DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Claims 33-34 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 9 June 2026.
Priority
Claim 1 earliest priority support is 16 December 2022 (CN 2022116274608) and claims 14-15 and 21-32 earliest priority support is 19 April 2023 (CN 2023104256124).
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because the abstract should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” “The embodiment of the present disclosure provides,” etc.. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Objections
Claim 24 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites “the first abutment part … the second abutment part … the second abutment part … the first abutment part” instead of “the first abutting part … the second abutting part … the second abutting part … the first abutting part” which is consistent with claims 22-23.
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 1, 14-15 and 21-32 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 1 recites the limitation “the surface”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 14-15 and 21-32 depend from claim 1 and fail to remedy its deficiencies.
Claim 14 recites “a roller brush, having a roller brush cavity extending in its axial direction” (emphasis added), however, it is not clear if “its” refers to the previously recited roller brush or to other previously recited elements in claim 1. For prior art examination purposes, the examiner is interpreting the limitation as reciting “a roller brush, having a roller brush cavity extending in the roller brush axial direction”.
Claims 15 and 21-32 depend from claim 14 and fail to remedy its deficiencies.
Claim 25 recites “configured to be consistent” (twice) and it is not clear what said limitation means in the context of claim 25. The examiner respectfully recommends amending the claim to use clear terminology, e.g., parallel if the intention is to limit the first/second transmission parts with respect to the first/second abutting parts.
Claims 26-32 depend from claim 25 and fail to remedy its deficiencies.
Claim 26 recites the limitation “the other end” (twice). There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 30 recites the limitation “the extension direction”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 31-32 depend from claim 30 and fail to remedy its deficiencies.
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.
Claim(s) 1 (as far as the claim(s) are definite and understood) is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lubbers et al – hereafter Lubbers – (US 20220346610 A1; also US 11,969,135 B2) in view of Brown et al – hereafter Brown – (US 20170196420 A1; also US 9,962,047 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Lubber teaches a cleaning device (Fig.1-5), characterized in that, comprising:
a power module (10) comprising a housing (unlabeled, shown in dashed line box), a power source assembly (14), and a motor assembly (12), wherein the surface of the housing is provided with a holding part (30);
a vacuum cleaner module (20), the vacuum cleaner module having a first mounting position (Fig.1-4), which is configured to be matched and connected with the power module, such that the vacuum cleaner module and the power module are assembled to form a vacuum cleaner to perform a vacuum cleaner mode (Fig.1-4); and
a surface wet cleaner module (40), the surface wet cleaner module having a second mounting position (Fig.5), which is configured to be matched and connected with the power module, such that the surface wet cleaner module and the power module are assembled to form a surface wet cleaner to perform a surface wet cleaner mode (Fig.5).
Lubber does not explicitly teach the holding part being recessed.
Brown teaches a cleaning device (Fig.1/5) which could be a wet-dry vacuum cleaner (¶347-348). Brown further teaches the cleaning device including a power module (106) comprising a housing (108), a power source assembly (174) and a motor assembly (124), the housing being provided with a recessed holding part (310); said recessed holing part provides a hand grip (¶491) which are known to facilitate use and operation of the cleaning device by a human.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the cleaning device of Lubber by having the holding part being recessed based on the teachings of Brown because this would provide a hand grip known to facilitate use and operation of the cleaning device by a human.
Claim(s) 14-15 and 21-29 (as far as the claim(s) are definite and understood) is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lubbers and Brown as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Peng et al – hereafter Peng – (CN 217959994 U).
Regarding claim 14, Lubber and Brown teach all the limitations of claim 1, see above, and further teach a body and a roller brush assembly disposed on the body (Lubber Fig.1, body 26 and roller brush assembly 26a; ¶65), however, do not explicitly teach the roller brush assembly comprises: a roller brush, having a roller brush cavity extending in its axial direction, a transmission base is provided in the roller brush cavity; a driving device, connected to the body, an output end of the driving device extends into the roller brush cavity and is detachably connected to the transmission base to drive the roller brush to rotate; wherein a transmission mechanism is provided between the transmission base and the output end of the driving device, and the transmission mechanism comprises a transmission part and a cooperating part that are engaged together, the transmission part is configured to be locked with the cooperating part in driving the cooperating part to perform forward and reverse rotation.
Peng teaches a cleaning device (Fig.1-12) including a roller brush assembly (100) comprising a roller brush (110), having a roller brush cavity (111) extending in its axial direction, a transmission base (defined by 1121/1122/1123/1124) is provided in the roller brush cavity; a driving device (120), connected to the body, an output end (122) of the driving device extends into the roller brush cavity and is detachably connected to the transmission base to drive the roller brush to rotate (Fig.5-6; note detachably connection between positions of Fig.5-6); wherein a transmission mechanism is provided between the transmission base and the output end of the driving device, and the transmission mechanism comprises a transmission part (1222) and a cooperating part (1121/1122/1123/1124) that are engaged together, the transmission part is configured to be locked with the cooperating part in driving the cooperating part to perform forward (Fig.5) and reverse rotation (Fig.6). This configuration helps avoid affecting the cleaning efficiency of forward and reverse rotation cleaning devices (machine translation, “Background technology” section).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to further modify the cleaning device of Lubber and Brown by having the roller brush assembly comprises: a roller brush, having a roller brush cavity extending in its axial direction, a transmission base is provided in the roller brush cavity; a driving device, connected to the body, an output end of the driving device extends into the roller brush cavity and is detachably connected to the transmission base to drive the roller brush to rotate; wherein a transmission mechanism is provided between the transmission base and the output end of the driving device, and the transmission mechanism comprises a transmission part and a cooperating part that are engaged together, the transmission part is configured to be locked with the cooperating part in driving the cooperating part to perform forward and reverse rotation based on the teachings of Peng because this would help avoid affecting the cleaning efficiency of forward and reverse rotation cleaning devices.
Regarding claim 15, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach the transmission part is located on a disengaging path of the cooperating part in driving the cooperating part to perform forward and reverse rotation, so as to prevent the cooperating part from being disengaged (Peng Fig.5-7; machine translation page 8 line 22-28; note a position of 1222 halfway between Fig.5 and Fig.6 defines a disengaging path, furthermore, the configuration of the cooperating part creates a self-locking effect of the transmission part).
Regarding claim 21, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach a portion of the transmission part is located on the disengaging path of the cooperating part when the roller brush rotates in the forward direction (Peng Fig.5) is different from a portion of the transmission part located on the disengaging path of the cooperating part when the roller brush rotates in the reverse direction (Peng Fig.6).
Regarding claim 22, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach the cooperating part comprises a first abutting part (Peng Fig.5, 1121), and the transmission part is configured to be engaged with the first abutting part during forward rotation (Peng Fig.5, 1121); and a first locking side is formed by contacting of the transmission part and the first abutting part is configured to prevent the first abutting part from moving away from the transmission part during forward rotation (Peng Fig.5, 1121; machine translation page 8 line 22-28).
Regarding claim 23, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach the cooperating part comprises a second abutting part (Peng Fig.6, 1122), and the transmission part is configured to be engaged with the second abutting part during reverse rotation (Peng Fig.6, 1122); and a second locking side is formed by contacting of the transmission part and the second abutting part is configured to prevent the second abutting part from moving away from the transmission part during reverse rotation (Peng Fig.6, 1122; machine translation page 8 line 22-28).
Regarding claim 24, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach the transmission part is located on the disengaging path of the first abutment part and there is a gap between the transmission part and the second abutment part during forward rotation (Peng Fig.5); while the transmission part is located on the disengaging path of the second abutment part and there is a gap between the transmission part and the first abutment part during reverse rotation (Peng Fig.6).
Regarding claim 25, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach the transmission part comprises a first transmission part (Peng Fig.5, part of 1222 in contact with 1121) and a second transmission part (Peng Fig.6, part of 1222 in contact with 1122); and the first transmission part is configured to be consistent with the extension direction of the first abutting part and engageable with the first abutting part (Peng Fig.5), and the second transmission part is configured to be consistent with the extension direction of the second abutting part and engageable with the second abutting part (Peng Fig.6).
Regarding claim 26, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach the first abutting part is configured to be inclined towards a forcing direction during forward rotation from one end adjacent to the driving device to the other end away from the driving device, and the second abutting part is configured to be inclined towards a forcing direction during reverse rotation from one end adjacent to the driving device to the other end away from the driving device (Peng Fig.7; machine translation page 6 line 22-29; note both first and second abutting parts 1121/1122 are inclined to make a self-locking mechanism with the roller brush).
Regarding claim 27, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach the transmission part is disposed on the driving device, the transmission base has a transmission cavity, and the cooperating part is a fitting groove disposed on the transmission cavity (Peng Fig.3), the first abutting part and the second abutting part are groove walls on opposite sides of the fitting groove (Peng Fig.5-6); or the first abutting part and the second abutting part are ribs disposed on inner walls of the transmission cavity, and a fitting groove is formed by enclosing of the first abutting part and the second abutting part (Peng Fig.5-6).
Regarding claim 28, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach the fitting groove is provided in plural, and distributed in a circumferential direction of the transmission cavity and configured to extend along an axial direction of the transmission cavity; and the transmission part is provided in plural correspondingly, and distributed in a circumferential direction of the output end of the driving device (Peng Fig.3/5-6).
Regarding claim 29, Lubber, Brown and Peng further teach a width of the fitting groove is greater than or equal to a width of the transmission part (Peng Fig.5-6), the transmission part is configured to be detachably connected to the fitting groove in a way of inserting (Peng Fig.5-6; note a position of 1222 halfway between Fig.5 and Fig.6 defines a disengaging path).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 30-32 would be allowable if rewritten 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 and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter.
The following claims limitations were not found in the prior art.
the first abutting part is provided with a first extension portion that extends, and an extension direction of the first extension portion is consistent with the extension direction of the second abutting part; a first turning point is formed between the first abutting part and the first extension portion; an end of the second abutting part is provided with a second extension portion that extends, and an extension direction of the second extension portion is consistent with the extension direction of the first abutting part; and a second turning point is formed between the second abutting part and the second extension portion (as in the context of claim 30).
The most relevant prior art reference (Peng) discloses the first abutting part being provided with a first extension portion (1123 on the same side as 1121) and the second abutting part being provided with a second extension portion (1123 on the same side as 1122), however, the extension directions of the first and second extension portions are the opposite of the claimed configuration. Note Fig.7 where 1121/1123 and 1122/1123 form V shapes with the Vs pointing towards each other, e.g., “> <”, whereas the claimed invention is directed to a “> >” configuration.
The examiner considered a change in shape legal precedent modification, however, said potential modification could render the disclosed invention of Peng inoperable; additionally, potential impermissible hindsight would be required to obtain the claimed configuration.
No other prior art reference was found that would anticipate or allow establishing a prima facie case of obviousness in view of the cited prior art above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUAN G FLORES whose telephone number is (571)272-3486. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 5:30pm Pacific Time.
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/JUAN G FLORES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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