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 .
This office action is in response to the filing of 10/8/2025. Applicant's election with traverse of species 1 in the reply filed on 10/18/2025 is acknowledged.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the inner portion identified as 610 in the specification does not overlap the plurality of refrigerant tubes and the outer portion identified as 620 in the specification overlaps the refrigerant tubes as shown in Fig. 6. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1, 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Niculescu et al. (RO 120359 B1).
Niculescu et al. shows a heat exchanger comprising: A plurality of tubes 1 through which a refrigerant flows (page 9, paragraph 4 of the translated version); and a plurality of fins 2 disposed, respectively, between adjacent refrigerant tubes to transfer heat, wherein each of the fins includes: an portion located to overlap the tubes in a vertical direction, and another portion located so as not to overlap the tubes in the vertical direction (see Fig. 1 below), and wherein the lower end of at least a portion of the non-overlapping portion is located higher than a lower end of the overlapping portion.
Niculescu et al.
PNG
media_image1.png
583
537
media_image1.png
Greyscale
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 2 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niculescu et al.
Niculescu et al. shows the non-overlapping section being cut. Niculescu et al. does not show the section as bent, however, such a modification would have involved a mere change in the shape of an object which is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art, and the heat exchanger of Niculescu et al. will still carry out its intended function with the modification.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 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.
Claim 20 is allowed. Claim 20 comprises the allowable material of claim 3 as stated above.
Since the election of 10/8/2025 was made with traverse, all non-elected claims must be cancelled when this case goes to allowance.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Davis Hwu whose telephone number is (571)272-4904.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to call the examiner or use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Len Tran can be reached at 571-272-1184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DAVIS D HWU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763