DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/12/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 02/12/2026 has been entered and accepted.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7-8, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Scheir (US 20060284109 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Scheir (US 20060284109 A1) teaches a drying unit for removing a moisture or undesired gases from a process chamber (Figure 1 Paragraph 14, germicidal lamp retards buildup or accumulation of undesired substances and suns undesirable organisms; would be fully capable of removing moisture or undesired gas), which comprises:
a first light source and a second light source (Figure 1 Paragraph 13, one or a plurality of germicidal lamps 154), the first light source including a first light-transmissive container (Paragraph 16, electric discharge lamps refer to an apparatus which emits radiation caused by an electric discharge from electrodes in an enclosure wherein the enclosure is at least partially translucent and constructed of glass), and the second light source including a second light-transmissive container (Paragraph 16, electric discharge lamps refer to an apparatus which emits radiation caused by an electric discharge from electrodes in an enclosure wherein the enclosure is at least partially translucent and constructed of glass); and
a control member (Figure 2 Paragraph 34, third member as a base; Paragraph 40, power supply 135 is integral with the third member 120) including, (i) a battery configured to power the first light source and the second light source (Paragraph 40, power supply 135 receiver power from a battery pack; Paragraph 40, power supply 135 supplies power to a plurality of germicidal lamps 154; battery pack and power supply can reasonably be considered part of the control member), and (ii) a control circuit for controlling the first light source and the second light source (Paragraph 39, power supply includes a ballast which acts as a control unit and controls the power that drives the germicidal lamp 154),
wherein the control member, the first light source, and the second light source are stacked together to form a stacked structure (Figure 3, third member 120 including the plurality of power supplies 135 formed integrally with it is stacked together with the stems 150 of the plurality of germicidal lamp 154), the control member being disposed between the first light source and the second light source (Figure 3, third member 120 is disposed between pairs of germicidal lamps 154), the control member including a sidewall having a top edge and a bottom edge (Scheir Annotated Figure 3, top edge and bottom edge of the third member 120), the top edge being coupled to the first light source and the bottom edge being coupled to the second light source (Paragraph 36, third member 120 includes one or a plurality of clasps 175 which provide mechanical supports to the steps of the germicidal lamps);
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Scheir Annotated Figure 3; bottom edge and top edge are indicated to which two electric discharge lamps are respectively in contact with
wherein the drying unit is configured to be moved by a transferring member (Paragraph 30, displacement device including wheels or other movement devices is affixed to the first member 140 for moving the mobile germicidal system) for transferring a substrate into the process chamber (Paragraphs 28-30, first member 140 is fully capable of transferring a substrate into a chamber or room; Paragraph 13, mobile germicidal system may be readily moved into or out of rooms; Paragraph 28, first member may be a pedestal of a manager’s office chair which can reasonably be interpreted as a substrate).
Regarding claim 2, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 1, wherein
the process chamber includes an etching chamber, a deposition chamber, a sputtering chamber, a coating chamber, a developing chamber, a cleaning chamber (Paragraphs 13-14, mobile germicidal system can be moved into rooms wherein the retardation buildup or accumulation of undesired substances and/or stunning of undesirable organisms occurs) or a drying chamber.
Regarding claim 3, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 1, wherein
the drying unit configured to remove moisture or undesired gases from components that are installed in the process chamber (Paragraphs 45-49, germicidal lamps 154 emit UVC radiation toward the walls and ceiling of the room which reasonably can be considered components which are installed in the room).
Regarding claim 5, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 4, wherein
the drying unit is configured to be loaded into the process chamber and unloaded from the process chamber by using the transferring member for transferring the substrate into the process chamber (Paragraphs 28-30, first member 140 is fully capable of transferring a substrate into a chamber or room; Paragraph 13, mobile germicidal system may be readily moved into or out of rooms).
Regarding claim 7, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 1, wherein
the first light-transmissive container includes a transparent ceramic selected from the group consisting of quartz (Paragraph 16, enclosure may be constructed of quartz), transparent alumina and transparent lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT).
Regarding claim 8, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 1, wherein
at least one of the first light source and the second light source is configured to emit ultraviolet (UV) light having a wavelength of about 100 nm to about 400 nm (Paragraph 14, germicidal wavelength may be at UVC wavelength at 254nm).
Regarding claim 12, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 1, wherein
the first light source and the second light source emit UV lights having a same wavelength range (Claim 20, at least two germicidal lamps emitting radiation at wavelength substantially at 253.7nm).
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.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Scheir (US 20060284109 A1) as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 4, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 1, wherein
the drying unit has the same shape and dimensions as the substrate (Paragraphs 27-29, first member 140 is capable of carrying a substrate of the same shape and dimensions as the mobile germicidal system 100; Paragraph 28, first member 140 may be a pedestal of a manager’s office chair).
While Scheir fails to explicitly teach of a manager’s office chair or other furniture which has same shape and dimensions as the substrate, the MEPE teaches that where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device. MPEP §2144.04.IV.A. In this case, having a drying unit the same shape and dimensions as a particular office chair is not patentably distinct from the prior art device.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Scheir (US 20060284109 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lin (US 20180055959 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 1.
Scheir fails to explicitly teach:
the first light source and the second light source emit UV lights having different wavelength ranges, respectively.
Lin (US 20180055959 A1) teaches a multiwavelength ultraviolet light sanitizing system, wherein:
the first light source and the second light source emit UV lights having different wavelength ranges (Paragraph 25, UV light sanitization system emits multiple high energy, narrow bands of different types of UV light), respectively.
It would have thus been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Scheir with Lin and have the first and second light sources emit UV lights having different wavelengths. This would have been done to selectively target multiple particular types of microbes which may be present (Lin Paragraph 52).
Claim(s) 14, 18-19, and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Scheir (US 20060284109 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Scheir (US 20060284109 A1) teaches a process chamber (room) for processing a desired process on a substrate (applying cleaning to furniture in room), which comprises:
a housing providing a processing space therein (Paragraph 48, room for which the mobile germicidal system performs cleaning);
a supporting unit installed in the housing for supporting the substrate (Paragraph 30, displacement device including wheels or other movement devices is affixed to the first member 140 for moving the mobile germicidal system; Paragraph 69, some buildings have no manufacturing flooring and thus an installed flooring can reasonable be considered a supporting unit installed in the room); and
a drying unit (Figure 1 Paragraph 14, germicidal lamp retards buildup or accumulation of undesired substances and suns undesirable organisms; would be fully capable of removing moisture or undesired gas) placed on the supporting unit instead of the substrate such that the supporting unit supports the drying unit (Paragraphs 28-30, mobile germicidal system 100 would be moved along and supported by the floor), the drying unit removing a moisture or undesired gases from components that are installed in the process chamber (Figure 1 Paragraph 14, germicidal lamp retards buildup or accumulation of undesired substances and suns undesirable organisms),
wherein the drying unit includes a first light source, a second light source, and a control member that are stacked together to form a stacked structure (Figure 3, third member 120 including the plurality of power supplies 135 formed integrally with it is stacked together with the stems 150 of the plurality of germicidal lamp 154), the control member being disposed between the first light source and the second light source (Figure 3, third member 120 is disposed between pairs of germicidal lamps 154), the control member including a sidewall having a top edge and a bottom edge (Scheir Annotated Figure 3, top edge and bottom edge of the third member 120), the top edge being coupled to the first light source and the bottom edge being coupled to the second light source (Paragraph 36, third member 120 includes one or a plurality of clasps 175 which provide mechanical supports to the steps of the germicidal lamps), the control member (Figure 2 Paragraph 34, third member as a base; Paragraph 40, power supply 135 is integral with the third member 120) including, (i) a battery configured to power the first light source and the second light source (Paragraph 40, power supply 135 receiver power from a battery pack; Paragraph 40, power supply 135 supplies power to a plurality of germicidal lamps 154; can reasonably be considered part of the control member), and (ii) a control circuit for controlling the first light source and the second light source (Paragraph 39, power supply includes a ballast which acts as a control unit and controls the power that drives the germicidal lamp 154),
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Scheir Annotated Figure 3; bottom edge and top edge are indicated to which two electric discharge lamps are respectively in contact with
wherein the drying unit is configured to be moved by a transferring member (Paragraph 30, displacement device including wheels or other movement devices is affixed to the first member 140 for moving the mobile germicidal system) for transferring a substrate onto the support unit (Paragraphs 28-30, first member 140 is fully capable of transferring a substrate into a chamber or room; Paragraph 13, mobile germicidal system may be readily moved into or out of rooms; Paragraph 28, first member may be a pedestal of a manager’s office chair which can reasonably be interpreted as a substrate).
While Scheir does not explicitly teach of substrate in the form of furniture positioned in the room, it is well known in the art to have furniture inside rooms which are desirably cleaned by UV light and wherein the application of UV light to decontamination surfaces of a room apply to exposed surfaces of furniture or other objects in the room as evidenced by Paragraph 171 of BRAIS (US 20170049915 A1).
Regarding claim 18, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 14, wherein:
the first light source and the second light source emit UV lights having a same wavelength range (same wavelength; Claim 20, at least two germicidal lamps emitting radiation at wavelength substantially at 253.7nm), or UV lights having different wavelength ranges, respectively.
Regarding claim 19, Scheir (US 20060284109 A1) teaches an apparatus for processing a substrate (Figure 1 Paragraph 14, germicidal lamp retards buildup or accumulation of undesired substances and suns undesirable organisms; processing a component within the room), which comprises:
a processing module including at least one process chamber (room) for processing a desired process on a substrate (Figure 1 Paragraph 14, germicidal lamp retards buildup or accumulation of undesired substances and suns undesirable organisms; would be capable of performing this process on a substrate in the room);
an index module (Paragraph 30, displacement device including wheels or other movement devices is affixed to the first member 140 for moving the mobile germicidal system) for transferring the substrate from an outside into the processing module (Paragraphs 28-30, first member 140 is fully capable of transferring a substrate into a chamber or room; Paragraph 13, mobile germicidal system may be readily moved into or out of rooms; Paragraph 28, first member may be a pedestal of a manager’s office chair which can reasonably be interpreted as a substrate); and
a drying unit for removing a moisture or undesired gases from the at least one process chamber (Figure 1 Paragraph 14, germicidal lamp retards buildup or accumulation of undesired substances and suns undesirable organisms), wherein the drying unit includes a first light source, a second light source, and a control member that are stacked together to form a stacked structure (Figure 3, third member 120 including the plurality of power supplies 135 formed integrally with it is stacked together with the stems 150 of the plurality of germicidal lamp 154), the control member being disposed between the first light source and the second light source (Figure 3, third member 120 is disposed between pairs of germicidal lamps 154), the control member including a sidewall having a top edge and a bottom edge (Scheir Annotated Figure 3, top edge and bottom edge of the third member 120), the top edge being coupled to the first light source and the bottom edge being coupled to the second light source (Paragraph 36, third member 120 includes one or a plurality of clasps 175 which provide mechanical supports to the steps of the germicidal lamps), the control member (Figure 2 Paragraph 34, third member as a base; Paragraph 40, power supply 135 is integral with the third member 120) including: (i) a battery that is configured to power the first light source and the second light source (Paragraph 40, power supply 135 receiver power from a battery pack; Paragraph 40, power supply 135 supplies power to a plurality of germicidal lamps 154; can reasonably be considered part of the control member), and (ii) a control circuit for controlling the first light source and the second light source(Paragraph 39, power supply includes a ballast which acts as a control unit and controls the power that drives the germicidal lamp 154),
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Scheir Annotated Figure 3; bottom edge and top edge are indicated to which two electric discharge lamps are respectively in contact with
wherein the index module is further configured to transfer the drying unit from the outside into the processing module (Paragraph 30, displacement device including wheels or other movement devices is affixed to the first member 140 for moving the mobile germicidal system),
wherein the drying unit (Figure 1 Paragraph 14, germicidal lamp retards buildup or accumulation of undesired substances and suns undesirable organisms; would be fully capable of removing moisture or undesired gas) is loaded into the process chamber and unloaded from the process chamber (Paragraph 13, mobile germicidal system 100 may be readily moved into and out of rooms or areas of a building or structure), and
wherein the drying unit has the same shape and dimensions as the substrate (Paragraphs 27-29, first member 140 is capable of carrying a substrate of the same shape and dimensions as the mobile germicidal system 100; Paragraph 28, first member 140 may be a pedestal of a manager’s office chair).
While Scheir fails to explicitly teach that the manager’s office chair or other furniture has same shape and dimensions as the substrate, the MEPE teaches that where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device. MPEP §2144.04.IV.A. In this case, having a drying unit the same shape and dimensions as a particular office chair is not patentably distinct from the prior art device.
Furthermore, while Scheir does not explicitly teach of substrate in the form of furniture positioned in the room, it is well known in the art to have furniture inside rooms which are desirably cleaned by UV light and wherein the application of UV light to decontamination surfaces of a room apply to exposed surfaces of furniture or other objects in the room as evidenced by Paragraph 171 of BRAIS (US 20170049915 A1).
Additionally, while Scheir does not explicitly teach “wherein the drying unit is loaded into the process chamber and unloaded from the process chamber instead of the substrate before the substrate is loaded into the process chamber or after the substrate is unloaded from the process chamber”, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have moved furniture into and out of the room before and/or after the germicidal lamp is moved into and out of rooms. This would have been done to avoid shadows from covering certain parts of a room which are desirably exposed to UV light (Scheir Paragraph 43).
Regarding claim 24, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 14, wherein:
the drying unit has the same shape and dimensions as the substrate (Paragraphs 27-29, first member 140 is capable of carrying a substrate of the same shape and dimensions as the mobile germicidal system 100).
The MEPE teaches that where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device. MPEP §2144.04.IV.A. In this case, having a drying unit the same shape and dimensions as the substrate is not patentably distinct from the prior art device.
Claim(s) 21-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Scheir (US 20060284109 A1) as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Lin (US 20180055959 A1), Finkenzeller U. (Deuterium lamp as a UV continuum source from 160nm to 320nm for space applications, 1979), and University of New Hampshire (LAMP AND SLEEVE, 2016).
Regarding claim 21, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 1.
Scheir fails to teach:
the first light-transmissive container is filled with a heavy hydrogen gas and the second light-transmissive container filled with a different gas.
Lin (US 20180055959 A1) teaches a multiwavelength ultraviolet light sanitizing system, wherein:
the first light-transmissive container outputs one wavelength and the second light-transmissive container outputs a second wavelength (Paragraph 25, UV light sanitization system emits multiple high energy, narrow bands of different types of UV light)
It would have thus been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Scheir with Lin and have the first and second light sources emit UV lights having different wavelengths. This would have been done to selectively target multiple particular types of microbes which may be present (Lin Paragraph 52).
Scheir as modified fails to explicitly teach “the first light-transmissive container is filled with a heavy hydrogen gas and the second light-transmissive container filled with a different gas”. However, it is well known in the art that UV lamps having different gases have different wavelength ranges, for example the output of the deuterium lamps are known in the art to have a wavelength range of 160nm to 330nm (Page 1 of Finkenzeller U., Deuterium lamp as a UV continuum source from 160nm to 320nm for space applications) while the wavelength out of low-pressure lamps are known to output nearly monochromatic light at 253.7m which would make them ideal for outputting the desired wavelength (University of New Hampshire, LAMP AND SLEEVE, 2016). It would have thus have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Scheir and have the second light-transmissive container be a low-pressure lamp filled with a different gas such as to provide a monochromatic light at the desired wavelength of 253.7 (Scheir Paragraph 14 Claim 20) and have the first light-transmissive container be filled with deuterium with a wavelength range of 160nm to 330nm such as to emit different wavelengths to selectively target multiple particular types of microbes which may be present (Lin Paragraph 52).
Regarding claim 22, Scheir teaches the drying unit of claim 14.
Scheir fails to teach:
the first light source includes a first light-transmissive container that is filled with a heavy hydrogen gas and the second light source includes a second light-transmissive container that is filled with a different gas.
Lin (US 20180055959 A1) teaches a multiwavelength ultraviolet light sanitizing system, wherein:
the first light source includes a first light-transmissive container outputs one wavelength and the second light source includes a second light-transmissive container outputs a second wavelength (Paragraph 25, UV light sanitization system emits multiple high energy, narrow bands of different types of UV light)
It would have thus been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Scheir with Lin and have the first and second light sources emit UV lights having different wavelengths. This would have been done to selectively target multiple particular types of microbes which may be present (Lin Paragraph 52).
Scheir as modified fails to explicitly teach “the first light source includes a first light-transmissive container that is filled with a heavy hydrogen gas and the second light source includes a second light-transmissive container that is filled with a different gas”. However, it is well known in the art that UV lamps having different gases have different wavelength ranges, for example the output of the deuterium lamps are known in the art to have a wavelength range of 160nm to 330nm (Page 1 of Finkenzeller U., Deuterium lamp as a UV continuum source from 160nm to 320nm for space applications) while the wavelength out of low-pressure lamps are known to output nearly monochromatic light at 253.7m which would make them ideal for outputting the desired wavelength (University of New Hampshire, LAMP AND SLEEVE, 2016). It would have thus have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Scheir and have the second light-transmissive container be a low-pressure lamp filled with a different gas such as to provide a monochromatic light at the desired wavelength of 253.7 (Scheir Paragraph 14 Claim 20) and have the first light-transmissive container be filled with deuterium with a wavelength range of 160nm to 330nm such as to emit different wavelengths to selectively target multiple particular types of microbes which may be present (Lin Paragraph 52).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANKLIN JEFFERSON WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-7782. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10AM-6PM (E.S.T).
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/F.J.W./Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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