DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-5 of U.S. Application No. 19014546 filed on 01/09/2025 are presented for examination.
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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01/09/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MacBlane (US 3345525; Hereinafter, MacBlane”) in view of Lee Sang Man (KR 100903363B1; Hereinafter, “Lee”).
Regarding claim 1: MacBlane discloses a vibration generating device (fig. 1) comprising: a plate (17-18); a base (11-13); a weight (the weight of the metal plate 17-18) formed with a magnetic material (at least 17 is a magnetic material since it is part of the magnetic circuit), the weight being provided at a surface (the bottom surface of 18) of the plate in the base side (fig. 1); a coil (formed of wire 15) attached to a surface of the base (attached to the inner surface of the base as seen in fig, 1) in the plate side (the coil is facing the plate as seen in fig. 1); a plurality of elastic members (blocks 22, 25 of resilient material; col. 3, lines 1-10) supporting the surface of the plate (17-18) in the base side with respect to a surface of the base in the plate side (fig. 1), a gap (between 13, and 17) between the plate and the base is formed with the elastic member (since the elastic members controlling the width of the gap).
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MacBlane does not disclose that the surfaces of the plurality of elastic members include plurality of protruding parts.
Lee discloses an elastic member (100) wherein the surfaces (160) of the plurality of elastic members (100) include plurality of protruding parts (fig. 3a, and 4).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided/replaced the elastic members of MacBlane with elastic members including plurality of protruding parts as taught by Lee to provide progressive stiffness and better air flow.
Regarding claim 2/1: MacBlane, in view of Lee disclose the limitations of claim 1 and MacBlane further discloses a space between the plurality of the elastic members (22, 25; fig. 2) in a circumferential direction (22, 25; fig. 2), wherein the space can (the word “can” is interpreted as “has the structure that allows for/enable”) accommodate a part of the deformed elastic member (Under the axial pressure of the plate, the elastic members would bulge in the surrounding circumferential space as previously discussed in page 3-4 of the Non-Final Rejection of the parent application 18525955).
Regarding claim 3/1: MacBlane, in view of Lee disclosing the limitations of claim 1 and Lee further discloses the protruding parts (160) contacts the plate (P; fig. 3a).
Regarding claim 4/1: MacBlane, in view of Lee disclosing the limitations of claim 1 and Lee further discloses the elastic member (100) is deformable in the circumferential direction (Under the axial pressure of the plate, the elastic members would bulge in the surrounding circumferential space as previously discussed in page 3-4 of the Non-Final Rejection of the parent application 18525955).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MacBlane in view of Lee and in further view of Tabata et al. (US 20060097996; Hereinafter, “Tabata”).
Regarding claim 5/1: MacBlane in view of Lee disclose the limitations of claim 1 but do not disclose an electronic device comprising: a housing; and the vibration generating device.
Tabata discloses an electronic device (10) comprising: a housing (11); and the vibration generating device (15).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person, having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have utilized the vibration generating device of MacBlane in view of Lee in an electronic device comprising: a housing; and the vibration generating device as taught by Tabata to result in electronic device that is reliable with simple design.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED ELNAKIB whose telephone number is (571)270-0638. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00AM-4:00PM. 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, Tulsidas Patel can be reached at 571-272-2098. 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.
/AHMED ELNAKIB/ Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2834
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