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 .
Status of the Claims
This is a non-final rejection in response to the amendments and arguments filed 04/16/2026. Claims 1-3 are currently pending with claim 1 amended and claim 4 canceled.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/16/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the response, filed 04/16/2026, with respect to 112(a) rejections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 112(a) rejections of 01/08/2026 has been withdrawn in light of amendments to the claims.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, and arguments to the combination of the prior art Zhang, Huang and Ho, have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the combination of the prior art Zhang and Huang or the combination of the prior art Zhang and Ho. The combination of the prior art applied in the prior rejection of record is not relied upon for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the arguments. Examiner notes, however, that the prior art Ho is relied upon to teach structures of a shaft base of known fan structures, see rejection below.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2011/0058334 to Takemoto et al. (Takemoto) in view of US 2015/0337860 to Ho (Ho).
In Reference to Claim 1
Takemoto discloses a fan bank (Fig. 12, 44 for instance), comprising:
a plurality of fans (fans 3a and 3b for instance),
each of which includes an independent fan frame (32 for instance, see also ¶ [0034]) having an air inlet (Fig. 4, top side of fan for instance, not labeled) and air outlet (Fig. 4, bottom side of fan units for instance, not labeled) respectively arranged on two opposite sides of the fan frame (front and aft side of each fan 3a, 3b frame 32 for instance) with an air passage (space in 32 hosting 31 and 312 for instance, see figure 1) defined between the air inlet and the air outlet (inlet and outlet of 32 for instance), each fan (3a, 3b) further including an impeller (Fig. 1, 31 for instance) having a plurality of blades (312 for instance) extended therefrom and the impeller being rotatably connected to a motor (see ¶ [0034]), wherein each fan (Fig. 12, of 3a and 3b for instance) rotates in a direction different (clockwise or counterclockwise for instance) from that of other fans located horizontally (fan 81-3a rotates different from 82-3b for instance) and vertically (fan 81-3a rotates different from 81-3b for instance) adjoining thereto, and
fans in the fan bank rotating in the same direction (3a and counterclockwise for instance) being located diagonally to each other (81-3a, 82-3a and 83-3a for instance);
all fans in the fan bank being arrayed to form a matrix including vertical columns (81-83 for instance) and horizontal rows (alternating ones of 3a and 3b for instance); and the fans located adjoining to each other in the same column or in the same row rotating in different directions (as seen in figure 12) to prevent the fans from producing the same frequency resonance and noise (the system as having the as having the same structure, see note below) due to rotating in the same direction (see abstract and [0008], the reduction of noise by structural configuration) and due to airflow interference (the system as having the same structure, see note below), wherein the air outlets of the fans are separated from one another (Fig. 12, each fan having separate frame 32 for instance), such that airflow fields generated therefrom are mutually non-interfering (the system as having the same claimed structure for instance and thus does the same functionally, see note below) and wherein the fan bank is mounted in an electronic product or device (see ¶ [0006] and [0008] for instance).
Takemoto does not explicitly teach “... a shaft base located in the air passage at a central area of the air outlet ....”
Regarding the limitation “... to prevent the fans from producing the same frequency resonance and noise due to rotating in the same direction and due to airflow interference ... such that airflow fields generated therefrom are mutually non-interfering ...”: in short, the claimed invention does not differ from Takemoto in any physical structural manner, as outlined above, or is substantially identical to Takemoto, as outlined above. It has also been held that, “Where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition (in this case, the structure and configuration of the fan units including the rotating direction), or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established”. MPEP 2112.01. As Takemoto teaches substantially identical structure as the claimed invention, as outlined above, Claim 1 is rejected as obvious.
Regarding the limitation “... a shaft base located in the air passage at a central area of the air outlet ....”:
Ho relates to fans, used for cooling, having a frame (Fig. 1: 1 for instance) and an impeller (20) having a plurality of blades (21) extended therefrom; the frame having two opposite sides being an air inlet (Fig. 3: 100 for instance) and an air outlet (101 for instance), and an air passage (Figs. 1 and 3: 10) defined between the air inlet and the air outlet (see also abstract and [0002]), as the claimed invention, and teaches the frame (1) further including a shaft base (11) located in the air passage (10) at a central area of the air outlet (101), and the impeller (20) being located in the air passage (10) and rotatably connected to the shaft base (11).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide in the system of Takemoto wherein the frame (of each fan unit of Takemoto) further includes a shaft base (as taught by Ho) located in the air passage at a central area (of Takemoto) of the air outlet (as taught by Ho), wherein each fan (of Takemoto) further includes an impeller having a plurality of blades extended therefrom (of Takemoto) and the impeller (of Takemoto) being rotatably connected to the shaft base (as taught by Ho), so as to use an art known technique (of the mounting and operation of a fan unit as taught by Ho) into the system of Takemoto and predictably provide suitable mounting and operation of the impeller and motor of the fan unit as is known in the art.
In Reference to Claim 2
Takemoto, as modified by Ho, discloses the fan bank as claimed in claim 1, wherein every fan in the fan bank (Takemoto, Fig. 12, 44 for instance) includes a plurality of blades (Takemoto, 312 for instance) extended from an impeller (Takemoto, 31 for instance); and the blades on the impellers of any two fans located vertically and horizontally adjoining to each other in the fan bank being extended in two opposite inclination directions (Takemoto Fig. 12: blades of fan 81-3a extending counterclockwise for instance and blades of 82-3b extending clockwise for instance).
In Reference to Claim 3
Takemoto, as modified by Ho, discloses the fan bank as claimed in claim 1, wherein every fan in the fan bank (Takemoto, Fig. 12, 44 for instance) has a blade rotation direction different from the blade rotation direction of other fans that are located either vertically adjoining thereto (Takemoto, 81-3a relative to 81-3b for instance) or horizontally adjoining thereto (Takemoto, 81-3a relative to 82-3b for instance).
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, as cited in the Notice of References Cited, are cited to show mounting structures for fan systems, and fan array systems for electronic devices.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE A LAMBERT whose telephone number is (571)270-3516. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 9 am - 7 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel E Wiehe can be reached at (571)272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WAYNE A LAMBERT/Examiner, Art Unit 3745
/NATHANIEL E WIEHE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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