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 .
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 14-19 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 14 requires “a fixing member” in line 2. However, claim 14 depends from claim 1 which already introduces a fixing member. For the purposes of examination “a fixing member” is interpreted to be “the fixing member”.
Claims 15-19 are rejected based on their dependency from rejected claim 14.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5-9, 11-14, and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kwon et. al (US 2016/0187005 A1).
With respect to claim 1 Kwon discloses an air guide ring, for an air conditioner outdoor unit, the air guide ring comprising: an air guide ring body, an air guide channel being defined in the air guide ring body [see annotated Fig. below], wherein the air guide ring body comprises a first limit part and a second limit part [see annotated Fig. below] , and wherein the first limit part and the second limit part are provided to be fitted with a fixing member [reference character 71] of the air conditioner outdoor unit for bidirectional limiting, so as to prevent inward contracting deformation and outward expanding deformation of the air guide ring body.
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480
655
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With respect to claim 2 Kwon discloses that the air guide ring body comprises a connecting seat with a first air guide channel and an air guide tube with a second air guide channel, a first end of the connecting seat is connected with the air guide tube, the first air guide channel and the second air guide channel are communicated to define the air guide channel, and a second end of the connecting seat defines an air inlet of the air guide channel [see annotated Fig. below].
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463
821
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With respect to claim 5 Kwon discloses that the second limit part is at a side of the first limit part away from a center of the air guide ring body [see Fig. 7], and a radial interval is provided between the first limit part and the second limit part [see annotated Fig. 8, below], and the first limit part and the second limit part are provided to be clamped at two sides of the fixing member [see Fig. 5].
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441
616
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With respect to claim 6 Kwon discloses the first limit part and the second limit part are provided to be offset [see annotated Fig. 8, above, the offset is in the radial direction].
With respect to claim 7 Kwon discloses that the first limit part comprises a first sub-limit part and a second sub-limit part, and the first sub-limit part, the second limit part and the second sub-limit part are arranged in sequence along the air guide ring body in a circumferential direction [see annotated Fig. below].
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597
864
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With respect to claim 8 Kwon discloses a notch [see annotated Fig. below] is provided at a side of the air guide ring body close to an air inlet of the air guide channel, the first sub-limit part and the second sub-limit part are respectively at two sides of the notch, and the second limit part is a bulge part [see annotated Fig. below] extending toward the notch along an axial direction of the air guide ring body.
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385
570
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311
506
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With respect to claim 9 Kwon discloses a reinforcing rib [reference character 951] is provided on a side wall surface at a side of the bulge part away from the center of the air guide ring body.
With respect to claim 11 Kwon discloses an air ring body is provided with a support part [reference character 952] extending along a circumferential direction, the support part is provided to be supported on the fixing member, and the first limit part and the second limit part are at a side of the support part close to an air inlet of the air guide channel [see Fig. 8].
With respect to claim 12 Kwon discloses a side wall of the air guide ring body is provided with a fixation part [see annotated Fig. below] at a side of the support part close to an air outlet of the air guide channel, and the fixation part is provided to be fixedly connected with the fixing member [via the intervening structure of the shroud].
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420
547
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With respect to claim 13 Kwon discloses that the air guide ring body is provided with a limit hole [see paragraph 0070, where a screw fastened to a hole is interpreted to be a limit protrusion and limit hole], which is provided to be fitted with the other one of a limit protrusion and a limit hole on the fixing member for limiting.
With respect to claim 14 Kwon discloses that an air conditioner outdoor unit, comprising: a fixing member [reference character 71]; and the air guide ring according to claim 1, wherein the fixing member is provided with a first limit fitting part and a second limit fitting part, the first limit fitting part is fitted with the first limit part of the air guide ring to obstruct the outward expanding deformation of the air guide ring body, and the second limit fitting part is fitted with the second limit part of the air guide ring to obstruct the inward contracting deformation of the air guide ring body [see annotated Fig. below].
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416
628
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With respect to claim 18 Kwon discloses that the fixing member comprises a motor beam [see annotated Fig. below] for fixing a motor.
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300
543
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With respect to claim 19 Kwon discloses an air conditioner, comprising the air conditioner outdoor unit [reference character 1] according to claim 14 (see rejection for claim 14).
Claim(s) 1-3, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jang et. al (US 2009/0108717 A1).
With respect to claim 1 Jang discloses an air guide ring [reference character 420], for an air conditioner outdoor unit, the air guide ring comprising: an air guide ring body, an air guide channel being defined in the air guide ring body [see annotated Fig. below], wherein the air guide ring body comprises a first limit part and a second limit part [see annotated Fig. below] , and wherein the first limit part and the second limit part are provided to be fitted with a fixing member [reference character 300] of the air conditioner outdoor unit for bidirectional limiting, so as to prevent inward contracting deformation and outward expanding deformation of the air guide ring body.
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423
885
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With respect to claim 2 Jang discloses that the air guide ring body comprises a connecting seat [reference character 430] with a first air guide channel and an air guide tube with a second air guide channel, a first end of the connecting seat is connected with the air guide tube, the first air guide channel and the second air guide channel are communicated to define the air guide channel, and a second end of the connecting seat defines an air inlet of the air guide channel [see annotated Fig. below].
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356
747
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With respect to claim 3 Jang discloses that the connecting seat comprises two limit sidewalls oppositely disposed [see annotated Fig. below], each of the limit sidewalls comprises the first limit part and the second limit part arranged at intervals along a radial direction of the air guide ring body [see Fig, 5], and the first limit part and the second limit part are at least partially overlapped along an axial direction of the air guide ring body, and a radial interval between the first limit part and the second limit part of each of the limit sidewalls is provided for clamping the fixing member [see Fig. 5].
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358
549
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With respect to claim 10 Jang discloses a plurality of first limit parts and a plurality of second limit parts are provided, and both the plurality of first limit parts and the plurality of second limit parts are arranged along the air guide ring body in a circumferential direction [note that 432 is provided on diametrically opposite sides of the air guide ring], a quantity of the first limit parts is equal to a quantity of the second limit parts, and the first limit parts and the second limit parts are fitted in one-to-one correspondence for bidirectional limiting [see Fig. 5].
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jang et. al (US 2009/0108717 A1).
With respect to claim 20 Jang discloses an air guide ring, comprising an inlet section, a middle section and an outlet section arranged in sequence along a flowing direction of airflow [see annotated Fig. below], wherein the inlet section comprises a first sub-inlet section [see annotated Fig. below] disposed close to an air inlet end of the air guide ring and a second sub-inlet section [see annotated Fig. below] disposed close to the middle section, wherein an inner wall surface of the first sub-inlet section is a concave surface recessed toward outside of the air guide ring, and an inner wall surface of the second sub-inlet section is a convex surface protruding toward inside of the air guide ring, and along the flowing direction of airflow, an included angle between a tangent plane of the inner wall surface of the first sub-inlet section and a first plane perpendicular to an axis of the air guide ring gradually decreases, and an included angle between a tangent plane of the inner wall surface of the second sub-inlet section and the first plane gradually increases [see comparison between Fig. 5 of Jang and Fig. 7 of the applicant’s specification].
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411
974
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VIVEK K SHIRSAT whose telephone number is (571)272-3722. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:20AM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven B 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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/VIVEK K SHIRSAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762