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
Applicant's arguments filed 1/21/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Specifically, the Applicant generally alleges the improvements and features of the current application over the cited reference Kim without particularly pointing towards distinct features not recited within Kim. In their arguments, the Applicant points toward an experimental results table present within the specification and alleges the improvements of the optimization of the blade size ratio and other structural features, such as the horizontally sleeved channel. While the applicant is well within their rights to assert secondary considerations for non-obviousness, in anticipation cases, “Evidence of secondary considerations, such as unexpected results or commercial success, is irrelevant to 35 U.S.C. 102 rejections and thus cannot overcome a rejection so based. In re Wiggins, 488 F.2d 538, 543, 179 USPQ 421, 425 (CCPA 1973)” (MPEP 2131.04). Thus, while the alleged improvements are considered when examining the application, without their features recited in the claims and arguments specifically distinguishing the claims over the prior art, such improvements are moot. Therefore, as the arguments are unconvincing the rejection is maintained.
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 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kim et al (US 20230094078 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Kim discloses a brushless motor for a high-speed hair dryer, comprising a motor (fig. 2, stator 150 rotor 210), an air channel (fig. 2, air flow path 115) and a fan (fig. 2, impeller 130), the motor is vertically provided (fig. 2 motor is vertical), the air channel is vertically sleeved over an upper end of the motor (fig. 2, stator coupling portion 12011), a top portion of the motor penetrates a top portion of the air channel (fig. 2, shaft 2111 penetrates fan), the fan is sleeved over the top portion of the air channel and a bottom portion of the fan is connected with the top portion of the motor (fig. 2, impeller 130 is sleeved on top of channel and connected to the top of the motor); an installation groove is formed vertically in an intermediate portion of the air channel (fig. 2, through portion 1203), a top portion of an outer surface of the installation groove is curved (see figures 2-3 through portion 1203 is curved to allow for communication with the stator; see paragraph 69 and figure 3 marked below),
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at least one air guiding piece is formed circumferentially and at even intervals at an inner surface of the air channel (fig. 3, vane 117), a side of the at least one air guiding piece is connected with the inner surface of the air channel, another side of the at least one air guiding piece is connected with the outer surface of the installation groove (see figure 3, vanes 117 are connected to inner surface and groove), the at least one air guiding piece is formed to be arc-shaped (fig. 3, vanes 117 are arc shaped), and the at least one air guiding piece extends from the top portion of the outer surface of the installation groove to a bottom portion of the outer surface of the installation groove (see figure 3, vanes 117); at least one fan blade is formed at an outer surface of the fan circumferentially and at even intervals (fig. 3, impeller 130), the at least one fan blade is formed to be arc-shaped (fig. 3, blade 1302), the at least one fan blade extends from a top portion of the outer surface of the fan to the bottom portion of the fan (fig. 3, blade 1302), and thicknesses at both ends of the at least one fan blade are thinner than a thickness of the at least one fan blade at an intermediate portion (fig. 3, blades 1302 appear thinner than vanes 117) a boss is formed at the top portion of the installation groove (fig. 3, bearing assembly accommodating portion 1202), a through-hole is formed vertically in an intermediate portion of the boss (fig. 3, bearing assembly accommodating portion 1202), the through-hole extends through a top portion of the boss and the bottom portion of the installation groove (paragraph 66 “The stator accommodating portion 1201 may communicate with, for example, the bearing assembly accommodating portion 1202 and extends in a radial direction.”), and the motor is sleeved inside the installation groove (fig. 3, stator 150 is inside outer housing 110).
With respect to claim 3, Kim discloses the fan is sleeved over the boss and is rotatably connected with the boss (fig. 3, and paragraph 62 “The rotating shaft 211 may include a bearing assembly 215 between the impeller 130 and the rotor 210 in the axial direction.”).
With respect to claim 4, Kim discloses wherein the motor is formed by a stator, a rotor, at least one coil and a rotation shaft (paragraph 38 “the stator 150 may include a stator core 160, a stator coil 170” and paragraph 48 “The rotor 210 may be rotatably accommodated in the stator 150. The rotor 210 may include, for example, a rotating shaft 211 and a permanent magnet 212 coupled to the rotating shaft 211.”); at least one coil holder is provided circumferentially and at even intervals at an inner surface of the stator (fig. 4, teeth 1604) and the rotation shaft is vertically sleeved over an intermediate portion of the rotor and is connected with the rotor (fig. 2, shaft 211).
With respect to claim 5, Kim discloses a top portion of the rotation shaft is connected with the bottom portion of the fan (fig. 3, and paragraph 62 “The rotating shaft 211 may include a bearing assembly 215 between the impeller 130”).
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.
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/R.O.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/CHRISTOPHER M KOEHLER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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