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 .
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.
Claim Objections
The claims are objected to because they include reference characters which are not enclosed within parentheses.
Reference characters corresponding to elements recited in the detailed description of the drawings and used in conjunction with the recitation of the same element or group of elements in the claims should be enclosed within parentheses so as to avoid confusion with other numbers or characters which may appear in the claims. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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.
Claim 10 is 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 10 recites “in a case that the itching relieving apparatus works…” and it is unclear what Applicant means by this limitation. Does Applicant mean this to be a step of turning the device on or when the device is working or if the device is actually operational? Clarification is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2012/0209357 A1 to Ha (Ha) in view of CN210631370 to Deng (Deng).
Regarding claim 1, Ha teaches an itch relieving apparatus (Figs. 1-18 and [0009] which states “The present invention provides a portable skin treatment device having an improved structure for treating skin diseases such as skin itch that occurs due to athlete’s foot or when a man is bitten by the inset such as mosquito, acne, and the like, and a method of controlling the same.”), comprising a temperature control unit (110), a heating element (heater 121), and a LED unit (127) that may be a blue LED ([0017]). The controller (110) controls the input/output operation, the operation of the display unit (140), and the operation of the operating unit (120) that performs the light irradiation treatment and the heat treatment of the skin of the user (Fig. 10 which shows the connection between operating unit 120 and controller 110 which controls the light source 127, the heater controller 123). The heating system maintains the temperature of the heater (121) within a set temperature range, and may be controlled by the heater controller (123) formed of a thermistor chip ([0084]) and a temperature sensor (125). The heater (121) is heated until the temperature of the tip (10) steadily reaches a predetermined range, if it is determined that the internal temperature of the tip (10) sensed by the temperature reaches a certain temperature then heating of the heater (121) ceases, it is determined that the temperature of the tip (10) falls below a certain temperature, the operation of the heater is turned on (Fig. 16-18). At the same time, the light source disposed in the tip (10) is turned on, and if the top contacts the skin, heat is transferred to the skin through the tip, and at the same time, light emitted from the light source is shined on the skin.
Ha does not specifically teach the blue LED being configured to start working under the power supply of the temperature control unit and stabilizing a corresponding power supply or receive a feedback temperature coefficient of resistance corresponding to the current temperature of the heat generating element.
Regarding the blue LED being configured to start working under the power supply of the temperature control unit and stabilizing a corresponding power supply. Ha teaches that the internal circuitry of the treatment device (100) may comprise a controller (110), an input unit (130), an operation unit (120), a display unit (140) and a power supply unit (150). The controller (110) can control the light source (127) and the heater controller (123) at the same time (Fig. 16-18). Given the knowledge available to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to configure the blue LED unit as claimed as an obvious matter of engineering design choice.
Regarding receiving a feedback temperature coefficient of resistance corresponding to the current temperature of the heat generating element, Ha teaches that the heating system can maintain the temperature of heater (121) within a set temperature range and can be controlled by a heater controller (123) formed of a thermistor chip and a temperature sensor (125). Deng teaches an analogous device (Figs. 1-4) to that of Ha including a heating circuit connected to the control circuit (114) to activate and heat the heat generating element according to a control signal, a temperature detection circuit connected to the control circuit (114) to detect temperature information of the heat generating element and output a decision signal, the control circuit (114) receives the detection signal and outputs a control signal to control the heating circuit to stop heating when the temperature of the heat generating element reaches a set temperature. The temperature detection circuit comprises a dividing resistor (R5) and a thermistor (RT1). The resistance value of the thermistor (RT1) changes with temperature, the temperature of the heat-generating element can be monitored by detecting the voltage value of the voltage-generating element due to the voltage value of the voltage-dividing resistor (R5) and the voltage-dividing value of the thermistor (RT1). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ha with the utilize the feedback resistance coefficient measurement of Deng as an obvious matter of engineering design choice to provide feedback regarding the temperature of the heater to the controller.
Regarding claim 2, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 1 as well as Ha teaching the controller (110) performs a control operation by using a chip of a microcomputer (111) having built-in firmware. The controller (110) controls and input/output operation, an operation of the display unit (140), and an operation of the operation unit (120) that performs light irradiation treatment and heat treatment on the skin of the user, the heating system maintaining the temperature of the heater (121) within a set temperature range, and controlled by the heater control (123) formed of a thermistor chip and a temperature sensor (125). However, Ha does not teach a thermistor in combination with a resistor. Deng teaches a temperature detection circuit including a divider resistor (R5) and a thermistor (RT1). Monitoring the temperature of the heat generating element can be achieved by detecting the divider resistor (R5) and the divider value of the thermistor (RT1) since the resistance value of the thermistor (RT1) changes with temperature. The control unit (U1) is connected to the thermistor (RT1) and the divider resistor (R5) respectively (Fig. 3). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ha with the resistance coefficient feedback of Deng as an obvious matter of engineering design choice to provide feedback regarding the temperature of the heater to the controller.
Regarding claim 3, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 2 as well as Ha teaching the heater (121) being connected to control circuitry (114) including a control chip (123), but not that the heating element comprises an aluminum sheet. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the heater of Ha to be an aluminum sheet, 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 an obvious matter of engineering design choice.
Regarding claim 4, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 2 as well as Ha teaching a power supply unit (150) configured to supply power to the temperature control unit, the heating element, and the blue LED unit (Fig. 10).
Regarding claim 5, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 4 as well as Ha teaching wherein the blue LED unit comprises a controller (110), an LED blue light ([0017]) , a voltage regulator module (inherent in the all LED units comprise a voltage regulator since they are sensitive to power fluctuations) the blue light control module being connected to the main control chip and the power supply unit (Fig. 10) respectively, but does not specifically teach the voltage regulator module being connected between the power supply unit and the blue light control module. It is asserted that it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ha to locate the voltage regulator as claimed, since it has been held rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art.
Regarding claim 6, the combination teaches the apparatus od claim 2 as well as Ha teaching a start key SI and a start key S2 connected to the main control chip ([0079]).
Regarding claim 7, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 5 as well as a housing ([0059]) being internally provided with a main board (Fig. 9) and the temperature control unit being provided on the main board ([0074]).
Regarding claim 8, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 7 as well as Ha teaching wherein an upper end face of the housing is downward recessed to form a groove (Fig. 4), the Led blue light (127) is placed in the groove, and a transparent cover caps (12 which includes light irradiation hold 13 formed in ties center over the LED blue light ([0064]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 8 as well as wherein one of the housings (45) far away from the LED blue light is connected to a cover body through a buckle structure (42).
Regarding claim 10, Ha teaches an operating method of an itch relieving apparatus (abstract), comprising in a case that the itch relieving apparatus works, after a temperature control unit (thermistor chip and a temperature sensor 125) controls a heating element to heat up to a target temperature according to feedback corresponding to a current temperature of the heating element, powering on and off the heating element according to the feedback to keep the temperature of the heating element stable (Figs. 16-18). However, Ha does not specifically teach providing a feedback resistance coefficient or a stable voltage through the temperature control unit and a blue LED unit to ensure that a peak wavelength of blue LEDs is output without loss. Deng teaches a heating circuit connected to a control circuit (114) to activate and heat a heat generating element according to a control signal, a temperature detection circuit connected to the control circuit to detect temperature of the heat generating element and output a detecting signal, and the control circuit (114) receives the detection signal and outputs a control signal to control the heating circuit to stop heating when the temperature of the heat generating element reaches a set temperature. The temperature detection circuit of Deng comprises a dividing resistor (R5) and a thermistor (RT1) where the resistance of the thermistor (RT1) changes as a function of temperature allowing for monitoring of the temperature of the heat generating element by detecting the voltage division resistance (R5) and the voltage division value of the thermistor (RT1). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ha with the utilize the feedback resistance coefficient measurement of Deng as an obvious matter of engineering design choice to provide feedback regarding the temperature of the heater to the controller.
Regarding providing a stable voltage, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have stabilized the voltage as an obvious matter of engineering design choice to allow for optimum use of the device components protecting them from power fluctuations. This is especially true as LEDs require voltage stabilization to function properly.
Conclusion
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/KAITLYN E SMITH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3794