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 § 102
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 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.
Claims 1, 2 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by the applicant provide prior art KR 100913953 to Jong.
In Reference to Claim 1
Jong discloses a drying device comprising: a housing (Fig. 4, 10) having an upper surface (Fig. 4, annotated by the examiner) and a lower surface (Fig. 4, annotated by the examiner);a recessed portion (Fig. 4, 14) extending from the upper surface to a region within the housing into which a suction nozzle (Fig. 4, 70) is inserted, the recessed portion having a bottom surface (Fig. 4, annotated by the examiner) positioned within the housing and between the upper surface and lower surface; an air jetting port(Fig. 4, 54) that is formed in the bottom surface of the recessed portion; and a control device (As showed in Fig. 4, the system comprising solenoid valves 64 and 44, the control system will be inherent) that jets air from the jetting port toward a suction nozzle inserted into the recessed portion.
In Reference to Claim 2
Jong discloses the drying device includes multiple recessed portions (Fig. 4, annotated by the examiner) having different inner diameters, and depths of the multiple recessed portions differ according to the inner diameters (As showed in Fig. 4, the different recessed portions have different diameters).
In Reference to Claim 5
Jong discloses a nozzle drying method comprising: inserting a suction nozzle (Fig. 4, 70) into a recessed portion (Fig. 4, 14) of a housing (Fig. 4, 10); and drying the suction nozzle that has been inserted into the recessed portion by jetting air from a port (Fig. 4, 54) located at a bottom surface (Fig. 4, annotated by the examiner) of the recessed portion to the suction nozzle, wherein the housing includes an upper surface (Fig. 4, annotated by the examiner) and a lower surface (Fig. 4, annotated by the examiner),wherein the recessed portion (Fig. 4, 14) extends from the upper surface to a region within the housing into which the suction nozzle is inserted, and wherein the bottom surface of the recessed portion is positioned within the housing and between the upper surface and lower surface.
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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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jong.
In Reference to Claim 6
Jong discloses the air is jetted from the bottom surface (Fig. 4, annotated by the examiner) of the recessed portion to the suction nozzle inserted into the recessed portion at a position
Jong does not teach a distance between a tip of the suction nozzle inserted into the recessed portion and the bottom surface of the recessed portion is equal to or less than 5 mm.
According to MPEP, the Federal Circuit held 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.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 4 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/26/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The argument filed on 2/26/26 is true. However, it is based on the amended claim. The amended claim is rejection based on the new ground of rejection.
Conclusion
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DEMING . WAN
Examiner
Art Unit 3762
/DEMING WAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762 3/19/26