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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Korean Patent No. KR 1020170114478 (referred to below as KR ‘478).
Regarding Claim 1, KR ‘478 discloses an air filter 20 for an air suspension (see Figures 7 and 8 and paragraph 0001 of the examiner provided translation) having all the features of the instant invention including: a housing part 100 configured to be mounted on a vehicle body, connected to a height control part 30 that controls a height of a vehicle, and allowing fluid to pass therethrough (see paragraph 0015 of the examiner provided translation), a filter part 200 disposed inside the housing part 100 to remove foreign matter from the fluid (see Figures 7 and 8 and paragraph 0052 of the examiner provided translation), and one or more noise reducing parts 220 disposed inside the housing part 100 to reduce a movement speed of the fluid and reduce noise (i.e., the adsorption unit 220 would act to reduce the speed of the air and thus ultimately noise within the filter).
Regarding Claim 2, KR ‘478 further discloses that the housing part 100 comprises a first housing part 120 having an open side, allowing the filter part 200 and the one or more noise reducing parts 220 to be disposed therein, and allowing the fluid to pass therethrough, and a second housing part 110 coupled to the first housing part 120 (via coupling portion 130) to cover one side of the first housing part 120 and connected to the height control part 30 (via line 2, see Figure 1 and paragraphs 0058 and 0059).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 16-20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding independent Claim 16 (and its respective dependent claims 17-20), while KR ‘478 discloses an air filter for an air suspension, the air filter comprising a housing part configured to be mounted on a vehicle body, connected to a height control part that controls a height of a vehicle, and allowing fluid to pass therethrough, a filter part disposed inside the housing part to remove foreign matter from the fluid, and a noise reducing part disposed inside the housing part to reduce a movement speed of the fluid and reduce noise, KR ‘478 does not disclose multiple noise reducing parts disposed inside the housing part comprising first, second, and third noise reducing portions arranged in line to reduce a movement speed of the fluid and reduce noise.
It is for this reason that Claims 16-20 define over the prior art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
PG Publication No. 2002/0096841 to Hedenberg, PG Publication No. 2011/0101578 to Ji, British Patent No. GB 2406548 to Harrison, Japanese Patent No. JP 5945793 to Fukuhara, Chinese Patent No. CN 111469619, Chinese Patent No. CN 216342694 to Jiang et al., and Chinese Patent No. CN 116123059 to Mo et al all disclose air filters similar to applicant’s.
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PAMELA RODRIGUEZ
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3616
/PAMELA RODRIGUEZ/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616 01/26/26