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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the storage battery, control circuit board, and charging connector (claim 3) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claims 4-5 are 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.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the outer arc surface" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Also, claim 4 lines 2-3 recites “a certain spacing is reserved…” and it is unclear what is meant by “certain” or “reserved”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Li et al., CN 112690557 A (see also English translation).
Regarding claim 1, Li et al. disclose an electric cleaning brush comprising a handle (at 100 in Figure 4) and a brush broom assembly (includes the components shown in Figure 1), wherein the brush broom assembly comprises a frame (frame includes 110 and 721), a motor (400) and a rolling brush (600), the rolling brush comprises a roller (roller body of 600), the handle is connected to the frame (Figure 4), the motor is installed on the frame (best shown in Figure 4), a fixed shaft is arranged on the frame (516, not labeled in Figure 4 and is within 530), the motor is provided with an output rotating shaft (unlabeled output shaft of 400 shown in Figure 4, see discussion in English translation of the motor 400 output), and the output rotating shaft and the fixed shaft are arranged on a common central axis (Figure 4); a first coupling groove (unlabeled groove nearest 624 in Figure 4) and a second coupling groove (groove nearest reference number 626 in Figure 4) are separately formed on two ends of the roller (Figure 4), a connecting hole is formed between the first coupling groove and the second coupling groove (the central opening between 624 and 626 as oriented in Figure 4), the motor and the fixed shaft are disposed inside the first coupling groove and the second coupling groove respectively (Figure 4), the output rotating shaft is inserted into the connecting hole (Figure 4), and the output rotating shaft and the roller rotate synchronously (see English translation); and the output rotating shaft and the roller are arranged on a common central axis (Figure 4), and a length direction of the handle is perpendicular to an axis direction of the output rotating shaft (see Figures). Regarding claim 2, the frame comprises an arc-shaped plate (arcuate shaped plate at end of 200 nearest reference number 125 in Figure 1; see also English translation, describes “At least part of the big end section of the shell 100 is circular arc-shaped”), the fixed shaft and an electrical installation box (120) are respectively arranged at two ends of an inner arc surface of the arc-shaped plate (best shown in Figure 1, at a distal and proximal end of the plate), the motor is installed inside the electrical installation box (Figure 4), and the output rotating shaft of the motor extends out from the electrical installation box (Figure 4). Regarding claim 6, the rolling brush comprises a brush head with bristles (bristles 604), the bristles are arranged on an outer cylindrical surface of the roller (Figures 1-4).
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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al., CN 112690557 A (see also English translation) in view of MacGregor, US 4,875,246.
Li et al. disclose all elements previously described above, however Li is silent as to how the motor is powered and does not disclose a power source such as a storage battery with associated power components of a control circuit board or charging connector.
MacGregor teach an electric brush roller in a similar field of endeavor and in order to rotate a roller (12, 44) there is a motor (30) and electrical components housed within an electrical installation box (24, Figure 4; alternatively 144 with the arrangement shown in Figure 13), within the box there is a storage battery (34) and a main circuit board arranged (not shown, see column 3 lines 5-16), the storage battery supplies power to the main control circuit board and the motor (column 3 lines 5-20), the main control circuit board is electrically connected to a charging connector (40, column 3 lines 23-30), and the storage battery can be charged through the charging connector (column 3 lines 23-30).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the electrical installation box of Li et al. to additionally include a storage battery and a main control circuit board that is electrically connected to a charging connector so that the storage battery can be charged, as taught by MacGregor, in order to provide an electrical power source to operate the motor, and particularly the source being able to operate from a household electrical current or in a rechargeable manner as MacGregor particularly teaches (column 3 lines 5-30).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
None of the prior art made of record discloses, teaches, or suggests the invention of claims 4-5 as best understood. In particular, Li fails to disclose that each end of an outer arc surface of the arc-shaped plate is provided with a mounting portion so that there is a spacing between the two mounting portions, and a mounting hole is formed on each of two mounting portion ends that are close to each other, and each side of an end of the handle connected to the frame has a short connecting shaft, so that two short connecting shafts of the handle are mounting in the mounting holes of the two mounting portions.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 7,022,003 to Hughes, US 10,517,385 to Kress, and US 11,166,612 to Yang are all considered relevant to the applicant’s invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Laura C Guidotti whose telephone number is (571)272-1272. The examiner can normally be reached typically M-F, 6am-9am, 10am-4:30pm.
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/LAURA C GUIDOTTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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