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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/30/2025 has been entered.
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) 17-20, 22-25, 31, and 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chinese Patent CN 110094929 to Dong Yuge in view of US Patent 9,255,630 to Saji.
Dong Yuge teaches
17. A domestic appliance, comprising: a carcass (1); a drive assembly (9) arranged in or on the carcass; a sliding element (2) extendible from the carcass the drive assembly; a liftable storage container (19) configured to move out of the carcass by the sliding element; and a push-chain assembly (8, 10) comprising a push chain (10) drivable by the drive assembly, wherein a free end of the push chain is fixed to the liftable storage container (25 or as best seen in figures 3) and the push chain extends between the drive assembly and the storage container through the deflection guide. wherein the at least one push chain is configured to convert a horizontal movement of the at least one push chain into a vertical movement (as best seen in figures 1-4),
Dong Yug does not expressly disclose a deflector guide.
Saji teaches an interlocking chain mechanism driven by a gear (120) and a deflection guide (130, 132) to convert horizontal motion to vertical motion of the chain as best seen in figure 4.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the refrigerator of Dong Yuge by adding a deflecting guide around the chain when the chain is turning direction as taught by Saji to help guide the chain.
Dong Yuge teaches:
18. wherein the push chain is fixed to a rear side (figure 3), as viewed in a pull-out direction, of the storage container.
19. wherein the drive assembly comprises a drive motor (9, 20) having an output gear (26) engaging the push chain.
20. wherein the drive motor is configured to act on the output gear via a self-locking gear (22, 23,31,32).
22. wherein the return guide comprises a quarter-circular slideway for the push chain (as best seen in figure 5).
23. further comprising: at least one chain sleeve indirectly or directly attached to or formed on the liftable storage container, wherein the free end of the push chain is non-rotatably fixed in the at least one chain sleeve (as best seen in the expanded portion of figure 3).
24. wherein the sliding element is mounted on the carcass so as to be linearly displaceable via a pull-out guide (as best seen in figure 2).
25. wherein the liftable storage container is mounted vertically displaceably on the sliding element via a sliding guide (7).
31. further comprising: a retraction lock (4 the horizontal drive motor controls movement and is locked when the container is raised) configured to lock the sliding element in an extended position if the liftable storage container is lifted.
32. wherein the domestic appliance is a refrigerator, freezer, or a refrigerator and freezer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 26-30 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/30/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant argues that the chain of Yuge does not have a chain that changes form a horizontal direction to a vertical direction. The examiner disagrees since both chains of Yuge start in a horizontal direction across the width of the refrigerator. One of the chains deflects to a vertical direction and the other chain deflects into a horizontal direction out of the refrigerator. Therefore, while Yuge uses two separate motors operating at separate times to cause the drawer to move horizontally first and then vertically, the vertical chain still has a horizontal component of the chain (excess or slack of the chain) that is not part of the movement caused by the chain. The examiner still considers the structure of Yuge in view of Saji to teaches the feature of the current claims. In order to define the difference of using one motor for both movement it is suggested to claim something similar to “the drive assembly drives the push chain and liftable storage container in the horizontal direction until the sliding element and liftable storage container are fully extended and then the motor continues to drive the push chain through the deflector to create vertical movement of the chain and liftable storage container.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY MICHAEL AYRES whose telephone number is (571)272-8299. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 11:30-8.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dan Troy can be reached at (571) 270-3742. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TIMOTHY M AYRES/Examiner, Art Unit 3637