Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “at least the portion of the filter radially extends through the rib” recited in claim 8 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s).1 No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 16-19 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Herbst et al. (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0189891) in view of Sanagi (U. S. Patent No. 7,614,250).
As to claim 16, Herbst et al. discloses a blower (FIG.’s 1-8, Abstract) comprising:
a housing 10 (FIG.’s 1-2, para. 0017) defining an interior space (shown), the housing comprising:
an inlet 76 (FIG. 7, para. 0033, input port 76);
an outlet 18 (para. 0017); and
a first side and a second side joined by a sidewall (para. 0020, shown best in FIG. 4, sides on top and bottom connected by side walls), the interior space at least partly between the first and second sides (shown);
an impeller (para. 0005, “an impeller having at least one fan blade and mounted to the unitary fan housing”) comprising a plurality of blades Id., configured to draw fluid from the inlet to the outlet 18, wherein the outlet 18 is on the sidewall connecting the first and second sides of the housing 10 (shown) to direct fluid radially through the outlet 18 at least partially within an axial extent of the impeller (FIG.’s 5-8, as shown since impeller housing 14 overlaps at least partially with outlet 18)
an electric motor disposed in the housing 10 (Id., “[a]n impeller motor is coupled to the impeller that rotates the impeller to draw air into the fan housing”), the electric motor configured to rotate the impeller to draw fluid from the inlet to the outlet 10 (during normal operation).
Herbst is silent as to a filter disposed at least partly in the inlet, the filter configured to pass through the filter at least a portion of fluid drawn from the inlet to the outlet, wherein the filter is integrated with the housing. Herbst does provide mounting support for a filter using clips 60, 62 (para. 0030). To this point, Sanagi teaches a blower fan having a filter 3, 31 disposed in the inlet 31 integrated with the housing 8 (FIG.’s 1-2, col. 6, ll. 5-15, formed by decorative panel 3 on inlet 31 which due to its grilled configuration shown in FIG. 1, provides for filtering broadly; although not described, its mounted location is considered to be integrated with the housing in the manner claimed). With this in mind, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Herbst with a filter disposed in the inlet configured in the manner claimed in order to provide a decorative panel on the bottom of the housing preventing ingestion of materials as demonstrated by Sanagi, Id.
As to claim 17, although Sanagi is silent as to the filter is formed of the same material as the housing, it is depicted as part of housing which suggests the same material is used for both parts. With this in mind, the Examiner takes Official Notice that it would have been further obvious to form the filter of the same material as the housing in order to simplify construction and provide a consistent form and fit of the parts as a matter of common design principles.
As to claim 18, once modified, Sanagi further teaches the filter 3, 31 is flush with an exterior surface of the housing (FIG.’s 1-2, as shown, parts form flush surface) forming the inlet (upon modification).
As to claim 19, the applied art is silent as to the filter has an axial thickness that is the same as an axial thickness of a portion of the housing at least partly forming the inlet. Sanagi evidently shows the inlet having a greater thickness than filter panel 3 (FIG. 2). Since applicant has not disclosed that having filter thickness being the same as a portion of the housing solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose above and it appears that the filter thickness of Sanagi would perform equally well being configured as claimed by applicant, absent persuasive evidence that the particular configuration of the claimed limitation is significant, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice, before the filing of the claimed invention, to modify the filter thickness in the manner claimed for the purpose of simplifying construction of the walls of the housing. See MPEP 2144.04 (IV)(B).
Claims 1-7, 11-15 and 20-24 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Herbst et al. (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0189891) in view of Sanagi (U. S. Patent No. 7,614,250) and Hamlin (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0251893).
As to claim 1, Herbst et al. discloses a blower (FIG.’s 1-8, Abstract) comprising:
a housing 10 (FIG.’s 1-2, para. 0017) defining an interior space (shown), the housing comprising:
an inlet 76 (FIG. 7, para. 0033, input port 76);
an outlet 18 (para. 0017); and
a first side and a second side joined by a sidewall (para. 0020, shown best in FIG. 4, sides on top and bottom connected by side walls), the interior space at least partly between the first and second sides (shown), the first and second sides extending radially inwards from the sidewall to move fluid radially to the outlet 18 (via flow path 12);
an impeller (para. 0005, “an impeller having at least one fan blade and mounted to the unitary fan housing”) comprising a plurality of blades Id., configured to draw fluid from the inlet to the outlet 18 (during normal operation);
an electric motor disposed in the housing 10 (Id., “[a]n impeller motor is coupled to the impeller that rotates the impeller to draw air into the fan housing”), the electric motor configured to rotate the impeller to draw fluid from the inlet to the outlet 10 (normal operation).
Herbst is silent as to a filter disposed at least partly in the inlet, the filter configured to pass through the filter at least a portion of fluid drawn from the inlet to the outlet, wherein the filter is integrated with the housing, wherein the inlet and the filter are at least partially positioned axially over the impeller. Herbst does provide mounting support for a filter via clips 60, 62 (para. 0030). To this point, Sanagi teaches a blower fan having a filter 33 disposed in the inlet 31 and integrated with the housing 8 (FIG.’s 1-2, col. 6, ll. 10-15, although not described, its mounted location is considered to be integrated with the housing 8 axially positioned over the impeller in the manner claimed). With this in mind, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Herbst with a filter disposed in the inlet configured in the manner claimed in order to prevent dust from being sucked into the fan inlet as taught by Sanagi, Id.
Herbst and Sanagi are silent as to the filter comprising a mesh. In this regard, Hamlin teaches an air handling system having a filter formed of different materials and mesh configurations (para. 0016, describing various filter material configurations and mesh layers). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide a mesh filter__a material known for its suitability and intended use in air filters as taught by Hamlin, Id. See MPEP § 2144.07.
As to claim 2, once modified, Hamlin further teaches the filter comprising a plurality of interconnected strands (Id., mesh materials known to have strands).
As to claim 3, once modified, Hamlin further teaches the filter formed of a different material from the housing (Id., various materials disclosed for the filter such as glass, polyester etc., differing from molded housing material of Herbst upon modification).
As to claim 4, Herbst further discloses the inlet 76 is positioned on the first side of the housing (FIG. 7, as shown), the inlet 76 formed at least partly by a wall forming the first side. And upon the Sanagi modification, at least a portion of the filter radially extends into the wall of the first side (due to location of the filter 33 in inlet side of housing).
As to claim 5, Herbst is silent as to the housing comprises a rib disposed in the inlet, the rib supporting the filter. Sanagi teaches the housing having a rib supporting the filter 33 (refer to an Annotated copy of Sanagi FIG. 2 attached below, shown and indicated, the projection from bell mouth 7 supporting the filter). Therefore, it would further have been obvious to adapt the housing with a rib for supporting the filter in the manner claimed in order to provide a secure filter mounting on the housing as demonstrated by Sanagi.
PNG
media_image1.png
527
648
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Annotated Sanagi FIG. 2
As to claim 6, once modified, the filter 33 of Sanagi would be integrated with the rib (shown, under broadest reasonable interpretation of the term integrated).
As to claim 7, once modified, at least a portion of the filter 33 radially extends into the rib (Annotated Sanagi FIG. 2, as shown).
As to claim 11, once modified, Sanagi further teaches or suggests some of the housing is located in voids of the filter (since filter 33 is formed covering a hole in the housing thereby broadly meeting the claim since the housing structure is not co-extensive with the filter).
As to claim 12, once modified, Sanagi further teaches the filter 33 has an axial thickness that is less than an axial thickness of a portion of the housing 7 at least partly forming the inlet 31 (Annotated Sanagi FIG. 2, as shown and indicated, since bell mouth has a larger axial dimension than filter 33 at its edges as clearly depicted in the drawing figure).
As to claim 13, once modified, Sanagi further teaches the filter 33 is axially recessed relative to an exterior surface of the housing (Annotated Sanagi FIG. 2, as shown and indicated).
As to claim 14, Herbst further discloses the outlet 18 is at the sidewall (shown) to direct fluid radially through the outlet at least partially within an axial extent of the impeller (FIG.’s 5-8, para. 0005, due to outlet 18 location with respect to impeller housing 14 which at least partially overlaps axially with impeller location).
As to claim 15, the applied art is discussed above but is silent as to another filter, the other filter positioned at the inlet over the filter. However, this is simply duplicating the known working elements taught by Sanagi. It has been held that the mere duplication of parts has no patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is produced. Since the filter is used to prevent sucking dust and debris into the fan, having duplicate filters would only produce an expected redundancy. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before at the time the invention was made to duplicate the filters in order to provide redundancy and increased dust removal. See MPEP § 2144.04 (VI)(B).
As to claim 20, Herbst et al. discloses a blower (FIG.’s 1-8, Abstract) comprising:
a housing 10 (FIG.’s 1-2, para. 0017) defining an interior space (shown), the housing comprising:
an inlet 76 (FIG. 7, para. 0033, input port 76);
an outlet 18 (para. 0017); and
a first side and a second side joined by a sidewall (para. 0020, shown best in FIG. 4, sides on top and bottom connected by side walls), the interior space at least partly between the first and second sides (shown), wherein the outlet 18 is on the sidewall (shown) connecting the first and second sides of the housing to direct fluid radially through the outlet 18 (via flow path 12);
an impeller (para. 0005, “an impeller having at least one fan blade and mounted to the unitary fan housing”) comprising a plurality of blades Id., configured to draw fluid from the inlet to the outlet 18 (during normal operation);
an electric motor disposed in the housing 10 (Id., “[a]n impeller motor is coupled to the impeller that rotates the impeller to draw air into the fan housing”), the electric motor configured to rotate the impeller to draw fluid from the inlet to the outlet 10 (normal operation).
Herbst is silent as to a filter disposed at least partly in the inlet, the filter configured to pass through the filter at least a portion of fluid drawn from the inlet to the outlet, wherein the inlet and the filter are at least partially positioned axially over the impeller. Herbst does provide mounting support for a filter via clips 60, 62 (para. 0030). To this point, Sanagi teaches a blower fan having a filter 33 disposed in the inlet 31 comprising a mesh integrated with the housing 8 (FIG.’s 1-2, col. 6, ll. 10-15, although not described, its mounted location is considered to be integrated with the housing 8 axially positioned over the impeller in the manner claimed). With this in mind, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Herbst with a filter disposed in the inlet configured in the manner claimed in order to prevent dust from being sucked into the fan as taught by Sanagi, Id.
Herbst and Sanagi are silent as to the filter comprising a mesh. In this regard, Hamlin teaches an air handling system having a filter formed of different materials and mesh configurations (para. 0016, describing various filter material configurations and mesh layers). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide a mesh filter_–a material known for its suitability and intended use in air filters as taught by Hamlin, Id. See MPEP § 2144.07.
As to claim 21, refer to the rejection of claim 4, supra.
As to claim 22, refer to the rejection of claim 11, supra.
As to claim 23, refer to the rejection of claim 5, supra.
As to claim 24, refer to the rejection of claim 7, supra.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
With respect to the aforesaid dependent claims, the prior art of record either alone or in combination does not teach or fairly suggest the blower of claim 1 including the features recited in the intervening claims with the filter and rib configured in the manner claimed with respect to the housing or shroud.
It is the Examiner’s opinion that modifying the applied art in the manner claimed would not be reasonably foreseeable without the benefit of the disclosure of the instant invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNETH J HANSEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6780. The examiner can normally be reached Monday Friday 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM (MT).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Laurenzi can be reached at (571) 270-7878. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KENNETH J HANSEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
1 Applicant’s drawings depict the filter in what appears to be sectional form as a blacked-out area of the inlet location where the ribs are located. It is not evidently clear where the filter extends radially through the rib from these views.
Prosecution Insights