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 . 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 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.
DETAILED NON-FINAL ACTION
This is the initial Office Action (OA), on the merits, based on the 18/495,824 application filed on October 27, 2023. Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 1-15 are examined, on the merits, in this Office action.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-15, in the reply filed on March 23, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 16-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Examiner has considered the information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 10/27/2023. Please refer to the signed copy of the PTO-1449 form attached herewith.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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. The inventive entity for a particular application is based on some contribution to at least one of the claims made by each of the named inventors. MPEP §2137.01.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wadsworth et al. (US6123837, Wadsworth) in view of Ottenhall et al. (Cellulose-based water purification using paper filters modified with polyelectrolyte multilayers to remove bacteria from water through electrostatic interactions, Environ. Sci. Water Res. Technol., 2018, 4, 2070-2079; Ottenhall), Jumper (US3465883) and Chandra et al. (WO2012019969, Chandra).
Note that these are apparatus claims. In the patentability analysis below, the italicized portions represent functional aspects, whereas the bolded portions represent structure. The analysis considers the alternate concepts of the various potential embodiments in a particular reference.
Regarding claims 1-15, Wadsworth discloses a water purifier (Abstract, Fig. 1-5), comprising:
a housing having a first accommodation space therein (col. 2, lines 13-44);
a water purifier faucet disposed in the first accommodation space to receive raw water from the outside and discharge purified water to the outside (Id.); and
a filter coupled to the water purifier faucet to generate the purified water by filtering the raw water (col. 4, ln. 24 – col. 4, ln. 12, Figs. 1-5),
wherein the water purifier faucet comprises:
a base frame having a second accommodation space therein in which the filter is accommodated (col. 2, lines 13-44; col. 4, ln. 24 – col. 4, ln. 12, Figs. 1-5);
a water inlet module provided on one side of the base frame to supply raw water introduced from the outside to the filter (col. 4, lines 44-56); and
a water outlet module provided on the other side of the base frame to receive the purified water generated by the filter and discharge it to the outside (col. 5, lines 5-20).
Therefore, Wadsworth discloses the claimed invention, except where the housing is made of a paper material.
Ottenhall presents a paper about using modified paper filters and shows the potential of creating water purification filters from bio-based consumable products where one can use the filters in point-of-use water purification systems (Abstract). Some papers have high wet strength which could be suitable for a housing material (p. 2071, sec. 2.1 and p. 2073, sec. 3.1).
Jumper discloses a fuel-water separator and filter wherein a coalescer is used to coa1esce the water in the fuel and also have some filtering action, the fuel and drops of water then passing through a separator and filter, there being no counterflow of fuel with respect to the water in the flow to the separator-filter (Abstract). Also, one could treated the paper to increase its wet strength, and one can coat it with a moisture or water resistant material, as desired (col. 3, lines 21-30).
Chandra relates to low cost point of use water purification and especially to providing a low cost water purification device that can be easily folded and transported and that can be operated when hung up (Abstract). It was found that sealing a foldable, flexible, plastic sheet material into housing comprising chambers formed by heat-sealing the plastic housing material together and one or more filters and a disinfection cartridge, provides a light weight, low cost, foldable water purification device that can provide water free from suspended particles, colored bodies, certain pesticides and also 6-log reduction of bacteria, 4-log reduction of viruses and 3-log reduction of cysts (Id.). The housing is made of a flexible, foldable plastic sheet material that is analogous to paper (Chandra, p. 7).
At the time when the claimed invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious to an ordinarily skilled artisan to use any appropriate material and housing shape, inclusive of paper (or cardboard, which is fundamentally a thick type of paper) and a box or cylindrical shape, for the water purifier housing, where such housing would be lightweight and portable for environmental sustainability or other reasons, where it is known that different papers can be of suitable strengths for use as a housing material and that one can treat most paper, if necessary, to improve its wet strength.
Additional Disclosures Included: Claim 2: In a packaged state in which the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module are packaged, the housing is provided to be formed by reassembling a first box structure provided to package at least one of the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module (claim 1 analysis, where this appears to be a product by process limitation, and where a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found a ‘box’ shape to accommodate the noted structures to be obvious absent persuasive evidence that this particular housing configuration is significant); Claim 3: The housing comprises an accommodation part with one side portion of which is opened so that the first accommodation space can communicate with the outside, and wherein the base frame has one side portion open so that the filter can enter and exit the second accommodation space through the opening of the accommodation part (claim 1 analysis, where accommodating the faucet implies communication with the outside); Claim 4: One part of the opening of the accommodation part is open in one direction so that the water purifier faucet can enter and exit the first accommodation space (claim 1 analysis); Claim 5: The housing comprises a flat plate-shaped cover part provided on one side of the accommodation part to close the opening of the accommodation part in a closed position and open the opening of the accommodation part to the outside in an open position, wherein the other side portion of the cover part is connected to the accommodation part so that the one side portion can be rotated with respect to the accommodation part (claim 1 analysis, one of ordinary skill would have found it obvious to use a suitable-shaped cover, such as a flat shape, to open and close the accommodation part); Claim 6: In a packaged state in which the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module are packaged, the housing is provided to be formed by reassembling a first box structure provided to package at least one of the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module, wherein the first box structure is provided to be formed by assembling a first box structure assembling cardboard (claim 2 analysis),
wherein the first box structure assembling cardboard comprises:
a plurality of flat plates that are foldably connected to form one side surface of the accommodation part, the other side surface opposite to the one side surface and provided with the other part of the opening of the accommodation part, a front surface, a rear surface, and a bottom surface (claim 1 analysis where Chandra discloses foldable connected surfaces);
a top surface cover plate that is foldably connected to any one of the plurality of plates to open and close the one part of the opening of the accommodation part provided between the one side surface and the other side surface of the accommodation part (claim 2 analysis); and
a side surface cover plate that is foldably connected to one side of the top surface cover plate to open and close the other part of the opening of the accommodation part (claim 2 analysis, where the top and sides are impliedly connected as in a box shape); Claim 7: The water outlet module comprises: a water outlet unit protruding outward from the base frame and having a water outlet hole for discharging purified water on one side portion (Wadsworth, Figs); and
an operation unit provided on the other side portion of the water outlet unit to operate the water outlet unit (claim 1 analysis, Wadsworth, col. 12, lines 48-51, Figs 1-5, and wherein the housing comprises:
an accommodation part for accommodating the base frame (claim 1 analysis); and
a water outlet unit cover part provided at one side of the accommodation part to cover the water outlet unit of the water outlet module, and having a water outlet hole for exposing the water outlet hole to the outside and an operation unit through-hole through which the operation unit passes (claim 2 and 5 analyses); Claim 8: The water purifier of claim 7,
wherein the water outlet unit protrudes forward of the base frame (Wadsworth, Figs 1-5),
wherein in a packaged state in which the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module are packaged, the housing is provided to be formed by reassembling a first box structure provided to package at least one of the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module (claim 2 analysis),
wherein the first box structure is provided to be formed by assembling a first box structure assembling cardboard (claim 2 analysis),
wherein the first box structure assembling cardboard comprises:
a plurality of flat plates that are foldably connected to form one side surface of the accommodation part, the other side surface opposite to the one side surface, and a bottom surface (claims 1, 2, 5 and 6 analyses);
a first rear surface plate that is foldably connected to one of the plurality of flat plates to form a rear surface of the accommodation part (claims 5 and 6 analyses);
a first front surface plate that is foldably connected to one of the plurality of flat plates to form a front surface of the accommodation part (claims 1, 2, 5 and 6 analyses);
a water outlet unit bottom surface plate that is foldably connected to one side of the first front surface plate to cover a lower portion of the water outlet unit, and having the water outlet hole (claims 1, 2, 5 and 6 analyses);
a water outlet unit front surface plate that is foldably connected to one side portion of the water outlet unit bottom surface plate to cover a front portion of the water outlet unit; and
a water outlet unit top surface plate that is foldably connected to one side portion of the water outlet unit front surface plate to cover an upper portion of the water outlet unit, and having the operation unit through-hole (claims 1, 2, 5 and 6 analyses); Claim 9: The first front surface plate has a vertical length shorter than that of the first rear surface plate (it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to experiment with varying lengths and sizes for the various components and thereby choose suitable relative lengths); Claim 10: The water purifier further comprises a reinforcing frame made of paper and interposed between a portion of an inner surface of the housing and a portion of an outer surface of the water purifier faucet so that the water purifier faucet can be fixed to the first accommodation space,
wherein the reinforcing frame comprises:
a reinforcing part covering a portion of an outer surface of the water purifier faucet;
a bent part bent from one side portion of the reinforcing part toward the outside of the reinforcing part; and
an extension part extending from the bent part, one surface of which is disposed to face an outer surface of the reinforcing part (claim 1 analysis, where it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention been obvious to employ suitable support and reinforcing structures made of the same or similar materials given the paper nature of the housing); Claim 11: In a packaged state in which the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module are packaged, the housing is provided to be formed by reassembling a first box structure provided to package at least one of the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module,
wherein in the packaged state, the reinforcing frame is provided to be formed by reassembling a second box structure provided to package at least one of the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module (claim 2 analysis, where a second box structure is merely a duplication of parts with little patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is obtained),
wherein the second box structure is provided to be formed by assembling a second box structure assembling cardboard,
wherein the second box structure assembling cardboard comprises:
a plurality of flat plates that are foldably connected to form one side surface, a rear surface, and a bottom surface of the reinforcing part (see above claim analyses); and
a second front surface plate formed to be foldable on one of the plurality of flat plates and having a cutting line in a horizontal direction so that the second front surface plate can be separated into a second lower front surface plate capable of forming the front surface of the reinforcing part and a second upper front surface plate capable of forming the extension part (see above claim analysis, where the second structures are viewed as a duplication of parts with little patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is produced);
Claim 12: The water purifier further comprises a support plate having a plate shape and having a fixing groove formed on one surface so that one side portion of the housing can be inserted and fixed (it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention been obvious to use suitable structures, supports and accessories for accommodating the various components),
wherein in a packaged state in which the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module are packaged, the housing is provided to be formed by reassembling a first box structure provided to package at least one of the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module, and the water outlet module (claim 2 analysis),
wherein the support plate is a packaging buffer member for packaging into which one side portion of the first box structure can be inserted into the fixing groove so that the support plate can cover one side portion of the first box structure in the packed state to protect the first box structure from external impact (see above claim analyses);
Claim 13: The water purifier further comprises a cup holder having a support hole into which a cup can be inserted and supported (see above claim analyses),
wherein the one side portion of the housing is inserted into a part of the fixing groove,
wherein the cup holder is inserted into the other part of the fixing groove and provided to be formed by reassembling a part of a second box structure accommodated in the first box structure in the packaged state (see above claim analyses),
wherein the second box structure is provided to package at least one of the filter, the base frame, the water inlet module and the water outlet module (see above claim analyses);
Claim 14: The water purifier faucet is formed by assembling a water purifier faucet assembly kit, the water purifier faucet assembly kit comprising:
a plurality of water inlet flow passage forming members that can be coupled to each other;
a pressure reducing member that can be provided between the water inlet flow passage forming members;
a water outlet member forming a flow passage through which the purified water is discharged to the outside;
an operation member coupled to one side portion of the water outlet member to operate the water outlet member; and
the base frame for supporting the plurality of water inlet flow passage forming members and the water outlet member (see above claim analyses); and
Claim 15: The second accommodation space of the base frame is configured to accommodate the plurality of water inlet flow passage forming members, the pressure reducing member, the water outlet member and the operation member (see above claim analyses).
Conclusion
Examiner recommends that Applicant carefully review each identified reference and all objections/rejections before responding to this office action to properly advance the case in light of the pertinent objections/rejections and the prior art. With respect to the patentability analysis, Examiner has attempted to claim map to one or more of the most suitable structures or portions of a reference. However, with respect to all OAs, Examiner notes that citations to specific pages, columns, paragraphs, lines, figures or reference numerals, in any prior art or evidentiary reference, and any interpretation of such references, should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably disclosed and/or suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. The use of publications and patents as references is not limited to what one or more applicant/inventor/patentee describes as their own inventions or to the problems with which they are concerned. They are part of the literature of the art, relevant for all they contain. MPEP §2123.
Examiner further recommends that for any substantive claim amendments made in response to this Office Action, or to otherwise advance prosecution, or for any remarks concerning support for added subject matter or claim priority, that Applicant include either a pinpoint citation to the original Specification (i.e. page and/or paragraph and/or line number and/or figure number) to indicate where Applicant is drawing support for such amendment or remarks, or a clear explanation indicating why the particular limitation is implicit or inherent to the original disclosure.
Electronic Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or an earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hayden Brewster whose telephone number is (571) 270-1065. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9 AM - 4 PM.
Alternatively, to contact the examiner, Applicant may send a communication, via e-mail or fax. Examiner’s direct fax number is: (571) 270-2065. Examiner's official e-mail address is: "Hayden.Brewster@uspto.gov." However, since e-mail communication may not be secure, Examiner will not respond to a substantive e-mail unless Applicant’s communication is in accordance with the provisions of MPEP §502.03 & related sections that discuss the required Authorization for Internet Communication (AIC). Nonetheless, all substantive communications will be made of record in Applicant’s file.
To facilitate the Internet communication authorization process, Applicant may file an appropriate letter, or may complete the USPTO SB439 fillable form available at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf, preferably in advance of any substantive e-mail communication. Since one may use an electronic signature with this particular form, Applicant is encouraged to file this form via the Office’s system for electronic filing of patent correspondence (i.e., the electronic filing system (Patent Center)). Otherwise, a handwritten signature is required. In addition to Patent Center, Applicant can submit their Internet authorization request via US Postal Service, USPTO Customer Service Window, or Central Fax. Examiner can also provide a one-time oral authorization, but this will only apply to video conferencing. It is improper to request Internet Authorization via e-mail.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and via video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, Applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) form available at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice, or Applicant may call Examiner, if preferable. Applicant can access a general list of patent application forms at either https://www.uspto.gov/patent/forms/forms-patent-applications-filed-or-after-september-16-2012 (applications filed on or after September 16, 2012) or https://www.uspto.gov/patent/forms/forms (applications filed before September 16, 2012). Note that the language in an AIR form is not a substitute for the requirements of an AIC, where appropriate. The mere filing of an Applicant Initiated Interview Request Form (PTOL-413A) or a Letter Requesting Interview with Examiner, in EFS-Web, may not apprise Examiner of such a request in a timely manner.
If attempts to reach the Examiner are unsuccessful, Applicant may reach Examiner’s supervisor, Bobby Ramdhanie at 571-270-3240. The central 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.
/HAYDEN BREWSTER/Examiner, AU 1779
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