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 § 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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 306841 (Ortiz hereinafter) in view of US 2014/0360805 (Berkman hereinafter).
Regarding claim 1, Ortiz teaches a bathroom air handling system that discloses a ceiling fan (Figures 1 and 5), comprising: an outer cover to removably connect to at least a portion of a ceiling (Outer cover 90 and 101 in Figure 5), a plurality of fan blades movably disposed within at least a portion of the outer cover to blow air and dry at least one of a shower and a bathtub (Fan blades 111 to move air as shown in Figure 5 and Column 4 Lines 45-50), and a light connected to at least a portion of the outer cover to illuminate and emit at least one beam of light therefrom (Light 119 in Figure 5); a control means for controlling the light (Column 1 lines 23-25).
Ortiz is silent with respect to a fan control device connected to the ceiling fan to control at least one operation of the plurality of fan blades.
However, Berkman teaches a ceiling air handler that discloses a fan control device connected to the ceiling fan to control at least one operation of the plurality of fan blades (Figure 13 with ¶ 81-84, specifically ¶ 83); and a light control device connected to the light to control at least one operation of the light (¶ 82 with switch 1334 in Figure 13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify eh ceiling fan of Ortiz with the remote control of Berkman to allow for a user to control the fan system from anywhere.
Regarding claim 2, Ortiz’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Ortiz and Berkman would further disclose that the outer cover comprises: a main body (Main body 90); a plurality of vent apertures circumferentially disposed on at least a portion of the main body on a cylindrical surface of the main body to facilitate movement of air therethrough (Apertures 93 in Figure 5) ; and a central aperture disposed at a center of the main body (Central aperture 96 on 101).
Regarding claim 3, Ortiz’s modified teachings are described above in claim 2 where the combination of Ortiz and Berkman would further disclose that the plurality of fan blades are disposed within the central aperture (Evident from Figure 5 with 111 being within the central aperture to feed the airflow out of 96).
Regarding claim 4, Ortiz’s modified teachings are described above in claim 2 where the combination of Ortiz and Berkman would further disclose a heating control unit disposed within at least a portion of the outer cover to generate heat and increase a temperature level of the air blown from the plurality of fan blades (¶ 54 of Berkman; Ortiz does disclose a broad control means in Column 1 Lines 23-25).
Regarding claim 5, Ortiz’s modified teachings are described above in claim 2 where the combination of Ortiz and Berkman would further disclose that the fan control device and the light control device are integrated as a software application on a computing device (¶ 87-88 and 96-98 of Berkman).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 306841 (Ortiz) in view of US 2014/0360805 (Berkman) and further in view of US 2022/0154954 (Sinur hereinafter).
Regarding claim 6, Ortiz’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 but are silent with respect to a computing device running a program thereon to automatically create a drying cycle on a bathroom based on a size of a room, a temperature level of the room, and a humidity level of the room. Berkman does disclose a computer program used to monitor the fan system with sensors for temperature and humidity (¶ 87-88, 96-98, and Figure 15 of Berkman).
However, Sinur teaches a smart house control system that discloses prompting a user to create system settings such as room dimensions (¶ 65) and monitoring environmental values such as temperature and humidity (¶ 43). The resultant combination would be such that there is a computing device running a program thereon to automatically create a drying cycle on a bathroom based on a size of a room, a temperature level of the room, and a humidity level of the room.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify eh control of the fan/controller of Ortiz/Berkman with the control of Sinur to allow for a more manicured control scheme to be applied for each sized room the fan is used in.
Conclusion
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