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 Interpretation
The term of degree “approximately” in the limitation “approximately square” shape in line 7 of claim 1 is being interpreted to be “rectangle” shape in light of the specification paragraphs [13]-[14].
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) 1-8 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 10-2018-0040236 A (hereinafter KR ‘236) in view of KR 10-2016-0083164 A (hereinafter HAN) and KR 10-2241154 B1 (hereinafter KONG).
Regarding claim 1, KR ‘236 discloses a bidet comprising a main body (110); and a cleaning agent container (120) that contains a cleaning agent and is detachably inserted into the main body, wherein the cleaning agent container is located on the front right side of the main body.
Although KR ‘236 remains silent as to the board unit disposed inside the main body and including the printed circuit board for mounting an electronic device thereon and wherein the cleaning agent container is located adjacent to the board unit when mounted to the main body, attention is directed to HAN which discloses an analogous bidet comprising a main body (100) and a board unit (400) disposed inside the main body at the right rear of the main body that is adjacent to the right front of the main body, wherein the board unit (400) including a printed circuit board (411 or 421) for mounting an electronic device (411a or 421a) thereon for the bidet operations. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to employ in the bidet main body of KR ‘236 (if not already), at the right rear of the main body that is adjacent to the right front of the main body, a board unit as taught by HAN in order to perform bidet operations such as washing and cleaning. In so doing, the cleaning agent container is located to the right front of the main body that is adjacent to the board unit at the right rear of the main body when mounted to the main body.
Although the cleaning agent container of KR ‘236 is cylindrical or circular and not an “approximately square” shape when viewed from above, attention is directed to KONG which teaches an analogous bidet having a main body (20) having a rectangular cut out with a rectangular lid (51) for accommodating a rectangular medicine bag (53); accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have replaced, the cylindrical shape of the KR ‘236 container with a rectangular shape as taught by KONG, wherein doing so would merely be substituting equivalents known shape for the same purpose. An express suggestion to substitute one equivalent component or process for another is not necessary to render such substitution obvious. In re Fout, 675 F.2d 297, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982). See MPEP 2144.06. Applicant appears to have placed no criticality on any particular shape and it appears that the device of KR ‘236 would work equally well with an “approximately square” or rectangular shape.
Regarding claim 2, the bidet of claim 1 above, the combination teaches the “approximately square” shape is considered a rectangular shape, and a long side of the rectangle is arranged parallel to the board unit when the cleaning agent container is mounted to the main body.
Regarding claim 3, the bidet of claim 1 above, wherein HAN teaches the board unit further includes a board cover (410 or 420) covering the printed circuit board.
Regarding claim 4, the bidet of claim 3 above, wherein HAN teaches the electronic device (411a or 421a) is mounted on one surface of the printed circuit board, and the cleaning agent container is located on an opposite side to the one surface when the cleaning agent container is mounted to the main body.
Regarding claim 5, the bidet of claim 1 above, wherein the printed circuit board includes a plurality of printed circuit boards (411 and 421), at least some of the plurality of printed circuit boards are arranged to be spaced apart from each other.
Although the cleaning agent container of the above claim 1 is not disposed in a space between the plurality of printed circuit boards when the cleaning agent container is mounted to the main body as claimed. Applicant has not disclosed that having the cleaning agent container is disposed in a space between the plurality of printed circuit boards when the cleaning agent container is mounted to the main body solves any stated problem or is in any particular purpose. Moreover, it appears that the cleaning agent container is disposed in a space between the plurality of printed circuit boards when the cleaning agent container is mounted to the main body would perform equally well with the bidet of the above combination. Accordingly, it would have been a matter of obvious design choice to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to make the cleaning agent container is disposed in a space between the plurality of printed circuit boards when the cleaning agent container is mounted to the main body of KR ‘236 because it does not appear to provide any unexpected results.
Regarding claim 6, the bidet of claim 1 above, wherein KR ‘236 discloses when the cleaning agent container is mounted to the main body, the cleaning agent container is inserted in an up-down direction.
Regarding claim 7, the bidet of claim 1 above, wherein the main body of KR ‘236 includes a housing (see Fig. 1) that provides an inner space (inner space behind 120 in Fig. 1) for accommodating the board unit; and a container receiving portion (about 112 in Fig. 3) that is recessed downward from an outer surface of the housing to provide a container accommodation space separated from the inner space to accommodate the cleaning agent container.
Regarding claim 8, the bidet of claim 7, wherein the main body further includes a cleaning agent discharge portion (about 140 of KR ‘236) connected to a lower side of the container receiving portion to discharge the cleaning agent contained in the cleaning agent container to an outside of the main body, wherein the cleaning agent container includes a container portion for containing the cleaning agent; and a container outlet (outlet within 140) selectively coupled to the cleaning agent discharge portion to discharge the cleaning agent contained in the container portion to the outside of the main body, and wherein the cleaning agent discharge portion and the container outlet are coupled to each other such that the cleaning agent contained in the container portion flows to the cleaning agent discharge portion (see Figs. 5 and 7).
Regarding claim 11, KR ‘236 discloses a bidet comprising a main body (110); and a cleaning agent container (120) that contains a cleaning agent and is detachably inserted into the main body, wherein the cleaning agent container is located on the front right side of the main body.
Although KR ‘236 remains silent as to the board unit disposed inside the main body and including the printed circuit board for mounting an electronic device thereon and wherein the cleaning agent container is located adjacent to the board unit when mounted to the main body, attention is directed to HAN which discloses an analogous bidet comprising a main body (100) and a board unit (400) disposed inside the main body at the right rear of the main body that is adjacent to the right front of the main body, wherein the board unit (400) including a printed circuit board (411 or 421) for mounting an electronic device (411a or 421a) thereon for the bidet operations. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to employ in the bidet main body of KR ‘236 (if not already), at the right rear of the main body that is adjacent to the right front of the main body, a board unit as taught by HAN in order to perform bidet operations such as washing and cleaning. In so doing, the cleaning agent container is located to the right front of the main body that is adjacent to the board unit at the right rear of the main body when mounted to the main body.
Although the cleaning agent container of KR ‘236 is cylindrical or circular and not an “approximately square” shape when viewed from above, attention is directed to KONG which teaches an analogous bidet having a main body (20) having a rectangular cut out with a rectangular lid (51) for accommodating a rectangular medicine bag (53); accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have replaced, the cylindrical shape of the KR ‘236 container with a rectangular shape as taught by KONG, wherein doing so would merely be substituting equivalents known shape for the same purpose. An express suggestion to substitute one equivalent component or process for another is not necessary to render such substitution obvious. In re Fout, 675 F.2d 297, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982). See MPEP 2144.06. Applicant appears to have placed no criticality on any particular shape and it appears that the device of KR ‘236 would work equally well with an “approximately square” or rectangular shape. In so doing, the cleaning agent container of KR ‘236 and KONG would include a length in one direction that is longer than a length in a direction perpendicular to the one direction when view from above as for example shown in Fig. 4 of KONG.
Claim(s) 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR ‘236 in view of HAN and KONG, as applied to claim 7 or 8 above, and further in view of KR 10-2018-0040238 A (hereinafter SONG).
Regarding claim 9, the bidet of claim 8 above , wherein KR ‘236 does not detail the cleaning agent container further includes an opening/closing unit disposed inside the container outlet and configured to move upward to open the container outlet or move downward to close the container outlet, and a protrusion is formed in the cleaning agent discharge portion to move the opening/closing unit upward when the cleaning agent discharge portion and the container outlet are coupled to each other.
Attention is directed to the SONG reference which teaches an analogous bidet having a main body (110) and a cleaning agent container (120) further includes an opening/closing unit (see illustrated Fig. 2 below) disposed inside a container outlet (122) and configured to move upward to open the container outlet or move downward to close the container outlet, and a protrusion (see illustrated Fig. 2 below) is formed in a cleaning agent discharge portion to move the opening/closing unit upward when the cleaning agent discharge portion and the container outlet are coupled to each other
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Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have replaced, the container outlet and cleaning agent discharge portion of KR ‘236 with a container outlet having opening/closing unit and a cleaning agent discharge portion having a protrusion as taught by SONG, wherein doing so would merely be substituting equivalents known shape for the same purpose. An express suggestion to substitute one equivalent component or process for another is not necessary to render such substitution obvious. In re Fout, 675 F.2d 297, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982). See MPEP 2144.06.
Regarding claim 10, the bidet of claim 7 above, wherein KR ‘236 does not detail the main body further includes a residual water discharge portion, disposed at a lower side of the container receiving portion, for discharging residual water in the container receiving portion to an outside of the main body.
Attention is directed to the SONG reference which teaches an analogous bidet having a main body (110) comprises a cleaning agent discharge portion with a residual water discharge portion (see illustrated Fig. 2 above), disposed at a lower side of the container receiving portion (see illustrated Fig. 2 above), for discharging residual water in the container receiving portion to an outside of the main body.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have employed, at a lower side of the container receiving portion of KR ‘236, a residual water discharge portion as taught by SONG in order to direct residual water or residual cleaning agent out of the main body for sanitary purpose.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2019/0328611 (Kong) teaches a bidet device having a rectangular steaming chamber housing.
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/TUAN N NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754