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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/20/2025 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.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tawara (US2014/0325774) in view of Dieudonne (De 102007052982A1) in view of Liu (WO2020199624A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tawara discloses a cleaning brush for a smart cleaning device, comprising:
a mounting shaft (Item 51);
an elastic supporting member (Item 52), provided with a through hole extending in an axial direction and sleeved onto the mounting shaft through the through hole; and
a tubular member (Item 53), sleeved onto the elastic supporting member and provided with a blade (Item 60) integrally formed with the tubular member,
Tawara fails to explicitly disclose wherein a first adhesive layer is provided between the mounting shaft and the elastic supporting member, and a second adhesive layer is provided between the elastic supporting member and the tubular member, so as to adhere the mounting shaft, the elastic supporting member and the tubular member together. Tawara does disclose that adhesives can be used, but doesn’t go into detail on where and the type.
Dieudonne teaches a cleaning brush wherein a first adhesive layer is provided between the mounting shaft and the elastic supporting member, and a second adhesive layer is provided between the elastic supporting member and the tubular member, so as to adhere the mounting shaft, the elastic supporting member and the tubular member together (Items 24 and 30, Paragraphs 43 and 49). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tawara to use the adhesives as taught by Diedonne. Such a modification would allow the elastic supporting member to deflect against the floor surface while having a firm connection and not allowing any of the layers to slip (Dieudonne Paragraph 5).
Tawara further fails to disclose wherein the tubular member is further provided with a plurality of protrusions spaced apart, and the plurality of protrusions are arranged between adjacent blades in an extending direction of the blades.
Liu teaches a cleaning brush wherein the tubular member is further provided with a blade (Item 201 and base of Item 201), wherein the tubular member is further provided with a plurality of protrusions protruding radially outward from the outer surface of the tubular member and spaced apart (Item 24), and the plurality of protrusions are configured as rectangular sheet bodies arranged between adjacent blades in an extending direction of the blades. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tawara to include the protrusions as taught by Liu. As discussed by Liu, the protrusions can easily remove lint, hair or the like entangled around the brush (Paragraph 17).
Regarding claim 2, Tawara in view of Dieudonne in view of Liu disclose the cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein the blade extends in the axial direction and is configured as V-shaped sheet body or spiral sheet body (Tawara Paragraph 68).
Regarding claim 3, Tawara in view of Dieudonne in view of Liu disclose the cleaning brush according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of dot-like protrusions is arranged on the blade (Liu Item 201). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tawara to include the dot like protrusions as taught by Liu. The dot like protrusions (bristles) are known in the art f or being able to bend to conform to a surface. As discussed by Liu, this can be used to clean the floor as well as clean the interior surface of the housing, which helps prevent debris from building up on the internal surfaces of the housing (Paragraphs 7-17).
Regarding claim 4, Tawara in view of Dieudonne in view of Liu disclose the cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein end mounting members are detachably provided at two axial ends of the mounting shaft (Tawara Item 55)
Regarding claim 5, Tawara in view of Dieudonne in view of Liu disclose the cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein,
the elastic supporting member is made of a sponge material or a foam material (Tawara Paragraph 77); and/or
the mounting shaft is made of a plastic material (Tawara Paragraph 45), and the tubular member is made of a soft rubber material (Tawara Paragraph 46).
Regarding claim 6, Tawara in view of Dieudonne in view of Liu disclose the cleaning brush according to claim 5, wherein the soft rubber material comprises at least one of elastic materials of rubber, silicone, TPU and TPE (Tawara Paragraph 46).
Regarding claim 7, Tawara in view of Dieudonne in view of Liu disclose the cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein a size of the blade in a radial direction is gradually increased from an end of the tubular member to a middle part of the tubular member (Tawara Paragraph 68).
Regarding claim 8, Tawara discloses a smart cleaning device, comprising a cleaning brush, wherein the cleaning brush comprises:
a mounting shaft (Item 51);
an elastic supporting member (Item 52), provided with a through hole extending in an axial direction and sleeved onto the mounting shaft through the through hole; and
a tubular member (Item 53), sleeved onto the elastic supporting member and provided with a blade (Item 60) integrally formed with the tubular member,
Tawara fails to explicitly disclose wherein a first adhesive layer is provided between the mounting shaft and the elastic supporting member, and a second adhesive layer is provided between the elastic supporting member and the tubular member, so as to adhere the mounting shaft, the elastic supporting member and the tubular member together. Tawara does disclose that adhesives can be used, but doesn’t go into detail on where and the type.
Dieudonne teaches a wherein a first adhesive layer is provided between the mounting shaft and the elastic supporting member, and a second adhesive layer is provided between the elastic supporting member and the tubular member, so as to adhere the mounting shaft, the elastic supporting member and the tubular member together (Item 24, Paragraph 43).
Tawara further fails to disclose wherein the tubular member is further provided with a plurality of protrusions spaced apart, and the plurality of protrusions are arranged between adjacent blades in an extending direction of the blades.
Liu teaches a cleaning brush wherein the tubular member is further provided with a blade (Item 201 and base of Item 201), wherein the tubular member is further provided with a plurality of protrusions protruding radially outward from the outer surface of the tubular member and spaced apart (Item 24), and the plurality of protrusions are configured as rectangular sheet bodies arranged between adjacent blades in an extending direction of the blades. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tawara to include the protrusions as taught by Liu. As discussed by Liu, the protrusions can easily remove lint, hair or the like entangled around the brush (Paragraph 17).
Claims 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tawara (US2014/0325774) in view of Dieudonne (De 102007052982A1) in view of Liu (WO2020199624A1) in view of Artal (DE102013222574A1).
Regarding claims 19 and 20, Tawara in view of Dieudonne in view of Liu disclose the cleaning brush according to claim 1. Tawara fails to explicitly disclose wherein the first adhesive layer is formed by a first adhesive, the second adhesive layer is formed by a second adhesive, and a hot-melt temperature of the first adhesive is higher than a hot-melt temperature of the second adhesive.
Artal teaches a method of boding a plurality of layers of differing material for a cleaning device, further wherein the first adhesive layer is formed by a first adhesive, the second adhesive layer is formed by a second adhesive, and a hot-melt temperature of the first adhesive is higher than a hot-melt temperature of the second adhesive (at least Paragraphs 6-7). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the type of adhesive used by Tawara in view of Dieudonne. It is possible to heat the adhesive layers by one heat source and to activate both adhesive layers all while decreasing the amount of energy used in the manufacturing steps. Thus saving time and energy (Artal paragraph 7).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 11/20/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 and 8 in view of Misumi have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Liu.
Conclusion
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/TOM RODGERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723