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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/20/25 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Pg. 6, filed 11/20/25, with respect to the rejection(s) of claims 1 and 8 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of newly applied prior art US 8,162,236 (Rodenbeck) which teaches repositionable remote controllers for a sink (a remote controller releasably coupled with the sink module).
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.
Claims 1, 5-6, 8, 11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 5,915,951 (Wattrick) in view of US 9,783,964 (Thompson) and US 8,162,236 (Rodenbeck).
Regarding claims 1 and 5-6, Wattrick discloses a sinky system configured for coupling within a recessed cabinet space, the sink system comprising:
a cabinet module (12) including a first peripheral sidewall (226), a second peripheral sidewall (228) opposite to the first peripheral sidewall;
a leg stand (201/206/207) coupled to the first peripheral wall and the second peripheral wall;
a sink module (10) coupled to an upper end of the cabinet module, the sink module comprising a sink basin (50/52) and a faucet (64);
a water delivery system (130/131/134/136/138) contained within a housing (Figs. 2-4, 7; C4 L64- C5 L24; Plenum 131 is a housing which contains a plurality of conduits and wires for various components of the sink system);
the water delivery system coupled to the cabinet module such that it extends between and is coupled to both the first peripheral wall and the second peripheral wall (C4 L64- C5 L3; Figs. 2-4, 7; The peripheral walls are coupled to the sink system/cabinet module/sink module and so is the water delivery system as they are all coupled together; The water delivery system is housed in the plenum 131 of the utilities module which extends between the peripheral sidewalls)
the water delivery system including a power supply (C4 L64- C5 L3);
one or more components (64/66/134/136/138) associated with the sink module, the one or more components including:
a faucet (64);
a second faucet (66);
a water filtration system (C5 L21-24 – reverse osmosis and CO2 water treatment; Faucet 66 is for filtered water; C7 L4-6 – reverse osmosis purification or water filtering);
the water delivery system being configured to deliver water from a water supply to the various components associated with the sink module (C5 L4-24);
an electronic controller (61/240) with a user interface for controlling the flow of water to and activation of components associated with the sink module (C3 L51-61, C4 L31-40, C7 L7-34).
While Wattrick discloses an electric controller for controlling water flow it does not explicitly detail how the flow is controlled such as through the use of digital control valves. Although Wattrick discloses an electronic controller with a user interface for the sink module it does not state that the controller is a remote controller releasably coupleable to the sink module.
Thompson teaches that a faucet (100) can be supplied with water from a water source (196/197) through the use of a control valve (160) which can be digital or analog (C22 L47-48) which is communicably coupled to a controller (193) configured to provide a control signal to the digital control valve to selectively provide a flow of water and which is coupled to a power source (195).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize digital control valves communicably coupled to the controller to control waterflow within the system, as taught by Thompson, depending upon design considerations such as desired/required responsiveness, control accuracy, adjustability, cost and/or compatibility with other associated systems.
Rodenbeck teaches a sink system (Fig. 14) as well as a plurality of remote controllers (750/1460) configured to send a control signal to the water delivery system of the sink in response to a user input from their user interfaces (752; Figs. 29, 64) and which are releasably coupleable to a sink module of the sink system (C32 L38-44, C39 L57-C40 L39) (The remote controllers are electronic and are moveable/repositionable resulting in them being configured for releasably coupling to the sink module electronically or mechanically).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a remote controller which is releasably coupleable to the sink module, as taught by Rodenbeck, to facilitate adjusting the position of the sink module controls (through moving the remote controller) as desired/required by a user, to facilitate shutting off the electronic controller for energy savings and/or to facilitate utilization of the sink module by a user from a distance (convenience) or by a secondary user (sanitation – allows a user with clean and/or free hands to activate the sink module for another user).
Regarding claims 8, Wattrick discloses a sinky system configured for coupling within a recessed cabinet space, the sink system comprising:
a cabinet module (12) including a first peripheral sidewall (226), a second peripheral sidewall (228) opposite to the first peripheral sidewall;
a leg stand (201/206/207) coupled to and extending between the first peripheral wall and the second peripheral wall;
a sink module (10) coupled to an upper end of the cabinet module, the sink module comprising a sink basin (50/52) and a faucet (64);
a water delivery system (130/131/134/136/138) contained within a housing (Figs. 2-4, 7; C4 L64- C5 L24; Plenum 131 is a housing which contains a plurality of conduits and wires for various components of the sink system);
the water delivery system coupled to the cabinet module such that it extends between and is coupled to both the first peripheral wall and the second peripheral wall (C4 L64- C5 L3; Figs. 2-4, 7; The peripheral walls are coupled to the sink system/cabinet module/sink module and so is the water delivery system as they are all coupled together; The water delivery system is housed in the plenum 131 of the utilities module which extends between the peripheral sidewalls)
the water delivery system including a power supply (C4 L64- C5 L3);
one or more components (64/66/134/136/138) associated with the sink module, the one or more components including:
a faucet (64);
a second faucet (66);
a water filtration system (C5 L21-24 – reverse osmosis and CO2 water treatment; Faucet 66 is for filtered water; C7 L4-6 – reverse osmosis purification or water filtering);
the water delivery system being configured to deliver water from a water supply to the various components associated with the sink module (C5 L4-24);
an electronic controller (61/240) with a user interface for receiving user inputs and controlling the flow of water to and activation of components associated with the sink module (C3 L51-61, C4 L31-40, C7 L7-34).
While Wattrick discloses an electric controller it does not explicitly detail how the flow is controlled such as through the use of digital control valves. Although Wattrick discloses an electronic controller with a user interface for the sink module it does not state that the controller is a remote controller releasably coupleable to the sink module.
Thompson teaches that a faucet (100) can be supplied with water from a water source (196/197) through the use of a control valve (160) which can be digital or analog (C22 L47-48) which is communicably coupled to a controller (193) configured to provide a control signal to the digital control valve to selectively provide a flow of water and which is coupled to a power source (195).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize digital control valves communicably coupled to the controller to control waterflow within the system, as taught by Thompson, depending upon design considerations such as desired/required responsiveness, control accuracy, adjustability, cost and/or compatibility with other associated systems.
Rodenbeck teaches a sink system (Fig. 14) as well as a plurality of remote controllers (750/1460) configured to send a control signal to the water delivery system of the sink in response to a user input from their user interfaces (752; Figs. 29, 64) and which are releasably coupleable to a sink module of the sink system (C32 L38-44, C39 L57-C40 L39) (The remote controllers are electronic and are moveable/repositionable resulting in them being configured for releasably coupling to the sink module electronically or mechanically).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a remote controller which is releasably coupleable to the sink module, as taught by Rodenbeck, to facilitate adjusting the position of the sink module controls (through moving the remote controller) as desired/required by a user, to facilitate shutting off the electronic controller for energy savings and/or to facilitate utilization of the sink module by a user from a distance (convenience) or by a secondary user (sanitation – allows a user with clean and/or free hands to activate the sink module for another user).
Regarding claim 11, Wattrick states that the sink module comprises a faucet (64) in fluid communication with a first basin (50) and a second basin (52) of the sink module.
Regarding claim 13, Wattrick states that the sink module further comprises the faucet (64) which is in communication with both a first basin (50) and a second basin (52) smaller than the first basin (when divided by guide rails 129c/129d).
Claims 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wattrick in view of Thompson and Rodenbeck as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 2015/0251922 (Schuster).
Regarding claim 4, Wattrick states the inclusion of a water filtration system which delivers filtered water to the sink module as previously discussed (C4 L34-40; C5 L21-24 – reverse osmosis and CO2 water treatment; Faucet 66 is for filtered water; C7 L4-6 – reverse osmosis purification or water filtering) and that the water delivery system is configured to provide water to components of the sink module (C5 L4-24) as previously discussed. Thompson teaches the use of digital control valves as previously discussed. Wattrick, however, doesn’t explicitly detail the arrangement of the water filtration system or how it is part of the water delivery system other than it has an output of filtered or purified water.
Schuster teaches a water delivery system (200/400) comprising a connection to a water supply (209), a controller (227) an electronic (digital) control valve (312) and a water filtration system (203/830) wherein the control valve is configured to provide a flow of water to the water filtration system before the flow of water is provided to a sink module (10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configure the water delivery system to provide a flow of water through a valve to the water filtration system before it is delivered to the sink module, as taught by Schuster, so as to facilitate a constant supply/on-demand supply of filtered water for the sink rather than requiring replacement/refilling of a storage of filtered water and so the flow can be controlled by a user.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 10,675,573 (Miller) teaches a sink system comprising a sink module, valve and various components associated with the sink module as well as a releasably coupleable remote controller configured to control operations of the sink module based on user inputs received by its user interface.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS A ROS whose telephone number is (571)270-3577. The examiner can normally be reached Mon.-Fri. 9:00-6:00.
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/NICHOLAS A ROS/Examiner, Art Unit 3754
/DAVID P ANGWIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3754