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 .
Response to Amendment
The proposed amendments filed 03/17/2026 have been entered. Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
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 (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 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, 4, 5, 10, 11, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2008/117506 (Hosomi hereinafter) in view of US 2020/0248386 (Islas hereinafter).
Regarding claim 1, Hosomi teaches a laundry device that discloses a cabinet including a front panel, the front panel defining an opening (Figure 2, front panel being the face/panel including the door 16); a basket supported for rotation within the cabinet (Basket 6 in Figure 2), the basket defining and interior space accessible through the opening and configured to receive laundry articles (Inherent of the clothes washer shown in Figure 2 of Hosomi); a motor assembly mechanically coupled to the basket and configured to selectively rotate the basket “A pulsator 10 is rotatably disposed at the bottom of the inner tub 6. A drive device 11 is disposed on the outer bottom portion of the outer tub 5. The driving device 11 includes a motor 12 capable of forward and reverse rotation as shown in FIG. 4, a clutch mechanism (not shown), and the like. The driving device 11 selectively rotates and drives the pulsator 10 and the inner tub 6.”); a door assembly rotatably mounted to the cabinet, the door assembly rotatable between an open position allowing access to the opening and a secured closed position blocking access to the opening (Door assembly including 16a and frame 20 with rotatable door 16), the door assembly defining a door vent formed through the door assembly (Vent at 27 for intaking air); and a controller in operative communication with the basket and the door assembly (Controller 39 with control circuit 65), wherein the controller is configured to: determine the basket is empty of laundry articles (The automatic drying step per “when the automatic tank drying function is set, the control circuit 65 executes the washing operation After executing the course, opening / closing operation of the lid 16 is detected by the lid switch 69. Then, the control circuit 65 detects that the operation of the "start" key 43 has been performed, and as a result of detecting the presence or absence of the laundry in the inner tub 6 by weight detection, when judging that there is no laundry, Automatically runs.”); determine the door assembly is in the secured closed position (The opening and closing of lid 16 in the part of Hosomi directly above); determine a laundry appliance idle time (The time allowing the user to remove the laundry being time “T” per “The time to wait for the lid open / close detection after the washing operation is ended, that is, the predetermined time T1 in step S8 of the first embodiment and the predetermined time T4 in step S108 in the fourth embodiment is not limited to 1 hour, Minute or 1 hour 15 minutes.”); and initiate an air dry mode for the laundry appliance during the laundry appliance idle time (The whole process of the automatic drying step of Hosomi), whereby air is drawn through the door vent of the door assembly (Evident of the intake vent 27 in Figure 2).
Hosomi is silent with respect that the laundry device being a front-load laundry device.
However, Islas teaches a laundry device that discloses a front-load door with a ventilation system at the door (Figures 2 and 8 with vent apertures 180 per ¶ 37-39).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the orientation of the door assembly from a top load in Hosomi with the front-load in Islas to allow for easy loading and unloading of laundry.
Regarding claim 4, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where Hosomi would further disclose that the door assembly comprises a door sensor configured to detect the door assembly in the secure closed position (Lid switch 69); and determining the door assembly is in the secured closed position comprises receiving a signal from the door sensor corresponding to the door assembly in the secured closed position (“…when the user recognizes that the washing operation has ended by notifying by the buzzer 72, the user opens the lid 16 and the inner lid 14 to take out the laundry in the inner tub 6. Thereafter, the user closes the inner lid 14 and the lid 16. At this time, the control circuit 65 determines that the laundry has been taken out from the inner tub 6 by detecting the opening / closing operation of the cover 16 with the lid switch 69).
Regarding claim 5, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where Hosomi would further disclose that the laundry appliance further comprises a user interface panel including user input devices in operative communication with the controller (Interface panel seen in Figure 3 of Hosomi); and further wherein determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises user manipulation of the user input devices (“The time to wait for the lid open / close detection after the washing operation is ended, that is, the predetermined time T1 in step S8 of the first embodiment and the predetermined time T4 in step S108 in the fourth embodiment is not limited to 1 hour, Minute or 1 hour 15 minutes.” And “The control circuit 65 measures the elapsed time after detection of opening / closing of the lid 16, and judges whether or not the elapsed time is within a predetermined time T 2 set in advance, within 30 minutes in this case.”).
Regarding claim 10, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where Hosomi would further disclose that the door vent facilitates fluid communication between an ambient air and the interior space of the basket (Vent at 27 in Figure 2); and wherein initiating the air dry mode comprises energizing the motor assembly by the controller to rotate the basket, the rotating basket urging a flow of ambient air through the door vent and into the basket (“Among these, by the air blowing by the rotation of the fan 21, as described above, the outside air is sucked into the fan casing 22 from the external suction port 27, and the air inside the fan casing 22 is sucked from the discharge port 22 b into the heater case 25 . Then, by the heating by the heater 24, the air discharged into the heater case 25 is heated and made into warm air. This warm air is supplied into the tank 4 through the supply duct 26” as well as “Specifically, the tank drying operation is performed as shown in FIG. 5. The tank drying operation is composed of a tank drying process and a cooling process. In the tank drying process, the control circuit 65 opens the drain valve 34, energizes the fan motor 23, and rotationally drives the fan 21. At the same time, the control circuit 65 energizes the heater 24, and rotates the inner tub 6 at a high speed by the motor 12. In FIG. 5, the energized state or the driven state is indicated by diagonal lines”).
Regarding claim 11, Hosomi teaches a method of operating a washing machine that discloses a cabinet including a front panel defining an opening (Figure 2, front panel being the face/panel including the door 16); a basket supported for rotation within the cabinet (Basket 6 in Figure 2), the basket defining and interior space accessible through the opening and configured to receive laundry articles (Inherent of the clothes washer shown in Figure 2 of Hosomi); a door assembly rotatably mounted to the cabinet, the door assembly rotatable between an open position allowing access to the opening and a secured closed position blocking access to the opening (Door assembly including 16a and frame 20 with rotatable door 16), the door assembly defining a door vent formed through the door assembly (Vent at 27 for intaking air); and a controller (Controller 39 with control circuity 65), and user input devices in operative communication with the controller (User inputs seen in Figure 3 and specifically the inputs for the “care” key to set the automatic dry step), the method comprising: determining the basket is empty of laundry articles (The automatic drying step per “when the automatic tank drying function is set, the control circuit 65 executes the washing operation After executing the course, opening / closing operation of the lid 16 is detected by the lid switch 69. Then, the control circuit 65 detects that the operation of the "start" key 43 has been performed, and as a result of detecting the presence or absence of the laundry in the inner tub 6 by weight detection, when judging that there is no laundry, Automatically runs.”); determining the door assembly is in the secured closed position (Opening/closing step of the lid 16 in Hosomi); determining a laundry appliance idle time (The time allowing the user to remove the laundry being time “T” per “The time to wait for the lid open / close detection after the washing operation is ended, that is, the predetermined time T1 in step S8 of the first embodiment and the predetermined time T4 in step S108 in the fourth embodiment is not limited to 1 hour, Minute or 1 hour 15 minutes.”); and initiating an air dry mode for the laundry appliance (The whole process of the automatic drying step of Hosomi), whereby air is drawn through the door vent of the door assembly (Evident of the intake vent 27 in Figure 2).
Hosomi is silent with respect that that the laundry device being a front-load laundry device.
However, Islas teaches a laundry device that discloses a front-load door with a ventilation system at the door (Figures 2 and 8 with vent apertures 180 per ¶ 37-39).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the orientation of the door assembly from a top load in Hosomi with the front-load in Islas to allow for easy loading and unloading of laundry.
Regarding claim 14, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 11 where Hosomi would further disclose determining the door assembly is in the secured closed position comprises receiving a signal from a door sensor (Lid switch 69), the signal corresponding to the door assembly in the secured closed position (“…when the user recognizes that the washing operation has ended by notifying by the buzzer 72, the user opens the lid 16 and the inner lid 14 to take out the laundry in the inner tub 6. Thereafter, the user closes the inner lid 14 and the lid 16. At this time, the control circuit 65 determines that the laundry has been taken out from the inner tub 6 by detecting the opening / closing operation of the cover 16 with the lid switch 69).
Regarding claim 15, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 11 where Hosomi would further disclose that determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises a user manipulation of the user input devices (“The time to wait for the lid open / close detection after the washing operation is ended, that is, the predetermined time T1 in step S8 of the first embodiment and the predetermined time T4 in step S108 in the fourth embodiment is not limited to 1 hour, Minute or 1 hour 15 minutes.” And “The control circuit 65 measures the elapsed time after detection of opening / closing of the lid 16, and judges whether or not the elapsed time is within a predetermined time T 2 set in advance, within 30 minutes in this case.”).
Claims 2 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2008/117506 (Hosomi) in view of US 2020/0248386 (Islas) and further in view of US 2021/0207304 (Kim hereinafter).
Regarding claim 2, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 but are silent with respect to a camera assembly positioned with a field of view of the interior space of the basket; and determining the basket is empty of laundry articles comprises image analysis of an image of the interior space of the basket.
However, Kim teaches a washing machine that discloses a camera assembly positioned with a field of view of the interior space of the basket (Figures 1 and 2, camera 100 per ¶ 74-75); and determining the basket is empty of laundry articles comprises image analysis of an image of the interior space of the basket (¶ 74-75 of Kim paired with the detection of Hosomi would teach this limitation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the sensing capabilities of Hosomi with the camera of Kim to allow for image confirmation that no articles remain in the washer before being the automatic drying step.
Regarding claim 12, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 11 but are silent with respect to determining the basket is empty of laundry articles comprises image analysis of an image taken by a camera having a field of view of the interior space of the basket.
However, Kim teaches a washing machine that discloses determining the basket is empty of laundry articles comprises image analysis of an image taken by a camera having a field of view of the interior space of the basket (Figures 1 and 2 with camera 100 and ¶ 74-75 of Kim paired with the detection of Hosomi would teach this limitation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the sensing capabilities of Hosomi with the camera of Kim to allow for image confirmation that no articles remain in the washer before being the automatic drying step.
Claims 3 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2008/117506 (Hosomi) in view of US 2020/0248386 (Islas) and further in view of US 2021/0180239 (McConnell hereinafter).
Regarding claim 3, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 but are silent with respect that the motor assembly includes a torque measurement device; and determining the basket is empty of laundry articles comprises a measurement of torque required to rotate the basket.
However, McConnell teaches a laundry control system that discloses a motor assembly that includes a torque measurement device (¶ 63); and determining the basket is empty of laundry articles comprises a measurement of torque required to rotate the basket (¶ 63 details that the torque sensor is able to determine the laundry characteristics such as mass).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the load sensing capabilities of Hosomi with the torque sensor of McConnell to ensure that the drum is empty prior to the automatic drying step while also monitoring the drum for the mass of the laundry to prevent incorrect loadings.
Regarding claim 13, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 11 but are silent with respect to determining the basket is empty of laundry articles comprises a measurement of torque required to rotate the basket, the torque applied by a motor assembly including a torque measurement device, the motor assembly mechanically coupled to the basket and configured to impart a torque to rotate the basket.
However, McConnell teaches a laundry control system that discloses determining the basket is empty of laundry articles comprises a measurement of torque required to rotate the basket (¶ 63 details that the torque sensor is able to determine the laundry characteristics such as mass), the torque applied by a motor assembly including a torque measurement device (¶ 63), the motor assembly mechanically coupled to the basket and configured to impart a torque to rotate the basket (¶ 63).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the load sensing capabilities of Hosomi with the torque sensor of McConnell to ensure that the drum is empty prior to the automatic drying step while also monitoring the drum for the mass of the laundry to prevent incorrect loadings.
Claims 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2008/117506 (Hosomi) in view of US 2020/0248386 (Islas) and further in view of US 2021/0017686 (Chang hereinafter).
Regarding claim 6, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 but are silent with respect that the controller is further in operative communication with an external communication system including a network, the network comprising at least one of a memory and an external device.
However, Chang teaches a washing machine and method of control that discloses a controller that is further in operative communication with an external communication system including a network, the network comprising at least one of a memory and an external device (¶ 194).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the washing machine of Hosomi with the external control of Chang to allow for a user to remotely operate the washing machine.
Regarding claim 8, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 6 where the combination of Hosomi and Chang would further disclose that determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises user input at the external device (Resultant combination of the predetermined time of Hosomi to be able to input via the external device of Chang).
Claims 7, 16-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2008/117506 (Hosomi) in view of US 2020/0248386 (Islas) in view of US 2021/0017686 (Chang) and further in view of US 2010/0000023 (McAllister hereinafter).
Regarding claim 7, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 6 where the combination of Hosomi and Chang is silent with respect that the memory includes an historical record of laundry appliance operations; and further wherein determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises recognizing a pattern of laundry appliance idle time in the historical record of laundry appliance operations.
However, McAllister teaches a washing machine and control scheme that discloses monitoring historical data points and usage of the washing machine (¶ 27-28). The resultant combination would be such that the historical data of the idle time of Hosomi would be monitored therefore disclosing that the memory includes an historical record of laundry appliance operations (Executed cycles per ¶ 28 of McAllister); and further wherein determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises recognizing a pattern of laundry appliance idle time in the historical record of laundry appliance operations (Resultant combination).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the control of Hosomi’s washing machine with the historical data of McAllister to allow for a user and the a controller to monitor the operation of the washing machine and detect errors or better control future operations.
Regarding claim 16, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 11 but are silent with respect to determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises recognizing a pattern of historical laundry appliance operations stored in an external communication system including a network memory and an external device, the external communication system in operative communication with the controller.
However, Chang teaches a washing machine and method of control that discloses an external communication system including a network memory and an external device, the external communication system in operative communication with the controller (¶ 194).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the washing machine of Hosomi with the external control of Chang to allow for a user to remotely operate the washing machine.
Hosomi, per Chang, determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises recognizing a pattern of historical laundry appliance operations.
However, McAllister teaches a washing machine and control scheme that discloses monitoring historical data points and usage of the washing machine (¶ 27-28). The resultant combination would be such that the historical data of the idle time of Hosomi would be monitored therefore disclosing that the memory includes an historical record of laundry appliance operations (Executed cycles per ¶ 28 of McAllister); and determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises recognizing a pattern of historical laundry appliance operations (Resultant combination).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the control of Hosomi’s washing machine with the historical data of McAllister to allow for a user and the a controller to monitor the operation of the washing machine and detect errors or better control future operations.
Regarding claim 17, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 16 where the combination of Hosomi, Chang, and McAllister would further disclose that the pattern of historical laundry appliance operations includes periods of time that the laundry appliance is idle (Resultant combination where the idle time is monitored by Hosomi and the McAllister would teach monitoring/storing the operations of the washing machine which would include idle times).
Regarding claim 18, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 16 where the combination of Hosomi, Chang, and McAllister would further disclose determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises user input at the external device (Resultant combination of the predetermined time of Hosomi to be able to input via the external device of Chang).
Regarding claim 20, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 16 where the combination of Hosomi, Chang, and McAllister would further disclose a user manipulation of one of the user input devices and the external device may interrupt the air dry mode (The user has the ability to pause the operation in Hosomi by interacting with the control panel in Figure 3).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2008/117506 (Hosomi) in view of US 2020/0248386 (Islas) in view of US 2021/0017686 (Chang) and further in view of US 2020/0248356 (Kwon hereinafter).
Regarding claim 9, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 6 but are silent with respect that the network further comprises a user calendar including a laundry schedule; and wherein determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises use of laundry schedule information included in the laundry schedule.
However, Kwon teaches a laundry control scheme that discloses a network further comprises a user calendar including a laundry schedule (¶ 10); and wherein determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises use of laundry schedule information included in the laundry schedule (Resultant combination for the schedule of Kwon to be a factor for the idle time calculations of Hosomi/Chang).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the control of Hosomi with the scheduling aspect of Kwon to allow for a user to set specific operation times for the washer which align with the user’s schedule.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2008/117506 (Hosomi) in view of US 2020/0248386 (Islas) in view of US 2021/0017686 (Chang) in view of US 2010/0000023 (McAllister) and further in view of US 2020/0248356 (Kwon).
Regarding claim 19, Hosomi’s modified teachings are described above in claim 16 but are silent with respect to determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises use of laundry schedule information included on a user calendar in the network memory.
However, Kwon teaches a laundry control scheme that discloses determining the laundry appliance idle time comprises use of laundry schedule information included on a user calendar in the network memory (¶ 10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the control of Hosomi with the scheduling aspect of Kwon to allow for a user to set specific operation times for the washer which align with the user’s schedule.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any combination of references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CONNOR J. TREMARCHE whose telephone number is (571)272-2175. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 0700-1700 Eastern.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MICHAEL HOANG can be reached at (571) 272-6460. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CONNOR J TREMARCHE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762