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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-2, 4-8, 10, 13-16 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 2/21/2025.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II (claims 9, 18-26) in the reply filed on 2/21/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claims 9, 18-26 objected to because of the following informalities: on line 1 of the claims and lines 3, 5-6 of claim 18, “dish washing” should be “dishwashing”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 18-26 objected to because of the following informalities: on line 1 when establishing claim dependency, “Claim” should be lowercase “claim”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 18-19, & 22 objected to because of the following informalities: all instances of “initially heated” should be “initially-heated”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 18 objected to because of the following informalities: on line 5, “dirty liquid” should be “used liquid”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 18 objected to because of the following informalities: on line 8, remove “therein”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 18-19, 21-22, & 24 objected to because of the following informalities: all instances of “further heated” should be “further-heated”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 21 objected to because of the following informalities: “elbow hot water waste retainer” should be rephrased (e.g. “hot water waste-retaining elbow”, “elbow for hot water waste retention”, etc.). Appropriate correction is required.
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 9, 18-26 is/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 9 recites “the first heating system” on line 13, but antecedent basis had been established for “a heating system” on line 7. Examiner notes that claim 9 makes additional references to “the first heating system” afterwards, while claim 18 references “the heating system”.
Claim 18 recites on lines 8-10 “the fresh water in the fresh water reservoir being configured to be heated to form initially heated fresh water”. Examiner requires clarification, as the claim is effectively saying that the fresh water itself is configured to be heated. Examiner does not consider the fresh water itself would be “configured to be heated”, as this would be a natural property of water. Did Applicant intend to mean a particular heater/heating system or reservoir is configured to heat the fresh water? To advance prosecution, Examiner also considers rephrasing (e.g. from “configured to be heated” to simply “heated”) would obviate the issue.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 9, 18-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wong et al. (US 20210228060, “Wong”) in view of Bombardieri et al. (US 20110310927, “Bombardieri”) and Lu et al. (CN 111058221, “Lu”).
Wong teaches a dish washing machine with heat exchangers comprising the following of claim 9 except where underlined:
For Claim 9:
A dish washing machine comprising:
a housing having an interior wash space for washing dishes and at least one spray nozzle for spraying liquid onto dishes positioned within the interior wash space (see Figures 1-4, 14-20, interior wash space 12. [0032]);
a liquid tank for supplying liquid to the at least one spray nozzle (see Figures 1-4, 14-20, booster heating tank 20-20d. [0035]-[0037]);
the liquid tank including a heating system comprising a stainless steel shell with a positive temperature coefficient heating array located therein, the positive temperature coefficient heating array comprising a plurality of positive temperature coefficient heating elements, with a temperature sensor being connected to a heater cover, the temperature sensor measuring a temperature of the first heating system to maintain the temperature of the first heating system under a predetermined temperature (see [0035]-[0037]). Wong teaches the booster tank 20 heats the water, but is not explicit to the particulars;
the temperature sensor of the first heating system not being immersed in the liquid within the liquid tank.
Wong teaches booster tank 20-20d heats the water (see Wong’s [0035]-[0037]), but does not teach the claimed heating system
Regarding the particulars of the heating system, Bombardieri teaches a heating arrangement which has an electric filament placed within a stainless steel watertight covering and a temperature sensor mounted to a support plate to detect the resistance temperature (see Bombardieri’s Figures 1-3, 9-10, resistance 1, temperature sensor 5, watertight covering 10, electrical filament 11, support plate 14. [0052]-[0055], [0060]-[0061], [0066], [0077]). Examiner interprets watertight covering 10 as the shell, filament 1 as the heating element(s), and support plate 14 as the heater cover. Examiner notes that if argument is directed to an “array” and Bombardieri only teaching a single filament, Examiner considers increasing the number of filaments constitutes an obvious duplication of parts (see MPEP 2144.04, “Duplication of Parts”).
Examiner considers whether the temperature sensor is immersed is intended use/application (see MPEP 2114, MANNER OF OPERATING THE DEVICE DOES NOT DIFFERENTIATE APPARATUS CLAIM FROM THE PRIOR ART). Additionally, Examiner notes that Bombardieri teaches an “emerged condition”. Using Bombardieri’s heating arrangement for Wong’s heater(s) constitutes a simple substitution of heating arrangements, predictably resulting in the heating of fluid within Wong’s booster heating tank 20-20d (see MPEP 2143, "(B) Simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Wong and more particularly to use a Bombardieri’s heater/heating arrangement to heat Wong’s booster heating tank 20-20d because said modification constitutes a simple substitution still resulting in the heating of Wong’s booster heating tank 20-20d.
Bombardieri teaches that the filament can be metal and that the temperature sensor 5 itself as being NTC (negative temperature coefficient) (see Bombardieri’s [0004], [0055]), but does not appear explicit to a PTC filament/resistance. In view of this, modified Wong is not considered to teach the heater/heating arrangement as being PTC (positive temperature coefficient) per se.
Lu however, teaches a heating pipe/tube can optionally be PTC (see Lu’s Figure 1, heating tube 92. machine translation, [0058]). Using a PTC heating tube (e.g. PTC filament for Bombardieri’s filament) would yield a predictable variation thereof (see MPEP 2143, “(A) Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results”).
Modified Wong teaches claim 9.
Modified Wong also teaches the following:
For Claim 18:
The dish washing machine of Claim 9, further including:
a liquid inlet for adding fresh water to the dish washing machine (see Wong’s Figures 1-4, 14-20, inlet pipe 39, entrance pipe 44-44b. [0039]);
a liquid outlet for removing dirty liquid from the dish washing machine (see Wong’s Figures 1-4, 14-20, exit tube 58. [0042]);
a fresh water reservoir for receiving the fresh water therein from the liquid inlet, the fresh water in the fresh water reservoir being configured to be heated to form initially heated fresh water (see Wong’s Figures 1-4, 10-13, first heat exchange system 36, heat exchange pipe 40. [0039]-[0040]);
the liquid tank comprising a first water tank for receiving the initially heated fresh water from the fresh water reservoir, the first water tank including the heating system for heating the initially heated fresh water to form further heated fresh water (see Wong’s Figures 1-4, 14-20, booster heating tank 20-20d. [0035]-[0037]);
first piping for delivering the further heated fresh water to the at least one spray nozzle for spraying the further heated fresh water onto dishes positioned within the interior wash space (see Wong’s Figures 1-5, upper wash line 22. [0036]);
a second water tank configured to receive the further heated fresh water from the interior wash space, the second water tank including a second heating system for heating the further heated fresh water to form further heated wash water (see Wong’s Figures 1-4, 14-20, wash tank 28-28b. [0052]);
second piping for delivering the further heated wash water to the at least one spray nozzle for spraying the further heated wash water into the interior wash space (see Wong’s Figures 1-5, lower wash line 24. [0036]); and
a drain pipe for delivering the further heated wash water from the second water tank through the fresh water reservoir and to the liquid outlet, the drain pipe transferring heat from the further heated wash water to the fresh water in the fresh water reservoir to form the initially heated fresh water (see Wong’s Figure 1-4, 10-13, hot water exit tube 48, bypass pipe 52. [0042]).
For Claim 19:
The dish washing machine of Claim 18, further including:
a pump for pumping the initially heated fresh water from the fresh water reservoir to the first water tank and for pumping the further heated fresh water from the first water tank to the at least one spray nozzle (see Wong’s [0035], [0037]. refer to pump/rinse pump associated with booster heating tank 20). Examiner considers one of ordinary skill in the art would consider the pump associated with booster heating tank 20 would be responsible for pumping the water from heat exchange pipe 40 due to their being in fluid communication.
For Claim 20:
The dish washing machine of Claim 18, wherein:
the at least one spray nozzle is a plurality of spray nozzles located on a top rotating arm and a bottom rotating arm (see Wong’s Figures 1-9, top rotating spray arm 16, bottom rotating spray arm 18. [0035]-[0036]).
For Claim 21:
The dish washing machine of Claim 18, wherein:
the drain pipe includes a horizontal portion within the fresh water reservoir and an elbow hot water waste retainer just outside of the fresh water reservoir, the elbow hot water waste retainer including a lower surface that is above the horizontal portion to allow the further heated wash water to pool in the horizontal portion (see Wong’s Figure 1-4, 10-13, hot water exit tube 48, bypass pipe 52. [0042]).
For Claim 22:
The dish washing machine of Claim 18, further including:
a first pump for pumping the initially heated fresh water from the fresh water reservoir to the first water tank and for pumping the further heated fresh water from the first water tank to the at least one spray nozzle (refer to claim 19 rejection); and
a second pump for pumping the further heated wash water from the second water tank to the at least one spray nozzle (see Wong’s [0036]. refer to wash pump).
For Claim 23:
The dish washing machine of Claim 18, wherein:
the second heating system comprises a second stainless steel shell with a second positive temperature coefficient heating array located therein, the second positive temperature coefficient heating array comprising a plurality of second positive temperature coefficient heating elements, with a second temperature sensor being connected to a second heater cover, the second temperature sensor measuring a second temperature of the second heating system to maintain the second temperature of the second heating system under a second predetermined temperature (refer to claim 9 rejection. see Wong’s Figures, wash tank 28. [0052]). Wong already teaches applying heating coils/elements to wash tank 28, such that similar to the simple substitution of heaters in the claim 9 rejection for booster tank 20, the use of another heating arrangement for wash tank 28 constitutes a simple substitution. Apply the same rejection basis of claim 9 but to wash tank 28 instead of booster heating tank 20-20d.
For Claim 24:
The dish washing machine of Claim 23, wherein:
the second temperature sensor of the second heating system is not immersed in the further heated wash water (refer to claim 23 rejection regarding wash tank 28 and simple substitution).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARC LORENZI whose telephone number is (571)270-7586 and fax number is (571)270-8586. The examiner can normally be reached from 9-5 M-F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor Gordon Baldwin at 571-272-5166. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARC LORENZI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718
Prosecution Insights