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 .
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
Claim(s) 1-11, 13-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2017227241 A.
Regarding claim 1, First stack T1, second Stack T2, Turn (phase conversion 5) formed of “a single strip-shaped spring material 3 is arranged in the width direction… The spring material 3 is made of, for example, stainless steel or hard steel having spring properties.”
Regarding claims 5 and 6, “In the first embodiment, the number of turns of each of the plurality of winding bundles T (that is, the number of constituent layers S) is the same as each other. However, in Modification 1, for example, as shown in FIG. The number of windings of at least one winding bundle T among the winding bundles T is different from the number of windings of other winding bundles T.”
Regarding claim 7 Shim (flat winding portion 10 see figure 5)
Claim(s) 1-10, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 11237368 A.
Regarding claim 1, First stack 1, second Stack 2, Turn (connecting spring 3)
Regarding claims 5 and 6, “As a changeable embodiment, number of overlapping layers of the wave spring can be 2, 3, 4 or more, and the overlapping layer number of layers the wave spring can be 2 layer, 3 layer, 4 layer or more.
In embodiments capable of changing the number of sine wave of the superposition layer number wave spring of each layer can be 2, 3, 4 or more.”
Regarding claim 7, see figure 4
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) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2017227241 A in view of Greenhill (U.S. 5639074).
JP 2017227241 A is relied upon as above and discloses all the limitations of the claim except for the use of a nonmetallic wire. Greenhill teaches the use of a nonmetallic wire as well as various metals (Column 7 line 58 – Column 8 line 3). It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a nonmetallic material as taught by Greenhill in the spring of JP’241 depending on engineering needs like weight, cost, and nonconductivity.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Robert A. Siconolfi whose telephone number is (571)272-7124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Thomas can be reached at 571-272-8004. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
ROBERT A. SICONOLFI
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3616
/Robert A. Siconolfi/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3616
Prosecution Insights