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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I Claims 1-11 and Species A Figures 1-7 in the reply filed on 01/28/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 12-17 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group and Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/28/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/11/2025 and 07/11/2025 was filed after the mailing date of the published application on 06/27/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “further comprising: a first passage formed through toward the inner wall of the housing at one end portion of the cooling pipe, wherein the first passage has a plurality of fine holes perforated, the water to be cooled discharged through the second opening flows along the longitudinal direction of an inner wall of the second inner pipe, rotates along the ice spiral, and then flows into the inner wall of the housing through a second passage formed through one end of the second inner pipe, further comprising: a valve provided in the outlet, wherein the valve mixes cold water discharged through the outlet with a fluid having a higher temperature than that of the cold water, and discharges mixed water of which a temperature is adjusted by mixing, wherein the closed other end portion of the cooling pipe is formed by combining a separate cover member with a tubular pipe that is open at both ends” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (KR 101804385 B1, hereinafter Park) in view of Yoon (US 20150007962 A1, hereinafter Yoon).
Regarding claim 1, Park teaches a cooling device (cooling container 10) for instantaneous cooling, the cooling device comprising: a water inflow pipe (cooling pipe 30) having an inlet (via inlet 11, figure 2) into which water to be cooled requiring cooling flows (figure 2); a housing (figure 2) having an outlet (outlet 12) through which cold water cooling the water to be cooled flowing in through the inlet is discharged (outlet 12, which are connected to the cold water pipe for discharging cold water and through which the drinking water passes, paragraph 0054); a refrigerant circulation pipe (refrigerant circulation pipe 20) provided to spirally wrap an outer surface of the housing (as shown on figure 2).
Park teaches the invention as described above but fail to teach a screw-shaped ice spiral formed by the refrigerant circulation pipe on an inner wall of the housing.
However, Yoon teaches a screw-shaped ice spiral (frozen layer 50, paragraph 0044) formed by the refrigerant circulation pipe on an inner wall of the housing (a frozen layer 50 is formed in the beverage storing tank 20 by a cooling action of the cooling pipe 30 wound on the outer circumference of the beverage storing tank 20, paragraphs 0044 and 0047).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the device in the teachings of Park to include a screw-shaped ice spiral formed by the refrigerant circulation pipe on an inner wall of the housing in view of the teachings of Yoon in order to yield the predictable result of a cold beverage may be provided to the user.
Claims 2 and 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park as modified by Yoon as applied above in claim 1, and in further view of Tsukama (JP 2017146008 A, hereinafter Tsukama).
Regarding claim 2, the combined teachings teach wherein the ice spiral (frozen layer 50, paragraph 0044 of Yoon) is not formed inside the water inflow pipe or the cooling pipe (formed in beverage storage tank 20, as described in paragraphs 0044 and 0047 of Yoon).
The combined teachings teach the invention as described above but fail to teach further comprising: a cooling pipe provided inside the housing, and provided into which the water inflow pipe is inserted along a longitudinal direction.
However, Tsukama teaches further comprising: a cooling pipe (tube 3) provided inside the housing (figures 1 and 8), and provided into which the water inflow pipe (first inner pipe 2 itself or another pipe connected thereto penetrates the bottom surface 7a of the storage tank vertically as an inlet pipe 9 to which a fluid to be cooled is supplied from the outside, paragraph 0017) is inserted along a longitudinal direction (as shown on figure 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the device in the combined teachings to include further comprising: a cooling pipe provided inside the housing, and provided into which the water inflow pipe is inserted along a longitudinal direction in view of the teachings of Tsukama in order to yield the predictable result of allowing a fluid to be cooled to be supplied from the outside.
Regarding claim 4, the combined teachings teach, as modified, wherein the water to be cooled flowing inside the water inflow pipe (entering first inner pipe 2, figure 8 of Tsukama) and the cooling pipe (tube 3 of Tsukama) is roll-cooled (as shown on figure 8 of Tsukama), and the water to be cooled rotating along the ice spiral (via cooling coil 5 of Tsukama, corresponding to frozen layer 50 of Yoon) is intensively cooled on an outside of the cooling pipe (on the outside portion of tube 3, as shown on figure 8 of Tsukama).
Regarding claim 5, the combined teachings teach the invention as described above but fail to explicitly teach further comprising: first and second inner pipes provided between the cooling pipe and the housing, wherein the water to be cooled flows in through the inlet provided at one end of the water inflow pipe, and is discharged through a first opening provided at the other end of the water inflow pipe, a direction of the water to be cooled discharged to the first opening is changed by the closed other end portion of the cooling pipe, the water to be cooled flows along a longitudinal direction of the cooling pipe, and then flows into the first inner pipe, the water to be cooled flowing into the first inner pipe flows along the longitudinal direction of the first inner pipe, and then is discharged through a second opening provided at the other end of the first inner pipe, the water to be cooled discharged through the second opening flows along the longitudinal direction of an inner wall of the second inner pipe, rotates along the ice spiral, and then flows into the inner wall of the housing through a second passage formed through one end of the second inner pipe, and the water to be cooled flowing into the inner wall of the housing flows along the longitudinal direction of the inner wall of the housing, rotates along the ice spiral, and then is discharged into the outlet.
The combined teachings of Tsukama does however teach an inlet pipe 9 at the lower end side in the axial direction, and has a small diameter communication port 11a penetrating the inner and outer sides in the radial direction at the upper end side, the internal space of the first inner tube 2 corresponds to the flow path 10a, and a substantially cylindrical space existing between the outside of the first inner tube 2 and the inside of the second inner tube 3 is It corresponds to the flow path 10b. These flow paths 10a and 10b communicate with each other on the upper end side through the communication port 11a, the inner and outer spaces in the radial direction in the second inner pipe 3 communicate with each other on the lower end side through the communication port 11b. When the fluid introduced from the axial inlet pipe 9 is discharged from the outside in the radial direction, the communication port 11b is located upstream of the flow paths 10c and 10d in contact with the cooling coil 5, and the fluid flows into these flow paths 10c and 10d. Therefore, the first and second inner pipes provided between the cooling pipe and the housing, wherein the water to be cooled flows in through the inlet provided at one end of the water inflow pipe, and is discharged through a first opening provided at the other end of the water inflow pipe, a direction of the water to be cooled discharged to the first opening is changed by the closed other end portion of the cooling pipe, the water to be cooled flows along a longitudinal direction of the cooling pipe, and then flows into the first inner pipe, the water to be cooled flowing into the first inner pipe flows along the longitudinal direction of the first inner pipe, and then is discharged through a second opening provided at the other end of the first inner pipe, the water to be cooled discharged through the second opening flows along the longitudinal direction of an inner wall of the second inner pipe, rotates along the ice spiral, and then flows into the inner wall of the housing through a second passage formed through one end of the second inner pipe, and the water to be cooled flowing into the inner wall of the housing flows along the longitudinal direction of the inner wall of the housing, rotates along the ice spiral, and then is discharged into the outlet is recognized as a result-effective variable, i.e. a variable which achieves a recognized result. In this case, the recognized result is --an axial inlet pipe 9 is discharged from the outside in the radial direction, the communication port 11b is located upstream of the flow paths 10c and 10d in contact with the cooling coil 5, and the fluid flows into these flow paths 10c and 10d--. Therefore, since the general conditions of the claim, i.e. the first and second inner pipes communication with the first/second openings, were disclosed in the prior art by the combined teachings, it is not inventive to discover the optimum workable range or value by routine experimentation, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to modify the combined teachings by employing an axial inlet pipe 9 is discharged from the outside in the radial direction, the communication port 11b is located upstream of the flow paths 10c and 10d in contact with the cooling coil 5, and the fluid flows into these flow paths 10c and 10d.
In the further alternative, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to optimize the first/second inner pipes to communicate with the first/second openings of the combined teachings, and thus the direction of the water discharged from the first/second openings within the first/second inner pipes cannot be considered critical. "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation", where the combined teachings teach the general conditions of the claim in the prior art, including a housing width and a housing depth. In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955). "It is a settled principle of law that a mere carrying forward of an original patented conception involving only change of form, proportions, or degree, or the substitution of equivalents doing the same thing as the original invention, by substantially the same means, is not such an invention as will sustain a patent, even though the changes of the kind may produce better results than prior inventions." In re Williams, 36 F.2d 436, 438 (CCPA 1929). See MPEP 2144.05 II.A.
Regarding claim 6, the combined teachings teach wherein the second passage (communication port 11b of Tsukama) has a plurality of fine holes perforated (at the lower portion of pipe 3, as shown on figure 8 of Tsukama).
Regarding claim 7, the combined teachings teach wherein the closed other end portion of the cooling pipe (closed end portion of tube 3, figure 8 of Tsukama) is formed by combining a separate cover member (lid 6, figure 8 of Tsukama) with a tubular pipe (pipe 2 of Tsukama) that is open at both ends (top and lower portions of pipe 2 are open, as shown on figure 8 of Tsukama).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park as modified by Yoon as applied above in claim 1, and in further view of Azuma et al (US 20130000286 A1. Hereinafter Azuma).
Regarding claim 3, the combined teachings teach the invention as described above but fail to teach further comprising: a first passage formed through toward the inner wall of the housing at one end portion of the cooling pipe, wherein the first passage has a plurality of fine holes perforated.
However, Azuma teaches further comprising: a first passage (passage A, figure 3) formed through toward the inner wall of the housing (inner wall of heat exchanger 2, figure 3) at one end portion of the cooling pipe (at the outer end of pipe 31, figure 3), wherein the first passage (passage A, figure 3) has a plurality of fine holes perforated (apertures 30, figure 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the device in the combined teachings to include further comprising: a cooling pipe provided inside the housing, and provided into which the water inflow pipe is inserted along a longitudinal direction in view of the teachings of Azuma in order to yield the predictable result of allowing a configuration that can improve efficiency of heat exchanger.
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park as modified by Yoon and Tsukama as applied above in claim 7, and in further view of Joo et al (KR 20100107903 A, hereinafter Joo).
Regarding claim 8, the combined teachings teach the invention as described above but fail to teach wherein the cover member is configured such that the cooling pipe and the second inner pipe are fitted into a plurality of grooves that are concentrically provided to be combined to form the closed other end portion in the cooling pipe and the second inner pipe.
However, Joo teaches wherein the cover member (sink S, corresponding to lid 6 of Tsukama) is configured such that the cooling pipe (pipe 210) and the second inner pipe (pipe 220) are fitted into a plurality of grooves (under S, figure 7b) that are concentrically provided to be combined to form the closed other end portion (closing the end of pipe T, figure 7b) in the cooling pipe and the second inner pipe (closing the end of pipe T, figure 7b).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the device in the combined teachings to include wherein the cover member is configured such that the cooling pipe and the second inner pipe are fitted into a plurality of grooves that are concentrically provided to be combined to form the closed other end portion in the cooling pipe and the second inner pipe in view of the teachings of Joo in order to yield the predictable result of providing cooled water may be discharged to the outside through the connection pipe and the cold-water discharge pipe.
Regarding claim 9, the combined teachings teachwherein the cover member (sink S of Joo) is configured such that a part of the plurality of grooves (within the grooves under sink S, figure 7b of Joo) has a deep depth (figure 7b of Joo) on at least a part of a circumference to form a flow path (figure 7b of Joo) through which a fluid flows in a radial direction (via cold water discharge pipe C of Joo).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park as modified by Yoon as applied above in claim 1, and in further view of Kim (KR 20200001256 A, hereinafter Kim).
Regarding claim 10, the combined teachings teach the invention as described above but fail to teach further comprising: a thermal insulation material provided on the outer surface of the housing to wrap the housing.
However, Kim teaches further comprising: a thermal insulation material provided on the outer surface of the housing to wrap the housing (the housing 100 may further include a heat insulating member such as glass fiber surrounding the outer circumferential surface of the hollow tube 130, paragraph 0029).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the device in the combined teachings to include further comprising: a cooling pipe provided inside the housing, and provided into which the water inflow pipe is inserted along a longitudinal direction in view of the teachings of Azuma in order to yield the predictable result of preventing the external temperature from affecting the hollow tube.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park as modified by Yoon as applied above in claim 1, and in further view of Chan (US 20160216045 A1, hereinafter Chan).
Regarding claim 11, the combined teachings teach the invention as described above but fail to teach further comprising: a valve provided in the outlet, wherein the valve mixes cold water discharged through the outlet with a fluid having a higher temperature than that of the cold water, and discharges mixed water of which a temperature is adjusted by mixing.
However, Chan teaches further comprising: a valve (mixing valve 434) provided in the outlet (through water outlet 419 on heat exchanger 430, paragraph 0003 and as shown on figure 1a), wherein the valve mixes cold water discharged through the outlet (via cold water pipe 416 and water inlet 417 towards pipeline 427, fig 1a) with a fluid having a higher temperature (preheated water, paragraph 0003 and figure 1a) than that of the cold water (via 418, 0003 and fig 1a), and discharges mixed water of which a temperature is adjusted by mixing (as described in paragraph 0003).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the device in the combined teachings to include further comprising: a valve provided in the outlet, wherein the valve mixes cold water discharged through the outlet with a fluid having a higher temperature than that of the cold water, and discharges mixed water of which a temperature is adjusted by mixing in view of the teachings of Chan in order to yield the predictable result of reducing the amount of heating energy consumption.
Conclusion
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/DARIO ANTONIO DELEON/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/JERRY-DARYL FLETCHER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763