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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: “an” should be changed to “a”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hyun (Korean Patent No. 102148227), hereinafter ‘Hyun’. Based on the English translation of the original document, a copy of which is attached.
Regarding claim 1, Hyun teaches a floating UV generator for use in a humidifier (Fig. 1, 100), the device further comprising:
a lower case (112) having an opening of a predetermined area in the center (“central hole formed in lower body”);
an upper cover (111) to be coupled to the lower case in order to partition a mounting space disconnected from an outside between the lower case and thereof (Fig. 5); and
a substrate which is installed in the mounting space disconnected from the outside (113, Fig. 5) and on which a UV light source is mounted (120), wherein
the irradiator is capable of floating on the water by a buoyancy generating means (“floats on water”) in the mounting space disconnected from the outside,
a UV transmission window (121) spaced a predetermined distance away from the UV light source is coupled to the opening of the lower case (“fastened to a central hole formed in the lower body”) to be in a sealed state (Fig. 4),
the UV light source to emit UV rays toward the UV transmission window is mounted on the center of a lower surface of the substrate (“housed and installed in the inner center portion”) at a position corresponding to that of the UV transmission window (Fig. 4), and
at least more than two water detectors that detect contact with water (130, “at least two or more are exposed to lower portion of sterilizer body) are mounted on the periphery of the substrate in a contact with the lower case (Figs. 3, 5).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 2-4 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hyun (Korean Patent No. 102148227) in view of Kyeong (Korean Patent No. 20200002082), hereinafter ‘Kyeong’. Relevant quotes are from the English translation of the original document.
Regarding claim 2, Hyun teaches the device of claim 1, further comprising:
a main controller mounted on an upper surface of the substrate opposite to a surface where the UV light source is mounted (“control unit for controlling UV radiation”),
Hyun does not teach the main controller containing a gravity sensor.
Kyeong teaches a UV emitting sterilizing device (Fig. 1), the device further comprising:
wherein the main controller is provided with a gravity sensor (G Sensor) ("gyro sensor configured to cut off the power when rotating the ultraviolet sterilizer (1) more than a certain angle").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hyun to incorporate the teachings of Kyeong to include a sensor that detects changes in gravity. Doing so would prevent the exposure of the user to UV rays that may occur while the device is rotating, as recognized by Kyeong (“to prevent harmful ultraviolet rays from directly irradiating to human bodies”).
Regarding claim 3, Hyun and Kyeong teach the device of claim 2, further comprising:
the main controller is driven to immediately stop an generation of UV rays by cutting off a power supply to the UV light source when some of at least two water detectors do not detect the contact with water in a switch ON state (Hyun, "safe mode in which ultraviolet rays are irradiated only under conditions where all water is in contact with the sensor").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hyun to incorporate the teachings of Kyeong to include a sensor that detects changes in gravity. Doing so would prevent the exposure of the user to UV rays that may occur while the device is rotating, as recognized by Kyeong (“to prevent harmful ultraviolet rays from directly irradiating to human bodies”).
Regarding claim 4, Hyun and Kyeong teach the device of claim 2, further comprising:
the main controller is driven to immediately stop the generation of UV rays by cutting off the power supply to the UV light source when an output of the gravity sensor exceeds a range of a preset normal output in the switch ON state (Kyeong, "gyro sensor configured to cut off the power when rotating the ultraviolet sterilizer (1) more than a certain angle").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hyun to incorporate the teachings of Kyeong to include stopping UV generation when a rotation/change in gravity is detected. Doing so would prevent the exposure of the user to UV rays that may occur while the device is rotating, as recognized by Kyeong (“to prevent harmful ultraviolet rays from directly irradiating to human bodies”).
Regarding claim 7, Hyun and Kyeong teach the device of claim 2, further comprising:
a timer function is added to the main controller in order to stop the generation of UV rays by cutting off the power supply to the UV light source when a preset time has elapsed (Kyeong, "timer for automatically stopping the operation of the UV LED").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hyun to incorporate the teachings of Kyeong to include a timer to automatically stop UV generation. Doing so would add an additional convenience factor to the device, as recognized by Kyeong (“promotes use convenience”).
Claims 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hyun (Korean Patent No. 102148227) in view of Kyeong (Korean Patent No. 20200002082), further in view of Han (Korean Patent No. 20200010719), hereinafter ‘Han’. Relevant quotes are from the English translation of the original document.
Regarding claim 5, Hyun and Kyeong teach the device of claim 2, but fail to teach a user detection pad and wireless transmitter/receiver.
Han teaches a restroom odor removal device utilizing UV irradiation (Fig. 1), the device further comprising:
a user detection pad ("recognizes… pressed by user's weight") which is installed in the water and comprises a load cell ("weight sensor") and a wireless transmitter for transmitting information ("wireless communication module")
wherein a wireless receiver (operation control unit, element 150) mounted on the substrate is configured to receive a signal transmitted by the user detection pad ("transmits signal").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hyun and Kyeong to incorporate the teachings of Han to include a user detection pad/wireless communication system. Doing so would allow for the device to recognize the user’s presence in the bath, as recognized by Han (“recognizes the use of the toilet seat”).
Regarding claim 6, Hyun, Kyeong, and Han teach the device of claim 5, further comprising:
the main controller is driven to immediately stop the generation of UV rays by cutting off the power supply to the UV light source when a user load is not detected on the user detection pad in the switch ON state (Han, “check whether the toilet seat 10 is in use… transmits a signal to the operation control unit… may control the operation of… the UV irradiation unit”).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hyun and Kyeong to incorporate the teachings of Han to include stopping UV generation if the user is not detected. Doing so would allow for the device to conserve power when it is not in use, as recognized by Han (“more easily support the life extension and management of the device”).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hyun (Korean Patent No. 102148227) in view of Scalf et al. (US Pre-Grant Publication 2020/0182534), hereinafter ‘Scalf’.
Regarding claim 8, Hyun teaches the device according to claim 1, further comprising:
at least more than two (water) detectors are disposed at equal intervals on the periphery of the substrate ("at least two or more are exposed to lower portion of sterilizer body") (Fig. 3).
Hyun does not teach that the water detectors measure the capacitance or resistance of the water.
Scalf teaches a refrigerator fluid dispenser that detects water levels (Fig. 2), the device further comprising:
the water detector (48) is a capacitance sensor or a resistance measuring sensor that measures the electrical resistance of water [0032].
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hyun to incorporate the teachings of Scalf to include water detectors that measure the capacitance or resistance of water. Doing so would allow for the monitoring of various characteristics of water, as recognized by Scalf [0031].
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hyun (Korean Patent No. 102148227) in view of Rak (Korean Patent No. 20170036173), hereinafter ‘Rak’. Relevant quotes are from the English translation of the original document.
Regarding claim 9, Hyun teaches the device of claim 1, but does not teach the limitations of claim 9.
Rak teaches a UV water sterilizing device, the device further comprising:
the buoyancy generating means (40) is an air being filled in the mounting space disconnected from the outside (“a hollow, watertight enclosure”) or a float made of a material (“such as styrofoam”) having a specific gravity less than 1 (44, Fig. 10).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hyun to incorporate the teachings of Rak to include a hollow buoyancy generating means in the mounting space, or a float. Doing so would allow for the UV irradiator to float on water, as recognized by Rak (“UV LED 50 mounted on the buoyant body 40 to irradiate water with ultraviolet rays”).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hyun (Korean Patent No. 102148227) in view of Li et al. (Chinese Patent No. 210992647), hereinafter ‘Li’. Relevant quotes are from the English translation of the original document.
Regarding claim 10, Hyun teaches the device of claim 1, but does not teach a distance maintaining member.
Li teaches a light therapy device (Fig. 1), the device further comprising:
a safety distance maintaining member (5, limiting rod) to be coupled to the lower case in order to maintain a minimum safety distance from a user's body located in the water when used while floating on the water ("to prevent the patient too close distance applicator”).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hyun to incorporate the teachings of Li to include a safety distance maintaining member. Doing so would allow the user to be protected from excess irradiation, as recognized by Li (“caused by excessive irradiation occurs").
Conclusion
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/E.L.O./Examiner, Art Unit 3792
/Benjamin J Klein/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3792