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 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)(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.
Claims 1 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hosokawa (US Pub. No. 20170016657).
Claim 1: Howokawa teaches an accumulator comprising:
a body (Fig. 1, 10);
a pipe (Fig. 1, 30) arranged on an inner side of the body eccentrically with respect to the body so that a radial distance between an inner circumference surface of the body and an outer circumference surface of the pipe varies in a circumferential direction;
a retaining member arranged between the pipe and the body (Fig. 1, solid line connecting 50 and 30); and
a bag configured to accommodate a desiccant (Fig. 1, 30),
wherein the bag is retained by being in contact with the body (Fig. 1, where 50 contact 10) and the retaining member, and a portion of the bag is arranged at a circumferential position where the radial distance between the inner circumference surface of the body and the outer circumference surface of the pipe is greatest (Fig. 1, see where 50 contact 10).
Claim 9: A center of bag 50 (top to bottom) is positioned on the body (10)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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.
Response to Arguments
With respect to the Appendix 1 Applicant submits, this only shows the seaming of an embodiment of a bag. The Examiner does not argue there is no seam; the seam of the bag in ‘657 would be formed along the contact point between one side of the bag and the other side of the bag which meet at the top of the bag:
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The seam is different than the solid line contacting the bag at the top of the seam area to hold the bag in place.
In ‘734, the solid line that Applicant points out in their remarks is not the top of the bag but appears to be the top of 20B identified as the “internal unit”. This is not analogous to the embodiment in ‘657 as the embodiment in ‘734 has a holding portion 24B identified to hold the bag in place. This holding portion 24B also shows a solid line above the two dotted lines that show the attachment of the bag to the outlet pipe 30B. The embodiment of ‘657 – of which the rejection is relied upon – is more similar to Figure 1 of ‘734 which shoes the dotted lines and a solid line of 25a above the dotted lines and the bags which hold the bag in place [0056].
Based in ‘734, it is clear that, in addition to a lateral constraining element (i.e. a wall, cable, etc.), the desiccant containing bag requires a physical element to hold and constrain the bag at the top to maintain the height/length of the bag.
In ‘734 see:
Element 28 in Fig. 1 which is a cable tie that constrains the shape of the bag which is held against the holding portion 24 and an upper flange 25a and a lower flange 25b. Upper flange 25a is analogous to the solid line shown in ‘657, both of which constrain and hold the top of the bag in place and of which the current rejection relies upon.
Fig. 3 of ‘734 is similar except that there is an annular ring portion 37A that constrains and holds the top of the bag.
In Figure 7, there is a solid line that connects 30B to the top of bag 70B which is interpreted in view of the previous embodiments to be a physical means by which the top of the bag is held in place.
It is the Examiner’s position that there is no other way to interpret the solid line leading from the tube 30 to the bag 50 in Figure 1 of ‘657 other than as a retaining member; this being the retaining member claimed that is between the pipe and the body. In fact, the Examiner believes ‘734 bolsters the Examiner’s position that there is no other way to interpret the solid line in ‘657 other than a retaining member.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLISON FITZSIMMONS whose telephone number is (571)270-1767. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am - 2:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin Lebron can be reached at (571)272-0475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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ALLISON FITZSIMMONS
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1773
/ALLISON G FITZSIMMONS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1773
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