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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgement is made to Applicant’s lack of an Information Disclosure Statement submission.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the limitation “an upper end of the lower cooling and warming component is inserted into the upper cooling and warming component” is objected to for giving the appearance of including a process in an apparatus claim. It is suggested to amend this claim to: “an upper end of the lower cooling and warming component is configured to be inserted into the upper cooling and warming component”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan et al. (WO 2023/071371), hereafter Yan, in view of Li et al. (US 2025/0312234 A1), hereafter Li. A machine translation is relied upon to address claims.
Regarding Claim 1, Yan discloses a cooling and warming vibrator for adult products (fig. 1, page 2, last para.), comprising a cylindrical vibrator body (fig. 1, housing cover 104, page 8, third full para., and lower housing 102, page 8 line 1; see also fig. 2), wherein the vibrator body is provided with an upper cooling and warming component (figs. 1 and 2, 104) and a lower cooling and warming component (figs. 1 and 2, inner housing 103), an upper end of the lower cooling and warming component is inserted into the upper cooling and warming component (fig. 1 shows the upper end of 103 inserting into the lower end of the 104 assembly), a cold and hot insulation ring is provided between the upper cooling and warming component and the lower cooling and warming component (fig. 1, 205, page 4, fourth para., line 4, the temperature controller can perform heating and cooling functions), the upper end of the lower cooling and warming component is provided with a cooling piece and a warming piece (fig. 1, temperature controller 202 has both a warming and a cooling function, page 4 lines 13-15), the cooling piece and the warming piece are in contact with an inner wall of the upper cooling and warming component (fig. 2 shows 202 as contacting the inner sides of the upper housing 104), and a vibration motor (fig. 2, vibration motor 204, page 4 line 3)
However, Yan is silent on the cooling piece and the warming piece being separate structures, as claimed (“a cooling piece and a warming piece”; Yan’s cooling and warming piece is the same structure), as well as the location of the vibration motor being provided in the lower cooling and warming component (fig. 2 shows the vibration motor being provided in the upper housing).
Li teaches a separate cooling piece (fig. 8, cooling apparatus 20 [0082]) and a heating piece (fig. 8, 30 [0081]) and a vibration motor (fig. 8, vibration motor 41, located in a lower portion of the housing [0133]). Li’s device allows the user to simultaneously provide both heating and cooling functions ([0034]). In addition, Li teaches the placing the vibration motor in a separate portion of the device from the heating and cooling components (i.e., in the lower housing) avoids heat being transferred between the cold compress from the vibration motor ([0132]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include both a cooling and a warming component in Yan’s device, for the benefit of providing both cooling and warming at the same time if desired, as well as to locate the vibration motor in the lower cooling and warming component, as taught by Li, in order to prevent heat from transferring from the vibration motor to the cooling portion of the device.
Regarding Claim 2, Yan discloses a cooling and warming vibrator for adult products according to claim 1, but is silent on wherein a material of the upper cooling and warming component is aluminum alloy.
However, Li teaches that aluminum is used to in heat transfer components to withstand the impact of heat, as well as to able to be manufactured with precise processing, and efficiently transfer heat ([0119]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to swap the material of the upper cooling and warming component to be made from aluminum in order to efficiently transfer heat as well as withstand the effects of heating and cooling, and have the ability to precisely manufacture the housing.
Regarding Claim 3, Yan discloses a cooling and warming vibrator for adult products according to claim 1, but is silent on wherein a material of the lower cooling and warming component is aluminum alloy.
However, Li teaches that aluminum is used to in heat transfer components to withstand the impact of heat, as well as to able to be manufactured with precise processing, and efficiently transfer heat ([0119]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to swap the material of the lower cooling and warming component to be made from aluminum in order to efficiently transfer heat as well as withstand the effects of heating and cooling, and have the ability to precisely manufacture the housing.
Regarding Claim 4, Yan discloses a cooling and warming vibrator for adult products according to claim 1, wherein a material of the cold and hot insulation ring is plastic (205 is plastic, page 4, second to last para.)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARA K. TOICH whose telephone number is (703)756-1450. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7:30 am - 4:30 pm, every other F 7:30-3:30 ET.
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/SARA K TOICH/Examiner, Art Unit 3785
/BRANDY S LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3785
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