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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 3-4 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 3, the claim recites “polyester (PET) material” the parentheses render the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation within the parentheses are part of the claimed invention. It is unclear if the claim requires the use of PET, a specific type of polyester known as polyethylene terephthalate, or any polyester material. For the purpose of examination, the claim is being interpreted as requiring PET.
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.
Claims 1 and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (KR 10-2014731 B1) in view of Muranaka (WO 2007/007669 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Yang discloses a mask, the mask comprising: a mask body (#1a fig 1) configured to cover a wearer's face (par 0043); and wearing straps (#1b fig 1) coupled to both sides of the mask body, wherein the mask body includes a filter member (#110, 100 fig 3) that consists of a support layer having a mesh structure (#110 fig 3, par 0054) and a filter coating layer (#100 fig 3) formed on an outer surface of the support layer to filter contaminants (par 0151-0152), the filter coating layer is made of a web of fine fibers electrospun on the support layer (par 0063), the mask body further includes a face contact member coupled to an inner surface of the support layer (#20 fig 2, par 0049 discloses face contacting).
Yang is silent to a plurality of drain holes are formed in the face contact member to allow water entering between the mask body and the wearer's face to be discharged toward the filter member. However, Yang does teach the use of a hydrophobic material for the face contacting member (par 0162).
Muranaka teaches a face contacting layer made of a hydrophobic material (#30 fig 1-7, abstract discloses 30 as a perforated plastic film, par 0011 discloses the film as hydrophobic) having a plurality of drain holes (see abstract “perforated” and fig 4, 6 and 7) are formed in the face contact member to allow water entering between the mask body and the wearer's face to be discharged toward the filter member (par 0011 discloses water vapor exiting smoothly through the openings).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate drain holes as taught by Muranaka onto the face contacting member of Yang as doing so can help to ensure an appropriate humidity inside the mask (Muranaka par 0011).
Modified Yang does not expressly disclose the mask being for use while playing in water however it is seen that the mask of Modified Yang is capable of use while playing in water.
Regarding claim 8, modified Yang discloses the mask of claim 1. Yang further discloses the face contact member is a nonwoven fabric made of a water-repellent polypropylene (PP) material (par 0160 discloses polypropylene and par 0162 discloses hydrophobic/water repellent).
Regarding claim 9, modified Yang discloses the mask of claim 8. Modified Yang further discloses a bonding portion where the filter member and the face contact member are bonded to each other by ultrasonic welding (Muranaka: par 0024-0025) is formed on an outer surface of the mask body; and the bonding portion includes a first bonding portion where the filter member and the face contact member are bonded to each other along edge portions (par 0027 discloses the bonding forms a bag thus disclosing bonding along the edges) thereof to form the mask body and a second bonding portion where the filter member and the face contact member are bonded to each other at a central portion (par 0028 discloses bonding at central seam/rib X shown in fig 7) of the mask body to serve as a rib that prevents the mask body from coming in close contact with the wearer's face (par 0028 discloses this central bonding helps to create a three-dimensional shape thus helping to keep the mask body from contacting the face closely).
Claims 2-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over modified Yang as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee (KR 20090074946 A).
Regarding claim 2, modified Yang discloses the mask of claim 1. Yang does not expressly disclose the filter coating layer includes a first filter coating layer made of a web of first fine fibers electrospun on the outer surface of the support layer and a second filter coating layer made of a web of second fine fibers electrospun on an outer surface of the first filter coating layer; and a diameter of the second fine fibers is less than a diameter of the first fine fibers.
Lee teaches a face mask with nanofiber electro spun on a filtering material (pg 2 ln 11-12) wherein the spun fibers include a first filter coating layer made of a web of first fine fibers electrospun on the outer surface of the support layer (pg 2 ln 13 “multi-layered nanofiber web” pg 2 ln 14-15 “first electrospinning of the nanofiber web (L1)”) and a second filter coating layer made of a web of second fine fibers electrospun (pg 2 ln 15-16 “second nanofiber web (L2)”) on an outer surface of the first filter coating layer;
Lee does not expressly disclose a diameter of the second fine fibers is less than a diameter of the first fine fibers. However, Lee does disclose utilizing different diameter fibers for the differing layers (pg 2 ln 15-17).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize a multi-layer filter coating as taught by Lee on the mask of Yang as doing so provides added filtration. It would have further been obvious to utilize larger diameter fibers on the first layer as doing so adjusts the filtering affect into versus out of the mask.
Regarding claim 3, modified Yang discloses the mask of claim 2. Yang further discloses the support layer and the filter coating layer are made of a polyester (PET) material (par 0056, 0066).
Regarding claim 5, modified Yang discloses the mask of claim 2. Lee further discloses a thickness of the first fine fibers is 10 to 40 µm, and a thickness of the second fine fibers is 0.05 to 2 µm (pg 2 ln 9-10 discloses layers being 1-10µm thick, ln 15-17 discloses adjusting the thickness by diameter sizing, therefore Yang discloses an embodiment with the smaller thickness being 1-2µm and the larger thickness being 10µm).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over modified Yang as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Jeon (KR 2015/00115589 A).
Regarding claim 4, modified Yang discloses the mask of claim 3. Yang discloses the support layer is made by weaving polyester yarn (par 0055-0056).
However, Yang is silent to the yarn having a thickness of 5 to 50 denier into 100 to 150 mesh.
Jeon teaches that the thickness of the yarn effects the flexibility and strength of the resultant structure (pg 7 par 3).
Therefore, the thickness is known to be a result effective variable.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to ensure the thickness of modified Yang is at the claimed thickness in order to achieve the desired balance of flexibility and strength as a matter of routine optimization since it has been held that “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Further, the mesh size/pore size is known to affect the filtering ability of a filtering material. Therefore, the mesh is also a result effective variable. It would have further been obvious to ensure the mesh of modified Yang has the claimed mesh size as a matter of routine optimization since it has been held that “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Claims 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang in view in Lee and Muranaka.
Regarding claim 11, Yang discloses a method of manufacturing a mask, the method comprising: weaving yarn into a mesh structure to form a support layer (#110 fig 3, par 0054-0055 “mesh type woven or knitted fabric of yarn”); forming a first filter coating layer made of a web of first fine fibers on an outer surface of the support layer by electrospinning (#100 fig 3, 0063); and coupling a face contact member (#20 fig 2, par 0049 discloses face contacting) to an inner surface of the support layer.
Yang is silent to a second filter coating layer made of a web of second fine fibers on an outer surface of the first filter coating layer by electrospinning, wherein a diameter of the second fine fibers is less than a diameter of the first fine fibers.
Lee teaches a face mask with nanofiber electro spun on a filtering material (pg 2 ln 11-12) wherein the spun fibers include a first filter coating layer made of a web of first fine fibers electrospun on the outer surface of the support layer (pg 2 ln 13 “multi-layered nanofiber web, pg 2 ln 14-15 “first electrospinning of the nanofiber web (L1)”) and a second filter coating layer made of a web of second fine fibers electrospun (pg 2 ln 15-16 “second nanofiber web (L2)”) on an outer surface of the first filter coating layer.
Lee does not expressly disclose a diameter of the second fine fibers is less than a diameter of the first fine fibers. However, Lee does disclose utilizing different diameter fibers for the differing layers (pg 2 ln 15-17).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize a multi-layer filter coating as taught by Lee on the mask of Yang as doing so provides added filtration. It would have further been obvious to utilize larger diameter fibers on the first layer as doing so adjusts the filtering affect into versus out of the mask.
Modified Yang is silent to a plurality of drain holes are formed in the face contact member to allow water entering between a mask body and a wearer's face to be discharged toward the support layer.
Muranaka teaches a face contacting layer made of a hydrophobic material (#30 fig 1-7, abstract discloses 30 as a perforated plastic film, par 0011 discloses the film as hydrophobic) having a plurality of drain holes (see abstract “perforated” and fig 4, 6 and 7) are formed in the face contact member to allow water entering between the mask body and the wearer's face to be discharged toward the filter member (par 0011 discloses water vapor exiting smoothly through the openings).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form drain holes as taught by Muranaka onto the face contacting member of Yang as doing so can help to ensure an appropriate humidity inside the mask (Muranaka par 0011).
Modified Yang does not expressly disclose the mask being for use while playing in water however it is seen that the mask of Modified Yang is capable of use while playing in water.
Regarding claim 12, modified Yang discloses the method of claim 11. Yang further discloses the support layer and the first and second filter coating layers are made of polyester material (par 0056, 0066); and the face contact member is a nonwoven fabric made of a water-repellent polypropylene (PP) material (par 0160 discloses polypropylene and par 0162 discloses hydrophobic/water repellent).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nishigawa (US 2023/0157389 A1) discloses a mask for wearing in a pool
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIRA B DAHER whose telephone number is (571)270-0190. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm.
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/KIRA B DAHER/Examiner, Art Unit 3785
/TIMOTHY A STANIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3785