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 .
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 7-11, filed 5/22/2026, with respect to 112 rejections and drawing objections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection/objection of 1-17 and drawings has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 5/22/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Gast, Jr. et al is used to show the amended claim limitations.
Claim Objections
The numbering of claims is not in accordance with 37 CFR 1.126 which requires the original numbering of the claims to be preserved throughout the prosecution. When claims are canceled, the remaining claims must not be renumbered. When new claims are presented, they must be numbered consecutively beginning with the number next following the highest numbered claims previously presented (whether entered or not).
Original claims 5-12 have been misnumbered as claims 4-11. On the amended set of claims 5/22/2026, claim 4 is numbered twice while claim 12 is missing.
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) 1-2, 5, 8-9, 11-12, 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wahlby et al (US 2015/0219383) in view of Gast Jr. et al. (US 5,799,495).
Regarding claim 1, Wahlby discloses, A ripening control device (10) configured to ripen an object stored in a target space the ripening control device comprising:
a adsorption configured to hold a ripening component that is generated from the object and ripens the object (storage chamber 12, functioning as an adsorption unit, holds the ripening component which is generated from the object such as a banana, See Paragraph [0050]);
a desorption unit configured to desorb the ripening component held in the holding unit from the holding unit (ethylene absorber 18 absorbs the ripening component from the storage chamber 12, See Abstract, with a heater 17 coupled to the adsorption unit . See Paragraph [0016], [0053]);
and a supply unit configured to supply the ripening component desorbed by the desorption unit into the target space (Supply unit 26 and recirculation circuit 20 supply the ripening component, See Paragraph [0045], [0046] The device is a suction or blowing element which would provide compression or decompression).
Wahlby fails to discloses, regarding claim 1, a discharge portion configured to discharge at least part of the ripening component desorbed by the desorption unit to outside of the target space (S).
Gast discloses a ripening enclosure 22 with a ripening component being supplied. There is an exhaust 52 for discharging at least part of the ripening component outside of the target space 22(1). (See Column 5, Lines 35-50). The discharge takes place at a different location than claimed, however, the reason for discharging the component remains the same and would be considered an obvious rearrangement of parts since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art.
It would have been obvious to adapt Wahlby in view of Gast to provide a discharge portion configured to discharge at least part of the ripening component desorbed by the desorption unit to outside of the target space (S) for maintaining the desired ripening environment within the container/target space and since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art.
Regarding claim 2, Wahlby discloses, a ripening control unit configured to control operations of the desorption unit and the supply unit (control unit 30 operates the desorber 18 and the supply unit 26, See Abstract and Paragraph [0052]), wherein the target space includes a first target space and a second target space, and the ripening control unit executes a first mode in which the ripening component generated from the object in the second target space and held in the holding unit is supplied to the first target space. (The control unit operates switching valves 21 and 25 for supplying the ripening component to either a first chamber 12 or a second chamber 14, See Paragraphs [0020], [0022], [0064]-, [0066]) Regarding claim 5 and 8, chamber 19 would store part of the ripening component ethylene. Regarding claim 9, a heater 17 heats the holding unit 18. Regarding claim 11, a sensor detects the concentration of the ripening component. (See Paragraph [0054]) Regarding claim 12, the control unit would contain the adjusting unit as it controls the level of the ripening component. (See Paragraph [0056]) Regarding claim 15, the device supplies air from chamber 19 which would be different from composition of outside air into the
target space. Regarding claims 16 and 17, (Fig.1 and [0037]-[0038]) schematically shows a cabinet 2
(claim 16:"a container") comprising the ripening control system 10 ("the ripening control device") and a
storage chambers 12 and 14 ("a container body having the target space therein"); as well as a
refrigerator 1 (claim 17: "a freezer") comprising a ripening control system 10 ("ripening control device")
and a freezing compartment 4 ("a refrigeration apparatus configured to cool the target space").
Claim(s) 3, 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wahlby et al (US 2015/0219383) in view of Gast Jr. et al. (US 5,799,495) and Nabori et al (JP 2005-80558), applicant provided machine translation.
The teachings of Wahlby have been discussed above. Wahlby fails to disclose, regarding claim 3, the control unit executes a second mode in which the ripening component in the first space is supplied to the second target space.
Nabori discloses Chamber A and Chamber B defining two target spaces. The exhaust port supplies the ripening agent from Chamber A to Chamber B. (See Paragraphs [0010]-[0015]) It would have ben obvious, at the time of the invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to provide the control unit executes a second mode in which the ripening component in the first space is supplied to the second target space for supplying a ripening component to a second chamber in order to collect the gas from the ripening object.
Wahlby fails to disclose the hollow fiber membrane or metal organic framework. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use a hollow fiber membrane or metal organic framework, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wahlby et al (US 2015/0219383) in view of Gast Jr. et al. (US 5,799,495) and Dinh et al (US 5,452,581).
The teachings of Wahlby have been discussed above. Wahlby fails to disclose, the desorption unit has a compression unit configured to compress the holding unit.
Dinh discloses, a compression unit for the ripening component which would be involved with a desorption unit. (See Column 5, Lines 50 – Column 6, Line 15) The compression is done in order to remove residual water from the ethylene. It would have been obvious to adapt Wahlby in view of Dinh to provide the compression unit for removing water from the gas during the recirculation process.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-14 are allowed.
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 BRIAN W JENNISON whose telephone number is (571)270-5930. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9-5.
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/BRIAN W JENNISON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 8/5/2026
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