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 .
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.
Claims 1 and 3-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ciesla et al. (US Publication 2024/0241084; hereinafter Ciesla) in view of Saloio et al. (US Publication 2018/0259397; hereinafter Saloio).
With regards to claim 1, Ciesla teaches a handheld measuring apparatus (abstract; FIG. 1) comprising:
a power supply device (22; [0073]; FIG. 2-3);
a control device (a part of 17; [0067]; FIG. 1-2); and
a measuring head (features of FIG. 2 excluding 17) comprising a body (including 18, 23), a circuit board (bottom portion of 31 having connections for 3; [0077]; FIG. 4-5) attached to the body (FIG. 1 and 5), and a micro-electromechanical system (a part of 3; [0077]) for capturing vibrations ([0045-0046]), the micro-electromechanical system (including 3) being attached to the body (including 21) by a mechanical connection ([0077-0078]; FIG. 4-5) and being electrically connected (via 31) to the control device ([0079]), the micro-electromechanical system (including 3) being directly secured onto the circuit board (see structure shown in FIG. 1 and 3; 3 is directly secured onto the circuit board 17), the body (including 18, 23; FIG. 2) including a first surface (surface of 25) and a second surface (including horizontal surface of 2; FIG. 5), the circuit board (bottom portion of 31 having connections for 3; [0077]; FIG. 4-5) being received by the first surface (vertical surface of 25; FIG. 5), the body (including 18, 23; FIG. 2) including a recess (cavity 25) in the second surface (horizontal surface of 2; FIG. 5).
However, Ciesla is silent regarding the measuring head comprising a sensor and a flexible path extending between the sensor and the circuit board, the second surface guiding the flexible path, a portion of the flexible path being guided into the recess.
Saloio teaches a sensing element to an exterior surface of an electronic (abstract) comprising a sensor (106) and a flexible path (path of 104) extending between the sensor and the circuit board (102, [0018-0019]; FIG. 1-2).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the sensor and flexible path as taught by Saloio to the apparatus of Ciesla to monitor the temperature of the desired component ([0018]; Saloio). Thus, the combination of Ciesla and Saloio would teach the second surface (including horizontal surface of 2; FIG. 5; Ciesla) guiding the flexible path (path of 104 for sensor 106; [0018]; Saloio), a portion of the flexible path being guided into the recess (with 106 of Saloio connected to bottom portion of 31 of Ciesla, a part of the 104 (Saloio) is guided into 25 (Ciesla)).
With regards to claim 3, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio, teaches (citations to Ciesla unless specified otherwise) the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first surface (surface of 25) and the second surface (including horizontal surface of 2) are perpendicular (FIG. 5).
With regards to claim 4, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio, teaches (citations to Ciesla unless specified otherwise) the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measuring head further comprises an additional flexible path (see 31; FIG. 4-5) extending between the circuit board (bottom portion of 31 where 3 is located; FIG. 4-5) and the control device (a part of 17).
With regards to claim 5, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio, teaches (citations to Ciesla unless specified otherwise) the apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sensor (106; Saloio), the flexible path (104; Saloio), the circuit board (bottom portion of 31), and the additional flexible path follow each other in the order listed (FIG. 4-5 of Ciesla).
With regards to claim 6, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio, teaches the apparatus according to claim 1. However, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio, is silent regarding wherein the circuit board is screwed to the body of the head.
It has been held that "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Williams, 36 F.2d 436, 438 (CCPA 1929) ("It is a settled principle of law that a mere carrying forward of an original patented conception involving only change of form, proportions, or degree, or the substitution of equivalents doing the same thing as the original invention, by substantially the same means, is not such an invention as will sustain a patent, even though the changes of the kind may produce better results than prior inventions.") In this particular case, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio teaches a generic method of attaching the circuit board and finding the optimum method of attaching the circuit board would be routine to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to replace one known method of attaching a circuit board to the body as taught by Cieslo, as combined with Saloio, with another well-known method of attaching a circuit board to the body including those as claimed with reasonable expectation of functioning as originally intended.
With regards to claim 7, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio, teaches (citations to Ciesla unless specified otherwise) the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuit board (bottom portion of 31 having connections for 3; [0077]; FIG. 4-5) has the general shape of a plate (FIG. 5).
With regards to claim 8, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio, teaches (citations to Ciesla unless specified otherwise) the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuit board (bottom portion of 31 having connections for 3; [0077]; FIG. 4-5) is perpendicular to an external contact surface of the head (FIG. 5).
With regards to claim 9, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio, teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor (106; Saloio) is intended to measure temperatures ([0019]; Saloio).
With regards to claim 10, Ciesla, as combined with Saloio, teaches (citations to Ciesla unless specified otherwise) the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control device is an electronic device (a part of 17; [0067]; FIG. 1-2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 11-18 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior arts on record fail to anticipate and/or suggest the combination of the claimed invention. Specifically, the prior arts fail to teach the limitation of “wherein the recess comprises a first concave portion on the side of the first surface, and a second planar portion extending the first concave portion on the side opposite to the first surface” as required by claim 2. The closest prior arts teach the structural features of the apparatus as required by claim 1 (see above). However, because each of the apparatus of Ciesla and Saloio provide respective sensors without further recitation of the recess for the flexible path with respect to the first and second surface, Ciesla and Saloio do not suggest the limitation of the claimed invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG X.L NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1585. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, STEPHEN D. MEIER can be reached at (571) 272-2149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QXN/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/STEPHEN D MEIER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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