DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Claims 4, 5, 9, 11, 13 and 17 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 27 July 2026. Although the applicant indicated that claims 1-20read on the elected species, each of the above claims has been determined to be directed to embodiments other than the elected species’, which effectively read on the UV light location 22” from Fig. 12, which is powered by the structure shown in Figs. 14A-14C. However, claims 4 and 11 are directed to light location 22, claims 5, 13 and 17 are directed to light location 22’ of Fig. 13 and claim 9 is directed to the power configuration of Fig. 15. Therefore, the above claims are withdrawn.
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 reflective elements (claim 7) 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 § 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 1-3, 6, 10 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miner et al. (7,228,589) in view of Barrick et al. (2006/0272120).
Regarding claims 1, 10 and 16 (each having slight variations from one another, with all limitations addressed below), Miner discloses (Figs. 14-32) an extraction cleaning machine, comprising a housing with a bottom portion that is adapted to rest on a surface to be cleaned and that defines an opening (within 518) in an underside of the housing with a moveable agitator (716) therein, a fluid delivery system including a fluid distributor (not disclosed for embodiment of Figs. 14-32, but taught as 34 and 208 for other embodiments, making it obvious for a similar distributor in the embodiment) for delivering a cleaning fluid to the surface to be cleaned beneath the opening in the underside of the housing, a fluid extraction system including a suction nozzle (716) for recovering soiled cleaning fluid from the surface to be cleaned beneath the opening in the underside of the housing, at least one ultraviolet light emitting element proximate the underside of the housing, a liquid delivery system operably coupled to the housing, the liquid delivery system supplying heated liquid (optionally heated, as discussed in Col. 6, lines 35-43) to the surface to be cleaned, and a controller operably coupled to the liquid delivery system to selectively control the liquid delivery system in accordance with a first timed duty cycle to generate the heated liquid that is supplied to the surface to be cleaned. However, Miner fails to discloses that the cleaner includes a UV light or may optionally deliver steam. Barrick discloses a similar cleaner, also having a liquid distribution system, and teaching that the cleaner includes a UV light (2130) adjacent to the liquid supply and agitator, to sterilize the surface being cleaned, and may optionally provide steam from the liquid dispenser, which is also known to anyone of ordinary skill in the art to be more effective in cleaning and also may provide germicidal and sterilizing effects. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the cleaner of Miner with a similar UV light adjacent to the agitators, and the liquid supply with a steam generator, as taught by Barrick, to improve overall cleaning functions. Further, when provided with a UV light, it would have been obvious for the controller to similarly control the at least one ultraviolet light emitting element to emit ultraviolet light to the surface to be cleaned in accordance with a second timed duty cycle, such that the UV light is only applied during intended cleaning cycles, and to preserve energy by turning off the UV light as needed.
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Miner further discloses a carriage assembly that includes a lens (518) that defines a cavity therein and a body (510) operably coupled to a lower portion of the housing, wherein the cavity receives at least a portion of the carriage assembly.
Regarding claim 6, Barrick further discloses that the at least one ultraviolet light emitting element includes an at least partially arcuate tubular body (shown as a semi-circular shape in Fig. 21, which may be considered to be at least partially arcuate and tubular).
Regarding claim 14, while Barrick teaches that the cleaner may distribute steam, Barrick does not specifically disclose a boiler, but it is known that steam is achieved by boiling water, such that the steam delivery system must include a steam boiler with an outlet that delivers the steam or heated liquid to the surface to be cleaned.
Regarding claim 15, Miner further discloses a swivel fitting (lower end of 696 of Fig. 28) that fluidly couples a working air plenum downstream of the suction nozzle to a motor and a fan assembly.
Regarding claim 17, Barrick further discloses that the at least one ultraviolet light emitting element is fixed adjacent the fluid distributor, such that it similarly would have been obvious for the UV light to also be fixed adjacent to the fluid distributor of Miner, when applied to the cleaner of Miner.
Regarding claim 18, Miner further discloses a water supply tank (570; Fig. 33) disposed within the housing, wherein the water supply tank is fluidly connected to a solenoid valve (46) that is in fluid connection with the steam delivery system.
Regarding claim 19, Miner further discloses a control valves (46) that is in communication with the controller and which open and close based on a user selected cleaning mode, and Barrick discloses additional valves (936, 938) to control steam output, which would also obviously be controlled by the controller of Miner, to enable the cleaner to control fluid and/or steam output.
Regarding claim 20, Miner further discloses that the housing supports a suction hose assembly (538) that can be utilized during a manual operation mode.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miner et al. (7,228,589) in view of Barrick et al. (2006/0272120) as applied to claim 1, and further in view of Oh (GB 2427351 A).
The combination of Miner and Barrick provide the cleaner with a UV light source, as discussed supra, but fail to disclose reflective elements. Oh discloses another cleaner, also having a UV light source for projection onto a surface being cleaned, and teaches that the light source (90) is mounted within a reflective plate (93), which is known in the lighting art to reflect light and increase the intensity and/or the illumination area of the light. Therefore, it further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the light source taught by Barrick with similar reflective elements configured to direct ultraviolet light from the at least one ultraviolet light emitting element onto the surface to be cleaned, as taught by Oh.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miner et al. (7,228,589) in view of Barrick et al. (2006/0272120) as applied to claim 10, and further in view of Cho (7,836,548).
The combination of Miner and Barrick provide the cleaner with a UV light source, as discussed supra, but fail to disclose that the light source comprises a plurality of ultraviolet light emitting diodes (LEDs). Oh discloses another cleaner, also having a UV light source for projection onto a surface being cleaned, and teaches that the light source is provided by LED lights (Col. 5, lines 17-18), which are well known in the art for being more energy efficient, and commonly smaller than other light sources. Therefore, it further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the light source taught by Barrick as at least one LED, and optionally plural LEDs as needed to project sufficient UV light as needed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 is 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. As discussed in the interview held on 30 September 2026, to place the application as a whole in condition for allowance, amendments were proposed to effectively incorporate claim 8 into all independent claims 1, 10 and 16, along with clarification that the UV light emitting element rotates with the rotating bottom plate, canceling claim 8 (for redundancy on the amended independent claim 1, and clarifying that each of the UV light emitting element in claims 4, 5, 11, 13 and 17 is at least a second UV light emitting element.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kasper et al. (6,131,237) discloses another device having similar structure and function as the applicant’s claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRYAN R MULLER whose telephone number is (571)272-4489. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Keller can be reached at 571-272-8548. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRYAN R MULLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723 30 September 2026
