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 .
Status of Application
Claims 1-20 are pending and have been examined in this application. This communication is the first action on the merits. The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS) filed on 09/12/2023 & 12/19/2025 have been considered by the Examiner.
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 1-16 & 20 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.
A) In Claim 1 line 6, Claim 11 line 2 & Claim 20 line 8, the term “near” is a relative term that renders the claims indefinite because it is not clear what would qualify as “near”. For the purposes of examination, “near” has been construed to be connected to fluidically.
B) Claims 2-10 & 12-16 are also rejected due to their dependency on Claim 1.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent Number 2,652,133 A to Leigh.
A) As per Claim 17, Leigh teaches an air guiding member (Leigh: Figure 1) for guiding cooling airflow from an air inlet to an air outlet, comprising:
a bracket body (Leigh: Figure 1, Item 2);
a plurality of air blocking plates (Leigh: Figure 1, Items 4) connected to the bracket body and spaced along a first predetermined direction; and
a plurality of air deflecting plates (Leigh: Figures 1-2, Item 16) respectively connected to the air blocking plates and extending towards the air inlet, the air blocking plates block a passage of cooling airflow, and an air outlet gap is formed between a pair of adjacent air blocking plates of the plurality of air blocking plates (Leigh: Best shown in Figure 2, Items 4 block airflow with gap Item 3 between).
B) As per Claim 18, Leigh teaches that the air blocking plates are coplanar with the bracket body (Leigh: Figure 2, Items 2 & 4 are co-planar).
C) As per Claim 19, Leigh teaches that the air guiding member is an integral piece (Leigh: Figure 5, all cut from same integral piece).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-16 & 20 would be allowable if rewritten or amended 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Closest prior art US Patent Number 7,223,060 B2 to Weidenmuller teaches the correct setup of conveying with a fan blowing upward to a cover. However, Weidenmuller does not teach a heating area and does not teach deflecting plates extending into the cooling area. One of ordinary skill in the art would not find it obvious to modify Weidenmuller because extending deflecting plates into the cooling area would block/complicate the purpose of the cover, which is to keep the items from flipping or rising and preventing blockages.
Other close prior art CN202721943U to Beijing Techwin Electric, TW200827991A to Foxconn, US Patent Number 6,361,041 B2 to Stephan and US Patent Number 5,443,333A to Hilbish all teach some aspects of claims 1 and/or 20 but one of ordinary skill in the art would not have found it obvious to modify any of the pieces of prior art to arrive at the claimed invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLEN SCHULT whose telephone number is (571)272-8511. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, STEVE MCALLISTER can be reached at 571-272-6785. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Allen R. B. Schult/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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