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 .
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 7-10 and 17-20 have been canceled.
Claims 1-6 and 11-16 have been examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the structure which allows the two concentric ring-shaped parts of the first and second couplers to be coupled to either a spherical head or a receiving cavity of said bell-shaped connectors (Claims 1 and 11) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-6 and 11-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, because the specification, while being enabling for connector 16 having a spherical receiving cavity to connect to a spherical head of one of said bell-shaped connectors and connector 17 having a spherical head to connect to a spherical receiving cavity of one of said bell-shaped connectors, does not reasonably provide enablement for a first and a second coupler each having two concentric ring-shaped parts which allows the first and second couplers to be coupled to either a spherical head or a receiving cavity of said bell-shaped connectors. The specification does not enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the invention commensurate in scope with these claims.
Paragraph 0015 merely states that “Collar 16 includes a coupler, which are formed by two concentric ring-shaped parts 41, 42, as depicted in Figure 4, that allows collar 16 to be coupled to either the spherical head or the receiving cavity of a connector 11”. This is only mention of this feature in the specification. This is also broadly recited in a similar fashion in the amended claims.
Figure 4 of the drawings show two concentric rings in a plan view, but the remainder of the drawings do not provide any further perspective or detail as to the structure of the rings or how the coupling physically/ structurally occurs. There is no cross-sectional, perspective, or side view to show how each of the rings would connect to an associated bell connector (e.g. a 3-dimensional view showing how far the rings protrude from the base of the connector and/or how the structure of the ring(s) interact with the bell connector).
In other words, the disclosure provided does not contain sufficient information (e.g. no working examples or direction provided by the inventor) regarding the subject matter of the claims as to enable one skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the claimed invention
For purposes of examination, the examiner will examine the claims as best understood in light of subject matter reasonably enabled by the associated disclosure.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-4 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Corbin (US Patent 6,193,637) in view of Male et al (US Patent 7,066,411).
1-3. Corbin discloses a method for manufacturing a hand-held exercise device, said method comprising:
forming a series of bell-shaped connectors (7), each bell-shaped connector having a spherical head and a spherical receiving cavity, by rotatably coupling said spherical head of one bell-shaped connector to said receiving spherical cavity of another bell-shaped connector (Abstract);
providing a coupler (15) to one end of a first handle (11), wherein said first coupler includes two concentric ring-shaped parts that allows said first coupler to be coupled to either a spherical head or a receiving cavity of one of said bell-shaped connectors (See Examiner's Figure; Examiner considers Fig 3 two show 2 concentric rings (as indicated in the Examiner’s Figure below) and that the female connector can both accept a male connector or flex to be forcibly snapped into a receiving cavity of a female connector);
rotatably coupling said coupler at one end of said first handle to a first end of said series of bell-shaped connectors having a spherical head (Col 1, Line 62- Col 3, Line 2; Figs 5-6);
providing a coupler (13) to one end of a second handle, wherein said second coupler includes two concentric ring-shaped parts that allows said second coupler to be coupled to either a spherical head or a receiving cavity of one of said bell-shaped connectors (See Examiner's Figure; Examiner considers Fig 3 two show 2 concentric rings (as indicated in the Examiner’s Figure below) and that the female connector can both accept a male connector or flex to be forcibly snapped into a receiving cavity of a female connector); and
rotatably coupling said coupler at one end of said second handle to a second end of said series of bell-shaped connectors having a receiving cavity (Col 1, Line 62- Col 3, Line 2; Figs 5-6).
However, Corbin does not disclose covering said series of bell-shaped connectors by a corrugated sheath made of plastic or rubber.
Male et al teach a similar device comprising a series of bell-shaped connectors having a spherical head (58) rotatably coupled within a spherical receiving cavity (46), wherein the series of connectors are covered by a corrugated plastic sheath (Col 9, Lines 63-67: “The sheath 52 is preferably made of chemically resistant thermoplastic material, such as polyethylene. The ribs 228 formed on the outer surface of the sheath 52 to create a corrugated outer surface”) to protects the connectors from moisture, dirt and other contaminants which may affect the performance of the device (Col 3, Lines 58-63). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the device of Corbin to include a plastic corrugated sheath as taught by Male et al to prevent contaminants from entering the joints of the bell-shaped connectors which may affect the performance thereof.
Examiner’s Figure (from Fig 3)
[AltContent: textbox (Second Ring)][AltContent: textbox (First Ring)]
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4. Corbin discloses the method of Claim 1, wherein said first handle is identical to said second handle (Fig 1).
11-13. Corbin discloses a hand-held exercise device comprising:
a series of bell-shaped connectors, each bell-shaped connector having a spherical head and a spherical receiving cavity, wherein said series is formed by rotatably coupling said spherical head of one bell-shaped connector to said receiving spherical cavity of another bell-shaped connector;
a first handle having a first coupler at one end of said first handle for rotatably coupling to a first end of said series of bell-shaped connectors having a spherical head (See Examiner's Figure; Examiner considers Fig 3 two show 2 concentric rings (as indicated in the Examiner’s Figure below) and that the female connector can both accept a male connector or flex to be forcibly snapped into a receiving cavity of a female connector); and
a second handle having a second coupler at one end of said second handle for rotatably coupling to a second end of said series of bell-shaped connectors having a receiving cavity (See Examiner's Figure; Examiner considers Fig 3 two show 2 concentric rings (as indicated in the Examiner’s Figure below) and that the female connector can both accept a male connector or flex to be forcibly snapped into a receiving cavity of a female connector).
However, Corbin does not disclose covering said series of bell-shaped connectors by a corrugated sheath made of plastic or rubber.
Male et al teach a similar device comprising a series of bell-shaped connectors having a spherical head (58) rotatably coupled within a spherical receiving cavity (46), wherein the series of connectors are covered by a corrugated plastic sheath (Col 9, Lines 63-67: “The sheath 52 is preferably made of chemically resistant thermoplastic material, such as polyethylene. The ribs 228 formed on the outer surface of the sheath 52 to create a corrugated outer surface”) to protects the connectors from moisture, dirt and other contaminants which may affect the performance of the device (Col 3, Lines 58-63). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the device of Corbin to include a plastic corrugated sheath as taught by Male et al to prevent contaminants from entering the joints of the bell-shaped connectors which ay affect the performance thereof.
14. Corbin discloses the hand-held exercise device of Claim 11, wherein said first handle is identical to said second handle (Fig 1).
Claims 5, 6, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Corbin in view of Male et al as applied to Claims 1-4 and 11-14 above, and further in view of Lovelace et al (US Patent Application Publication 2015/0018132).
Corbin discloses the method and device significantly as claimed, but do not disclose wherein said first handle is different from said second handle or wherein said first handle is a ball-shaped object.
Lovelace et al teach a similar hand-held exercise device having a central resistance member (14) connected to two gripping portions which can be in the form of a baseball (12/112) or baseball bat handle (16/116) “so that a trainee may grip one of the spheres or handle in a desired manner to utilize his/her grip and snap the wrist in a desired manner work the forearm and hand muscles associated with a proper release of the ball for a desired pitch or proper strike of the game object. The dynamic action provided by the resilient member provides strengthening and muscle memory which can be repeated in a game situation” (Abstract). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify a handle of Corbin to be a baseball or bat as taught by Lovelace et al to provide sport and skill specific resistance training for the user.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA T KENNEDY whose telephone number is (571)272-8297. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7a-4:30p MST.
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, LoAn Jimenez can be reached at (571) 272-4966. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSHUA T KENNEDY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3784 9/29/2026
