DETAILED ACTION
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, 2, 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Tinkham (US 1961179 A).
Regarding claim 1, Tinkham discloses a hair dryer for generating an air flow (it is capable of drying hair), the hair dryer comprising:
a curved shape unit (Fig. 3, 11) defining an outer surface (a user can touch it from the outside) of the hair dryer, a first part (upstream portion with heating element 4) of the outer surface being at an angle to a desired direction of the air flow, and a second part (curved portion near the slot 14) of the outer surface being aligned with the desired direction of the air flow;
a fan unit (3+5+6+7) at (i.e., near) the first part of the outer surface, the fan unit having an air inlet (Fig. 1, 3a), and an air outlet (5) arranged for blowing air along the first part of the outer surface; and
a heater (Fig. 3, 4) arranged for heating a user's hair.
Regarding claim 2, Tinkham discloses the hair dryer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heater is at least partially integrated in the fan unit (the heater 4 is located inside section 5 of the fan unit).
Regarding claim 7, Tinkham discloses the hair dryer as claimed in claim 1,wherein the hair dryer comprises a handle (Fig. 1, 1) coupled (indirectly coupled) to the curved shape unit, the handle having a grip part (Fig. 1: base adjacent the foot pedal 24) arranged for being gripped by a user, and a connection part (neck at the top of the handle) between the grip part and the outer surface, the connection part being thinner than the grip part.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 3, 4, 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tinkham (US 1961179 A) in view of Bang (KR 20140010307 A).
Regarding claims 3, 4, Tinkham discloses the hair dryer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heater comprises a heating wire except:
wherein the heater comprises a heating wire embedded in the outer surface (as recited in claim 3), or wherein the heating wire is mounted in a groove of the outer surface (as recited in claim 4).
However, Bang teaches a hair dryer comprises a heating wire (Fig. 3, 120) embedded in the outer surface of a body (Fig. 3, 151), and wherein the heating wire is mounted in a groove (151a) of the outer surface.
It would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of effective filing of the application to modify Tinkham wherein the heater comprises a heating wire embedded in the outer surface, and wherein the heating wire is mounted in a groove of the outer surface. The motivation to combine is so that the heating wire can be securely fixed to the outer surface.
Regarding claim 6, Tinkham discloses the hair dryer as claimed in claim 1, except wherein a motor of the fan unit is mounted at an inner surface of the curved shape unit.
However, Bang teaches a hair dryer wherein a motor (Fig. 3, 111) of the fan unit is mounted at an inner surface of the body (151) (the body 151 is analogous to the curved shaped unit 11 in Tinkham).
It would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of effective filing of the application to modify Tinkham wherein a motor of the fan unit is mounted at an inner surface of the curved shape unit. With the modification, the fan (Tinkham, 3) and fan motor (Tinkham, 2) would be replaced with a fan-motor integrated with the curved shaped unit, similar to how Bang teaches integrating the fan-motor (110) with the body (151). The motivation to combine is to reduce the size of the dryer.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tinkham (US 1961179 A) in view of Yune (US 6205677 B1).
Regarding claim 5, Tinkham discloses the hair dryer as claimed in claim 1, except wherein the heater comprises an infrared radiation unit inside the curved shape unit, the infrared radiation unit being arranged for producing heat radiation towards the user's hair.
However, Yune teaches a hair dryer, wherein the heater comprises an infrared radiation unit (Fig. 2, 18) inside the curved shape unit (Fig. 2, 16), the infrared radiation unit being arranged for producing heat radiation towards the user's hair.
It would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of effective filing of the application to modify Tinkham wherein the heater comprises an infrared radiation unit inside the curved shape unit, the infrared radiation unit being arranged for producing heat radiation towards the user's hair. With the modification, the infrared heater could replace or supplement the heating coil in Tinkham.
The motivation to combine is so that the interior of the hair can be heated and dried without damaging the exterior of the hair, and to reduce energy consumption (see Background of Yune). If the infrared heat supplements the heating coil, then an additional motivation to combine is to increase the heat output for faster drying.
Conclusion
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/JASON LAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762