DETAILED ACTION
The communication dated 2/10/2026 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 8, 19, and 30 were canceled. Claims 1-7, 9-18, 20-29, and 31-40 are currently pending.
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 .
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1, 6-7, and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Conrad U.S. Publication 2014/0259478 (henceforth referred to as Conrad).
As for claim 1, Conrad teaches a steam mop (Fig. 1: part 1) comprising: a battery to provide battery power (paragraph [0090]); a fluid reservoir (Fig. 1: part 5) for holding liquid; at least heating element (Fig. 1: part 9) in fluid communication with the fluid reservoir; one or more temperature sensors (Fig. 1: part 68) coupled to the at least one heating element; and a controller (Fig. 5: part 54) in communication with the one or more temperature sensors and the at least one heating element, the controller is configured to operate in a cordless mode to control and energize the at least one heating element in a first high power mode and a second low power mode using battery power, based on, at least in part, temperature data received from the one or more temperature sensors; wherein the high power mode provides a greater amount of power to the at least one heating element than the low power mode (paragraphs [0090]-[0095]; Fig. 5).
As for claim 6, Conrad further teaches a mister in fluid communication with the fluid reservoir, the mister is configured to generate a mist (paragraph [0072]; Fig. 2).
As for claim 7, Conrad further teaches that the controller is further configured to control operation of the mister in the corded and cordless operating modes (Fig. 5).
As for claim 10, Conrad further teaches a controllable valve (Fig. 1: part 7) disposed between the at least one heating element and the fluid reservoir; wherein the controller is further configured to control the controllable valve to deliver a selected amount of liquid from the fluid reservoir to the at least one heating element (Fig. 5).
As for claim 11, Conrad further teaches that the liquid includes water, cleaning, and/or disinfection agents (paragraph [0053]).
As for claim 12, Conrad further teaches a steam head (Fig. 1: part 4) including a steam pad (Fig. 1: part 12) in fluid communication with a steam output of the at least one heating element.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 9, and 38 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.
Claims 13-18, 20-29, 31-37, and 39-40 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As for claims 2-5, 9, and 38, Conrad U.S. Publication 2014/0259478, the closest prior art, differs from the instant claims in failing to teach that the controller is configured to determine if AC power is available or if only battery power is available; if AC power is available, the controller is configured to operate in a corded mode to: control and energize the at least one thick film heating to heat the liquid to selected temperature to produce steam and wherein the at least one temperature sensor provides temperature data of the heated liquid to the controller; and if only battery power is available, the controller is configured to operate in the cordless mode. Furthermore, it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steam mop taught by Conrad as claimed.
As for claims 13-18, 20-29, 31-37, and 39-40, Conrad U.S. Publication 2014/0259478, the closest prior art, differs from the instant claims in failing to teach that the controller is further configured to control and energize the mister to generate mist using battery power. Furthermore, it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steam mop taught by Conrad as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEVON J SHAHINIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1384. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30am-6:00pm.
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/LEVON J SHAHINIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711
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