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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group III (claims 12-20) in the reply filed on August 10, 2025, is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claims 12, 14, and 17 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 12 line 1, “A portable personal ionic air purifier
Claim 12 line 10, “graphical user interface (GUI)”;
Claim 14 line 5, “the breathable air space. “; and
Claim 17 line 4, “etc. ”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "intuitive" in line 11 that is not defined in the claim or specification, and therefore, claim 12 is indefinite. Additionally, claims 13-22 that depend from claim 12 are also rejected.
Regarding claims 16 and 17, the phrase "such as" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations (i.e., “battery life, health and hours of operation” and “forecast pollution levels, allergens, etc.”) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
NOTE: Although the limitation “impedance” has not been previously recited and the limitation "the impedance" is recited in claim 15 in line 3, this limitation is an inherent property of a circuit.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vandenbelt (US 20210308693 A1) in view of Blackley (US 20160361677 A1).
For claims 12 and 18, Vandenbelt discloses a portable personal ionic air purifier (purifier 10; Fig. 1) energizing a personal breathable air space with ions and cleaning particulate pollutants therefrom (Abstract), comprising:
a housing (housing subassembly 12; Figs. 1-3) adapted to be transportable and personally worn (par [0020]);
an ion emitter outwardly extending from said housing (ion emitter subassembly 14 includes a carbon brush 16; Fig. 1);
an electronics module in the housing including a controller and an ionization circuit (pars [0020], [0025]; circuit board 34 mounted within housing subassembly 12; Fig. 2) having a terminal connected to electrical ground and an output that provides a signal at ionization potential (pars [0022]-[0024]); and
said ion emitter, that emits ions when energized by said signal at ionization potential, is connected along a circuit that includes said ion emitter and said terminal at ground potential causing thereby ground current to flow along said circuit path (pars [0026]-[0027], [0029]).
Vandenbelt does not appear to disclose a remote control device having a controller (NOTE: the controller associated with said remote control device is distinct from the controller included in said electronics module) and graphical user interface (GUI) that cooperates with said controller of said electronics module to provide intuitive and informative operational modes in different selectable operable states.
Blackley discloses a remote control system (par [0166]) that may ionize air to achieve a particular property and a control algorithm that is activated when instructions are received from a user, a control system, an input port, which may include direct inputs to a device or may be received from a remote device, such as a smartphone (claim 18), a tablet, a remote control (par [0175]): whereas, a smartphone or tablet has a GUI.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current invention to employ the controller taught by Blackley with the purifier of Vandenbelt to ionize the air in order to achieve a particular property with a reasonable expectation for success.
Regarding claims 12-17, 19 and 20, the instant invention is an apparatus. Apparatus claims are distinguished from the prior art in terms of structure rather than intended use or function. See MPEP § 2114. The following phrases are considered intended use/results:
Claim 12 lines 11-12, “to controllably provide intuitive and informative operational modes in different selectable operable states”;
Claim 13 lines 2-4, “wherein, in a change signal at ionization potential state, said signal at ionization potential is controllably varied to change ion flow in the breathable air space”;
Claim 14 lines 2-5, “wherein said signal at ionization potential is a pulse train signal that has a pulse width, duty cycle and pulse magnitude, and wherein said signal at ionization potential is controllably varied in one of said pulse width, duty cycle and pulse magnitude to selectably change ion flow in the breathable air space”;
Claim 15 lines 2-5, “wherein, in a change ground conductivity state, the impedance of said circuit path is controllably selected to change the ion flow in the breathable air space between comparatively-high and comparatively-low extremes of ion flow and at least one (1) level of ion flow therebetween”;
Claim 16 lines 2-3, “wherein, in a run state, selectable air purifier parameters such as battery life, health and hours of operation are determined and displayed”;
Claim 17 lines 2-4, “wherein, in a weather and user environment state, selectable environmental parameters such as forecast pollution levels, allergens, etc. are determined and displayed”;
Claim 19 lines 2-3, “wherein said controller of said remote control device cooperates with said controller of said electronics module via a communications interface”; and
Claim 20 line 2-3, “wherein said interface is a Bluetooth protocol communication interface.”
Therefore, since the modification recited above teaches the use of an app and smartphone for controlling an air purifier, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective file date of the present invention that a smartphone has the capability to perform the intended use recited above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 11318221 B1: a wearable air cleaner with a controller.
US 20190117820 A1: a personal air treatment system with remote user controls.
US 20180154297 A1: an air purifier with a user interface and controller.
US 20170106218 A1: a portable electronic device with a smart air purifier is provided with an electronic device body having a display surface.
CN 104344511 A: a WIFI network based intelligent air purifier with a user remote control.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SONJI TURNER whose telephone number is (571)272-1203. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm (EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Dieterle can be reached at (571) 270-7872. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SONJI TURNER/Examiner, Art Unit 1776 September 6, 2025
/Jennifer Dieterle/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1776