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 § 103
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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RU2709410C1, hereinafter RU in view of Huisinga, (U.S. Patent No. 4,930,446, hereinafter Huisinga).
With respect to Claim 1, RU discloses an environment measurement device [see fig 1 unless otherwise noted] comprising: a housing [1] with a hollow interior having a first intake port [left intake 3], a second intake port [right intake 3], and an exhaust port [either of exhausts 4]; a dust sensor [left sensor 5] defining a first flow path through which air passes and configured to detect dust contained in the air passing through the first flow path, the dust sensor being disposed inside the housing such that an inlet of the first flow path is connected to the first intake port; a fan [14; page 9, last full para] configured to generate an air flow inside the housing, the fan being spaced apart from the dust sensor a dust filter [page 4, 2nd para] provided in the second intake port and configured to collect dust contained in the air supplied from the second intake port; and an environmental sensor [right sensor 5] configured to measure air supplied from the second intake port through the dust filter, wherein the air supplied from the first intake port and the second intake port are exhausted from the exhaust port [while the main embodiment in figure 1 has two intakes and two exhaust, page 3, para 6 indicates “at least one” intake and “at least one” exhaust, which would cover the example of two intakes and one exhaust].
RU does not disclose that the fan is disposed on the exhaust port inside the housing such that a discharge of the fan is directed toward the exhaust port.
Huisinga shows a dust sensor that places the fans at the exhaust ports. See fan 14 in fig 1.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention that the flow generating fan can be placed at any point along RU’s flow path to induce flow, including at the exhaust to generate the desired airflow.
With respect to Claim 2, RU discloses further comprising a partition member [filter on right intake 6, page 4, 2nd para] defining a second flow path through which air passing through the dust sensor flows and connecting an outlet of the first flow path of the dust sensor [below 5] and the fan, wherein at least a portion of the partition member is configured as a filter through which air passes.
With respect to Claim 3, RU discloses that the environmental sensor comprises a gas sensor [sensors 5 detect dust in a gas sample].
With respect to Claim 4, Huisinga discloses that the dust sensor and the fan are disposed to face each other [see fig 1].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEX T DEVITO whose telephone number is (571)270-7551. The examiner can normally be reached 12pm- 8 pm EST M-S.
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/ALEX T DEVITO/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/JOHN E BREENE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855