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 .
Response to Amendment
Receipt and entry of Applicant's Preliminary Amendment filed on 01/03/2023 is acknowledged. Claims 1-12 have been amended. Claims 1-12 are pending in this application.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The preambles in each of claims 2-12 should read “[[A]] The hair dryer” for proper antecedent basis.
Claim 2 should read “[[a]] the second dimension”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6, 9, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kuzia et al. US 2021/0251363.
Regarding claim 1, Kuzia discloses:
A hair dryer comprising (see the Figs. 12-14 and 17-18 embodiments, showing discharge housing attachment 300/500 for use with hair dryer 100 shown in Fig. 1 or hair dryer 200 shown in Figs. 10-11):
a fan (in dryer body 100/200; not shown in Fig. 1 [0032], 220 in Fig. 11 [0049]) for generating an air flow; and
a drying chamber 320/518 having a hair inlet (upper opening of hair receiving channel 320/518) into which hair can be guided by the air flow [0045];
wherein a cross-section of the drying chamber 320/518 has a first dimension (length) in a first direction, which first dimension is at least 5 times larger than a second dimension (width) in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction (the first/length dimension is about 8 times larger than the second/width dimension of the drying chamber/hair receiving channel 320 in the Fig. 13 embodiment, and about 10 times larger in the Fig. 18 embodiment), wherein both the first direction (along channel 320/518 length) and the second direction (along channel 320/518 width) are perpendicular to a direction of the air flow 314/512 (down along the depth of the hair receiving channel 320/518, see Fig. 14).
Regarding claim 2, Kuzia discloses:
wherein the first dimension is at least 10 times larger than a second dimension (Fig. 18).
Regarding claims 3-4, Kuzia discloses:
wherein the drying chamber is folded in that the drying chamber has a U-turn in the direction of the air flow 314 (see Fig. 14).
wherein a first area (see U-turn region at reference numeral 336) of the cross-section of the drying chamber 320 at the U-turn is smaller than a second area (see region at reference numeral 316) of the cross-section in the middle between the hair inlet (upper opening of hair receiving channel 320) and the U-turn (see Fig. 14).
Regarding claim 6, Kuzia discloses:
wherein the hair dryer is arranged for heating hair (in the hair receiving channel) from multiple sides (via heated air {“the hair dryer 100 is adapted to direct heated air to hair to remove moisture from the hair” [0027], “the airflow 124 transfers heat to and/or removes moisture from the hair” [0046]} supplied annularly around the hair receiving channel, see Figs. 9, 11, 14).
Regarding claim 9, Kuzia discloses:
wherein the drying chamber is openable (openable in two ways: by the discharge housing attachment being releasably attached to the body of the hair dryer [0053] [0061], and by the attachment itself being formed in separate pieces that are fastened together [0054] such as shown in Fig. 8 [0042]), whereby the drying chamber can be cleaned (capable of being cleaned when opened).
Regarding claim 12, Kuzia discloses:
wherein a wall of the drying chamber is shaped so as to style the hair (“the airflow 124 transfers heat to and/or removes moisture from the hair. Accordingly, the hair dryer assembly 101 may be used for a hair styling operation such as straightening hair using air entrainment for hair positioned within the hair receiving channel 148” [0046], “hair styling operation” [0055]) and/or increase a contact area that is in contact with the hair (the elongated slot shape of the hair receiving channels increases contact area with the hair relative to a shorter slot).
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.
Claim(s) 5 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuzia et al. US 2021/0251363 in view of Morane US 4,118,874.
Regarding claims 5 and 11, Kuzia is silent regarding:
wherein the hair inlet of the drying chamber is shaped to follow a contour of a user's head.
wherein the hair dryer has a nozzle to channel hot air towards a user's scalp.
Morane teaches:
wherein the hair inlet 11 of the drying chamber 15 is shaped to follow a contour of a user's head (Fig. 2).
wherein the hair dryer has a nozzle 13, 16 to channel hot air towards a user's scalp.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Kuzia with that of Morane to direct jets of air to the head of the user for the advantages of penetrating into the mass of the hair to increase the efficacity of drying and to effectively dry the roots of the hair (Morane col. 3, ll. 41-48, col. 4, ll. 20-23).
Claim(s) 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuzia et al. US 2021/0251363 in view of Ballard 3,148,957.
Regarding claim 7, Kuzia is silent regarding:
wherein a wall of the drying chamber is provided with a hydrophilic or water absorbing or water surface tension reducing material.
Ballard teaches:
wherein a wall 11, 14 of the drying chamber (inside hair dryer 11, 14) is provided with a hydrophilic or water absorbing or water surface tension reducing material (desiccant 21 in mesh tube 13).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Kuzia with that of Ballard to include a desiccant for the advantage of substantially shortening the drying time (Ballard col. 1, ll. 31-32, col. 2, ll. 33-36).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Kuzia and Ballard teaches:
wherein the water absorbing material can be regenerated by means of hot air (“The drying agents can be regenerated after use and can be re-used again and again”, such regeneration being performed at high temperatures of 475-500°F or 300-350°F, for example in the oven via the hot air therein, see Ballard col. 1, ll. 38-61 and col. 2, ll. 60-63).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuzia et al. US 2021/0251363 in view of Zhou CN 110419458.
Regarding claim 10, Kuzia is silent regarding:
wherein the hair dryer has a sensor for sensing temperature and/or humidity of the air flow at an air outlet of the hair dryer, and wherein a part of the air flow is recirculated based on an output of the sensor.
Zhou teaches (see Fig. 5):
wherein the hair dryer has a sensor 402 for sensing temperature and/or humidity of the air flow at an air outlet 102 of the hair dryer, and wherein a part of the air flow is recirculated 203, 204 based on an output of the sensor 402 [0090-0097].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Kuzia with that of Zhou to implement controlled recirculation to recover and recirculate used the used hot airflow for the advantages of cyclical blowing with zero heat loss, high efficiency and energy saving, as well as stabilizing the airflow temperature in a timely and accurate manner thereby achieving self-temperature control (Zhou [0036] [0090] [0092]).
Conclusion
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/XIAOTING HU/Examiner, Art Unit 3762 10/31/2025