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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group 2, claims 2 and 5 in the reply filed on 12/23/2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 1, 3, and 8-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/23/2025.
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(s) 2 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ichigaya (WO2017006481A1).
Regarding claim 1, Ichigaya teaches an air blowing device that is attachable to air-conditioned clothing having an insertion hole(Figure 1B, 20, 40, 50 also see Figures 8A-C), comprising:
an air blowing unit that can be disposed on an inner side of the air-conditioned clothing (Figure 8A-C: 22, 10 is the “inner garment”);
a power supply unit that is configured integrally with the air blowing unit and can be disposed on the inner side of the air-conditioned clothing (Figure 1B: 40);
a first fastening part that enables the air blowing unit to be fastened to the air-conditioned clothing, and can come into contact with a peripheral edge of the insertion hole from an outer side of the air-conditioned clothing (Figure 8C: part of 23 on 300); and
a recess portion that is disposed on a downstream side of the first fastening part in a gas flow direction and can hold cloth at a peripheral edge of the insertion hole (Figure 8A, the shoulder of 23 on which 300 sits can be considered a “recess portion” because when constructed this portion is recessed towards 221. It is downstream from its opposite side), wherein
the recess portion comes into contact with cloth at a lower end of the insertion hole when attached to the air-conditioned clothing, and a size in a width direction is set to be larger than a thickness of the cloth (Figure 8A: the diameter of 23, which can be considered a size in a width direction, is larger than 300 is thick in the axial direction of the fan).
Regarding claim 5, Ichigaya teaches all of the limitations of claim 2, wherein
the power supply unit is configured to be freely attachable to and detachable from the air blowing unit (“In addition, the power supply cable 50 that connects the power supply device 40 and the two fan main bodies 20 may be inserted with the terminal on the power supply device 40 side and the terminal on the fan main body 20 side misplaced, and a load is applied to the power supply cable 50. Can cause disconnection. Therefore, the positive electrode of the plug on the side connected to the power supply device 40 of the power cable 50 is connected to the negative electrode of the plug on the side connected to the fan body 20, and the plug on the side connected to the power supply device 40 is connected. The negative electrode is connected to the positive electrode of the plug on the side connected to the fan body 20. In the case of such a connection (so-called cross cable), when the plug on the side connected to the fan body 20 is mistakenly connected to the power supply device 40, one of the remaining two plugs has a reverse polarity. Thus, the fan main body 20 rotates in the reverse direction, and air is exhausted from the inside of the integrated air-conditioning garment, so that the user can notice an incorrect connection of the power cable 50.”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCHYLER S SANKS whose telephone number is (571)272-6125. The examiner can normally be reached 06:30 - 15:30 Central Time, M-F.
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/SCHYLER S SANKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2129