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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 07/21/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment submitted 06/23/2025 has been entered. Claims 1-3, 5, and 8-10 remain pending. Claims 4, 6-7, and 11-21 have been cancelled.
The amendments to the claims have overcome each and every objection to the drawings made in Final Rejection mailed 03/21/2025 and those objections are hereby withdrawn.
The amendments to the claims have overcome each and every rejection under 35 USC 112 made in Final Rejection mailed 03/21/2025 and those rejections are hereby withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/23/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The amendments to the claims have changed the scope of the claims necessitating modified grounds of rejection. Please see modified grounds of rejection below.
Applicant argues the proposed combination is not obvious since there is no motivation to remove “the enclosure side” as “it is not Applicant’s burden to explain criticality of an element that cannot be found in the teachings of the prior art”.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Applicant has explicitly disclosed a physical enclosure side of the intake may, or may not, be included (Pars 0025-0026/0035), therefore criticality of the enclosure side has been explicitly precluded by the Applicant. Whether one can envisage a potential benefit to including, or not including, the enclosure side carries little patentable weight. Moreover, the Examiner notes that it is possible to interpret intake base panel (22a) and exhaust base panel (58a) as part of the enclosure. Therefore, the arguments against the previous rejection based upon design choice regarding there not being an enclosure side of the housing are moot. The Examiner further notes that merely making structural features integral supports a prima facie obviousness determination, see MPEP 2144.04(V)(B).
Claim Objections
Claim 1 objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites “the enclosure or the ambient side of the housing” which should be “an enclosure or the ambient side of the housing”. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-3, 5, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 6643130 to DeMarchis.
(a) Regarding claim 1:
(i) DeMarchis discloses a filtered fan hood system (see abstract) configured for attachment to an enclosure (see abstract; enclosure 12, Fig 1; base panel 58a, Fig 3), comprising:
a housing (exhaust cover panel 58b of exhaust housing 18, Fig 3A) consisting of an ambient side (wall of exhaust housing 18 opposite base panel 58a, Fig 3) and two lateral sides (opposing sidewalls 94, Fig 3A) having opposing faces (Col 3 Lns 44-46 & Col 4 Lns 35-37; Fig 3A); and
a series of staggered baffles (exhaust baffles 64, Fig 3) secured about the opposing faces (via fasteners 65, Fig 3) such that each baffle in the series of staggered baffles is seated against, alternately, the enclosure (base panel 58a, Fig 3) or the ambient side (side opposite base panel 58a, Fig 3) of the housing;
wherein a first (ordering of numbering is arbitrary) of the series of staggered baffles forms a lowermost cover (64a, Fig 3) defining a lowermost surface (lowermost surface of 64a, i.e. a lowermost surface of the housing at a given point) of the housing and extending downward at an angle as the lowermost part of the ambient side (lowermost “part” requires only a lowermost part at any point i.e. under 64a, Fig 3) extending towards the enclosure (Fig 3), the lowermost cover terminating prior to the enclosure (Figs 1/3) defining an opening for airflow out of the housing (opening between adjacent baffles and/or opposite wall, Figs 1/3);
the lowermost cover forming a partial lower cover via joining the lowermost part of the ambient side of the housing to respective lowermost parts of each of the two lateral sides of the housing (lower halves of each lateral side, Fig 3A);
wherein a second (ordering of numbering is arbitrary) of the series of staggered baffles (64b, Figs 1/3-3A) is configured to be seated against the enclosure immediately above the lowermost cover without any intervening parts () and extends from the enclosure downward towards the lowermost cover of the ambient side of the housing (Figs 1/3); and
wherein an airflow circuit for the enclosure is established by the series of staggered baffles (airflow 80, Fig 1).
(ii) DeMarchis does not disclose:
wherein the lowermost cover extends from the lowermost part of the ambient side an integral part of the ambient side of the housing;
(iii) The Applicant has not described any criticality nor disclosed any new or unexpected results from having the lowermost cover extending from the lowermost part of the ambient side as an integral part thereof and the prior art would perform the same with a lowermost cover extending from the lowermost part of the ambient side as an integral part thereof. Making structural features integrally formed is merely a matter of design choice, see MPEP 2144.04(V)(B).
(iv) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the lower cover as disclosed by DeMarchis to extending from the lowermost part of the ambient side as an integral part thereof as claimed as an obvious matter of design choice, see MPEP 2144.04(V)(B).
(b) Regarding claim 2:
(i) DeMarchis teaches the filtered fan hood of claim 1.
(ii) DeMarchis further discloses wherein the series of staggered baffles comprise at least three baffles (Fig 3).
(c) Regarding claim 3:
(i) DeMarchis teaches the filtered fan hood of claim 1.
(ii) DeMarchis further discloses wherein one or more baffles of the series of staggered baffles is removable (baffles fastened via fasteners 65, i.e. nuts and bolts; Col 3 Lns 43-44 & Col 4 Lns 34-35).
(d) Regarding claim 5:
(i) DeMarchis teaches the filtered fan hood of claim 4.
(ii) DeMarchis further discloses wherein one or more baffles of the series of staggered baffles is angled at about 16 degrees with respect to horizontal (baffles angled 15 degrees from horizontal which is “about” 16 degrees; Col 3 Lns 46-50 & Col 4 Lns 37-41).
(e) Regarding claim 10:
(i) DeMarchis teaches the fan hood system of claim 1.
(ii) DeMarchis further discloses a system (“cabinet enclosure”, see abstract), comprising:
two or more filtered fan hoods (hoods 16/18, Fig 1).
(iii) DeMarchis does not disclose the two or more filtered fan hood systems are filtered fan hood systems as in claim 1.
(iv) Mere duplication of parts supports a prima facie finding of obviousness, see MPEP 2144.04(VI)(B).
(v) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system as disclosed by DeMarchis to have two or more fan hood systems as in claim 1 as claimed through mere duplication of parts, see MPEP 2144.04(VI)(B).
(vi) The Examiner notes that DeMarchis teaches the fan hood system of claim 1 through modification of the exhaust hood (18, see rejection of claim 1 the present set of rejections) and through modification of the intake hood (see rejection of claim 1 in the alternate set of rejections below) and that modification of both the exhaust hood and intake hood as described in the current rejections would lead to a configuration wherein the two or more filtered fan hood systems are both the fan hood system of claim 1.
Claim(s) 1, 7-10, and 20-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 6643130 to DeMarchis.
(a) Regarding claim 1:
(i) DeMarchis discloses a filtered fan hood system (see abstract) configured for attachment to an enclosure (see abstract; enclosure 12, Fig 1), comprising:
a housing (cover plate 22b of intake housing 16, Figs 2-3) consisting of an ambient side (wall of intake housing cover plate 22b opposite intake surface 34a, Fig 2) and two lateral sides (opposing intake sidewalls 92, Figs 2/2A) having opposing faces (Col 3 Lns 44-46 & Col 4 Lns 35-37; Fig 2A); and
a series of staggered baffles (intake baffles 28, Fig 2) secured about the opposing faces (via fasteners 29, Fig 2) such that each baffle in the series of staggered baffles is seated against, alternately, the enclosure or the ambient side (ambient side of cover plate 22b opposite intake surface 34a, Fig 2) of the housing;
wherein a respective first the series of staggered baffles forms a lowermost cover (baffle 28a, Fig 2) defining a lowermost surface of the housing on an enclosure side (lowermost surface of 28a, i.e. a lowermost surface of the housing at a given point), and extending downward at an angle as the lowermost part of the enclosure side (lower half of enclosure side, Fig 2) towards the ambient side (Fig 2), the lowermost cover terminating prior to the ambient side of the housing (Fig 2) defining an opening for airflow into the housing (opening between adjacent baffles and/or opposite wall, Fig 2);
the lowermost cover forming a partial lower cover via joining the lowermost part of the ambient side of the housing to respective lowermost parts of each of the two lateral sides of the housing (lower halves of each lateral side, Figs 2/2A);
wherein a second the series of staggered baffles is configured to be seated against the ambient side immediately above the lowermost cover without any intervening parts and extends from the ambient side downward towards the lowermost cover of the enclosure side of the housing (Fig 2); and
wherein an airflow circuit for the enclosure is established by the series of staggered baffles (airflow 78, Fig 1).
(ii) DeMarchis does not disclose:
wherein the lowermost cover extends from the ambient side towards the enclosure;
wherein the another of the series of staggered baffles is seated against the enclosure.
(iii) The Applicant has not described any criticality nor disclosed any new or unexpected results from having the lowermost cover extend from the ambient side toward the enclosure side and the prior art would perform equally well with a lowermost baffle extending from the ambient side toward the enclosure side. Such a configuration is merely rearrangement of the baffles to be on reversed sides. Mere reversal and/or rearrangement of parts requires only ordinary skill in the art, see MPEP 2144.04(VI).
(iv) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the lowermost baffle as disclosed by DeMarchis to extend from the ambient side toward the enclosure side as claimed through mere rearrangement and/or reversal of parts, see MPEP 2144.04(VI).
(v) The Applicant has not described any criticality nor disclosed any new or unexpected results from having the lowermost cover extending from the lowermost part of the ambient side as an integral part thereof and the prior art would perform the same with a lowermost cover extending from the lowermost part of the ambient side as an integral part thereof. Making structural features integrally formed is merely a matter of design choice, see MPEP 2144.04(V)(B).
(vi) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the lower cover as disclosed by DeMarchis to extending from the lowermost part of the ambient side as an integral part thereof as claimed as an obvious matter of design choice, see MPEP 2144.04(V)(B).
(b) Regarding claim 2:
(i) DeMarchis teaches the filtered fan hood of claim 1.
(ii) DeMarchis further discloses wherein the series of staggered baffles comprise at least three baffles (Fig 3).
(c) Regarding claim 8:
(i) DeMarchis teaches the filtered fan hood of claim 1.
(ii) DeMarchis further discloses a filter tray (channel 40, Figs 2-2A).
(d) Regarding claim 9:
(i) DeMarchis teaches the filtered fan hood of claim 8.
(ii) DeMarchis further discloses wherein the filter tray comprises one or more of a bracket (attachment bracket, see annotated Fig 2A below), a filter holder (lower wall of channel 40, see annotated Fig 2A below), a clip (top wall and/or side walls of channel 40, see annotated Fig 2A below) and a filter (filter 38, Figs 2-2A).
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(e) Regarding claim 10:
(i) DeMarchis teaches the fan hood system of claim 1.
(ii) DeMarchis further discloses a system (“cabinet enclosure”, see abstract), comprising:
two or more filtered fan hoods (hoods 16/18, Fig 1).
(iii) DeMarchis does not disclose the two or more filtered fan hood systems are filtered fan hood systems as in claim 1.
(iv) Mere duplication of parts supports a prima facie finding of obviousness, see MPEP 2144.04(VI)(B).
(v) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system as disclosed by DeMarchis to have two or more fan hood systems as in claim 1 as claimed through mere duplication of parts, see MPEP 2144.04(VI)(B).
(vi) The Examiner notes that DeMarchis teaches the fan hood system of claim 1 through modification of the exhaust hood (18, see rejection of claim 1 in alternate set of rejections above) and through modification of the intake hood (see rejection of claim 1 in the present set of rejections) and that modification of both the exhaust hood and intake hood as described in the current rejections would lead to a configuration wherein the two or more filtered fan hood systems are both the fan hood system of claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Justin A Pruitt whose telephone number is (571)272-8383. The examiner can normally be reached T-F 8:30am - 6:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel Wiehe can be reached at (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUSTIN A PRUITT/Examiner, Art Unit 3745
/NATHANIEL E WIEHE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3745