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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 2 are objected to because of the following informalities: In line 18 of claim 1, “an control” should be changed to “a control.” In claim 2, “a combination thereof” in the last line is redundant because “at least one” is recited in line 2. One of these should be deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 13, 15 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mou et al. (2023/0235914 A1) in view of Wallace et al. (2019/0234631 A1).
Mou et al. ‘914 discloses an indoor cleaning system for an indoor space (A) comprising a plurality of filtration devices (1,6d) in the space, and a central control and regulation device (6e) that uses a cloud computing service (7) (see figure 2). Each filtration device includes an electrically connected fan (2), filter (3), gas detector (4) and microcontroller (5) inside of a housing (see figure 1, paragraphs 32-33). The central control receives data wirelessly from the detectors and uses intelligent control to initiate operation and the speed of the fans via two-way (handshake) communication (paragraphs 57, 58). The transmission and receiving of data imply a database, and the noise of the fan will inherently be affected by increasing speed or turning it on/off. The sensor can detect the presence of particulates, chemical contaminants, and biological contaminants such as bacteria and fungi (paragraph 37), and the filter can include a HEPA media (paragraph 46) such that a predetermined level of cleaning is achieved (paragraphs 54-55). The cleaning device may be a cooking hood exchanger and the controller is used to initiate exchange with outdoor air (paragraphs 59-62).
The instant claims differ from the disclosure of Mou et al. ‘914 in that data is displayed. Wallace et al. ‘631 discloses an air cleaner controller that provides visual indication and a graphical interface (paragraph 37, abstract). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the system of Mou et al. ‘914 by using the display device of Wallace et al. ‘631 in order to provide a visual indication to a user of operation of the system.
Claim(s) 3-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mou et al. ‘914 in view of Wallace et al. ‘631 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hourani et al. (2021/0339183 A1).
Mou et al. ‘914 in view of Wallace et al. ‘631 disclose all of the limitations of the claims except that there is a power converter that provides power to the components. Hourani et al. ‘183 discloses an air purifier that uses a power converter (abstract, paragraph 56). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the system of the primary references by using a power converter in order to provide a device that can convert a given power source to a proper voltage and current to operate its electrical components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-12, 14, 16, 17, 19 and 20 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The reference to Knuth et al. (5,997,619) discloses an indoor air purification and control arrangement.
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/FRANK M LAWRENCE JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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