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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Pg. 8, filed 3/24/26, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 USC 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of previously presented prior art CN 1435544 which teaches reversing direction of a rotatable trapway to return it to its original starting position.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 149 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 101691775 (Ye).
Ye discloses a toilet a flushing assembly for a toilet comprising:
a trapway (2) including a first spiral having a first weir and a second spiral having a second weir (Figs. 1,3-5; Para. 0017), wherein the first weir and the second weir form two water seals; and
a drive mechanism (4; Para. 0021) coupled to the trapway and configured to rotate the first spiral and the second spiral from a first orientation to a second orientation, wherein the first orientation evacuates contents from the toilet bowl and the second orientation advances the contents from the spiral trapway to a waste outlet (3) (Abstract; In so much as applicant’s invention achieves this, the trapway has an orientation wherein it receives waste from a toilet bowl and rotates to empty waste from the toilet and advance the waste to the waste outlet).
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, 3, 5, 7-8, 10, 12-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2014/097296 (Drori) in view of CN 1435544 (Liu).
Regarding claim 1, Drori discloses a toilet flushing assembly comprising:
a spiral trapway (18) having an upstream portion (26/32) coupled to a toilet bowl (12), a curved portion (28), and a downstream portion (30/34) coupled to a waste outlet (25); and
a drive mechanism (38/40/42) coupled to the spiral trapway and configured to rotate the spiral trapway in a first rotational direction from a first orientation to a second orientation (Pg.6 L21 – Pg.7 L7);
wherein rotation of the spiral trapway evacuates content form the toilet bowl and advances the contents from the spiral trapway to the outlet and wherein the flush assembly is configured to create a water seal in the spiral trapway after evacuating the waste contents (Pg.6 L21 – Pg.7 L14).
Drori, however, does not explicitly state that after emptying the waste the drive mechanism rotates the trapway in a second opposite direction to return the trapway to the first orientation.
Liu teaches a toilet flush assembly (Fig. 9) comprising a flush water supply valve (2), a rotatable trapway (18), and a drive mechanism (28/32) which rotates the trapway in a first direction from a first orientation where a water trap is formed/waste is held and a second orientation wherein waste is emptied from the trapway. Liu further teaches that the drive mechanism can return the trapway from the second orientation to the first orientation by either continuing rotation in the first rotational direction or rotating the trapway in a second rotational direction (Translated Specification Para. 0042-0044, 0049).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configured the drive mechanism to rotate the trapway in a second rotational direction from the second orientation back to the first orientation after completing a flush, as taught by Liu, so as to facilitate restoring the water seal/resetting the flushing assembly for another use as well as due to various design considerations such as cost, complexity, installation space/conditions, ease of maintenance, toilet model and/or applicable regulations (as compared to a continuously/fully rotating trapway).
Regarding claim 3, Drori states that the drive mechanism includes a gear configured to rotate the spiral trapway between the first orientation and the second orientation (Pg. 7 L26 – Pg. 8 L7).
Regarding claim 5, Drori in view of Liu teaches a toilet flushing assembly comprising a rotatable trapway that is rotated by a driving mechanism as previously discussed. Drori states the inclusion of a drive mechanism comprising a drive element (42) which is utilized to rotate the spiral trapway between a first and second position but does not state details of the drive mechanism such as whether it utilizes a motor or a solenoid.
Lin teaches a flush assembly for a toilet as previously discussed comprising a rotatable trapway (18) which is driven by a driving mechanism. Lin further teaches that the driving mechanism can take different forms including a motor (28).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize a motor as a drive mechanism, as taught by Lin, so as to facilitate a controlled rotation of the trapway in a convenient, reliable and/or sanitary manner (doesn’t require direct user interaction, doesn’t require user applied force and can be set to rotate/drive at predetermined rates through predetermined angles).
Regarding claim 7, Drori further states the inclusion of a tank (12) and a valve configured to open a flow of water from the tank to the toilet bowl (C4 L9-17).
Regarding claim 8, Drori states that the rotation of the spiral trapway and supply of flush water through the water valve can be controlled by a common control and it is desirable to maintain a water seal (Pg. 7 L8-25) but does not explicitly discuss opening the water valve after rotating the spiral trapway from the first orientation to the second orientation.
Liu teaches a toilet flush assembly (Fig. 9) comprising a flush water supply valve (2), a rotatable trapway (18), and a drive mechanism (8/11/15) which activates both the flush sequence and the rotation of the trapway (Specification). Liu further teaches that engaging the drive mechanism rotates the trapway and can either simultaneously or after a delay open the water valve (Specification – Engaging drive mechanism 8 begins rotation of rotatable trapway 18 and the configuration of switch rod 11 also driven by drive mechanism 8 determines when the water valve opens).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configure the drive mechanism to open the water valve after rotating the trapway, as taught by Liu, so as to reduce water use by utilize the supplied flush water to both rinse the bowl and evacuate the waste through the opened/rotated trapway.
Regarding claim 10, Drori in view of Liu teaches a flush assembly for a toilet comprising a rotatable trapway which rotates from a first orientation to a second orientation and back as previously discussed. While Drori states the inclusion of a drive device it is silent regarding a springback mechanism coupled to the trapway.
Liu further teaches that a drive mechanism can be configured (28) to rotate the trapway from the first orientation to the second and back or the drive mechanism (32) can be provided with a springback mechanism (7) coupled to the trapway (through the drive mechanism) which is configured to apply a force to rotate the spiral trapway from the second orientation to the first orientation (Translated specification Para. 0042-0044).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a springback mechanism coupled to the trapway, as taught by Molina, so as to better ensure the return of the trapway to the first orientation to form a water seal even if the drive mechanism fails/loser power and/or to facilitate use of different drive mechanisms for user preference, cost, ease of maintenance and/or other market or design considerations.
Regarding claim 12, Drori states that the drive mechanism rotates the spiral trapway in response to a flush input (Pg. 7 L20-25, Pg. 8 L3-7).
Regarding claim 13, Drori states that the rotation of the trapway is caused in response to a flush input as previously discussed but does not explicitly detail the type of flush input.
Liu teaches a toilet flush assembly as previously discussed comprising a flush water supply valve (2/37), a rotatable trapway (18), a motor (28) for rotating the trapway and a flush input (30) which activates both the flush sequence and the rotation of the trapway (Specification Para. 0049). Liu further teaches that the flush input can take the form of a control button (10) or a remote control device (Specification Para. 0049-0050).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a remote control as a flush input, as taught by Liu, for user preference and/or to facilitate greater design flexibility in placing/installing the flush input.
Regarding claim 14, Drori states that the spiral trapway is a ‘siphon’ (Specification), states that a waster seal is formed to the level of “W” (Fig. 1) and that during a flushing operation the rotation of the trapway causes a siphon break of the water seal (Pg. 6 L15-Pg. 7 L7 – rotation of the siphon generates a suction at the bowl outlet which moves waste and water to the waste outlet).
Regarding claim 16, Drori discloses a toilet comprising:
a toilet bowl (12);
a tank (16) connected to the toilet bowl via a water channel (Pg. 4 L9-17);
a spiral trapway (18) having an upstream portion (26/32) coupled to a toilet bowl (12), a curved portion (28), and a downstream portion (30/34) coupled to a waste outlet (25); and
a drive mechanism (38/40/42) coupled to the spiral trapway and configured to rotate the spiral trapway in a first direction from a first orientation to a second orientation (Pg.6 L21 – Pg.7 L7);
wherein rotation of the spiral trapway evacuates content form the toilet bowl and advances the contents from the spiral trapway to the outlet and wherein the flush assembly is configured to create a water seal in the spiral trapway after evacuating the waste contents (Pg.6 L21 – Pg.7 L14).
Drori, however, does not explicitly state that after emptying the waste the drive mechanism rotates the trapway in a second opposite direction to return the trapway to the first orientation.
Liu teaches a toilet flush assembly (Fig. 9) comprising a flush water supply valve (2), a rotatable trapway (18), and a drive mechanism (28) which rotates the trapway in a first direction from a first orientation where a water trap is formed/waste is held and a second orientation wherein waste is emptied from the trapway. Liu further teaches that the drive mechanism can return the trapway from the second orientation to the first orientation by either continuing rotation in the first rotational direction or rotating the trapway in a second rotational direction (Translated Specification Para. 0049).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configured the drive mechanism to rotate the trapway in a second rotational direction from the second orientation back to the first orientation after completing a flush, as taught by Liu, so as to facilitate restoring the water seal/resetting the flushing assembly for another use as well as due to various design considerations such as cost, complexity, installation space/conditions, ease of maintenance, toilet model and/or applicable regulations (as compared to a continuously/fully rotating trapway).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Drori in view of Liu as applied to claim 7 above and further in view of US 10,072,408 (Huynh).
Regarding claim 9, Drori states that the rotation of the spiral trapway and supply of flush water through the water valve can be controlled by a common control and it is desirable to maintain a water seal (Pg. 7 L8-25) but does not explicitly discuss opening the water valve after the trapway from the second orientation back to the first orientation.
Huynh teaches a flushing assembly for a toilet comprising a toilet with an outlet (140) comprising a rotatable member (141) which opens/rotates to facilitate the evacuation of waste from the toilet. Huynh further teaches a driving mechanism (700/710) configured to drive the rotatable member as well as operate water supply valves (311/312) for supplying water to the toilet. Huynh further teaches opening the rotatable member from an initial orientation to a first orientation in which water and waste begin flowing out of the toilet, to a second fully open orientation, closing the rotatable member from the second orientation through the first orientation to an initial orientation to facilitate forming a water seal in the bowl and then opening a water valve to supply water to the bowl and form a seal (C6 L31-56).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configure the drive mechanism to open a water supply valve after rotating the trapway from the second orientation to the first orientation, as taught by Huynh, so as to facilitate the formation of a water seal within the bowl/outlet for sanitary and convenience purposes.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Drori in view of Liu as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Ye.
Regarding claim 15, Drori states that the spiral trapway can comprise a single revolution which produces a single water seal or other shapes but doesn’t explicitly state the formation of a spiral trapway with multiple revolutions resulting in multiple water traps.
Ye teaches a flushing assembly for a toilet comprising a spiral trapway (2) coupled between a toilet outlet (1) and a waste connection (3). Ye further teaches that the spiral can be provided with a single revolution, two revolutions or multiple revolutions which would produce multiple water seals (Para. 0017).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize a rotatable trapway with a plurality of water seals, as taught by Ye, so as to provide greater protection against the escape of dangerous or unpleasant odors and other gases/fumes from the downstream sewage pipe/waste outlet (or whatever other waste structure the toilet is attached to such as a septic tank).
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 NICHOLAS A ROS whose telephone number is (571)270-3577. The examiner can normally be reached Mon.-Fri. 9:00-6:00.
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/NICHOLAS A ROS/Examiner, Art Unit 3754
/DAVID P ANGWIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3754
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