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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgement is made to Applicant’s lack of an Information Disclosure Statement submission.
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 “contact plates” of claim 1 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). 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 Objections
Claims 1-3 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 line 9 should be amended to recite: “the thermal elements further comprise outlet apertures and air fans connected to”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3 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.
The disclosure does not clearly describe the relationship between the claimed “contact plates” and the thermal elements. Page 3 lines 14-17 disclose “… contact plates configured to be in contact with the human body. The contact plates are connected to the thermal elements electrically coupled with the power module 2 and with the controller block 3.” However, the specification goes on to describe a thermo-conductive plate in the same paragraph, but does not detail how the contact plate is connected to the thermal elements. It is not described whether the contact plates are the same structure as the thermo-conductive plate, or is an additional structure that is connected to the thermal element. It has been interpreted by the examiner that the contact plates may be a separate structure communicating with any part of the thermal element assembly (as shown in fig. 2 and described on page 3 of the original specification), or the contact plate may be the same structure as the thermo-conductive plate.
It has been interpreted by the examiner that “contact plates” are the portion of the device that comes into contact with the human body.
Claims 2-3 are rejected as depending upon a rejected base claim.
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Binversie et al. (US 2015/0182375 A1), hereafter Binversie.
Regarding Claim 1, Binversie discloses a device for a thermal treatment of a human (fig. 3, therapeutic device 10 [0033]), the device comprising: a plurality of contact plates (as best understood based on the 112(a) rejection above, the contact plates are a portion of the device that contact the body, fig. 6, contact plates are the contacting portion of envelope 32, best seen in fig. 3) configured to come in contact with a user's body (fig. 3, the envelope 32 contacts the body [0035]), and connected to thermal elements (figs. 5 and 6, envelope 32 surrounds the assembly of 314, 312, 210 [0037]) wherein the thermal elements are electrically connected to a power module (fig. 1, device 10 connects to a power source [0057]) and to a controller block (fig. 10, control system 100 [0046]), wherein the thermal elements are located on a common base (fig. 6, envelope 32 [0039]) and each of the thermal elements comprises a thermo-conductive plate (fig. 5, delivery head 314 [0037]) connected to a Peltier element (fig. 5, thermoelectric module 312 [0037] uses the Peltier effect [0041]), the thermal elements comprise outlet apertures (fig. 7B, output passage 226 [0047]) and air fans connected to the power module and to the controller block ([0051] fans are not shown but may be provided to the housing 222, fig. 5), wherein the thermal elements are positioned to direct air flow through thermo-emitting radiators (fig. 5, heat sink 210 [0047]) to the outlet apertures ([0051] fans are alternatively provided with the housing 222, one of ordinary skill in the art would expect that the fans would use the same passages 224, 226 for heat transfer as the described fluid cooling system) and wherein the thermo-conductive plate (314) of each of the thermal elements is connected to the thermo-emitting radiator (fig. 5, 314 is connected to 210 via 312 [0049]), and the Peltier element (312) is connected to the power module and to the controller block ([0046] the thermocouple 324 fig. 7B is in communication with the delivery head of the Peltier element and the control system 100; one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the Peltier element is also connected to power since it is electrically operated).
Regarding Claim 2, Binversie discloses a device of claim 1, wherein the controller block is connected to an external remote-control device ([0064] the device 10 may be accessed remotely).
Regarding Claim 3, Binversie discloses a device of claim 1, wherein the controller block comprises a wireless module for connection to external devices ([0064] the device may be connected wirelessly to provide program updates).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Pflueger (US 2007/0226890 A1) discloses a device for maintaining a temperature in a localized area ([0001]) which includes a thermoelectric module (fig. 2, 170 [0028]), a thermally conductive plate (fig. 2, 144 [0028]), a Peltier device (fig. 2, 162 [0028]), a heat sink (fig. 2, 170 [0028]) and a fan (fig. 2, ventilation device 174 [0028]).
Asada et al. (US 2007/0084220 A1) discloses a heating and cooling automotive seat (fig. 35B, abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARA K. TOICH whose telephone number is (703)756-1450. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7:30 am - 4:30 pm, every other F 7:30-3:30 ET.
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/SARA K TOICH/Examiner, Art Unit 3785
/BRANDY S LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3785