DETAILED ACTION
The present office action is in response to claims filed on 10/19/2023. Claims 1 – 8 are pending in the application.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 2 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “adjusts a direction in which the filtered air” in line 6, which should recite “adjusts a direction in which the
Claim 2 recites “engagement driving gear tooth come in close contact with” in line 14, which should recite “engagement driving gear tooth comes in close contact with” for proper grammar.
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.
(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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sun (Korean Patent Publication KR 10-2019-0106453A, listed on Applicant’s IDS dated 10/19/2023; English Machine Translation provided by Applicant relied upon below).
Regarding Claim 1, Sun shows (Figures 1 – 11c):
An air purifier (10) comprising:
a body (201) having an inlet (202) through which air (air drawn into 202, as illustrated by air flow arrows in Figure 1) is introduced (as illustrated by the air flow arrows in Figure 1);
a blower (260) accommodated in (as illustrated in Figure 3) the body (200) and providing a blowing force (the negative/positive pressure created by 265) for causing the air (air drawn into 202, as illustrated by air flow arrows in Figure 1) to flow (as illustrated by the air flow arrows in Figure 1);
a filter (220) filtering the air (air drawn into 202, as illustrated by air flow arrows in Figure 1) introduced into (as illustrated by the air flow arrows in Figure 1) the body (201);
a wind direction control unit (300, including 350, 370) that adjusts (as illustrated in Figure 10, 300 adjusts up and down to control the direction in which the filtered air is discharged) a direction (the direction the air exits 305, as illustrated by the air flow arrows in Figure 10) in which the air (air drawn into 202, as illustrated by air flow arrows in Figure 1) passing through the filter (220) is discharged;
a manipulation module (600) that is manipulated by a user (the user of 10) and outputs a signal (signal sent based on the input to 600); and
a control device (650) for controlling the wind direction control unit (300) in response to (as described in Paragraph 2 on Page 21) the signal (signal sent based on the input to 600); wherein
the wind direction control unit (300) includes:
a wind direction control member (310) configured to be rotatable (as illustrated in Figures 2 and 10) with respect to the body (201) about a rotation axis (the horizontal rotation axis, in which 300 rotates in direction B about, as illustrated in Figure 10) extending in a horizontal direction (the left to right direction is the horizontal direction, as illustrated in Figure 10);
a motor (367) that provides a driving force (the rotational force output by 367) for rotating (as described on Page 18, Paragraphs 5 and 6) the wind direction control member (310);
a driving gear (365) rotated by the driving force (the rotational force output by 367) provided by the motor (367); and
a driven gear (374) rotated by (as illustrated in Figures 8 and 9) the driving gear (365), wherein
the manipulation module (600) is disposed on the wind direction control member (310) to be spaced apart from (when 310 is in a rotated, non-horizontal position, 310 is spaced apart from the horizontal axis by an angle when viewed from above) the rotation axis (the horizontal rotation axis, in which 300 rotates in direction B about, as illustrated in Figure 10) when viewed from above, wherein
when the driving gear (365) rotates in a forward direction (clockwise direction, as illustrated in Figure 8), the wind direction control member (310) rotates in a direction (the downward direction, as illustrated in Figure 8) in which the manipulation module (600) moves downward (when 310 rotates upward, 600 is tilted so as to move downward toward the horizontal neutral orientation), and when the driving gear (365) rotates in a reverse direction (counterclockwise direction, as illustrated in Figure 9) opposite to the forward direction (clockwise direction, as illustrated in Figure 8), the wind direction control member (310) rotates in a direction (the upward direction, as illustrated in Figure 9) in which the manipulation module (600) moves upward (when 310 rotates downward, 600 is tilted so as to move upward towards the vertical orientation), and wherein
the control device (650) controls (as described on Pages 21-22) the motor (367) so that when the driving gear (365) is rotated (in the case 365 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, as illustrated in Figure 9) and then stopped (based on reaching the predetermined angle set by 600), the driving gear (365) is stopped (via 367) after rotated in the reverse direction (counterclockwise direction, as illustrated in Figure 9) by a predetermined angle (the angle set by the user via 600).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 8 are objected to as being dependent on 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.
Regarding Claim 2, Sun shows (Figures 1 – 11c):
The driving gear (365) includes a plurality of driving gear teeth (the plurality of teeth around 365, as illustrated in Figure 8),
the driven gear (374) includes a plurality of driven gear teeth (the plurality of teeth on 374, as illustrated in Figure 8),
the plurality of driven gear teeth (the plurality of teeth on 374, as illustrated in Figure 8) include a first driven gear tooth (the leftmost tooth of 374, as illustrated in Figure 8) and a second driven gear tooth (the tooth of 374 adjacent to the leftmost tooth, as illustrated in Figure 8) disposed adjacent to the first driven gear tooth (the leftmost tooth of 374, as illustrated in Figure 8),
the plurality of driving gear teeth (the plurality of teeth around 365, as illustrated in Figure 8) include an engagement driving gear tooth (the gear of 365 disposed between the leftmost gear of 374 and the adjacent gear, as illustrated in Figure 8) disposed between (as illustrated in Figure 8) the first driven gear tooth (the leftmost tooth of 374, as illustrated in Figure 8) and the second driven gear tooth (the tooth of 374 adjacent to the leftmost tooth, as illustrated in Figure 8),
the driven gear (374) rotates as the engagement driving gear tooth (the gear of 365 disposed between the leftmost gear of 374 and the adjacent gear, as illustrated in Figure 8) comes in close contact with the first driven gear tooth (the leftmost tooth of 374, as illustrated in Figure 8) when the driving gear (365) rotates in the forward direction (clockwise direction, as illustrated in Figure 8), and the driven gear (374) rotates as the engagement driving gear tooth (the gear of 365 disposed between the leftmost gear of 374 and the adjacent gear, as illustrated in Figure 8) comes in close contact with the second driven gear tooth (the tooth of 374 adjacent to the leftmost tooth, as illustrated in Figure 8) when the driving gear (365) rotates in the reverse direction (counterclockwise direction, as illustrated in Figure 9).
However, Sun lacks showing the control device controls the motor so that when the driving gear is rotated in the forward direction and then stopped, the driving gear is rotated in the reverse direction and the engagement driving gear tooth comes in close contact with the second driven gear tooth.
Modifying Sun accordingly teaches away from the principal operation of Sun. Depending on the position of driven gear 374 relative to driving gear 365, rotating the driving gear (after it is rotated in the forward direction and then stopped) in the reverse direction until the driving gear tooth comes in close contact with the second driven gear tooth could significantly change the orientation of the wind control direction member 310. The orientation of wind control direction member 310 is established by the user of the air purifier.
Claims 3 – 8 depend from Claim 2.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is provided in the Notice of References Cited.
The following prior art teaches related air purifiers:
Jung et al. (U.S. Patent No. 11,364,459): see Figure 17
Chun et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,914,488): see Figures 8 and 9
Park et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,495,104): see Figures 3 and 12-14
Park et al. (U.S. Patent No. 9,914,082): see Figures 17 and 18
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/DANA K TIGHE/Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/STEVEN B MCALLISTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3762