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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 Jan. 2, 2026 has been entered.
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.
Claim 23 is 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.
Claim 23 recites a limitation “the curved portion is foamed.” The Examiner notes the instant specification does not disclose the curved portion being foamed.
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) 6, 8-15, and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai et al. (US 2017/0325634 A1) (“Cai”), in view of JP2004232735 A ('735), as understood from the Written Opinion of the ISA of Feb. 3, 2022.
With respect to claim 6, Cai discloses a vacuum adiabatic body (abstr.), comprising a first plate – element 218 – a second plate – element 204, a vacuum space provided between the first plate and the second plate – element 220, a through-hole and a tube provided at a portion of the first plate – vent 219 can be formed by an evacuation tube and an evacuation hole (0032, Fig. 2). Cai is silent with respect to a curved portion configured to define the through-hole, the curved portion being provided presently to be integrated with the first plate.
'735 discloses a vent hole provided with a tube, wherein the tube is joined to the vent hole through curved portion 6, the curved portion configured to define the through-hole, and provided presently to be integrated with element 4 interpreted as corresponding to the first plate ('735, Figs. 12-14; Written Opinion, p. 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the body of Cai a curved portion configured to define the through-hole and provided presently to be integrated with the first plate as it is known in the art of vent holes to provide them with curved portions, the tube being joined to the first plate through the curved portion.
As to claim 8, Cai and '735 teach the adiabatic body of claim 6. '735 discloses the curved portion surrounding the through-hole (Figs. 12-14), thus, the combination of the references teaches the curved portion surrounding the through-hole of Cai.
With respect to claim 9, Cai and '735 teach the adiabatic body of claim 6. '735 discloses the curved portion having a first end connected to the first plate – element 2A, and the second end not being in contact with the second plate (Fig. 14).
Regarding claim 10, Cai and '735 teach the adiabatic body of claim 6. '735 discloses the curved portion includes a first section and a second section, the second section being connected to a non-curved region of the first plate (Fig. 16). Regarding the first section having a curvature radius less than that of the second section, Figs. 12-14 of '735 show the curved wall 6 having a first section having a curvature radius less than that of the second section.
As to claim 11, Cai and '735 teach the body of claim 10. Regarding the curved portion being provided at a thin portion among a plurality of portions constituting the first plate, changes in size are within the purview of a person skilled in the art (MPEP 2144.04).
With respect to claim 12, Cai and '735 teach the body of claim 10. The claim defines the product by how the product is made, thus, claim 12 is a product-by-process claim. For purposes of examination, product-by-process claims are not limited to the manipulation of the recited steps, only the structure implied by the steps (MPEP 2113). In the instant case the recited steps imply the structure of claim 12. The references teach the structure.
Regarding claim 13, Cai and '735 teach the body of claim 6. The claim defines the product by how the product is made, thus, claim 13 is a product-by-process claim. For purposes of examination, product-by-process claims are not limited to the manipulation of the recited steps, only the structure implied by the steps (MPEP 2113). In the instant case the recited steps imply the structure of claim 13. The references teach the structure.
As to claim 14, Cai and '735 teach the body of claim 13. The claim defines the product by how the product is made, thus, claim 13 is a product-by-process claim. For purposes of examination, product-by-process claims are not limited to the manipulation of the recited steps, only the structure implied by the steps (MPEP 2113). In the instant case the recited steps imply the structure of claim 13. The references teach the structure.
With respect to claim 15, Cai and '735 teach the body of claim 13. Cai discloses a gap between the first plate and the tube being sealed (0032). The claim defines the product by how the product is made, thus, claim 15 is a product-by-process claim. For purposes of examination, product-by-process claims are not limited to the manipulation of the recited steps, only the structure implied by the steps (MPEP 2113). In the instant case the recited steps imply the structure of claim 15. The references teach the structure.
Regarding claim 22, Cai and ‘735 teach the body of claim 6. '735 discloses the curved portion and the first plate provided as one body (Figs. 12-14).
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai, in view of JP2004232735 A ('735), as understood from the Written Opinion of the ISA of Feb. 3, 2022, and further in view of Joo et al. (US 2016/0334158 A1) (“Joo”).
With respect to claim 21, Cai and '735 teach the body of claim 6. The references are silent with respect to the curved portion being provided by a burr of the through-hole. Joo discloses a vacuum adiabatic body (abstr., 0002), wherein through-holes are provided on a first plate with a burr (0145-0147), the burr resulting from a method of forming the through-holes such as drilling (0147). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention that in the body of Cai and '735 the curved portion would be provided by a burr of the through-hole if the through-hole of Cai was formed by drilling, as such a method is known in the art of forming through-holes in plates of vacuum adiabatic bodies, the curved portion also including element 6 of '735 as discussed above.
Claim(s) 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai et al. (US 2017/0325634 A1) (“Cai”), in view of '735, as understood from the Written Opinion of the ISA of Feb. 3, 2022, and further in view of Joo et al. (US 2016/0334158 A1) (“Joo”).
With respect to claim 23, Cai discloses a vacuum adiabatic body (abstr.), comprising a first plate – element 218 – a second plate – element 204, a vacuum space provided between the first plate and the second plate – element 220, a through-hole and a tube provided at a portion of the first plate – vent 219 can be formed by an evacuation tube and an evacuation hole (0032, Fig. 2). Cai is silent with respect to a curved portion configured to define the through-hole, while a peripheral portion of the through-hole is stretched.
'735 discloses a vent hole provided with a tube, wherein the tube is joined to the vent hole through curved portion 6, the curved portion configured to define the through-hole, element 4 interpreted as corresponding to the first plate ('735, Figs. 12-14; Written Opinion, p. 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the body of Cai a curved portion configured to define the through-hole as it is known in the art of vent holes to provide them with curved portions, the tube being joined to the first plate through the curved portion.
Joo discloses vacuum adiabatic body (abstr., 0002), wherein through-holes are provided on a first plate with a burr (0145-0147), the burr resulting from a method of forming the through-holes such as drilling (0147). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention that in the body of Cai and '735 the peripheral portion of the through-hole of Cai would be stretched, should the through-holes be formed by drilling, the method known in the art of forming though-holes in vacuum adiabatic body plates, Cai not specifying the method of forming the through-hole.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on Jan. 2, 2026 have been fully considered.
The Applicant argued that Cai and '735 cannot teach or suggest the curved portion provided presently to be integrated with the first plate.
The Applicant discussed the structures of Cai and '735 relied on by the Examiner.
The Applicant argued that element 6 is a separate component coupled to tube 5, which inevitably leads to air leakage between element 6 and tube 5, element 6 being designed to function as a separate component that extends downward from deformed portion 4 and element 5, and does not correspond to the curved portion configured to define the through-hole, wherein the curved portion is provided presently to be integrated with the first plate. The Examiner notes element 4 of ‘735 has been interpreted as corresponding to the first plate. The Applicant did not explain why element 6 does not correspond to the curved portion of claim 6. The Applicant did not provide evidence as to why there would be a leakage between element 6 and tube 5. The Examiner notes it is the reference of Cai that discloses the tube, as discussed above. As shown in Fig. 12 of ‘735 element 6 corresponding to the curved portion is provided presently to be integrated with the first plate – elements 6 and 4 appear to be integrated, that is, forming a single unit.
The Applicant argued Cai and ‘735 do not teach the vacuum adiabatic body of claim 23 as the references do not teach the curved portion being foamed while a peripheral portion of the through-hole is stretched. The Examiner notes the feature of the curved portion being foamed does not appear to be disclosed in the instant specification. See 35 USC 112(a) rejection section above. Regarding a peripheral portion of the through-hole being stretched, the Examiner relied on reference of Joo which teaches that holes present in the plates of vacuum adiabatic bodies can be formed by drilling, and thus would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention that in the body of Cai and '735 the peripheral portion of the through-hole of Cai would be stretched, should the through-holes be formed by drilling.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOANNA PLESZCZYNSKA whose telephone number is (571)270-1617. The examiner can normally be reached M-F ~ 11:30-8.
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/Joanna Pleszczynska/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783