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 II in the reply filed on 01/16/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 17-31 are currently under examination.
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 17, 23, 24, and 27-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0022473 (Hurter hereinafter) in view of US 2022/0289912 (Hsieh hereinafter).
Regarding claim 17, Hurter teaches a nail treatment device that discloses a housing having an opening and a nail treatment space configured to receive a hand and one or more nails of a user for a curing process (Figures 1 and 2 with opening 20 in housing 10/12 for hand to enter for treatment); one or more LED light sources on the housing for generating light in the nail treatment space for performing the curing process (¶ 44 with LEDs 104 in Figure 7); and a sensing and controlling system comprising a plurality of touchless sensors on the housing configured to sense placement of the hand of the user in the nail treatment space and to control the LED light sources and the curing process (¶ 34), the sensing and controlling system comprising a control circuit including a circuit board on the housing (¶ 44 with board 78) and, the touchless sensors including a hand activated sensor on the housing activated by movement of the hand of the user (¶ 34).
Hurter is silent with respect to a radio transmission controller in signal communication with the circuit board.
However, Hsieh teaches a nail curing device that discloses a radio transmission controller in signal communication with the circuit board (¶ 41).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the controller of Hurter with the radio transmitter of Hsieh to allow for remote communications by user.
Regarding claim 23, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 where the combination of Hurter and Hsieh would further disclose that the control circuit is configured to control operation of the array of LED light sources including power, brightness, peak wavelength, on/off, and time of operation (¶ 44 of Hurter).
Regarding claim 24, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 where the combination of Hurter and Hsieh would further disclose that the LED light sources include one or more UVC light emitting diodes (UVC LEDs) configured to sterilize the nail treatment space (¶ 44 of Hurter details the use of LED wavelengths from 100-400 depending on the requirements and it is known that providing wavelengths of 200-280 nm will also serve to sterilize a surface).
Regarding claim 27, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 where the combination of Hurter and Hsieh would further disclose that the radio transmission controller includes a rf technology selected from the group consisting of Bluetooth, LTE, RFID, GPRS, Wi-Fi, IrDA, UWB, Zig-Bee, NFC, and a smart phone App (¶ 23 of Hsieh details the use of Wi-Fi).
Regarding claim 28, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 where the combination of Hurter and Hsieh would further disclose that the LED light sources comprise light emitting diodes (LEDs) having a peak wavelength intensity of between 230-470 µm (¶ 44 of Hurter).
Regarding claim 29, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 where the combination of Hurter and Hsieh would further disclose that one or more of the LED light sources comprise color LEDs configured for skin treatment of the user (¶ 44 of Hurter).
Regarding claim 30, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 where the combination of Hurter and Hsieh would further disclose that the touchless sensors comprise an element selected from the group consisting of optical sensors, capacitance sensors, IR sensors, laser TOF sensors, camera sensors, and voice sensors (Hurter ¶ 34 details optical sensors).
Regarding claim 31, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 30 where the combination of Hurter and Hsieh would further disclose that the touchless sensors include feedback sensors configured to employ vibration and indicators to indicate the parameters of the curing process (Under the broadest reasonable interpretation the display at 26 is a feedback sensor to indicate the parameter [time] of the curing process).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0022473 (Hurter) in view of US 2021/0289921 (Hsieh) and further in view of US 2019/0087632 (Raguin hereinafter).
Regarding claim 18, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 but are silent with respect that the radio transmission controller includes a voice actuated communication system.
However, Raguin teaches a nail treatment device that discloses the use of voice commands to control the device (¶ 44).The resultant combination would be such that the radio transmission controller includes a voice actuated communication system.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the control of Hurter/Hsieh with the voice commands of Raguin to allow for a user to alter the device without the need of hands.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0022473 (Hurter) in view of US 2021/0289921 (Hsieh) and further in view of US 2019/0320775 (Cheng hereinafter).
Regarding claim 19, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 but are silent with respect to a light blocker on the housing proximate to the opening configured to prevent light from escaping the nail treatment space, the light blocker comprising a light absorbing material.
However, Cheng teaches a nail treatment device that discloses a light blocker on the housing proximate to the opening configured to prevent light from escaping the nail treatment space (¶ 27-30 discloses a light absorbing layer along the inside of the treatment chamber 203), the light blocker comprising a light absorbing material (¶ 27-30).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the treatment chamber of Hurter with the light blocker and absorbing material of Cheng to protect the user from harmful effects.
Regarding claim
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0022473 (Hurter) in view of US 2021/0289921 (Hsieh) and further in view of US 11425981 (Vasquez hereinafter).
Regarding claim 20, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 but are silent with respect to an external LED lamp on the housing configured to allow inspection and/or curing of the nail product externally of the nail treatment space.
However, Vasquez teaches a manicurist station that discloses an external LED lamp on the housing configured to allow inspection and/or curing of the nail product externally of the nail treatment space (Figure 1, flexible and external lamp “A” with the use of LED lighting taught in Hurter).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the housing of Hurter with the external light of Vasquez to allow for a technician or user to have a specific light to check the results of the manicure.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0022473 (Hurter) in view of US 2021/0289921 (Hsieh) and further in view of US 2015/0184938 (Tanihara hereinafter).
Regarding claim 22, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 21 where Hurter further discloses that the cooling system comprises a fresh air inlet, and a heated air outlet (Figure 7 of Hurter with inlet from 12 then through 108 then out vents 24).
Hurter is silent with respect to a cooler and the cooler comprising a fan, a turbine, an evaporative cooler, a piezo cooler, or a peltier cooler.
However, Tanihara teaches a nail curing device that discloses the use of a cooler and that cooler is a fan (¶ 43 with Figure 1 and fan 18).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the cooling structure of Hurter with the teachings of Tanihara to improve the cooling airflow and preventing overheating.
Claims 25 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0022473 (Hurter) in view of US 2021/0289921 (Hsieh) and further in view of US 2017/0135173 (Huang hereinafter).
Regarding claim 25, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 17 but are silent with respect to a base for the housing having a magnetic fastening system and a rounded edge proximate to the opening.
However, Huang teaches a nail treatment device that discloses a base for the housing having a magnetic fastening system (Figure 5 magnetic fastener 4) and a rounded edge proximate to the opening (Under the broadest reasonable interpretation the rounded edges of 31 are proximate to the opening at 301).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the nail curing device of Hurter with the base and magnetic fixtures of Huang to allow for easy assembly and protection to the surface which the nail treatment device resides.
Regarding claim 26, Hurter’s modified teachings are described above in claim 25 where the combination of Hurter, Hsieh, and Huang would further disclose that the base includes a pin alignment system (Alignment by 98 of Hurter in Figure 6 with ¶ 44).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2012/0060757 (Li) details the use of LEDs to sterilize a nail treatment chamber in ¶ 41. US 2019/0200721 (Wu) teaches a nail curing device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CONNOR J. TREMARCHE whose telephone number is (571)272-2175. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 0700-1700 Eastern.
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/CONNOR J TREMARCHE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762