DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/16/25 have been fully considered but they are moot as they dot not apply to the current grounds of rejection made in view of amendments to the claims.
Response to Amendments
Amendments to the claims overcome the objection to claim 13 set forth in the prior Office action. Therefore, the objection is withdrawn.
Amendments to the claims overcome the rejections of claims 1-11 and 13-16 under 35 USC 112(b) set forth in the prior Office action. Therefore, the rejections are withdrawn.
The rejections of claims 1-11 and 13-16 under 35 USC 103 set forth in the prior Office action are withdrawn in order to present new rejections in view of amendments to the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 states that a pumping signal to alternately activate and deactivate the condensate pump is provided in a fixed cycle “during an entirety of cleaning process.” It is unclear if this limitation is referring to the cleaning process recited in line 1 of the claim. Furthermore, it is unclear what encompasses the cleaning process. The claim does not define any particular steps of the cleaning process, and it is unclear which, if any, of the recited method steps are considered part of the cleaning process in which the condensate pump is activated and deactivated.
Remaining claims are rejected due to their dependency on a rejected claim.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 13, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 20210262154 by Choe et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20140026433 by Bison et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 20100212369 by Grunert et al., and EP2039819A1 by Fumagalli.
As to claim 1, Choe teaches a method for carrying out a cleaning process for a cleaning device which has a treatment chamber 130 (fig. 1), a heating device with a heat pump 160, a fan 170 for propelling process air through a circuit leading through the treatment chamber and heating device, and a condensate pump (para. 85), wherein the method comprises providing a heat pump signal for activating the heat pump during an air washing process S150 following a steam generating process S140 (fig. 4, note that “air washing,” as broadly interpreted consistent with the present disclosure, comprises propelling heated process air into the treatment chamber after a steam process).
Choe does not teach that its heating device further comprises an auxiliary heater in the circuit, and thus does not teach the steps of providing a heating signal, providing a supply signal, and providing a fan signal since such steps require, directly or indirectly, an auxiliary heater as claimed.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to modify the cleaning device taught by Choe such that its heating device includes an auxiliary heater in the process air circuit. Bison teaches that an auxiliary heater coupled with a heat pump in a process air circuit is useful, for example, for the starting phases of a drying cycle when the heat pump condenser has not yet reached full working temperature (para. 109). Bison also teaches that an auxiliary heater is useful for the generation of steam and can be configured to use condensate from the heat pump evaporator as a source of water for generating steam (paras. 93, 109). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to substitute the separate steam generating device 180 of Choe for an auxiliary heater so that it not only can provide heat during starting phases of a drying cycle, but also so that it can generate steam, which would eliminate the need for a separate steam generating device while realizing the additional benefit of providing heat during starting phases of drying.
Upon this obvious modification to the cleaning device of Choe, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to provide a heating signal for activating the auxiliary heating during a heating process and during a steam generation process following the heating process to heat the auxiliary heater to a temperature suitable for evaporating water. Choe teaches a heating process S130 (fig. 4, para. 139, heat is provided while driving the drum), and based on the teachings of Bison, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to activate the auxiliary heater along with the heat pump (see Bison, para. 109). Choe teaches a steam generation process S140 (fig. 4) following its heating process S130; based on the teachings of Bison, the auxiliary heater would be heated to a temperature suitable for evaporating water and providing steam (see Bison, para. 93).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have also recognized as obvious to provide a supply signal to a supply device interface to cause water to be supplied to the auxiliary heater to generate steam during the steam generation process. Choe teaches a supply device (e.g. a valve) that is signaled to cause water to be supplied to its steam generator during the steam generation process (para. 96); Bison also teaches, in its embodiment of steam generated by an auxiliary heater, that a supply signal to a supply device (e.g. a pump) causes water to be supplied to the auxiliary heater to generate steam during the steam generation process (para. 93).
Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to provide a fan signal for activating the fan during the air washing process to propel steam into the treatment chamber for cleaning articles and from the treatment chamber into an evaporator of the heat pump for cleaning particles from the steam by condensing the steam with the particles into a condensate. Choe teaches providing a fan signal for activating the fan during the air washing process S150 (fig. 4); upon the obvious modification to have steam generated by an auxiliary heater, the fan would propel steam through the circuit into the treatment chamber and from the treatment chamber into an evaporator 161 for “cleaning” the steam by condensing the steam (Choe, fig. 1, note that condensing steam and any impurities therein would be broadly understood as “cleaning” the steam).
Choe teaches that condensate may be pumped to a condensate tank (para. 85), but does not teach that the condensate may be pumped away from the cleaning device (i.e. to a location external to the device). However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to pump the condensate away from the device. Grunert teaches that condensate may be pumped to a condensate tank which may be manually emptied by a user, as is the case in the device taught by Choe, or it may alternately be pumped away from the device, which avoids the need to manually remove the tank for emptying (para. 44). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to pump the condensate away from the device in order to avoid the need to manually empty a condensate tank, as taught by Grunert.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have also recognized as obvious to provide a pumping signal to alternately activate and deactivate the condensate pump in a fixed cycle during an entirety of a cleaning process. Fumagalli teaches that condensate, including any particles therein, may be pumped from a cleaning device at predetermined intervals during an operation that produces condensate in order to eliminate the condensate and particles (para. 82). One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to provide a pumping signal for a condensate pump to activate and deactivate the pump in a fixed cycle during an entirely of a cleaning process based on the teachings of Fumagalli that demonstrate success of removing condensate and particles therein by performing this pumping method.
Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
As to claim 2, Choe teaches that providing the heat pump signal is further configured to activate the heat pump during the heating process S130 (fig. 4, para. 139).
As to claim 4, Bison also teaches, in its embodiment of steam generated by an auxiliary heater, providing a supply signal to an interface comprises providing the signal to a pump to pump water to the auxiliary heater to generate steam during the steam generation process (para. 93).
As to claim 13, Choe teaches a cleaning device which has a treatment chamber 130 (fig. 1), a heating device with a heat pump 160, a fan 170 for propelling process air through a circuit leading through the treatment chamber and heating device, a condensate pump (para. 85), and a controller 200 configured to provide a heat pump signal for activating the heat pump during an air washing process S150 following a steam generating process S140 (fig. 4, note that “air washing,” as broadly interpreted consistent with the present disclosure, comprises propelling heated process air into the treatment chamber after a steam process).
Choe does not teach that its heating device further comprises an auxiliary heater in the circuit, and thus does not teach the controller configurations of providing a heating signal, providing a supply signal, and providing a fan signal since such configurations require, directly or indirectly, an auxiliary heater as claimed.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to modify the cleaning device taught by Choe such that its heating device includes an auxiliary heater in the process air circuit. Bison teaches that an auxiliary heater coupled with a heat pump in a process air circuit is useful, for example, for the starting phases of a drying cycle when the heat pump condenser has not yet reached full working temperature (para. 109). Bison also teaches that an auxiliary heater is useful for the generation of steam and can be configured to use condensate from the heat pump evaporator as a source of water for generating steam (paras. 93, 109). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to substitute the separate steam generating device 180 of Choe for an auxiliary heater so that it not only can provide heat during starting phases of a drying cycle, but also so that it can generate steam, which would eliminate the need for a separate steam generating device while realizing the additional benefit of providing heat during starting phases of drying.
Upon this obvious modification to the cleaning device of Choe, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to provide a heating signal for activating the auxiliary heating during a heating process and during a steam generation process following the heating process to heat the auxiliary heater to a temperature suitable for evaporating water. Choe teaches a heating process S130 (fig. 4, para. 139, heat is provided while driving the drum), and based on the teachings of Bison, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to activate the auxiliary heater along with the heat pump (see Bison, para. 109). Choe teaches a steam generation process S140 (fig. 4) following its heating process S130; based on the teachings of Bison, the auxiliary heater would be heated to a temperature suitable for evaporating water and providing steam (see Bison, para. 93).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have also recognized as obvious to provide a supply signal to a supply device interface to cause water to be supplied to the auxiliary heater to generate steam during the steam generation process. Choe teaches a supply device (e.g. a valve) that is signaled to cause water to be supplied to its steam generator during the steam generation process (para. 96); Bison also teaches, in its embodiment of steam generated by an auxiliary heater, that a supply signal to a supply device (e.g. a pump) causes water to be supplied to the auxiliary heater to generate steam during the steam generation process (para. 93).
Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to provide a fan signal for activating the fan during the air washing process to propel steam into the treatment chamber for cleaning articles and from the treatment chamber into an evaporator of the heat pump for cleaning the steam. Choe teaches providing a fan signal for activating the fan during the air washing process S150 (fig. 4); upon the obvious modification to have steam generated by an auxiliary heater, the fan would propel steam through the circuit into the treatment chamber and from the treatment chamber into an evaporator 161 for “cleaning” the steam by condensing the steam (Choe, fig. 1, note that condensing steam and any impurities therein would be broadly understood as “cleaning” the steam).
Choe teaches that condensate may be pumped to a condensate tank (para. 85), but does not teach that the condensate may be pumped away from the cleaning device (i.e. to a location external to the device). However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to pump the condensate away from the device. Grunert teaches that condensate may be pumped to a condensate tank which may be manually emptied by a user, as is the case in the device taught by Choe, or it may alternately be pumped away from the device, which avoids the need to manually remove the tank for emptying (para. 44). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to pump the condensate away from the device in order to avoid the need to manually empty a condensate tank, as taught by Grunert.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have also recognized as obvious to provide a pumping signal to alternately activate and deactivate the condensate pump in a fixed cycle during the heating, steam generation, and air washing processes. Fumagalli teaches that condensate, including any particles therein, may be pumped from a cleaning device at predetermined intervals during an operation that produces condensate in order to eliminate the condensate and particles (para. 82). One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to provide a pumping signal for a condensate pump to activate and deactivate the pump in a fixed cycle during the heating, steam generation, and air washing processes based on the teachings of Fumagalli that demonstrate success of removing condensate and particles therein by performing this pumping method.
Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
As to claim 15, Choe teaches that its treatment chamber is a drum 130 (para. 53).
As to claim 16, Choe teaches that its treatment chamber is a drum 130 (para. 53).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 20210262154 by Choe et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20140026433 by Bison et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 20100212369 by Grunert et al., and EP2039819A1 by Fumagalli as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20090100703 by Blount.
As to claim 3, neither Choe nor Bison teach a particular temperature of heated process air during a heating process to dry articles. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that it was well-known and typical for process air to be heated to a temperature of at least 45°C, which is a temperature sufficient for drying clothes (see Blount, para. 39). One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to heat the process air to at least 45°C so that clothes are sufficiently dried, as evidenced by the teachings of Blount. Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 20210262154 by Choe et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20140026433 by Bison et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 20100212369 by Grunert et al., and EP2039819A1 by Fumagalli as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20150167228 by Ahn et al.
As to claim 5, Bison does not teach that the supply signal causes a pumping of water at intervals during the steam generation process. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to pump water at intervals during steam generations. Ahn teaches that supplying water at intervals to a steam generator allows for controlling a temperature within the steam generator above a steam generation temperature and below a critical, safety temperature (paras. 86, 90) and also allows for adjusting a mass flow rate of supplied steam to be as desired (para. 83). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to pump water at intervals to the auxiliary heater during the steam generation process in order to control a temperature of the auxiliary heater as well as the mass flow rate of steam to a desired rate. Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 20210262154 by Choe et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20140026433 by Bison et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 20100212369 by Grunert et al., and EP2039819A1 by Fumagalli as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20090113755 by Choi et al.
As to claim 6, Choe does not teach providing a supply signal to provide water to generate steam in a reheating process after an air washing process, the fan being active during the reheating process. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to have a reheating process in which steam and air is supplied. Choi teaches supplying steam at end of a treatment process to remove wrinkles and static electricity and also to provide moisture to the laundry for subsequent ironing (para. 178). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motived to perform a reheating process after air washing, the reheating process including an application of steam, so that wrinkles and static electricity are removed and to provide moisture for ironing the laundry, as taught by Choi. In an embodiment taught by Bison in which steam is generated using an auxiliary heater in a process air circuit, the fan would be activated in order to propel the steam into the laundry. Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
As to claim 7, Choi teaches providing a fragrance signal to activate a delivery device for introducing a fragrance into the process air during a reheating process (para. 159, fig. 11).
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 20210262154 by Choe et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20140026433 by Bison et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 20100212369 by Grunert et al., and EP2039819A1 by Fumagalli as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent 5388348 granted to Tanaka et al.
As to claim 8, Choe does not teach providing a fan signal to activate the fan during a fan process preceding the heating process. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to perform a fan process before the heating process. Tanaka teaches that an initial process, before heating of clothing, it is advantageous to loosen clothing by rotating the drum and supplying cool, unheated air to prevent clothes from being set by heat in a distorted condition (col. 5, ll. 1-9). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to perform a fan process before a heating process in order to loosen clothing before heat is applied, as taught by Tanaka. One of ordinary skill in the art would have also understood that the flowing of process air would function to also loosen solids from clothing. Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
As to claim 9, one of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that a fan signal necessarily would specific a rotational speed or direction of the fan since the fan would rotate at a speed and direction once activated.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 20210262154 by Choe et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20140026433 by Bison et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 20100212369 by Grunert et al., EP2039819A1 by Fumagalli, and U.S. Patent 5388348 granted to Tanaka et al. as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent 8104191 granted to Ricklefs et al.
As to claim 10, Choe does not teach that a fan signal specifies a direction of rotation the fan during a steam generation process that is reversed with respect to a fan process. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to reverse the fan direction during a steam process. Ricklefs teaches a fan that is configured such that it generates higher airflow when rotated in one direction than in another direction (col. 5, ll. 56-67) which allows a lower air flow rate during a steam generation process so that moisture is retained within the drum longer which can potentially more effectively remove wrinkles from and refresh/deodorize fabrics (col. 1, ln. 66 – col. 2, ll. 11). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to reverse the rotation direction of a fan during a steam generation process so that the air flow rate is reduced to allow for more effective wrinkle removal and refreshing and deodorizing of fabrics, as taught by Ricklefs. Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 20210262154 by Choe et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20140026433 by Bison et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 20100212369 by Grunert et al., and EP2039819A1 by Fumagalli as applied to claim 13 above, and further in view of EP3757277A1 by Byoun et al.
As to claim 14, Choe teaches that its heat pump comprises an evaporator, but it does not teach that the evaporator has a hydrophilic surface. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to provide a hydrophilic surface on its evaporator. Byoun teaches that a hydrophilic coating on an evaporator to prevent condensed water from being attached to evaporation fins, which would deteriorate heat exchange performance (paras. 21, 149). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide a hydrophilic surface on the evaporator of Choe in order to avoid deterioration of heat exchange performance due to condensed water being attached to evaporator fins, as taught by Byoun. Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/SPENCER E. BELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711