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 Amendments
The Examiner acknowledges the amendments. The previous rejections are maintained and are made final. All arguments are addressed herein.
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 1-2 and 4-8 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 a plurality of dot-like protrusions is arranged on the blade, 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, and the plurality of protrusions are configured as rectangular sheet bodies 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 (base of Item 23) a plurality of dot-like protrusions (Item 23) is arranged on the blade, 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, and the plurality of protrusions are configured as rectangular sheet bodies arranged between adjacent blades in an extending direction of the blades (Annotated Figure 2). 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). Further, the dot like protrusions (bristles) are known in the art for 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).
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Annotated Figure 2 Liu
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; Liu Figure 2 or 5).
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 a plurality of dot-like protrusions is arranged on the blade, 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, and the plurality of protrusions are configured as rectangular sheet bodies 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 (base of Item 23) a plurality of dot-like protrusions (Item 23) is arranged on the blade, 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, and the plurality of protrusions are configured as rectangular sheet bodies arranged between adjacent blades in an extending direction of the blades (Annotated Figure 2). 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). Further, the dot like protrusions (bristles) are known in the art for 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).
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 6/8/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues Liu is silent about a plurality of (dot like protrusions) bristles is arranged on the blade. The Examiner respectfully disagrees. As discussed above, given the broadest reasonable interpretation, the blade can be interpreted as the base in which the bristles extend from and the protrusion extends between the different blades.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TOM R RODGERS whose telephone number is (313)446-4849. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8AM-5PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Posigian can be reached at (313) 446-6546. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TOM RODGERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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