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 . 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.
Foreign Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 26 February 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 26 February 2025. These drawings are accepted.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
a. The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
b. In lines 1-4 of paragraph [0065], “The inclined surface 63c is connected to an outer end of the flat face 63a of the fan-shaped portion 68 in the radial direction that is orthogonal to the central axis Axh in .” is an incomplete sentence needing correction.
Appropriate correction is required.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee (US 7,283,323).
Lee (US 7,283,323) teaches a disk device (see FIG. 3 and lines 60-61 in column 3, for instance) comprising a magnetic disk (120); a housing (includes 111, 112 and 160, for instance) that includes a base (111), a first cover (112), and a second cover (160), the base being provided with a housing space in which the magnetic disk is disposed (as shown in FIG. 3, for instance), the first cover being mounted on the base to cover the housing space (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance), the second cover being mounted on the base to cover the first cover (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance); a constrained layer (171) that includes a first face and a second face (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance), the first face facing the first cover (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance), the second face being located opposite to the first face (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance), facing the second cover (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance), and being inclined to the first face (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance); and a first adhesive material (lower-most 172, see line 8 in column 6, for instance) that is interposed between the first face and the first cover (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance) [as per claim 1]; wherein the magnetic disk is configured to rotate around a first rotation axis (as shown by arrow in FIG. 3, for instance), and the constrained layer extends around the first rotation axis (as shown in FIG. 3, for instance, i.e., as the constrained layer extends around an entire periphery of the disk device) [as per claim 4]; wherein the second face is inclined to the first face in such a way that a distance between the first face and the second face decreases outward in a radial direction that is orthogonal to the first rotation axis (as shown in FIG. 4 relative to FIG. 3, for instance) [as per claim 5]; wherein the disk device further comprises a second adhesive material (upper-most 172, see line 8 in column 6, for instance) that bonds the second cover to the second face (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance) [as per claim 7]; wherein the disk device further comprises a head stack assembly that includes a magnetic head (on 148) and a carriage (140), the magnetic head being configured to read and write information from or to the magnetic disk, the carriage being configured to move the magnetic head around a second rotation axis; and a voice coil motor (150) that rotates the carriage around the second rotation axis (at pivot 142), wherein the constrained layer overlaps the voice coil motor in a direction along the second rotation axis (as shown in FIG. 3, for instance) [as per claim 8]; wherein the constrained layer includes an end face (right facing face in FIG. 4, for instance) that is provided at an end of the constrained layer in a direction along the first face (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance), and the second face is inclined to the first face in such a way that a distance between the first face and the second face decreases toward the end face (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance), and is connected to the end face (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance) [as per claim 10]; and wherein the first cover is provided with a recess (113), and at least a portion of the constrained layer and the first adhesive material are housed in the recess (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance) [as per claim 11].
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 2, 3 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 7,283,323) in view of Okamoto et al. (US 9,779,779).
Lee (US 7,283,323) teaches the disk device as detailed in paragraph 8, supra, further wherein a clearance is provided between the first cover and the second cover (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance) and the constrained layer and the first adhesive material are disposed in the clearance (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance) [as per claim 2]; and wherein the base includes a bottom face and a side wall (as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, for instance), the bottom face facing the magnetic disk (as shown in FIG. 3, for instance), the side wall protruding from the bottom face (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance), and the second face is inclined to the first face in such a way that a distance between the first face and the second face decreases toward the side wall (as shown in FIG. 4, for instance) [as per claim 9].
Lee (US 7,283,323), however, remains silent as to the disk device further comprising “a sealing material, wherein the first cover is provided with a first vent hole that connects [the clearance] to the housing space, the second cover is provided with a second vent hole that connects the clearance to an outside, and is sealed by the sealing material,… and the housing space and the clearance are filled with gas that is different from air” as per claim 2, “wherein the second cover is welded to the base” as per claim 3, and “the side wall… surrounding the magnetic disk” as per claim 9.
Okamoto et al. (US 9,779,779) teach that a disk device (10, see FIG. 2, for instance) further comprising a sealing material (52), wherein a first cover (14) is provided with a first vent hole (46) that connects a clearance between the first cover and a second cover (16) to a housing space (between 12 and 14), the second cover is provided with a second vent hole (48) that connects the clearance to an outside (as shown in FIG. 2, for instance), and is sealed by the sealing material (as shown in FIG. 2, for instance), and the housing space and the clearance are filled with gas that is different from air (see lines 48-56 in column 2, for instance, i.e., “helium”), wherein the second cover is welded to a base (12, as shown in FIG. 5, for instance, see also lines 52-53 in column 3, for instance), and a side wall (13a-13b) of the base surrounding a magnetic disk (18, as shown in FIG. 2, for instance) is a notoriously old and well known disk device housing configuration. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have had the disk device of Lee (US 7,283,323) further comprise a sealing material, wherein the first cover is provided with a first vent hole that connects the clearance to the housing space, the second cover is provided with a second vent hole that connects the clearance to an outside, and is sealed by the sealing material, and the housing space and the clearance are filled with gas that is different from air, wherein the second cover is welded to the base, and the side wall surrounds the magnetic disk, as taught/ suggested by Okamoto et al. (US 9,779,779). The rationale is as follows:
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to have had the disk device of Lee (US 7,283,323) further comprise a sealing material, wherein the first cover is provided with a first vent hole that connects the clearance to the housing space, the second cover is provided with a second vent hole that connects the clearance to an outside, and is sealed by the sealing material, and the housing space and the clearance are filled with gas that is different from air, wherein the second cover is welded to the base, and the side wall surrounds the magnetic disk, as taught/suggested by Okamoto et al. (US 9,779,779) since such is a notoriously old and well known disk device housing configuration, and selecting a known disk device housing configuration on the basis of its suitability for the intended use is considered to be within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes Kamezawa et al. (US 2001/0015869), Uefune et al. (US 2008/0212237), Hayakawa et al. (US 2011/0038076), and Tokizaki (US 2025/0095676), which each individually teaches a constrained layer configuration between first and second covers of a disk device housing.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Craig A. Renner whose telephone number is (571) 272-7580. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM - 7:30 PM.
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, Steven Lim can be reached at (571) 270-1210. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CRAIG A. RENNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2688