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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-3 and 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Japanese Patent Publication No. JP-2001-179217 A by Funabiki et al., hereinafter “Funabiki”.
Regarding claim 1, Funabiki discloses a tilted kitchen waste disposer (waste disposer device shown in Figs. 1-3; ¶[0014]), comprising a housing (housing outer casing 2 in Fig. 1; ¶[0015]), a kitchen waste bin (waste bin inner casing 1 in Fig. 1; ¶[0015]) which is arranged on the housing, wherein the kitchen waste bin is provided with a stirring chamber (stirring chamber interior of casing 1 shown in Fig. 1), the housing is further provided with an upper end opening that connects with the stirring chamber and an upper cover body which is arranged on the upper end opening (Figs. 1 and 2 show housing 2 is provided with an upper end opening on the upper left side wall that connects with the interior of inner casing 1 which is covered by lid 2A; ¶[0021]), on one side of the housing is provided with a supporting portion that inclines from the side of the housing to a bottom of the housing (A supporting portion of housing 2 inclines to the bottom of the housing. See “Supporting Portion” and “Bottom” annotations to Fig. 1 of Funabiki reproduced below.), when the supporting portion contacts with a horizontal plane, an upper end face of the housing forms a certain angle with the horizontal plane (When the Supporting Portion contacts a horizontal plane, the upper end face of housing 2 carrying lid 2A in Figs. 1 and 2 forms a certain angle with the horizontal plane. See “Upper End Face” annotation below.).
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Regarding claim 2, Funabiki anticipates the tilted kitchen waste disposer according to claim 1 as explained above. Funabiki further discloses an upper side of the housing is provided with an interactive assembly (Fig. 2 shows the left upper side of housing 2 is provided with interactive assembly mode change switch 16; ¶[0026]).
Regarding claim 3, Funabiki anticipates the tilted kitchen waste disposer according to claim 1 as explained above. Funabiki further discloses the upper cover body (lid 2A in Figs. 1 and 2) is provided with a transparent window (¶[0021] discloses lid 2A is integrally molded from transparent resin).
Regarding claim 7, Funabiki anticipates the tilted kitchen waste disposer according to claim 1 as explained above. Funabiki further discloses the kitchen waste bin (inner casing 1 in Fig. 1) is further provided with a heating assembly (heating assembly electric heater H in Fig. 1; ¶[0024]) and a stirring assembly (stirring assembly rotating rod 3 with stirring pieces 4A, 4B and 4C in Fig. 1; ¶[0019]), the stirring assembly is arranged in the stirring chamber (rod 3 with pieces 4A, 4B and 4C are arranged in inner casing 1 in Fig. 1), the heating assembly is arranged at the bottom of the kitchen waste bin (electric heater H is shown arranged at the bottom of inner casing 1 in Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 8, Funabiki anticipates the tilted kitchen waste disposer according to claim 7 as explained above. Funabiki further discloses the housing (housing 2 in Fig. 1) is provided with a driving portion (driving portion electric motor 5 in Fig. 1; ¶[0015]) that connects with the stirring assembly, the driving portion is used for driving the stirring assembly to rotate and stir in the stirring chamber (¶[0018]).
Regarding claim 9, Funabiki anticipates the tilted kitchen waste disposer according to claim 7 as explained above. Funabiki further discloses the stirring assembly is provided with a breaking portion (breaking portion agitating pieces 4B in Figs. 1 and 3 contribute to breaking down food waste; ¶[0012]) and a stirring portion (stirring portion agitator piece 4C in Fig. 1; ¶[0019]), the breaking portion is used for cutting and breaking kitchen waste (4B breaks down larger piece of waste), and the stirring portion is used for stirring kitchen waste (4C stirs waste from the bottom of inner casing 1).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Funabiki.
Regarding claim 4, Funabiki anticipates the tilted kitchen waste disposer according to claim 1 as explained above. Funabiki further discloses the housing is provided with an air purification portion that connects with the stirring chamber. The air purification portion comprises an air intake filtration chamber (see “Air Intake” annotation to Fig. 1 of Funabiki reproduced below; ¶[0022]), a power unit (power unit electric fans 10 and 13A in Fig. 1; ¶[0023]), an odor filtration chamber (odor filtration chamber cartridge type filter 13B in Fig. 1), and a purification exhaust port (see “Exhaust Port” annotation below).
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Funabiki’s air intake filtration chamber (Air Intake as annotated above) is arranged to connect with stirring chamber inner casing 1 in Fig. 1, and odor filtration chamber filter cartridge 13B is arranged to connect with the purification exhaust port (Exhaust Port as annotated above) as claimed in claim 4. But power unit electric fans 10 and 13A and odor filtration chamber filter cartridge 13B are not arranged as claimed in claim 4. However, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to rearrange Funabiki’s power unit electric fans between the Air Intake and odor filtration cartridge filter 13B to pull gases therethrough and position Funabiki’s Exhaust Port at the bottom of housing 2 as a matter of obvious design choice that would not modify the operation of Funabiki’s disposer. See M.P.E.P. §2144.04,VI,C.
Regarding claim 6, Funabiki renders the tilted kitchen waste disposer according to claim 4 unpatentable as explained above. Funabiki further discloses the air intake filtration chamber is provided with an air purification intake (the Air Intake as annotated above extends circumferentially around inner casing 1 and includes air purification intake exhaust port 11 in Fig. 1; ¶[0023]), the air purification intake is arranged on an inner side of the housing and locates between the upper end opening and the upper cover body (exhaust port 11 is part of the Air Intake which is located between the upper end opening of the housing 2 and lid 2A).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Funabiki in view of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Publication No. WO 2019/104775 A1 by Xue, hereinafter “Xue”.
Regarding claim 5, Funabiki renders the tilted kitchen waste disposer according to claim 4 unpatentable as explained above. But Funabiki is silent regarding whether cartridge filter 13B in Fig. 1 is specifically an activated carbon filter.
In the same field of devices for treatment of kitchen garbage, Xue teaches it was known before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use activated carbon filtration in kitchen garbage treatment devices. See paragraphs [0012] and [0022].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use an activated carbon type filter as Funabiki’s disclosed cartridge filter 13B in the same way Xue teaches. A person of ordinary skill would have recognized applying the teaching of Xue to Funabiki’s disposer would yield the predictable result of using an activated carbon cartridge filter in Funabiki’s disclosed disposer.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL DEREK PRESSLEY whose telephone number is (313)446-6658. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30am to 3:30pm Eastern.
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/P DEREK PRESSLEY/Examiner, Art Unit 3725