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 .
Status of Application
Claims 1-11 are pending and have been examined in this application. This communication is the first action on the merits. The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 09/28/2023 & 06/27/2025 has been considered by the Examiner.
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 1-11 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.
A) In Claims 1 & 10, line 6, “a direction close to” renders the claims indefinite because “close” is a relative term. For the purposes of examination, “close to” has been construed to be more vertical than horizontal.
B) Claims 2-9 & 11 are also rejected due to their dependency on Claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8 & 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent Number 4,597,323 to Mordau.
A) As per Claims 1 & 10, Mordau teaches a vehicle (Mordau: Figure 1) comprising an engine compartment, a passenger compartment (Mordau: Figure 1, area to left and right side, respectively, of dotted line separating portions of the housing between Items 13 & 20) and a separation wall between said engine compartment and said passenger compartment, said vehicle further comprising a heating, ventilation and/or air-conditioning device for a motor vehicle, said device having a vertical dimension defined along a vertical direction, said heating, ventilation and/or air-conditioning device including
a housing (Mordau: Figure 1, Item 13 extending to housing surrounding Item 20) and, inside the housing,
a first heat exchanger (Mordau: Figure 1, Item 20) and
a unit (Mordau: Figure 1, Item 19) for generating an air flow,
said first exchanger extending in a direction close to said vertical direction to define a vertical dimension of the first heat exchanger and also extending in a transverse direction, along a transverse axis, perpendicular to the vertical direction (Mordau: Figure 1, Item 20),
said unit for generating the air flow including a blower wheel configured to rotate about an axis of rotation, oriented substantially in said transverse direction, and to generate the air flow tangentially in the direction of said first exchanger, said blower wheel being arranged so as to remain within the vertical dimension of said first exchanger when viewed perpendicularly to the vertical direction (Mordau: Figure 1, Item 19),
said housing being configured to extend on either side of a wall separating an engine compartment from a passenger compartment of the motor vehicle, a first part of the housing accommodating the unit for generating the air flow being intended to be situated on the engine compartment side and a second part of the housing accommodating the first exchanger being intended to be situated on the passenger compartment side (Mordau: Figure 1, dotted line separating portions of the housing between Items 13 & 20 with passenger side on right and engine side on left of wall show at dotted line).
B) As per Claims 2 & 11, Mordau teaches that the vertical dimension of said housing is maximum in a zone for guiding the air flow toward said first exchanger or in line with said first exchanger (Mordau: Figure 1, housing is tallest at Item 20).
C) As per Claim 3, Mordau teaches that said unit for generating the air flow is substantially centered along said transverse axis with respect to said first exchanger (Mordau: Figure 1, Item 19 is centered).
D) As per Claim 4, Mordau teaches that said first exchanger includes a heat exchange bundle extending mainly in a first direction at an angle with respect to said vertical direction, and in the transverse direction (Mordau: Figure 1, Item 20).
E) As per Claim 5, Mordau teaches that said first exchanger has transverse sides extending in said transverse direction and in a direction, referred to as bundle thickness direction, perpendicular to said first direction and to said transverse direction (Mordau: Figure 1, Item 20).
F) As per Claim 6, Mordau teaches that said housing has a chamber for supplying air to said first exchanger that has a divergent shape in the direction of flow of the air flow along said bundle thickness direction (Mordau: Figure 1, duct leading up to Item 20 is divergent shape).
G) As per Claim 8, Mordau teaches that said first exchanger has lateral sides extending in said first direction and said bundle thickness direction (Mordau: Figure 1, Item 20).
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 7 & 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mordau in view of US Patent Publication Number 2021/0213799 A1 to Zhang.
A) As per Claims 7 & 9, Mordau teaches all the limitations except explicitly that said unit for generating the air flow is substantially centered in said transverse direction between two planes extending said lateral sides of the first exchanger.
However, Zhang teaches said unit for generating the air flow is substantially centered in said transverse direction between two planes extending said lateral sides of the first exchanger (Zhang: Figures 1-2, Item 108 is centered on Item 109).
At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the teachings of Mordau by locating the fan laterally, as taught by Zhang, with a reasonable expectation of success of arriving at the claimed invention. At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Mordau with these aforementioned teachings of Zhang since each individual element and its function are shown in the prior art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself- that is in the substitution of the transverse fan location of Zhang for the transverse fan location of Mordau.
Thus, the simple substitution of one known element for another producing a predictable result renders the claim obvious.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLEN SCHULT whose telephone number is (571)272-8511. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5PM.
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/Allen R. B. Schult/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762