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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
In paragraph [0001], “the technical field of hair curler…to a hair curler quickly shaping hair” should be “the technical field of hair curlers…to a hair curler capable of quickly shaping hair”.
In paragraph [0002], “Hair curler” should be “A hair
In paragraph [0007], “a handle” should be “[[a]] A handle”.
In paragraph [0046], “the hair far away from the head user’ s is placed…the hair fork 30 is driven to rotate, the shift pieces 21 make” should be “the hair far away from the user’s head ing pieces [[21]] 31”.
In paragraph [0050], “provided with the rotating ring 34…The rotating ring 34 is arranged…the central axis of the rotating ring 34” should be “provided with the driving ring 34…The driving ring 34 is arranged…the central axis of the driving ring 34”.
In paragraph [0056], “the limiting ring 700 at the air inlet 26, the limiting ring 700” should be “the limiting ring [[700]] 70 at the air inlet 26, the limiting ring [[700]] 70”.
In paragraphs [0068] and [0070], “out cylinder 10” should be “outer cylinder 10”.
In paragraph [0076], “the curling bar 10” should be “the curling bar [[10]] 20”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In lines 2 and 13, “an out cylinder” should be “an outer cylinder”.
In lines 5 and 9, “movable gap” should be “
In lines 10-12, “said hair fork is capable of rotating under a drive of said drive assembly so as to poke said hair positioned on said curling bar” should be amended as “said hair fork is capable of rotating under a drive of said drive assembly and is configured to wind said hairto said curling bar”.
In lines 13-15, “said handle is equipped with a fan and a circuit board, which are electrically connected to said fan and heating member respectively” should be “said handle is equipped with a fan and a circuit board, wherein the circuit board is electrically connected to said fan and heating member respectively”.
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In line 2, “said out cylinder” should be “said outer cylinder”.
In line 4, “Hall sensor sense” should be “Hall sensor senses”.
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities: in line 2, “tends to be flush” should be “substantially flush”.
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities: in line 2, “extends out to said first cavity” should be “extends out [[to]] from said first cavity”.
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: in lines 1-2, “wherein one side of said hair fork extends at least two shifting pieces” should be “wherein one side of said hair fork comprises extending therefrom”.
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 3 and 6 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 3 recites the limitation "said horizontal position" in lines 3-4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is suggested to amend the aforementioned portion of lines 3-4 as “a horizontal position”.
Claim 6 recites the limitation “said end” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is suggested to amend the aforementioned portion of line 2 as “an end”.
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, 6-7, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiao (WO2017028538) in view of Yeung (US2017/0215541) and Yuzhanji (JPS59181103A).
Regarding claim 1, Xiao discloses a hair curler (Figures 5-6), comprising:
an outer cylinder (20’; “cylindrical structure”, refer to the last paragraph of page 4 of the translation), having a first cavity (not labeled but is the interior volume of 20’) and a side notch (22’, Figure 5) communicated with said first cavity (refer to Figure 5 wherein the notch is shown to extend through the outer cylinder, thereby communicating with the first cavity; additionally refer to the last paragraph of page 4 of the translation which states “The…notches 22’ are…extended downward from the top end of the housing 20’”) and used for hair extending into (the limitation “used for extending hair into” is interpreted as an intended use limitation, that is Xiao provides a notch that is fully capable of, without modification, being used in a way such that a user’s hair is extended therethrough);
a curling bar (30, best shown in Figure 6), arranged in said first cavity (best shown in figure 6) and used for positioning said hair (curling bar 30 comprises an exterior surface which is configured to accept a user’s hair wrapped thereabout, thereby being used for positioning said hair; additionally, curling bar 30 comprises a “chute” defined within cover 31’ that is fully capable of accepting a user’s hair for positioning) and a gap (60) is formed between said curling bar and said outer cylinder (best shown in Figure 2; it is noted that Xiao discloses “the above-mentioned housing may be formed by a cylindrical structure 20’”, refer to the last paragraph of page 4 of the translation, i.e. the embodiment of Figures 5-6 is configured like Figures 1-4 and therefore also comprises a gap 60);
a hair fork (40), disposed in said gap (refer to Figure 6) and connected by a drive assembly (51, 52, 53, 54 and the geared/toothed surface of the hair fork; it is noted that the driving assembly is described with respect to Figure 1; however the embodiment of Figures 5-6 is configured similar to that of Figure 1 but has a different shaped outer cylinder and would therefore also have a driving assembly), said hair fork is capable of rotating under a drive (“a drive” is interpreted as the energy to set something in motion, as defined by Oxford Languages) of said drive assembly and is configured to wind said hair onto said curling bar (“winding portion (41) used for winding hair when the swivel mount rotates”, refer to the Abstract);
a handle (10), connected with said outer cylinder (best shown in Figure 5).
Xiao does not disclose that the drive assembly is mounted in the first cavity for the embodiment of Figures 5-6. Rather, Xiao is silent to the particular position of the drive assembly of the configuration shown in Figures 5-6, since the drive assembly is not depicted in Figures 5-6. Xiao does however, disclose that the configuration of the hair curler shown in Figures 5-6 is arranged similar to that of the hair curler in Figures 1-4 (“the above-mentioned housing may be formed by a cylindrical structure 20’”, refer to the last paragraph of page 4 of the translation, i.e. the hair curler of Figures 5-6 is configured like that of Figures 1-4, where the embodiment of Figures 1-4 depicts the drive assembly to be at least partially disposed within the first cavity, as shown in the cropped and annotated Xiao Figure 2 below, wherein at least the shaft 52, extends past a lower limit of the outer cylinder/shaded portion in the annotation below, thereby providing the drive assembly to be at least partially disposed within the first cavity). The shaft engages a gear on a lower surface of the hair fork in order to rotate the hair fork to impart the curling function to the curler (refer to the second paragraph on page 5 of the translation). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the hair curler of Xiao Figures 5-6 such that the drive assembly is disposed in the first cavity, as taught by Xiao Figures 1-4, as a matter of design choice to achieve the predictable result of providing a drive assembly comprising a shaft that engages a rotating portion of the hair fork.
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Xiao does not disclose that the curling bar is provided with a second cavity for airflow to flow through, and several ventilation grooves in communication with said second cavity; that a heating member is provided in said second cavity; that said handle is equipped with a fan and a circuit board, wherein the circuit board is electrically connected to said fan and said heating member respectively, and wherein airflow blown by said fan passes through said heating element, enters said second cavity, and is discharged from said ventilation grooves.
Rather, Xiao provides a means for supplying heat to the curling bar such that hair wrapped about the curling bar is heated and fixed into a curled shape, where the means for supplying heat is described as a heating rod, i.e. a conductive heating means and is depicted as a solid curling bar.
Yeung discloses a similar hair curler (10, 20, Figures 1-14) comprising an outer body (112) that defines a first cavity (not labeled, but is best shown in Figures 6, 11 and 13 and is defined by the hollow interior of body 112) therein, and a side notch (113) in communication with the first cavity (see at least Figure 1). Yeung’s hair curler additionally comprises a curling bar (121) for transferring heat to a user’s hair, similar to that of Xiao’s hair curler, where Yeung’s curler bar transmits heat to a user’s hair via convection/heated air. In order to supply the heated air to the user’s hair, Yeung’s curler bar is provided with a second cavity (interior volume of 121) for airflow to flow through (“tubular structure”, refer to Paragraph [0048]; additionally refer to Figure 3), and several ventilation grooves (“a number of through-holes formed therein”, refer to Paragraph [0048]) in communication with said second cavity (refer to Paragraph [0048]). Yeung further discloses a heating member (“heating element (not shown)”, refer to Paragraph [0051]), a fan (133) and circuit board (“control circuit”, refer to Paragraph [0052]; additionally refer to Figure 5, wherein components that control the device include buttons 141,142,143, and these are depicted as being mounted on a board) disposed within the handle (see Figure 5), wherein the circuit board is electrically connected to said fan and said heating member respectively (“the heating element and the second motor being connected with and controlled by the control assembly”, refer to Paragraph [0023], where the second motor drives the fan, as described in paragraph [0023]), airflow blown by said fan passes through said heating element, enters said second cavity, and is discharged from said ventilation grooves (refer to Paragraph [0064] and figure 13). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xiao’s hair curler such that the solid conductive curling bar is substituted with a curling bar that supplies heated air to a user’s hair, wherein the curling bar is provided with a second cavity for airflow to flow through, and several ventilation grooves in communication with said second cavity and wherein said handle is equipped with a fan and a circuit board, where the circuit board is electrically connected to said fan and said heating member respectively, such that airflow blown by said fan passes through said heating element, enters said second cavity, and is discharged from said ventilation grooves, as taught by Yeung, since such a modification would have involved simple substitution of one known heating means (a solid heating rod that supplies heat to a user’s hair via conduction) for another known heating means (a hollow/tubular curling bar having a series of through holes that provide heated air to a user’s hair) in order to achieve the predictable result of curling a user’s hair via the supply of heat thereto whilst wrapping a user’s hair about a curling rod.
The combination of Xiao, and Yeung does not explicitly disclose that the heating member is disposed within the second cavity; rather, the combination is silent to the particular location of the heating member.
Yuzhanji discloses a similar hair curler (Figures 1-8) comprising a handle (3a) and a curling bar (3b), where the curling bar defines a second cavity (hollow interior of the curling bar, as best shown in Figures 2, and 7-8), and the curling bar further comprises a plurality of through holes (9). The handle comprises a fan (5) and a heating member (13) such that the fan blows air past the heating member on all sides, in order to heat the air and supply the heated air to a user’s hair via the plurality of through holes (see Figures 2 and 7 where arrows are shown to indicate the direction of airflow from the fan to the heater and finally out of the hair curler). Yuzhanji’s heating member is disposed within the second cavity of the curling bar (“since the hair curling part is equipped with a heater”, refer to third paragraph of page 2; additionally refer to Figures 2 and 7-8), rather than in the handle, as such a configuration provides the advantage of permitting the size of the handle to be smaller, thereby providing a hair curler that is easier to use (refer to the background section). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the hair curler of the combination of Xiao, and Yeung such that the heating member is disposed within the curling bar, as taught by Yuzhanji, since such a modification provides the advantage of reducing a size of the handle, thereby improving the ease of use of the curler.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji discloses the hair curler according to claim 1, as applied above. Xiao further discloses wherein said curling bar is equipped with a U-shaped groove (“chute” defined by lowest point 33’ and highest point ’32, best shown in Xiao Figures 5-6) extending axially to an end thereof (refer to Xiao Figure 6 wherein the groove extends through a tip side of the curling bar), said U-shaped groove passes through opposite radial sides of said curling bar (refer to Xiao Figure 6, wherein the U-shaped groove is depicted as extending though a width of the curling bar, entirely from one side to an opposite side) and respectively corresponds to said side notch (see Xiao Figure 5, where the U-shaped groove is aligned with the notch, thereby corresponding with said notch), and said hair fork is provided with an avoiding space (refer to Xiao Figure 6, wherein a space is defined between two upright vertical prongs, 41, of the hair fork) preventing said hair from entering said U-shaped groove (the limitation “preventing said hair from entering said U-shaped groove” is interpreted as a functional/intended use limitation; that is, Xiao teaches a hair fork that comprises two prongs, 41, that define an avoiding space therebetween, similar to that of the instant invention and would therefore similarly be capable of performing the claimed function/intended use of preventing said hair from entering said U-shaped groove. For example, the space retains a particular length of a user’s hair therein and therefore prevents that particular length of hair from being elsewhere in the device, including in the U-shaped groove).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji discloses the hair curler according to claim 2, as applied above. Xiao further discloses wherein said bottom surface of said U-shaped groove is obliquely arranged (referring to cropped and annotated Xiao Figure 6, below, the angle formed by the bottom surface of the U-shaped groove is not disclosed but is depicted as being less than 90 degrees with horizontal, thereby providing the bottom surface to be obliquely arranged), having a proximal point (33’) close to said side notch (refer to Xiao Figures 5-6) and a distal point (32’) far away from said side notch (refer to Xiao Figures 5-6), and a horizontal position (bottom position with respect to Figure 6) of said distal point is higher than that of said proximal point (refer to Xiao Figure 6). Although the drawings may not be to scale, they can still be relied upon for teaching the general conditions of the claim because the overall relationship is depicted.
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Regarding claim 6, the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji discloses the hair curler according to claim 3, as applied above. The combination does not thus far disclose wherein said horizontal position of said distal point is flush or substantially flush with an end of said hair fork, where flush is defined by Oxford Languages as “completely level or even with another surface”. However, the combination does disclose that the configuration of the hair fork can be modified, as a matter of design choice to meet a user’s needs, as evidenced by the three separate configurations of the hair forks (see Xiao Figures 3, 4, and 6). Providing the ends of the hair fork to be flush with said distal point would permit more of the length of the curling bar to be used for treating hair since the height of the hair fork would coincide with the full length of the curling bar. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the hair curler of the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji, such that said horizontal position of said distal point is flush or substantially flush with an end of said hair fork, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art; additionally, such a modification permits more length of the curler bar to be used for treating the user’s hair.
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji discloses the hair curler according to claim 1, as applied above. Xiao further discloses wherein an end of said curling bar extends out from said first cavity and forms a holding part for a finger (refer to Xiao Figure 6, wherein ends 31’ of the curling bar extends out and the ends are fully capable of being used for holding by a user’s finger).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji discloses the hair curler according to claim 1, as applied above. Xiao further discloses wherein one side of said hair fork comprises at least two shifting pieces extending therefrom (referring to Xiao Figure 6, two shifting pieces, 41, are depicted as extending from a top side of the hair fork).
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Huang et al. (CN216059520U).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji discloses the hair curler according to claim 2, as applied above.
The combination does not disclose wherein said hair fork is provided with a magnet, said outer cylinder is equipped with a Hall sensor in telecommunication connection with said circuit board; when said hair fork turns an angle until said avoiding space corresponds to said side notch, said Hall sensor senses said magnet and transmits a signal to said circuit board so as to control said hair fork to stop rotating by said driving assembly.
Huang discloses a similar hair curler (Figures 1-13) comprising an outer cylinder (102) having a side notch (1020), a curling bar (101), a hair fork (109) having an avoiding space (1095), wherein the hair fork is configured to rotate with respect to the curling bar (refer to page 4 of the translation) under the action of a motor/driving assembly (105), where the motor/driving assembly is controlled by a control circuit (1071), and a handle (100). The hair fork further comprises a magnet (1073, Figure 13) disposed opposite on a lower side thereof, opposite that of the avoiding space (refer to Figure 13, wherein the avoiding space is disposed at a front side of the hair fork and the magnet is disposed at a back side of the hair fork). Huang’s device further comprises a hall switch (1072) in telecommunication connection with the controller (“the control panel 1071 is provided with a Hall switch 1072…the Hall switch receives 1072 receives the signal of the magnet 1073, the control panel 1071 of the controller senses the relative position of the opening 1095 of the winding device 109 and the gap 1020 of the heat insulation sleeve assembly 102…the motor assembly 105 will continue to rotate, until the magnet 1073 is located right above the Hall switch 1072 [at which point the] motor stops working”, refer to the first paragraph of Page 5), disposed at a side of the device opposite that of the side notch (refer to Figure 5) such that the motor continues to rotate until the Hall switch receives a signal from the magnet that the magnet is aligned with the Hall switch, at which point the motor is stopped thereby providing the stopped position of the motor to coincide with alignment of the avoiding space and the side notch which improves the use experience of the user (refer to Figure 5 which shows the magnet and the hall switch being vertically aligned, and this corresponds to a position wherein the side notch 1020 of the outer cylinder is disposed at a front/right side of the device and the avoiding space is similarly disposed at the front/right side of the device, as depicted in the cross-section of Figure 5; additionally refer to the last paragraph of page 5 and the first paragraph of page 6). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the hair curler of the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji, such that said hair fork is provided with a magnet, and said handle is equipped with a Hall sensor in telecommunication connection with said circuit board; when said hair fork turns an angle until said avoiding space corresponds to said side notch, said Hall sensor senses said magnet and transmits a signal to said circuit board so as to control said hair fork to stop rotating by said driving assembly, as taught by Huang, since such a modification provides the advantage of improves the use experience of the user.
The combination of Xiao, Yeung, Yuzhanji, and Huang does not disclose that the Hall sensor is disposed in the outer cylinder. Rather, per the modification addressed above, the Hall sensor is disposed in the handle. It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the Hall sensor to be located in the outer cylinder, since such a modification would have involved rearranging of parts and it has been held that rearranging of parts is within the level of one of ordinary skill.
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Xiao, Yeung, Yuzhanji, and Huang discloses the hair curler according to claim 4, as applied above. Xiao further discloses wherein said hair fork includes a rotating base (not labeled, but is the lower cylindrical shaped portion of hair fork, 40) and two shifting pieces (41) extending from one side of said rotating base; said rotating base is connected to said driving assembly (“the rotating seat 40 starts to rotate under the driving of the driving device”, refer to 4th paragraph of Page 4); said two shifting pieces are spaced apart from each other to form two of said avoiding spaces (referring to Xiao Figure 4, the hair fork comprises two shifting pieces which define a space therebetween, refer to cropped and annotated Xiao Figure 6, below which shows a first of the two avoiding space, an identical, second avoiding space is disposed opposite to the first) facing each other, upper ends of said two shifting pieces are both provided with hooks (referring to Xiao Figure 6 wherein the shifting pieces are depicted as having a curvature at ends thereof, thereby defining hooks at the free ends thereof) for catching hair (“for catching hair” is interpreted as a functional/intended use limitation; that is, Xiao provides hooks at ends of the shifting pieces, that are fully capable of, without modification, performing the claimed function/intended use).
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Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Shami (US2020/0008553).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji discloses the hair curler according to claim 1, as applied above. The combination does not disclose wherein said heating member is a PTC electrical corrugated heating element, formed with an airflow cavity for airflow to pass through.
Shami discloses a similar device for supplying heated air to a user’s hair (500, Figures 5-8D), comprising a handle (referring to Figure 6, the elongated, vertically oriented portion of housing 503 and 505 define a handle) and an outer cylinder (referring to Figure 6, the horizontal portion of housing 503 and 505 defines the cylindrical portion) wherein the device comprises a fan (540), and a heating member (570) to heat the air supplied by the fan (refer to Paragraph [0064]), where the heating member is a PTC heating member (refer to Paragraph [0064]) comprising an airflow cavity (“to allow air to pass therethrough”, refer to Paragraph [0065]) and may have any number of different configurations including a corrugated PTC heating element (5701, Figure 8C), where the selection of a particular configuration of the PTC heating element is a matter of design choice (refer to Paragraph [0065] which describes several different shapes and configurations of PTC heaters, all achieving the same purpose of supplying heated air to a user’s hair). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the hair curler of the combination of Xiao, Yeung, and Yuzhanji, such that the heating member is a PTC electrical corrugated heating element, formed with an airflow cavity for airflow to pass through, as taught by Shami, since such a modification would have involved combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield the predictable result of supplying heated air to a user’s hair.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Wei (US2023/0270221) discloses a heating hair curling device with heaters in both the handle and the curling bar.
Refer additionally to the attached PTO-892.
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/SARAH WOODHOUSE/Examiner, Art Unit 3772