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 Status
Claim 1 is rejected.
Claims 2-17 are objected.
Claims 18-20 are withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Species A, as shown in Fig. 1, in the reply filed on February 23, 2026, is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)). Applicant indicated that claims 1-17 are readable on Species A. Accordingly, claims 18-20 are withdrawn from further consideration because they are drawn to a non-elected invention.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 3: “the outside” in line 8 should be replaced with --the outside.--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Watanabe (JP2019214031A) [citation are based on English Machine Translation].
With respect to claim 1, Watanabe discloses a water treatment equipment connection unit U1, as shown in Fig. 1, having: a holding panel 21 (main body); one or more flow path parts 35, 351, 352, as shown in Fig. 3, each having a flow path through which raw water or purified water flows therein (see paragraphs 0099-0100 of English Machine Translation), and protruding from one surface of the main body 21 for one or more parts to be mounted thereon, as shown in Fig. 3; and one or more filter mounting parts 210, as shown in Fig. 6, formed on the other surface of the main body 21 to be opposite to the one or more flow path parts 35, 351, 352, for at least one filter 10 filtering raw water introduced through one flow path part 35, 351, 352, among the one or more flow path parts to be mounted thereon, as shown in Fig. 4, wherein among the flow paths respectively formed in the one or more flow path parts, the flow paths disposed to correspond to the one or more filter mounting parts 210 pass through the main body 21 to be connected to the one or more filter mounting parts 210 for raw water to be filtered and purified through the at least one filter 10, as shown in Fig. 4, and the other flow paths are each selectively connected with each other through the one part mounted on the one or more flow path parts 35, 351, 352, as shown in Fig. 3.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-17 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 2 would be allowed because the prior art of record does not show or suggest a flow path assembly, wherein the one or more flow path parts include a first flow path part having a first flow path formed in a vertical direction parallel to the main body based on a length direction of the main body, a second flow path part disposed to be spaced apart from the first flow path part in a width direction of the main body, bent toward a lower part of the main body while protruding by a predetermined length from the main body, and having a second flow path formed therein, a third flow path part disposed at a lower part of the second flow path part, and having a third flow path formed in a direction perpendicular to the second flow path, a fourth flow path part disposed at a lower part of the third flow path part, and having a fourth flow path formed in a direction parallel to the third flow path, and a fifth flow path part disposed on an upper part of the main body that is opposite to the first flow path part based on the width direction of the main body, and having a fifth flow path formed in a vertical direction parallel to the first flow path, in combination with any remaining limitations in the claim. Watanabe teaches one or more flow path parts 35, 351, 352; however, lacks the specific claimed arrangement of the claimed five flow path parts, and it would have not been obvious to modify because there is no reason or suggestion to do so and the unit would not operate as intended.
Claims 3-16 would be allowed due to their dependency on claim 2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MADELINE GONZALEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-5502. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5:30.
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/MADELINE GONZALEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1773
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