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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5-7 and 9-12 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 aforementioned claims set forth a series of physical structures/configurations that are well beyond that which is disclosed within the Hughes and Wichman references (discussed in greater depth infra), which represent the prior art combination closest to Applicant’s claimed invention, and there would be no obvious reason to modify Hughes and Wichman to the extent necessary to satisfy each of Applicant’s pertinent limitations.
With respect to claims 3, 5 and 9 (and claims 6-7 and 10-12 depending therefrom), the provision of connectors bearing insertion holes to accept poles therein, and connection members that are adjustable in length are well known, but providing such a configuration in the Hughes and Wichman assembly would interfere with the ability of the respective references to continue operating as originally intended.
In view of the foregoing, the modifications necessary to satisfy each of Applicant’s claim limitations would be likely to render the Hughes/Wichman assembly incapable of continuing to operate/behave in the particular manners set forth within the respective references themselves (given the particularly sensitive nature of such modular display assemblies), which would be strongly indicative of an application of improper hindsight reasoning.
Claims 3, 5-7 and 9-12 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Note that any change to the scope of the claimed invention related to the aforementioned claims may potentially affect the determinations/treatment of claims set forth supra.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The claim 1 recitation of “symmetrically corresponding thereto” is unclear, as it is unknown exactly which of the preceding recited elements is being invoked. Exactly what structure/configuration is sought? Please review/revise/clarify.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for multiple limitations in the claims, including: i) claims 2 and 7 recite the limitation "the ground".
The claim 6 recitation of “the front connection member and the rear connection member are able to coupled and uncoupled with a buckle” is unclear, as it is unknown whether they should be coupled/uncoupled to each other, or alternatively, to another element. Exactly what structure/configuration is sought? Please review/revise/clarify.
The claim 7 recitation of “at a position corresponding thereto” is unclear, as it is unknown exactly which of the preceding elements is being invoked. Exactly what structure/configuration is sought? Please review/revise/clarify.
Claims 3-5 and 8-12 are rejected as depending (directly or indirectly) from rejected independent claim 1.
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 1-2, 4 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0163293 to Hughes (“Hughes”) in view of U.S. Patent No. 5,351,843 to Wichman et al. (“Wichman”).
Regarding claim 1, Hughes discloses a self-supported (figs. 1 and 10) screen assembly (e.g. display assembly shown in figs. 1 and 10), comprising: i) a plurality of front poles (e.g. portions of supporting structure 1 angled rods attached to front-facing instance of display panel 2, as shown in fig. 1) and a plurality of rear poles (e.g. portions of supporting structure 1 angled rods attached to rear-facing instance of display panel 2, as shown in fig. 1) each extending symmetrically (fig. 1) in front and rear directions (e.g. forward and backward, as shown in fig. 1) to form an X-shaped (fig. 1) frame (e.g. overall support structure 1 shown in fig. 1 and discussed at para. 6); ii) a front screen member (e.g. front-facing instance of display panel 2, as shown in fig. 1 and discussed at para. 46) having corner portions (e.g. distal corners, as shown in figs. 1 and 2A-B) respectively coupled to (fig. 1 and para. 49) end portions (e.g. hubs 4, as shown in fig. 2B) of the plurality of front poles (aforementioned portions of supporting structure 1 angled rods attached to front-facing instance of display panel 2); iii) a rear screen member (e.g. rear-facing instance of display panel 2, as shown in fig. 1) having corner portions (e.g. distal corners) respectively coupled to (fig. 1 and para. 49) end portions (e.g. hubs 4, as shown in fig. 2B) of the plurality of rear poles (aforementioned portions of supporting structure 1 angled rods attached to rear-facing instance of display panel 2); and iv) a plurality (fig. 1) of connection members (e.g. non-angled supporting structure 1 rods extending between front facing and rear-facing instances of display panel 2, as shown in fig. 1) connecting (fig. 1) each end portion (4) of the plurality of front poles (aforementioned portions of supporting structure 1 angled rods attached to front-facing instance of display panel 2) to each end portion (4) of the plurality of rear poles (aforementioned portions of supporting structure 1 angled rods attached to rear-facing instance of display panel 2) symmetrically corresponding thereto (fig. 1).
Hughes does not disclose a central connector.
Wichman teaches the concept of providing a central connector (e.g. pivot pins 16 and 24, as shown in fig. 1).
Given that Hughes and Wichman both concern frame assemblies containing a plurality of rods that cross each other, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the Wichman pivot pin teachings to the Hughes angled rods at the locations at which they intersect, in order to provide the benefit of yielding a resultant Hughes assembly that is stronger and less likely to unintentionally collapse.
Regarding claim 2, Hughes in view of Wichman discloses the self-supported screen assembly of claim 1, wherein the front screen member (aforementioned front-facing instance of Hughes display panel 2) and the rear screen member (aforementioned rear-facing instance of Hughes display panel 2) are each arranged vertically relative to the ground (Hughes fig. 1).
Regarding claim 4, Hughes in view of Wichman discloses the self-supported screen assembly of claim 1, wherein each corner portion (aforementioned Hughes distal corners) of the front screen member (aforementioned front-facing instance of Hughes display panel 2) and the rear screen member (aforementioned rear-facing instance of Hughes display panel 2) has an eyelet (e.g. Hughes buttonholes 5, as shown in fig. 2A) formed therein (Hughes fig. 2A), and a protrusion (e.g. bulbous portion, as shown in Hughes fig. 2B) formed on (Hughes fig. 2B) each end portion (Hughes 4) of the pole (aforementioned portions of Hughes supporting structure 1 angled rods attached to front-facing instance of display panel 2 and rear-facing instance of display panel 2) is inserted into (compare Hughes figs. 2A-B) each of the eyelets (Hughes 5).
Regarding claim 8, Hughes in view of Wichman discloses the self-supported screen assembly of claim 1, wherein the central connector (Winchman pivot pins 16 and 24) is formed as a single unit (note that each of the respective pins is an isolated element).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN V LEWIS whose telephone number is (571)270-5052. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30AM-5:00PM.
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/JUSTIN V LEWIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3637
