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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/24/2025 has been entered.
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 of this title, 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 and 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103(a) as being unpatentable over US Pub No.: 20070188059(“Davis et al.”) in view of EP 2843329 (“Ding et al.”).
Regarding Claim 1, Davis et al. discloses refrigerator comprising:
a main body (4) having a storage compartment (8);
a door body (10) a configured to open and close the storage compartment and comprising an upper frame (along the upper portion) and a lower frame (along the lower portion);
a door panel (65) detachably coupled to a front surface of the door body (1) and comprising:
a panel body (114) ,
an upper trim (140) provided at an upper portion of a rear surface of the panel body to be coupled to the upper cap, the upper trim comprising a fixing groove (along 140), see and
a lower trim (143) provided at a lower portion of the rear surface of the panel body to be coupled to the lower end of the door; and
a fixer (90, 91; [0027-0029]) is attached upper frame (along the upper portion), the fixer including a fixing protrusion (out turned section 167, see e.g. Fig. 3) configured to be rotatable about a fixer rotation axis (via the respective fastener extending in to the base section 164) between a locked position (attached) in which an attachment of the upper trim (140) to the upper frame (along the top) is locked by the fixing protrusion (167) being inserted into the fixing groove( similar to the manner shown in Fig. 3) and an unlocked position (unattached) in which the locked attachment of the upper trim (140) to the upper frame is unlocked.
Davis et al. discloses the door body have an upper lower door frame but does not expressly disclose an upper cap and lower cap.
Ding et al. discloses a similar refrigerator door with a door body (2) a configured to open and close the storage compartment and comprising an upper cap (23) and a lower frame (24); a door panel (3) detachably coupled to a front surface of the door body (2, by way of a fixer attached to the edge portions of the door body).
It would have been obvious to one having skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention that refrigerator door taught by could be improved where the door is configured with an upper and lower door cap and to provide the fixer to the door cap, in the same manner as taught by Ding et al., to improve the strength to the door body, the insulating efficiency of the door body, while providing the door with a seamless floating glass panel. As modified, the door body has an open and close the storage compartment and comprising an upper cap and a lower cap, and the fixing protrusion is configured to be rotatable about a fixer rotation axis between a locked position in which an attachment of the upper trim to the upper frame is locked by the fixing protrusion and an unlocked position in which the locked attachment of the upper trim to the upper frame is unlocked.
Regarding Claims 2 and 4, the combination discloses (Davis et al.) CLAIM 2-wherein the fixer (90, 91) is attached to the upper cap about a fixer rotation axis (via the respective fasteners); CLAIM 4- wherein the fixer (90, 91 )comprises a first rotation coupling part (base part and the fastener), and the upper cap comprises a second rotation coupling part (aperture supporting shaft of the fastener) rotatably coupled to the first rotation coupling part (base part and the fastener).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-2 and 4 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 6 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: As to claim 3, the closest art does not teach alone or in combination, the upper cap with a fixer that rotated about the fixer rotation that extends along the left and right direction. As to claim 6, the closest art does not teach alone or in combination, the closest art does not teach providing the upper cap with and an upper cap protrusion protruding forward and configured to insert into the upper trim groove in a manner to couple the upper cap to the upper trim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIMBERLEY S WRIGHT whose telephone number is (571)270-3328. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 11:30-5:30.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Troy can be reached on 5712703742. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KIMBERLEY S WRIGHT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3637