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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-5 in the reply filed on 4/30/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 6-9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 5, the limitation “the rectifier plate” lacks antecedent basis. For the purposes of examination, claim 5 is interpreted to be dependent on claim 3.
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 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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keith (WO 2017007898 A1) in view of Taki (JP 2019214997 A, provided in Applicant’s IDS of 1/19/2024, translation copy provided and relied upon by Examiner) and Akutsu (CN 101745133 A).
Regarding claim 1, Keith teaches
A photocatalyst unit comprising:
a photocatalyst filter including a fluid passage through which fluid passes (abstract: A photocatalytic reactor housing having a longitudinal axis allowing a fluid to flow through),
and a photocatalyst carrier, in the fluid passage, having a surface on which a photocatalyst is carried, the surface being in contact with the fluid (abstract: blades substantially encompassing the light source around the longitudinal axis; each blade having an interior surface facing the light source and an exterior surface opposite the interior surface; at least a portion of the surface of a plurality of the blades having a coating of material with photocatalytic oxidative properties);
and a light emitting unit that is provided inside the photocatalyst filter and emits ultraviolet (UV) light or visible light to the surface of the photocatalyst carrier (par. 29: The light source 120 depicted is a T-5 UV light bulb; Fig. 2: light source 120),
the surface carrying the photocatalyst, wherein the photocatalyst carrier includes a plurality of blade plates that are made of metal (Fig. 1: blades 110; claim 11: further comprising at least a portion of the surface of at least one blade having a coating of a second material with photocatalytic oxidative properties, the first and second materials having different photocatalytic properties; par. 15: Another aspect of the present disclosure is coating the various surfaces of the base structure in one or more formulations of the photocatalytic material. Coating different areas of this structure with different formulations of photocatalytically reactive metal oxides; NOTE: aside from the layer that reads on the photocatalytic layer of the instant claim, the blades would have other metal oxide layers that are interpreted to constitute the blades and therefore the blades are made of metal, at least partially), each of the plurality of blade plates having a surface on which the photocatalyst is carried (abstract: each blade having an interior surface facing the light source and an exterior surface opposite the interior surface; at least a portion of the surface of a plurality of the blades having a coating of material with photocatalytic oxidative properties), the plurality of blade plates constituting one of a blower fan like impeller and a cross flow fan like impeller, which rotate about a common axis in response to pressure from the fluid passing through the fluid passage, or one of an impeller serving as a blower fan and an impeller serving as a cross flow fan, which rotate about a common axis by a motor drive (Fig. 1: 100 is a blower fan; par. 16: These elements may be designed in a way that allows the reaction chamber to be powered to act as a fan or pump to be a self-contained reactor system; par. 38: This design also has the possibility to work as its' own power source for fluid flow. Figure 11 shows that by spinning the upper and lower blade retainers 514 and 515 and the blades 510, the shape of the blades will pull the fluid across the PCO-reactive surface; NOTE: the fan having its own power source is interpreted to be having a motor),
the impeller includes a pair of connecting plates that connect to each of the blade plates at both ends thereof in the axial direction (Fig. 1: 114, 115),
the blade plates being rotating (Fig. 11),
but does not teach wherein
each of the blade plates and the connecting plates are fixed in a manner that a part of each of the both ends of the blade plate penetrates and protrudes through a through groove formed in each of the connecting plates, and the part protruding is bent in a direction intersecting the axial direction and parallel to the surface of the blade plate so as to be crimped and fixed to an opening periphery of the through groove of the connecting plate,
and the light emitting unit is provided to emit the light to the blade plates of the impeller from a predetermined position in the impeller on an outer peripheral side from the blade plates.
Keith already teaches wherein the embodiments and shaped described are non-limiting (par. 19: Before explaining the disclosed embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the particular arrangement shown, since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Exemplary embodiments are illustrated in referenced figures of the drawings. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than limiting. Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation).
Taki teaches a blower fan (Title). Taki teaches each of the blade plates and the connecting plates are fixed in a manner that a part of each of the both ends of the blade plate penetrates and protrudes through a through groove formed in each of the connecting plates, and the part protruding is bent in a direction intersecting the axial direction and parallel to the surface of the blade plate so as to be crimped and fixed to an opening periphery of the through groove of the connecting plate (Fig. 1: protruding pieces 122a,b) in order to increase the mounting strength of the blades to the connecting plates (pg. 5 par. 3: For this reason, even at the protruding pieces 122 a and 122 b, the blade 120 is assembled to the upper plate 110, and the mounting strength of the blade 120 to the upper plate 110 increases. Similarly, when the projections 122c and 122d protruding from the lower end of the blade 120 are bent, the blades 120 are assembled to the bottom 130 at the projections 122c and 122d as well, so that the blade 120 is assembled to the bottom 130. The application strength will increase).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Keith so that each of the blade plates and the connecting plates are fixed in a manner that a part of each of the both ends of the blade plate penetrates and protrudes through a through groove formed in each of the connecting plates, and the part protruding is bent in a direction intersecting the axial direction and parallel to the surface of the blade plate so as to be crimped and fixed to an opening periphery of the through groove of the connecting plate, as taught by Taki, as an alternative embodiment that increases the strength of the connection between the blades and the connecting plates.
Keith modified by Taki still does not teach
and the light emitting unit is provided to emit the light to the blade plates of the impeller from a predetermined position in the impeller on an outer peripheral side from the blade plates.
Keith already teaches wherein the embodiments and shaped described are non-limiting and wherein light is reflected in different directions anyway (par. 9: In one embodiment the interior surface is configured to reflect some of the light emitted by the light source on to at least a portion of the exterior surface of an adjacent blade).
Akutsu teaches an air cleaner using a photocatalyst coated fan (abstract: The invention claims an air cleaning device, comprising a roller, a photocatalyst layer and a light source, wherein said roller includes a main body and multiple blades on said main body; said roller is rotated in a space so as to drive the air to flow; said photocatalyst layer is coated on said multiple blades; said light source is opposite to said roller; the light from said light source is radiated to said photocatalyst layer). Akutsu teaches wherein the light source is positioned on an outer periphery of the fan (Fig. 1: light source 103). Having an additional light source positioned outside of the blades would be effective in increasing the photocatalytic reaction and therefore increase the sterilization effect.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the devicef Keith modified by Taki to have an additional UV light source positioned on an outer periphery of the fan, as taught by Akutsu, with the reasonable expectation that the additional UV light exposure would increase the sterilization effect.
Regarding claim 2, Keith modified by Taki and Akutsu teaches the photocatalyst unit according to claim 1, as set forth above, but does not teach wherein the photocatalyst is also carried on a surface of each of the pair of connecting plates that constitute the impeller.
Keith is silent with regards to whether or not the retainers 114 and 115 are coated in the embodiment of Fig. 1, but teaches a preferred embodiment in which they are coated (par. 34: Figure 8 is an exploded view of the preferred embodiment shown in Figure 5… Both retainers may or may not be coated in the same, or different, PCO coating as the blades). Having the retainers coated would only increase the photocatalytic surface area and thus lead to increased sterilization effect.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the retainers of the embodiment of Fig. 1 of Keith modified by Taki and Akutsu to have a photocatalytic coating, as taught by Keith, in order to increase the photocatalytic surface area and thus increase the sterilization effect.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 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.
Regarding claim 3, Keith modified by Taki and Akutsu teaches the photocatalyst unit according to claim 1, but does not teach the photocatalyst filter includes a rectifier plate that is made of metal and extends in a circumferential direction on the outer periphery side of the impeller to form the fluid passage with the impeller, and a pair of upper and lower cover plates respectively fixed to both ends of the rectifier plate in a the axial direction to have the rectifier plate interposed there between, and
the rectifier plate and each of the cover plates are fixed in a manner that a part of each of the both ends of the rectifier plate penetrates and protrudes through a groove formed in each of the cover plates, and the part protruding is bent in a direction intersecting the axial direction and parallel to a surface of the rectifier plate so as to be crimped and fixed to an opening periphery of the through groove of the cover plate.
No prior art has been found with this structure, and furthermore, these detailed limitations in combination with the limitations of claim 1 provide a very specific mechanical structure that is distinct from similar devices in the field.
Claim 4 would be allowed as dependent on claim 3.
Claim 5, if rewritten in independent form and rewritten to overcome the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection set forth above, would be allowed if dependent on claim 3.
Conclusion
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/C.C./Examiner, Art Unit 1796
/KEVIN JOYNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1799
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