Tan and Lin with the roller blind lifting mechanism of Kao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to yield the predictable result of facilitation of lifting or lowering the curtain.
Regarding claim 5.
The combination of Tan, Lin, and Kao teaches all limitations of claim 4.
The combination, in Kao, further teaches:
the roller blind lifting mechanism (3, fig 1) further comprises a locking mechanism (332, fig 1) in the roller blind lifting mechanism (See fig 3), including several torsion springs (See at 332 in fig 1) sleeved (See fig 3) on the fixing shaft (312, fig 1), the pulley assembly comprises a pulley (33, fig 1) and a pulley seat (34, fig 1), the pulley includes a rope winding pulley (at reference character 33, fig 1) and a pulley cylinder (331, fig 1), the pulley cylinder is rotatably mounted on the outer periphery of the fixing shaft (See fig 3), and the pulley seat is then sleeved on the outer periphery of the pulley (See fig 3);
the pulley cylinder (331, fig 1) is provided with groove holes (See in top of 331 in fig 1), which cooperate with the torsion springs so that when the pulley rotates, the torsion springs relax, causing the pulley to rotate relative to the fixing shaft (See figs 1 and 3), corresponding positions inside the pulley seat (See inside of 34 in fig 1) are provided with convex platforms (See fig 1), which cooperate with the torsion springs so that when the rotating seat rotates, the locking component tightens, thereby stopping the rotation of the rotating seat (See figs 1 and 3).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Tan and Lin as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of PG Pub. US 2019/0153777 A1 – Byun et al., hereinafter Byun.
Regarding claim 6.
The combination of Tan and Lin teaches all limitations of claim 2.
Tan does not disclose:
the roller blind mechanism further comprising a roller blind lifting mechanism for controlling the raising and lowering of the roller blind body;
the roller blind lifting mechanism includes a no-pull spring system and a locking head, both installed at the ends of the roller tube, the no-pull spring system rotates the roller tube under spring torque, while the locking head controls the locking and unlocking of the roller tube;
the locking head comprises a locking sleeve, a locking fixing shaft, and a track ball, the locking sleeve is rotatably sleeved on the locking fixing shaft, fixedly installed at one end of the roller tube, and the locking fixing shaft is fixedly installed on the first mounting bracket or the second mounting bracket set at the end of the roller tube; the outer surface of the locking fixing shaft is provided with a track groove, and the corresponding position of the inner wall of the locking sleeve has a groove hole, the track ball is located inside the groove hole, when the locking sleeve rotates relative to the locking fixing shaft, the track ball moves along the track groove under the drive of the locking sleeve, at a certain position in the track groove, the track ball is unidirectionally locked.
However, Byun teaches:
the roller blind mechanism further comprising a roller blind lifting mechanism (200a, fig 1) for controlling the raising and lowering of the roller blind body (210, fig 3a);
the roller blind lifting mechanism includes a no-pull spring system (220, fig 1) and a locking head (500, fig 3a), both installed at the ends of the roller tube (See fig 1), the no-pull spring system rotates the roller tube under spring torque, while the locking head controls the locking and unlocking of the roller tube (Paragraph [0056]; Consequently, the roll-stored screen 210 is drawn by rotating the winding roll 230 by the driving gear 320 or the driven gear 340 or by the rotational operation of the winding rod 240, and the rotational force of the winding roll 230 is accumulated through the return spring 221 incorporated in the support rod 220, and thereafter, elastically restored to roll-store the screen 210 in the winding roll 230.);
the locking head (500, fig 6a) comprises a locking sleeve (510, fig 6a), a locking fixing shaft (520, fig 6a), and a track ball (530, fig 6a), the locking sleeve is rotatably sleeved on the locking fixing shaft (See fig 6a), fixedly installed at one end of the roller tube (See fig 3a), and the locking fixing shaft is fixedly installed on the first mounting bracket or the second mounting bracket set at the end of the roller tube (See fig 3a);
the outer surface of the locking fixing shaft (520, fig 6a) is provided with a track groove (521, fig 6a), and the corresponding position of the inner wall of the locking sleeve has a groove hole (511, fig 6a), the track ball is located inside the groove hole (See fig 6a), when the locking sleeve rotates relative to the locking fixing shaft, the track ball moves along the track groove under the drive of the locking sleeve, at a certain position in the track groove, the track ball is unidirectionally locked (Paragraph [0060]; a bead-shaped ball key 530 repeatedly restraining/releasing the position of the screen 210 while moving in the linear section 523 and the suspension section 525 in a movement direction of the screen 210 provided in each of the ball guide groove 511 and the line groove 521 and drawn from/stored in the winding roll 230.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, with a reasonable expectation of success, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Tan and Lin with the roller blind lifting mechanism of Byun. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to yield the predictable result of permitting the lifting and lowering of the roller blind body.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Tan and Lin as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of PG Pub. US 2021/0230940 A1 – Hall et al., hereinafter Hall.
Regarding claim 9.
The combination of Tan and Lin teaches all limitations of claim 1.
The combination does not teach:
the non-penetrating installation mechanism comprises a pre-tensioning component, a supporting component, a pressure component, and a button component;
the supporting components comprise a first supporting portion and a second supporting portion capable of relative sliding, the first supporting portion is supported on the supporting wall, while the second supporting portion is connected to the supporting rail, the pressure components consist of a first pressure portion and a second pressure portion, the first pressure portion is installed in conjunction with the first supporting portion, and the second pressure portion is installed in conjunction with the second supporting portion;
the pre-tensioning component is installed between the first pressure portion and the second supporting portion, while the button component is installed on the second supporting portion and connected to the second pressure portion, when the button component is closed, the second pressure portion applies tightening force towards the supporting wall to the first pressure portion and the first supporting portion installed in conjunction with it.
However, Hall teaches:
the non-penetrating installation mechanism (104, fig 4) comprises a pre-tensioning component (336, fig 6), a supporting component (including 312 and 338, fig 4), a pressure component (including 332 and 345, fig 6), and a button component (304, fig 6);
the supporting components comprise a first supporting portion (312, fig 4) and a second supporting portion (338, fig 6) capable of relative sliding, the first supporting portion is supported on the supporting wall (See figs 1 and 4), while the second supporting portion (338, fig 6) is connected to the supporting rail (See figs 3 and 4), the pressure components consist of a first pressure portion (332, fig 4) and a second pressure portion (345, fig 6), the first pressure portion (332, fig 4) is installed in conjunction with the first supporting portion (312, fig 4), and the second pressure portion (345, fig 6) is installed in conjunction with the second supporting portion (338, fig 6);
the pre-tensioning component (336, fig 6) is installed between the first pressure portion (332, fig 4) and the second supporting portion (338, fig 6), while the button component (304, fig 6) is installed on the second supporting portion (338, fig 6) and connected to the second pressure portion (345, fig 6), when the button component is closed (as in fig 3b), the second pressure portion (345, fig 6) applies tightening force (See figs 3b and 4) towards the supporting wall (See fig 1) to the first pressure portion (332, fig 4) and the first supporting portion (312, fig 4) installed in conjunction with it.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, with a reasonable expectation of success, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Tan and Lin with the non-penetrating installation mechanism of Hall. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to yield the predictable result of allowing for a quick installation or adjustment of the mounting of the blind.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Tan and Lin as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of US Pat. 11,371,283 – Wang.
Regarding claim 12.
The combination of Tan and Lin teaches all limitations of claim 2.
Tan further discloses the roller blind body comprises a fabric (See fig 8) and a lower rail assembly (See fig 8), and the lower rail assembly is positioned at the bottom of the fabric to provide vertical weight (See fig 8).
Tan does not disclose a groove provided at the lower end of the roller tube, the upper end of the fabric is clamped in the groove of the roller tube.
However, Wang teaches a groove (32, fig 4) provided at the lower end of the roller tube (3, fig 4), the upper end of the fabric (8, fig 11) is clamped in the groove of the roller tube (column 6, lines 50-52; an elongated slot 32 is provided on a tube body of the sleeving tube 3 for one end of the blind 8 to be placed into and fixed.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, with a reasonable expectation of success, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Tan and Lin with the groove of Wang. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to yield the predictable result of providing a secure attachment of the fabric to the tube.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8, and 10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN W HANES JR whose telephone number is (571)272-8840. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 EST.
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/J.W.H./ Examiner, Art Unit 3634
/DANIEL P CAHN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3634
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