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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
[0064]: The recitation of “having an inner space 110 formed therein”, there is no inner space ‘110’ in Figure 4. Figure 3 has the inner space ‘110’.
Appropriate correction is required.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because the reference characters below have both been used to designate the same thing:
Figure 2: ‘312’, ‘310a’, and ‘311b’ point to the same structural component.
Figure 3: ‘210’ and ‘211’ point to the same structural component.
Figures 4-6: ‘312’, ‘310a’, and ‘311b’ point to the same structural component.
Figure 7: ‘321’, ‘330’ and ‘210’, ‘211’ point to the same structural component.
Figure 8: ‘312’, ‘311b’ and ‘210, ‘211’ point to the same structural component.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the Parkes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 3: The recitation of “wherein both sides of the heating element in an axial direction is provided with a conductive surface”, should read --- wherein both sides of the heating element in an axial direction are provided with a conductive surface---.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
Regarding claims 7 and 8, the limitation(s) reciting “contact surface” are interpreted to mean that the contact surface is just the portion of the transmission member that touches the inner circumferential surface of the ceramic unit, because of Specification (pg. 11 line 17) and Drawing Figures 3 and 7.
Regarding claims 11 and 12, the limitation(s) reciting “electrode head” are interpreted to mean that the electrode head is the region of the electrode touching the support groove, because of Specification (pg. 15 lines 14-20) and Drawing Figure 8.
Further regarding claim 11, the limitation(s) reciting “electrode body” are interpreted to mean that the electrode body is the region of the electrode touching the insertion groove, because of Specification (pg. 15 lines 14-20) and Drawing Figures 2-6 and 8.
Regarding claims 9-12, the limitation(s) reciting “insertion groove” are interpreted to mean that a region where the electrodes and/or the electrode body are slotted into touching the transmission member is the insertion groove, because of Specification (pg. 15-16) and Drawing Figures 3, 7, and 8.
Further regarding claim 12, the limitation(s) reciting “support groove” are interpreted to mean that a region where the electrodes and/or the electrode head is slotted into touching the transmission member is the support groove, because of Specification (pg. 16 lines 3-10) and Drawing Figure 8.
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 1-7, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Park (KR 20140177188 A) in view of Ito (JP 2001267040 A).
Regarding claim 1, Park discloses a thermo-therapeutic apparatus (Park [0008]; heating ball for a massage device) comprising:
a unit having an inner space formed therein (Figure 1 below; where there is an inner space that the heating unit ‘12’ and electrodes slot into and the unit is ‘20’ with the inner space);
a heating unit having a heating element which is inserted in the inner space to directly heat the unit (Figure 1 below; where ‘12’ (carbon fiber) is a heating unit with the heating element carbon fiber and is inserted into the inner space of the unit ’20 to heat the unit ‘20’);
a power supply unit supplying a current to the heating unit (Figure 1 below; where the wire and first and second electrodes ‘15/35’ supply the current to the heating element ‘12’ which heats the heating unit ‘12’ (power supply unit) and ‘10’ is the transmission member that helps heat the heating unit ‘12’);
and a support supporting the unit (Park Figure 5; ‘50’ are fixing brackets that support the unit);
wherein the heating unit rotates relative to the power supply unit so as to allow the heating unit to rotate together with the unit (Park Figure 1; where the heating unit ‘12’ rotates relative to the electrodes ‘25’ and ‘15’ because they are all inserted within each other to rotate as a unit, Figure 5 shows the whole unit together).
Park is silent to the body of the roller being a ceramic unit.
Ito discloses the heat roller comprising:
a ceramic unit (Ito [0010]; the heat roller comprises cylindrical conductive ceramics).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the thermo-therapeutic apparatus of Park to have the roller be a ceramic unit as taught by Ito, since, the ceramic material allows for good thermal efficiency and for a heat transfer loss to be suppressed more (Ito [0012])
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Figure 1: Annotated Figure 2 of Park.
Regarding claim 2, Modified Park further discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 1.
Park further discloses wherein a heating surface in thermal contact with an inner circumferential surface of the unit is provided around the heating element (Figure 1 above; where the heating surface is on the outside of the heating element ‘12’ that is in thermal contact with the inner space).
Park is silent to the body of the roller being a ceramic unit.
Ito discloses the heat roller comprising:
a ceramic unit (Ito [0010]; the heat roller comprises cylindrical conductive ceramics).
Regarding claim 3, Modified Park further discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 1.
Park discloses wherein the power supply unit includes an electrode member for supplying an electric current (Figure 1 above; where the wires and the electrodes ‘15/25’ make up the power supply unit and the electrodes ‘15/25’ supply current to the heating element Park [0009]).
Park is silent to a conductive surface in contact with the electrode member.
Ito discloses a heat roller wherein:
wherein both sides of the heating element in an axial direction is provided with a conductive surface in electrical contact with the electrode member (Ito Figure 1; there is a roller ‘14’ with a conductive member ‘4’ (conductive surface) in contact in an axial direction with the heating element ‘2’, which on each end is in contact with a power supply electrode ‘7’).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the thermo-therapeutic apparatus of Lee to include a conductive member axially provided to the heating element and in contact with an electrode member as taught by Ito, since the configuration helps to supply direct power to the heating element (Ito [0022]).
Regarding claim 4, Modified Park further discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 3.
Park further discloses wherein the electrode member includes a first electrode member disposed on one side in an axial direction of the heating element and a second electrode member disposed on the other side in the axial direction of the heating element (Figure 1 above; ‘15’ is the first electrode member and the second electrode is ‘35’, both in opposite axial directions to the heating element ‘12’ also seen in Park Figure 7 where the electrodes ‘15/35’ are in the inner space).
Regarding claim 5, Modified Park further discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 3.
Park discloses wherein the power supply unit includes a transmission member for transmitting a current supplied through the electrode member to the heating element (Figure 1 above; where there is a fixing shaft ‘30’ that is a part of the power supply unit, upon which the electrodes ‘15/35’ are on in Park Figure 7, Park [0013]; ‘10’ is used to transmit power for heating the carbon film ‘12’ (heating element)).
Regarding claim 6, Modified Park further discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 5.
Park further discloses wherein the transmission member rotates relative to the electrode member so that the transmission member rotates together with the heating element (Figure 1 above; where ‘10’ (transmission member) is inserted into the inner space to rotate with the heating element ‘15’ all together seen in Park Figure 4 from the exploded view of Figure 1 above).
Regarding claim 7, Modified Park further discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 6.
Park further discloses wherein a contact surface in contact with an inner circumferential surface of the unit is formed around the transmission member (Figure 1 above; contact surface, Park Figure 8; where the contact surface (on ‘10’ seen in Figure 1 above) is in a circumferential position and is in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the unit ‘20’ which is formed around the transmission member ‘10’).
Park is silent to a ceramic unit.
Ito discloses the heat roller comprising:
a ceramic unit (the roller has a ceramic unit: Ito [0010]; the heat roller comprises cylindrical conductive ceramics).
Regarding claim 9, Modified Park further discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 6.
Park further discloses wherein an insertion groove into which the electrode member is inserted and disposed is formed in the transmission member (Figure 1 above; where an inner space defines a circumferential space for ‘10’ (transmission member) and the electrodes ‘15/35’ to be inserted and disposed upon (the boundaries of the inner space being the insertion groove)).
Regarding claim 10, Modified Park further discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 9.
Park further discloses wherein the electrode member includes an electrode terminal through which the supplied current moves (Figure 2 below; where the electrode members ‘15/35’ have an electrode terminal (the current runs through the lines connected to the electrodes, making this an electrode terminal));
and an electrode holder for fixing a position of the electrode terminal (Figure 2 below; where the holder is a fastening portion ‘32’ that holds the electrodes with the terminal which is fixing a position).
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Figure 2: Annotated Figure 10 of Park.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Park (KR 20140177188 A) in view of Ito (JP 2001267040 A), further in view of Sam (KR 20120116607 A).
Regarding claim 8,
Park discloses wherein an insulating member prevents the supplied current from moving to the unit (Figure 1 above; where ‘13’ is an insulating member to prevent supplied current which would prevent it from getting to ‘20’ the unit, Park [0015]);
and a contact surface (Figure 1 above; contact surface).
Park is silent to the body of the roller being a ceramic unit and the insulating member being on a radially outer side of the contact surface.
Ito discloses the heat roller comprising:
a ceramic unit (Ito [0010]; the heat roller comprises cylindrical conductive ceramics).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the thermo-therapeutic apparatus of Park to have the roller be a ceramic unit as taught by Ito, since, the ceramic material allows for good thermal efficiency and for a heat transfer loss to be suppressed more (Ito [0012])
Modified Park fails to disclose an insulating member provided on a radially outer side of the contact surface.
Sam discloses a thermal roller apparatus,
wherein a member is provided on a radially outer side (Sam Figure 3; where the pad ‘12’ is a member on a radially outer side of the heating unit ‘21’, Sam [0028]; pad ‘12’ enables heat transfer to specific part of the body).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the thermo-therapeutic apparatus of Modified Park to replace the insulator of Modified Park with a member provided radially on the outer side to the heat unit as taught by Sam, since, the pad ‘12’ enables heat transfer to specific part of the body instead of directly from the heating unit ‘21’ (Sam [0028]), which in turn would make the apparatus safer.
Furthermore, it would have been readily understood by one skilled in the art to replace the insulating member of Modified Park, with the member ‘12’ of Sam Figure 3, since it is beneficial to prevent the heating element (Park ‘12’, Figure 1 above) from being transferred to the (Figure 1 above; unit ‘12’), so as to not have direct contact of the heating unit to the user’s body, like how Sam does not have the heating unit (Sam ‘21’ Figure 3) directly contacting the user’s body, and instead has the pad ‘12’ (member) between the two portions.
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Park (KR 20140177188 A) in view of Ito (JP 2001267040 A), further in view of Beeckler (CN 112220553 A).
Regarding claim 11, Modified Park discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 10.
Park discloses wherein the electrode terminal includes an electrode head in electrical contact with an inner circumferential surface of the insertion groove (Figure 2 above; electrode head with the electrode terminal, Figure 3 below where the insertion groove regions for the respected electrodes are provided, and Park Figure 3 where they line up with the electrodes ‘15/35’, thereby they would be in electrical contact with the insertion groove and also because they provide current to the heating unit via the unit ‘30’);
and where an electrode head presses the inner circumferential surface of the insertion groove (Figure 3 above; where the electrode heads of the respective electrodes ‘15/35’ are to be pressed against the insertion groove, Park Figure 3; the electrodes are aligned with the grooves of the inner space).
Modified Park fails to disclose the electrode body being elastically deformed.
Beeckler discloses a heat transfer improvement apparatus comprising:
an electrode body being elastically deformed (Beeckler Making the distal tip step 108 [16]; the deformation step 108, allows the electrode to be deformed to be into a desired shape).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the thermo-therapeutic apparatus of modified Lee to include an electrode body being elastically deformed as taught by Beeckler, since this allows the electrode to be a desired shape to be better inserted into and formed to the apparatus (Beeckler Making the distal tip - step 108 [16]).
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Figure 3: Annotated Figure 6 of Park.
Regarding claim 12, Modified Park in view of Beeckler further discloses the thermo-therapeutic apparatus according to claim 11.
Park further discloses wherein a support groove into which the electrode head is inserted and supported is formed on the inner circumferential surface of the insertion groove (Figure 3 above; where the support groove is where the electrode head is inserted and supported as also seen in Figure 2 and where the head goes into the insertion groove is also the support groove – because they are the insertion portions of the inner space of Figure 1 above).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Park (KR 20140177188 A) in view of Ito (JP 2001267040 A), further in view of Yuan (CN 106344373 A).
Regarding claim 13,
Park discloses the thermo-therapeutic device wherein:
wherein the heating unit is provided for pressing the inner circumferential surface of the unit (Park Figure 8; where the heating unit ‘12’ is on ’10’ that is pressing the inner circumferential surface of the unit ‘20’).
Park is silent to a ceramic unit.
Ito discloses the heat roller comprising:
a ceramic unit (the roller has a ceramic unit: Ito [0010]; the heat roller comprises cylindrical conductive ceramics).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the thermo-therapeutic apparatus of Lee to have the roller be a ceramic unit as taught by Ito, since, the ceramic material allows for good thermal efficiency and for a heat transfer loss to be suppressed more (Ito [0012]).
Modified Park fails to disclose an elastic deformation member pressing the inner circumferential surface of the unit.
Yuan discloses a hot massage therapeutic roller comprising:
an elastic deformation member (Yuan Detailed Description [03]; where the heating layer ‘5’ is elastic (Technical Solution [01]) and can be applied to the fiber layer ‘9’ deformation – making an elastic deformation member).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the thermo-therapeutic apparatus of Modified Lee to include an elastic deformation member with the heating unit as taught by Yuan, since the deformation member allows for the effect of a continuous massaging motion of a heated layer towards the user (Yuan Detailed Description [03]).
Conclusion
The following prior art were considered but not used on a 35 U.S.C. § 102 or 103 rejection:
Han (US 20190328606 A1): massager controlling apparatus.
Jun (JP 2001022212 A): an image forming device with an elastically deformed fixing roller.
Lee (KR 200230945 Y1): thermo-therapy ceramic rotational device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AISLINN MOIRA JONES whose telephone number is 571-272-3835. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm, EO Friday 8am-4pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brandy Lee can be reached at 571-270-7410. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AISLINN M JONES/Examiner, Art Unit 3785
/BRANDY S LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3785