DETAILED ACTION
The present office action is in response to claims filed on 03/16/2024. Claims 1 – 5 are pending in the application.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
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 of this title, 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, 2, 4, and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jo et al. (U.S. Patent No. 12,584,644) in view of Troxell, Jr. (U.S. Patent No. 2,126,230).
Regarding Claim 1, Jo shows (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9):
An embedded ventilation fan (1) comprising:
a housing (110);
a decorative panel (30);
an inner lid (120); and
an air supply blower (500); wherein
the housing (110) includes a side surface (the short side surface of 111, as illustrated in Figure 3), an upper surface (the upper surface of 111, as illustrated in Figure 3), and a lower surface (the lower surface of 112, as illustrated in Figure 3),
the decorative panel (30) is provided on (as illustrated in Figures 1-4) the lower surface (the lower surface of 112, as illustrated in Figure 3), and includes a front surface (the external surface of 30, as illustrated in Figure 1), a rear surface (the internal surface of 30, as illustrated in Figure 2), an air supply slit opening (33), a remaining region (31), and a light transmission portion (32),
the inner lid (120) is provided on (as illustrated in Figure 3) the lower surface (the lower surface of 112, as illustrated in Figure 3) between the housing (110) and the decorative panel (30),
the inner lid (120) includes a display unit (800) having a light emitting portion (830, 831), and a first fitted portion (the portion of 120 in which the distal end protrusions on the rear side of 30 snap into),
an air supply passage (the passage through 100) through which air (air exiting 33) is blown into a room (the room in which 1 is installed, as illustrated in Figure 1) by the air supply blower (500) is provided,
the front surface (the external surface of 30, as illustrated in Figure 1) is a surface (as illustrated in Figure 1) opposite to the rear surface (the internal surface of 30, as illustrated in Figure 2),
the air slit opening (33) is connected to (33 is the discharge of the passage through 100, therefore is connected to) the air supply passage (the passage through 100),
the remaining region (31) is a region other than (as illustrated in Figure 1, 31 is a separate region from 33) the air supply slit opening (33) in the decorative panel (30),
the rear surface (the internal surface of 30, as illustrated in Figure 2) includes a first fitting portion (the two protrusions on the distal end of 31, as illustrated in Figure 2) in the remaining region (31),
the light transmission portion (32) is a portion that transmits light (light emitted from the LEDS on 831) emitted from the light emitting portion (830, 831), and
the light emitting portion (830, 831) is positioned directly above (as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3) the light transmission portion (32) by fitting (as illustrated in the exploded view in Figure 3) the first fitting portion (the two protrusions on the distal end of 31, as illustrated in Figure 2) and the first fitted portion (the portion of 120 in which the distal end protrusions on the rear side of 30 snap into) to each other.
However, Jo lacks showing the air is blown from an outside of the room into the room.
In the same field of endeavor of embedded ventilation fans, Troxell teaches (Figure 1):
It is known in the embedded ventilation fan (apparatus illustrated in Figure 1) art for an air supply passage (passage illustrated by the air flow arrows in Figure 1) through which air (as illustrated by the air flow arrows) is blown from an outside (via 3) of a room (the room in which the apparatus is installed) and from within (via 18) the room (the room in which the apparatus is installed) by the air supply blower (blower 10, 8, and associated components) is provided.
Further, “my invention relates to distributing means, particularly for conditioned air”, Col. 1, lines 1-3.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the air supply passage shown by Jo to include air blown from an outside of the room, as taught by Troxell, to provided conditioned air to the room, which increases occupant comfort.
Regarding Claim 2, Jo shows (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9):
The inner lid (120) includes a second fitted portion (the portion of 120 in which the middle protrusions on the rear side of 30 snap into),
the rear surface (the internal surface of 30, as illustrated in Figure 2) includes a second fitting portion (the two protrusions in the middle of 31, as illustrated in Figure 2) in the remaining region (31), and
the light emitting portion (830, 831) is positioned directly above (as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3) the light transmission portion (32) by fitting (as illustrated in the exploded view in Figure 3) the second fitting portion (the two protrusions in the middle of 31, as illustrated in Figure 2) and the second fitted portion (the portion of 120 in which the middle protrusions on the rear side of 30 snap into) to each other.
Regarding Claim 4, Jo shows (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9):
The light transmission portion (32) is a hole (35).
Regarding Claim 5, Jo shows (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9):
The light transmission portion (32) has a thin shape (as illustrated in Figure 1, the rectangular portion of 32 along the perimeter of 31 is thinner than the rectangular portion of 31) the remaining portion (31) surrounding (31 surrounds the interior perimeter of 32, as illustrated in Figure 1) the light transmission portion (32).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 is objected to as being dependent on 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.
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Jo and Troxell teaches the claimed invention except the first fitted portion is provided around the light emitting portion and the first fitting portion is provided around the light transmission portion.
As illustrated in Figure 2 of Jo, the first fitting portion in the remaining portion is not provided around the light emitting portion, as the light emitting portion and the remaining portion are on opposite ends of the decorative cover.
Modifying the position of the light emitting portion of Jo requires impermissible hindsight, as there is no motivation to do so.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is provided in the Notice of References Cited.
The following prior art teaches related ventilation fands with light emitting portions:
Huang et al. (U.S. Patent No. 11,499,708): see Figure 3
Haaf et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,907,820): see Figure 2
Singh et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,830,465): see Figure 3
Jeong et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,544,947): see Figures 2 and 3
Sakai et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,302,321): see Figure 2
Maeda et al. (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2018/0180320): see Figures 1 and 7
Horng et al. (U.S. Patent No. 9,303,859): see Figure 7
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANA K TIGHE whose telephone number is (571)272-9476. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 8:00 - 4:00.
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/DANA K TIGHE/Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/AVINASH A SAVANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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