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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/17/2026 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites the limitation “the casing is made of metal” in line 2 after reciting the same in line 13 of claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wegelin et al. (US 2015/0223646; hereinafter “Wegelin”) in view of Beck et al. (US 2018/0216324; hereinafter “Beck”) and Shell et al. (US 2021/0321829; hereinafter “Shell”).
Regarding claim 1, Wegelin discloses a dispensing device (see Figs. 2 and 4) comprising:
a pump (51) that discharges a liquid (Paragraph 0041);
a pipe (27a-27c) through which the liquid discharged by the pump flows (Paragraph 0041);
a dispensing portion (16) that is connected to the pipe and dispenses the liquid that flows through the pipe (see Fig. 2);
a nozzle (14) that houses the pipe, the dispensing portion being arranged therein in an opening portion (Fig. 2);
a sensor (191) that detects an object to cause the liquid to be dispensed from the dispensing portion (Paragraph 0056);
a casing that houses the pump (51 is located under supporting structure 12, e.g., a countertop of a cabinet; Paragraph 0032; see Figs. 1 and 4),
wherein the nozzle is formed of a resin material (“fixture 14 may be constructed from impact resistance plastic”; Paragraph 0032) and is attached to an exterior of the casing (see Fig. 1); and
a controller (170) housed inside the casing (co-located with pump, which is housed in casing as described above; see Fig. 5), wherein:
the controller controls the pump (Paragraph 0053), and
the nozzle includes a base (14 has “a faucet-like configuration”; Paragraph 0032; see vertical portion of 14 in Fig. 2) extending upward from the casing and an arm portion (22) extending in a horizontal direction from an upper end of the base (see Fig. 2), the opening portion is formed at a tip of the arm portion (see Fig. 2).
Wegelin further discloses multiple dispenser embodiments that transmit and/or receive information wirelessly, which would necessarily require an antenna (see 78 in Fig. 4 and Paragraph 0047 having a wireless connection for monitoring fluid level status; see also transceiver 728 communicating with computer 732 in the embodiment of Fig. 9 and Paragraph 0066), and describes the controller being involved in receiving and transmitting information (see Paragraphs 0053-0055). However, Wegelin does not explicitly disclose an antenna connected to the controller that is housed inside the base of the nozzle as claimed. Wegelin also does not explicitly disclose that the casing is made of metal as claimed.
Beck teaches a dispensing device (see the embodiment of Figs. 1B-1C) having an antenna (17) that is provided inside a nozzle (in element 14, which is integrated into nozzle base 12; Paragraph 0036) and transmits wireless signals to an external information processing device and receives wireless signals transmitted from the external information processing device (“faucet circuitry 17 may include networking components (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, mesh networking, ZigBee, etc.) such that the faucet 10 is communicatively coupled with other components”; see Fig. 15). Beck further teaches that the antenna is housed inside the base of the nozzle (base 12; see above), and that a controller is connected to the antenna (17 is coupled to controller 18; Paragraph 0036).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to provide the device of Wegelin with an antenna connected to the controller that is housed inside the base of the nozzle, as taught by Beck, in order to implement the wireless communication functionality disclosed by Wegelin regarding exchanging data with an external information processing device. Since Wegelin is silent regarding the details and location of the antenna, one having ordinary skill in the art would look to the prior art for solutions, of which Beck provides a suitable example.
The combined invention of Wegelin-Beck still does not disclose a casing made of metal. Shell teaches a touchless washing station (Figs. 1-10) having a similar dispensing device with a nozzle (102) and a pump (148; Fig. 11) that discharges water from a tank (128) housed in a casing (110) made of metal (Paragraph 0035). Shell teach this casing as part of a wash station that includes a sink and countertop (as is also taught by Wegelin in Paragraph 0032 and Fig. 1) and that the stainless-steel construction of these components makes them easy to clean and sanitize and ensures durability and longevity (Paragraph 0035).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to provide the dispensing device of the combined invention of Wegelin-Beck with a casing made of metal, as taught by Shell et al., in order to create a wash station that is durable and easy to clean. Doing so would result in a device having all of the recited features of claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, when combined as described above, the antenna of the combined invention of Wegelin-Beck-Shell would be arranged along an extending direction of the pipe (i.e., oriented parallel to pipe 27a in Fig. 2 of Wegelin, consistent with the orientation shown in Fig. 1C of Beck).
Furthermore, the courts have held that rearrangement of parts requires only ordinary skill in the art and hence is considered a routine experiment. “In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950): Claims to a hydraulic power press which read on the prior art except with regard to the position of the starting switch were held unpatentable because shifting the position of the starting switch would not have modified the operation of the device.” MPEP § 2144.04-VI-C. Considering that Wegelin discloses wireless communication that would require an antenna to be placed somewhere in the device, as described above, arranging the antenna in any particular orientation that does not modify the operation of the device would additionally be considered an obvious modification. It is noted that Applicant has placed no criticality on the specific location of the antenna (even with respect to placement in the arm portion or the base portion of the nozzle, instead noting that “the position where the antenna 56 is housed can be arbitrarily changed”; Paragraph 0158), and it appears that the device disclosed by Wegelin would work appropriately when configured as claimed.
Regarding claims 4 and 6, Wegelin discloses that the disclosed device is intended for use in hand-washing by selectively dispensing “a fluid product” from a tank (reservoir 60; Paragraph 0032) and further notes that the fluid product may comprise “any type of liquid, semi-liquid, gel, powder, foam based materials, etc. [. . .] for example, cleaning materials such as sanitizing materials, antiseptics, soaps, moisturizers, hand sanitizers or the like. In other examples, the fluid product 704 may comprise water”; Paragraph 0060). It is noted that Shell also teaches a pump discharging water from a tank housed in the casing, as cited above regarding claim 1. Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to configure the combined invention of Wegelin-Beck-Shell such that the pump discharges water and/or a pharmaceutical agent from a tank (or two separate tanks) housed in the casing, since Wegelin teaches that the device is capable of dispensing either type of fluid product. Thus, the combined invention renders obvious both claims 4 and 6.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amendments of claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Applicant notes distinctions in the arrangement of the instant invention as presently claimed, compared to the Thompson reference applied in the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 in the previous Office Action dated 5/19/2026. However, the change in scope presented by the amendments dated 8/17/2026 necessitated further search and consideration, resulting in the new rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 presented above applying the Wegelin, Beck, and Shell references.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 form for several examples of dispensers having features relevant to the instant invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL C PATTERSON whose telephone number is (571)270-5558. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4:00 CST.
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/MICHAEL C PATTERSON/Examiner, Art Unit 3754
/PAUL R DURAND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3754 October 1, 2026
