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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments, see on page 4, filed 06/17/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-4 under 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Baldovino (US 20190337489 A1) in view of Seeley (US 20170368995 A1).
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baldovino (US 20190337489 A1) in view of Seeley (US 20170368995 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Baldovino discloses:
A dust-removing device comprising:
a cover plate (18) that covers a sensor detection unit (52); and
a blowing unit that includes a buffer tank (air pressure source 36), a Coanda channel (20 forms a Coanda channel), and a blow outlet (42) and that blows a fluid onto the cover plate (See Para [0036] “As set forth above, the air port 42 is in fluid communication with the chamber 34 and the liquid port 46 is in fluid communication with the reservoir 48. The housing 26 may include more than one air port 42 and/or more than one liquid port 46. In one example, as shown in FIG. 3, the air port 42 may direct air generally horizontally across the sensor window 18 and the liquid port 46 may direct liquid generally horizontally across the sensor window 18.”),
wherein the buffer tank stores the fluid temporarily (See Para [0022] “The chamber 34 is in fluid communication with the air source 20. The air source 20 includes an air pressure source 36. The air pressure source 36 may draw air through the air inlet 32 into the chamber 34 to pressurize the chamber 34.”),
wherein the Coanda channel connects the buffer tank and the blow outlet, has a curved Coanda surface (lower curved surface and 20), and guides the fluid flowing from the buffer tank into the Coanda channel to the blow outlet, pulling the fluid toward the Coanda surface by the Coanda effect (See Figs. 7a-7c, See Para [0017] “The air source 20 moves air across the sensor window 18, and the liquid source 22 moves liquid across the sensor window 18. The combination of the air and liquid moving across the sensor window 18 removes contaminants such as dirt, precipitation, etc., from the sensor window 18.” Baldovino applies the principles of the Coanda effect, which is a natural physics phenomenon, Merriam-Webster defines the Coanda effect as “the tendency of a jet of fluid emerging from an orifice to follow an adjacent flat or curved surface and to entrain fluid from the surroundings so that a region of lower pressure develops” which can be seen being deployed in Figs. 6-7c), and
wherein the blow outlet blows out the fluid in a direction along a surface of the cover plate (See Figures 7a-7c).
but does not explicitly disclose
Wherein the Coanda channel has a straight portion extending parallel to the surface of the cover plate between the blow outlet and the Coanda surface.
However, Seely discloses a similar apparatus including a gaseous Coanda surface (20) Wherein the Coanda channel has a straight portion extending parallel to the surface of the cover plate (See 20 and 14 in Fig. 1) between the blow outlet and the Coanda surface (14).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the Coanda channel such that wherein the Coanda channel has a straight portion extending parallel to the surface of the cover plate between the blow outlet and the Coanda surface as Seely discuses that doing so is beneficial to produce a laminar flow across a cleanable surface (See Paras [0006]-[0010[).
Regarding Claim 3, Baldovino as modified discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and in addition discloses wherein the cover plate has a convex surface curved in a direction away from the sensor detection unit (See Fig. 6 showing the plate 18 curved away from 52).
Regarding Claim 4, Baldovino as modified discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and in addition discloses wherein, in a cross section orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the blow outlet (Figure 5 shows said cross section), a center of a connection portion (connection portion being the extended portions of 22 and 20 seen in the cross section of Fig. 5) connected to the buffer tank (48) and the Coanda channel (portion of 22 and 20 seen in Figs. 6-7c) is displaced from a center of an interior space of the buffer tank (See 48 in Fig. 1) in a direction in which the sensor detection unit and the blowing unit are arranged (Connection channel seen in Fig. 5 is much closer to the sensor detection unit and the blowing unit seen in Figs 5-7c than the buffer tank 48).
Claim(s) 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baldovino (US 20190337489 A1) in view of Seeley (US 20170368995 A1) as modified in claim 1 and in further view of Studebaker (US 8464735 B2).
Regarding Claim 5, Baldovino as modified discloses all the limitations of claim 1 but does not explicitly disclose wherein the blowing unit includes a first block and a second block,
wherein each block has a recess corresponding to a portion of the buffer tank and a portion of the Coanda channel, and a slit corresponding to a portion of the blow outlet, and
wherein the first block and the second block are stacked so that the respective recesses face each other and the respective slits face each other, and are fixed to each other so that they are displaced from each other around a virtual rotation axis extending in a stacking direction.
However, Studebaker discloses a similar blowing device (122) which includes a first block (140) and (142),
Wherein each block has a recess (portion of 160) corresponding to a portion of the buffer tank (160) and a portion of a channel (172) and a slit (portion of 178 on each block) corresponding to a portion of the blow outlet, and
wherein the first block and the second block are stacked so that the respective recesses face each other and the respective slits face each other (See Fig. 4), and are fixed to each other so that they are displaced from each other around a virtual rotation axis extending in a stacking direction (rotation axis being perpendicular to the direction of the channel 172, further see Col 7 Line 53-59 “The novel solution injection bar 122 is a substantially rigid elongated structure formed of a pair of cooperating substantially rigid mating front and back plates 140 and 142. The front and back plates 140, 142 are formed with respective substantially planar mating interior faces 144 and 146 that come together in the assembly of the rigid solution injection bar 122.”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the blowing device of Baldovino to be comprised of two mirror imaged blocks as firstly it has been held that “if it were considered desirable for any reason to obtain access to the end of [the prior art’s] holder to which the cap is applied, it would be obvious to make the cap removable for that purpose." Regarding making an integral piece separable. Additionally, doing so would allow for easier manufacturing of the internal channel and tank of the device.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/T.J.M./Examiner, Art Unit 3723
/BRYAN R MULLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723 8 September 2026
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