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 .
Examiner Note
This is a Non-Final Detailed Action in response to application filed on 01 April 2024. The present application claims 1-20, submitted on 01 April 2024 are pending.
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.
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 nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 2, 8-10 & 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iida (U.S. Pub. No 2020/0306904) in view of Wierzchon (U.S. Patent No. 11,491,597).
Regarding claim 1, Lida discloses a dust collection system (1) for a power tool (2), the system (1) comprising: a power tool (2) including a switch (261), a tool-body direct current motor (31), a tool-body controller (5) configured to control the tool-body direct current motor (31) in response to an operation on the switch (261; see Paragraph 0029), and a tool-body battery (93); and a dust collection attachment (7) attachable to the power tool (2) to collect dust produced by the power tool in use (see Paragraph 0099), the dust collection attachment (7) including a suction portion (754), a dust collector (73) configured to capture dust sucked through the suction portion (754; see Paragraph 0034), a fan (713) configured to generate a suction force in the suction portion (754; see Paragraph 0035), a dust-collector direct current motor (711) configured to rotate the fan (713; see Paragraph 0035), a dust-collector controller (8) configured to control the dust-collector direct current motor (711), wherein when the dust collection attachment (7) is attached to the power tool (see Paragraph 0015), the tool-body controller (5) and the dust-collector controller (8) are electrically connected to each other (see Paragraph 0039), and the tool-body controller (5) or the dust-collector controller (8) uses the tool-body battery (93) singly to supply power to the tool-body direct current motor (31) and the dust-collector direct current motor (711; see Paragraph 0041).
Iida discloses all of the elements of the current invention as stated above except for the explicit disclosure of a dust collector attachment that includes a dust-collector battery.
Wierzchon discloses (see Figure 1) a dust collection system (36) for a power tool (10) including a switch (30), a dust collection attachment (38) attachable to the power tool (10) to collect dust produced by the power tool in use (see Column 6, line 55-59), the dust collection attachment (38) including a suction portion (42), a dust collector (52) configured to capture dust sucked through the suction portion (42; see Column 6, line 47-54), a fan (56) configured to generate a suction force in the suction portion (42; see Column 6, line 55-59), and a dust-collector battery (66).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was filed to have modified Lida to incorporate the disclosure of Wierzchon to include a dust collector attachment that includes a dust-collector battery. Doing so would enable the dust collector to be independently or operated simultaneously with the operation of the power tool.
Regarding claim 2, Lida discloses (see Figure 1) wherein the tool-body controller (5) or the dust-collector controller (8) uses the tool-body battery singly (93) to supply power to the tool-body direct current motor (31) and the dust-collector direct current motor (711) before using the dust-collector battery singly (93’) to supply power to the tool-body direct current motor (31) and the dust-collector direct current motor (711; see Paragraph 0041).
Regarding claim 8, Lida discloses wherein (see Figure 1) the tool-body controller (5) or the dust-collector controller (8) activates the tool-body direct current motor (31) after activating the dust-collector direct current motor (711) in response to an on-operation on the switch (261; see Paragraph 0029).
Regarding claims 9 & 17, Lida discloses (see Figure 1) wherein the tool-body controller (5) or the dust-collector controller (8) deactivates the dust-collector controller (8) after deactivating the tool-body direct current motor (31) in response to an off-operation on the switch (261; see Paragraph 0029).
Regarding claim 10, Wierzchon discloses (see Figure 1) an indicator (72) configured to indicate that each of the tool-body battery (66) has a voltage less than or equal to the predetermined value (see Column 7, lines 46-48).
Claims 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iida (U.S. Pub. No 2020/0306904) in view of Wierzchon (U.S. Patent No. 11,491,597) further in view of Brewster (U.S. Pub. No. 2013/0213683).
Regarding claims 6 & 13, Lida in view of Wierzchon discloses all of the elements of the current invention as stated above except for the explicit disclosure of utilizing battery mounting structures that are the same for a power tool and dust collection attachment.
Brewster discloses (see Figure 5) a dust collection system (8) for a power tool (1) comprising a power tool (1), a tool-body battery (222), a dust collection attachment (8), a dust-collector battery (218); the power tool (1) includes a tool-body battery mount to which the tool-body battery (222) is detachably attachable (see Paragraph 0079), the dust collection attachment (8) includes a dust-collector battery mount to which the dust-collector battery (218) is detachably attachable (see Paragraph 0079), and a structure in which the tool-body battery (222) is attached to and detached from the tool-body battery (222) is same as a structure in which the dust-collector battery (218) is attached to and detached from the dust-collector battery mount (see Paragraph 0079).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the applicant's claimed invention, to have modified Lida in view of Wierzchon to incorporate the disclosure of Brewster utilizing battery mounting structures that are the same for a power tool and dust collection attachment. Doing so would enable the power tool and the dust collection attachment to utilize identical battery packs and enable interchangeable capabilities of the respective battery packs.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 7, 11, 12, 14-16 and 18-20 are objected to as being dependent upon 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XAVIER A MADISON whose telephone number is (571)272-7786. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thanh Truong can be reached at (571) 272-4472. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/XAVIER A MADISON/Examiner, Art Unit 3731
/THANH K TRUONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3731