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
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.
Claim(s) 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai (US 20100038920 A1) in view of Hsu (US 20190376316 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tsai teaches a surface mounted electric strike for selectively retaining a door latch of a door, wherein the door is disposed in a door frame, the electric strike comprising: a housing (1) mounted to a surface of the door frame, wherein the housing defines a cavity (11) configured for receiving the door latch, wherein the housing includes a base plate (underside of housing 1), wherein the base plate is disposed against an outer surface of the door frame; a keeper (21) mounted within the housing and rotatable about an axis of rotation (22) between a latched position (fig. 6a) and an unlatched position (fig. 6b), wherein the keeper includes a keeper face (annotated fig. 1), wherein the axis of rotation is fixed relative to the housing, wherein the keeper includes a keeper stop face that is disposed at an angle relative to the keeper face to limit the rotation of the keeper about the axis of rotation between about 45 degrees and about 60 degrees when the keeper moves between the latched position and the unlatched position (annotated fig. 1; figs. 6a, 6b), wherein the keeper stop face contacts the base plate when the keeper in in the unlatched position (fig. 6b); and an actuating assembly (31) configured for moving between a first mode (locked) and a second mode (unlocked), wherein when the actuating assembly is in the first mode the keeper is prevented from moving toward the unlatched position (fig. 6a), and wherein when the actuating assembly is in the second mode the keeper is permitted to move toward the unlatched position (fig. 6b).
Tsai does not explicitly teach wherein the housing is mounted to a surface of the door with no cutting of the door.
Hsu teaches a similar strike assembly which is configured to mount to a surface of a door frame with no cutting of the door frame (fig. 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Tsai with those of Hsu in order to mount the electric strike of Tsai on a surface of a door frame. Mounting the electric strike of Tsai into the housing of Hsu would allow the electric strike of Tsai to be surface mountable, and therefore able to be utilized on any door without requiring a hole to be bored in the door frame. All the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination yielded nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
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Annotated Figure 1
Regarding claim 2, Tsai in view of Hsu teaches the surface mounted electric strike in accordance with claim 1 further comprising an outer ramp (4) mounted to the housing, wherein the outer ramp includes an outer ramp surface, and wherein the outer ramp surface and the keeper face form a contiguous contact surface for the latch when the keeper is in the unlatched position as the latch is moved out of the cavity (fig. 6b).
Regarding claim 3, Tsai in view of Hsu teaches the surface mounted electric strike in accordance with claim 2 wherein the outer ramp surface includes a first edge, wherein the keeper includes a second edge, and wherein the first edge is disposed adjacent to the second edge when the keeper is in the unlatched position (annotated fig. 1).
Regarding claim 4, Tsai teaches a surface mounted electric strike for selectively retaining a door latch of a door, wherein the door is disposed in a door frame, the electric strike comprising: a housing (1) mounted to a surface of the door frame, wherein the housing defines a cavity (11) configured for receiving the door latch, wherein the housing includes a base plate (underside of housing 1), wherein the base plate is disposed against an outer surface of the door frame; a keeper (21) mounted within the housing and rotatable about an axis of rotation (22) between a latched position (fig. 6a) and an unlatched position (fig. 6b), wherein the keeper includes a keeper face (annotated fig. 1), wherein the axis of rotation is fixed relative to the housing, wherein the keeper includes a keeper stop face that is disposed at an angle relative to the keeper face to limit the rotation of the keeper about the axis of rotation between about 45 degrees and about 60 degrees when the keeper moves between the latched position and the unlatched position (annotated fig. 1; figs. 6a, 6b), wherein the keeper stop face contacts an outer surface of the door frame (fig. 6b; please note that the stop face contacts the outer surface of the door frame indirectly through the base plate similar to the instant applicant’s which is visible in fig. 18f of the instant application) when the keeper in in the unlatched position (fig. 6b); and an actuating assembly (31) configured for moving between a first mode (locked) and a second mode (unlocked), wherein when the actuating assembly is in the first mode the keeper is prevented from moving toward the unlatched position (fig. 6a), and wherein when the actuating assembly is in the second mode the keeper is permitted to move toward the unlatched position (fig. 6b).
Tsai does not explicitly teach wherein the housing is mounted to a surface of the door with no cutting of the door.
Hsu teaches a similar strike assembly which is configured to mount to a surface of a door frame with no cutting of the door frame (fig. 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Tsai with those of Hsu in order to mount the electric strike of Tsai on a surface of a door frame. Mounting the electric strike of Tsai into the housing of Hsu would allow the electric strike of Tsai to be surface mountable, and therefore able to be utilized on any door without requiring a hole to be bored in the door frame. All the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination yielded nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 5, Tsai in view of Hsu teaches the surface mounted electric strike in accordance with claim 1 further comprising an outer ramp (4) mounted to the housing, wherein the outer ramp includes an outer ramp surface, and wherein the outer ramp surface and the keeper face form a contiguous contact surface for the latch when the keeper is in the unlatched position as the latch is moved out of the cavity (fig. 6b).
Regarding claim 6, Tsai in view of Hsu teaches the surface mounted electric strike in accordance with claim 2 wherein the outer ramp surface includes a first edge, wherein the keeper includes a second edge, and wherein the first edge is disposed adjacent to the second edge when the keeper is in the unlatched position (annotated fig. 1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES EDWARD IGNACZEWSKI whose telephone number is (571)272-2732. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 EST.
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/J.E.I./Examiner, Art Unit 3675 /KRISTINA R FULTON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3675
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