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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/19/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’ amendment of the claims, filed on 04/10/2026, in response to the rejection of claims 1-5, 7, 11-15 from the final office action, mailed on 02/11/2026, by amending claims 1, 11; canceling claim 4; and adding new claims 16-17, is acknowledged and will be addressed below.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 8-10 remain withdrawn from consideration as pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “wherein a minimum of the thickness of the evaporator body along the longitudinal direction of the evaporator body is 50 to 70% of a maximum of the thickness of the evaporator body” of Claims 1 and 11 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s), See the details in the 112 rejections below. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim interpretation
(1) In regards to the “wherein the recess is created in the evaporator body by milling or grinding” of claim 7,
The “created... by milling or grinding” is considered as product-by-process. When the boat has a recess, it is considered meeting the claim language, no matter how it is created, such as milling, grinding, compressing, molding, or by any other processes.
Even though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process. See MPEP 2113, In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698,227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7 and 11-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
(1) The new claim “wherein a minimum of the thickness of the evaporator body along the longitudinal direction of the evaporator body is 50 to 70% of a maximum of the thickness of the evaporator body” of Claims 1 and 11 is a new matter, see the details in the 112 2nd paragraph below.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7 and 11-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
(1) The new claim “wherein a minimum of the thickness of the evaporator body along the longitudinal direction of the evaporator body is 50 to 70% of a maximum of the thickness of the evaporator body” of Claims 1 and 11 is not clear, because of the term “minimum”.
First, the applicants’ disclosures (see Fig. 5 and the paragraph [0059] of the published instant application) disclose:
“In the shown embodiment, the thickness h2 ranges from 5 to 7 mm, which results in a ratio h2/h1 of about 0.5 to 0.7. In other words, the minimum of the thickness of the evaporator body 12 along the longitudinal direction L is about 50 to 70 % of the maximum of the thickness of the evaporator body 12”.
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However, the dimension h2 does not have a minimum thickness of the evaporator body 12. It clearly indicates a depth of the recess 22, 24, in other words, the portion defined by the “h2” does not have a body portion, rather it is an empty space.
Therefore, it is not clear how the recess (empty space) has a thickness of the evaporator body.
Second, according to the applicants’ Figs. 1-2 and 4, a minimum of the thickness of the evaporator body along the longitudinal direction of the evaporator body is located in an edge of the body, see the illustration below:
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Therefore, it is not clear how the recited “a minimum of the thickness of the evaporator body along the longitudinal direction of the evaporator body” is determined.
Further, as discussed in above based on the applicants’ disclosures, it is considered that “a minimum of the thickness of the evaporator body along the longitudinal direction of the evaporator body” is differently defined from the applicants’ disclosure, therefore, the claimed subject matter of the newly added limitation is not supported by the applicants’ disclosures, as a result, it is a new matter.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments filed on 04/10/2026 have been fully considered but they are not convincing in light of the new ground of rejection above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AIDEN Y LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-1440. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 9am-5pm PT.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gordon Baldwin can be reached on 571-272-5166. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AIDEN LEE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718
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