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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of species A in the reply filed on 04/03/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the amended claim is persuasive over Gao in view of Ha. This is not found persuasive because, upon further consideration, as detailed below, Claim 1 is rejected in view of Morin (US 20160183752 A1). While claim 1 has been amended to include the discharge air moving part and the suction flow path tube, Species A still is distinguished from Species B as Species A requires a discharge air passing hole, a collision portion, and a prefilter, while Species B requires a Louver, a cyclone part and a discharge air passing hole which the cyclone is disposed in. As Morin discloses claim 1 including the amended limitations, Species A and B do not share a unity of invention of distinguishing features and as such the election of species is maintained.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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, 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Morin (US 20160183752 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Morin discloses A cleaner station comprising:
a station (100) main body (base 120) to which a cleaner (10) is configured to be coupled (see Fig. 1), the station main body comprising a dust collecting motor (air mover 126 including motor and fan assembly 326) configured to operate to provide a suction force in a dust bin of the cleaner (motor and fan assembly provide air flow through cleaner), and a suction flow path (402) through which air discharged from the inside of the dust bin flows (See Para [0059] discussing the motor generating an airflow to pull debris from the cleaner into the station);
a dust collecting container (760) disposed above the station main body (760 is in canister 110 sat upon 120, see Fig. 1 and 7) and configured to capture dust flowing together with the air;
an impactor flow path tube (202b) disposed outside and above the dust collecting container (See Fig. 7 showing 202b extending over dust collecting container) and configured to provide a flow path through which the air introduced through the suction flow path flows (See airflow arrows 402 in Fig. 7 extending through 202b); and
a discharge air moving part (upper portion of 120 seen in fig 4, including air inlet 298 and outlet 300) configured to provide a space in which discharge air, from which the dust is separated, is introduced and flows after being discharged from the impactor flow path tube (Air that has been separated from debris flows through exhaust tube 304 (seen in Fig. 6) into discharge air moving portion and out of exhaust 300),
wherein a direction in which the dust moves in the impactor flow path tube is different from a direction in which the suction force is applied to the discharge air discharged from the impactor flow path tube (See Air flow arrows in Fig. 6 air moves upwards and then horizontally through the air cleaning portion of the canister, then discharge air moves downward through exhaust pipe and then horizontally out of exhaust 300), and
wherein the discharge air moving part comprises:
a discharge air moving part housing (126, See Fig. 5) configured to define a space into which the discharge air discharged from the impactor flow path tube is introduced (See Para [0062] “In the example shown, the annular filter wall 650 collects debris from the air-debris flow 402 received from the pneumatic debris intake conduit 202, permitting the debris-free air flow 602 to travel through the open center region 655 to the exhaust conduit 304 arranged to pneumatically connect to the inlet 298 of the air mover 126 when the canister 110 attaches to the base 120.”); and
a suction flow path connection tube (202a) disposed in the discharge air moving part housing (See Fig. 5) and configured to communicate with the suction flow path (See Para [0061] “The first conduit portion 202a of the pneumatic debris intake conduit 202 transmits the air-debris flow 402 containing debris from the debris bin 50 to a second conduit portion 202b of the pneumatic debris intake conduit 202 enclosed within the canister 110. The second conduit portion 202b is arranged to pneumatically interface with the first conduit portion 202a to form the pneumatic debris intake conduit 202 when the canister 110 is attached to the base 120.”).
Regarding Claim 4, Gao as modified discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and in addition discloses further comprising:
a blocking plate (See Annotated Figure A) coupled to the impactor flow path tube (See Fig. 7, showing the outlet of 202b connected to the blocking plate) and provided to close at least a part of an upper side of the dust collecting container (See Fig. 7, closes a portion of the dust collector) and at least a part of an upper side of the discharge air moving part (See Fig. 7, discharge air moving part is connected via tube 304 and is partially closed at an upper side by blocking wall); and
an upper cover (See Annotated Figure A) coupled (See Fig. 7) to an upper portion of the blocking plate (See Annotated Figure A) and configured to define a dust separation space (750) disposed between the upper cover and the blocking plate (See dotted line defining 750) and configured to accommodate the impactor flow path tube (See Fig. 6 and 7 impactor flow tube being accommodated in the separation space).
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Annotated Fig. A (Fig. 7 of Morin)
Regarding Claim 5, Morin discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and in addition discloses wherein the blocking plate comprises:
a dust passing hole (bottom of blocking plate is open, See Annotated Fig. A) configured to allow the inside of the dust collecting container and the dust separation space to communicate with each other, the dust passing hole being provided so that the dust discharged from the impactor flow path tube passes through the dust passing hole (bottom of blocking plate is open to allow debris separated by the collision walls 756 to fall into the dust collecting container); and
a discharge air passing hole (entrance to exhaust conduit 304) configured to allow the dust separation space and the discharge air moving part to communicate with each other (See Para [0065] “The air mover 126 draws the debris-free air flow 602 through the exhaust conduit 304 and to the inlet 298 and out the exhaust 300.”), the discharge air passing hole being provided so that the air discharged from the impactor flow path tube passes through the discharge air passing hole (See Previous citation of Para [0065]).
Regarding Claim 6, Morin discloses all the limitations of claim 5 and in addition discloses further comprising:
a collision portion (756 are collision walls) provided in the dust separation space and disposed along at least a part of an outer boundary of the dust passing hole (See Fig. 7, 756 positioned above dust passing hole to dislodge debris from the air such that it drops through the hole into the collection container),
wherein at least one surface of the collision portion is directed in a direction of an inertial force applied to the dust discharged from the impactor flow path tube (See Morin Para [0065] “Referring to FIGS. 7-9B, in some implementations, the canister 110 encloses an air particle separator device 750 (also referred to as a separator) defining at least one collision wall 756a-h and channels arranged to direct the air-debris flow 402 received from the pneumatic debris intake conduit 202 toward the at least one collision wall 756a-d to separate debris out of the air-debris flow 402.”).
Regarding Claim 7, Morin discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and in addition discloses wherein the discharge air moving part (upper portion of 120) comprises:
a prefilter (302) disposed in the discharge air moving part housing and configured to additionally filter out the dust from the discharge air (See Para [0050] “For instance, during the evacuation mode, environmental air may be drawn by the air mover 126 through an inlet 298 (FIG. 5) of the base 120 and filtered by a particle filter 302 (FIG. 5) within the base 120 and out an exhaust 300.”); and
wherein the impactor flow path tube (202b) communicates with the suction flow path connection tube (202a) through one end thereof (See Figs. 5-7 showing 202a and 202b connected).
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) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morin (US 20160183752 A1) in view of Ha (EP 1859719 B1).
Regarding Claim 2, Gao as modified discloses all the limitations of claim 1 but does not explicitly disclose further comprising:
a rotary unit disposed in the dust collecting container and configured to rotate about a longitudinal axis of the dust collecting container along an inner peripheral surface of the dust collecting container; and
a compression plate disposed in a state of being fixed to one side in the dust collecting container to compress the dust collected when the rotary unit rotates.
However, Ha does disclose
a rotary unit (400, 312 and 310) disposed in the dust collecting container (220) and configured to rotate about a longitudinal axis of the dust collecting container along an inner peripheral surface of the dust collecting container (See Fig. 3, showing driving unit 400, shaft 312 and compression plate, and See Para [0082]- [0087] discussing the motor driving the shaft and pressure plate); and
a compression plate (310) disposed in a state of being fixed to one side in the dust collecting container to compress the dust collected when the rotary unit rotates (See Para [0068] describing the plates 310 and 320 to compress dust or debris).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the dust collecting container to have a rotary unit and a compression plate as advantageously disclosed Ha to reduce the volume of dust stored in the container, allowing for a longer time between required emptying of the dust container. See Ha Para [0065] discussing this.
Claim(s) 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morin (US 20160183752 A1) in view of Ha (EP 1859719 B1) as modified in claim 2 and in further view of Tsuchiya (JP 2007054454 A).
Regarding Claim 3, Morin as modified discloses all the limitations of claim 2 and in addition discloses wherein the rotary unit comprises:
a rotary shaft (312 of Ha) disposed in the longitudinal direction of the dust collecting container (See Fig. 3 of Ha) and configured to rotate by receiving power from the outside of the dust collecting container (See Para [0082] discussing the shaft 312 being rotated by the drive unit 400);
but does not disclose:
a scrubber provided to rotate together with the rotary shaft in a state in which the scrubber is in contact with an inner peripheral surface of the dust collecting container; and
a rotary plate connected between the rotary shaft and the scrubber and configured to rotate together with the rotary shaft to compress the dust while coming into contact with one surface of the compression plate.
However, Tsuchiyua discloses a similar cleaner device with a dust container (81) with a dust receiving portion (86) which has a scrubber (303) provided to rotate together with the rotary shaft (extending through 101A, see Figs. 16, 19 and 20, and Para [0057] “As shown in Figures 19 and 20, the sweeping body 300 has a shaft portion 301 that is fitted onto the shaft portion 101A of the pleated filter body 100 and rotates integrally with the shaft portion 101A, three arms 302 that extend radially from the shaft portion 301, and sweeping members 303 provided at the tips of the arms 302.”) in a state in which the scrubber is in contact with an inner peripheral surface of the dust collecting container (See Para [0058] describing the contact portion 303 sliding against the inner wall surface of the dust receiving portion); and
a rotary plate connected between the rotary shaft and the scrubber (See 303 attached to arm 302 in Fig. 19) and configured to rotate together with the rotary shaft (See Para [0045] discussing the sweeping body 300 which the arms are attached to rotating) .
And Ha discloses a rotary plate (310) connected to the rotary shaft (312) configured to compress the dust while coming into contact with one surface of the compression plate (See Para [0065] – [0069] describing an embodiment wherein a rotary plate, is rotatably mounted to the shaft and the compression plate (320) is fixed)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the rotary device of Morin as modified to include a scrubber provided to rotate together with the rotary shaft in a state in which the scrubber is in contact with an inner peripheral surface of the dust collecting container; and
a rotary plate connected between the rotary shaft and the scrubber and configured to rotate together with the rotary shaft to compress the dust while coming into contact with one surface of the compression plate as doing so would allow for the compressing plate to additionally capture any debris clinging to the inner surfaces of the debris container, allowing more debris to be compressed, and to make emptying and cleaning the debris container easier for the user.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tyler James McFarland whose telephone number is (571)272-7270. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30AM-5PM (E.S.T), Flex First Friday.
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/T.J.M./ Examiner, Art Unit 3723
/DAVID S POSIGIAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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