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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the PCT international search report is not considered to be an information disclosure statement (IDS) complying with 37 CFR 1.98. 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2) requires a legible copy of: (1) each foreign patent; (2) each publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; (3) for each cited pending U.S. application, the application specification including claims, and any drawing of the application, or that portion of the application which caused it to be listed including any claims directed to that portion, unless the cited pending U.S. application is stored in the Image File Wrapper (IFW) system; and (4) all other information, or that portion which caused it to be listed. In addition, each IDS must include a list of all patents, publications, applications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office (see 37 CFR 1.98(a)(1) and (b)), and MPEP § 609.04(a), subsection I. states, “the list ... must be submitted on a separate paper.” Therefore, the references cited in the international search report and not on a proper IDS have not been considered, unless specifically cited by the Examiner on PTO-892. Applicant is advised that the date of submission of any item of information in the international search report will be the date of submission of the IDS for purposes of determining compliance with the requirements for the IDS with 37 CFR 1.97, including all timing statement requirements of 37 CFR 1.97(e). See MPEP § 609.05(a).
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because legal phraseology, i.e., “comprising”, on line 1, and “comprises”, on lines 4 and 7 of the abstract, should be avoided in the abstract. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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 1-7 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.
In claim 1, on the penultimate line, “the length direction” lacks antecedent basis, since the fixing plate, to which the phrase refers does not inherently include a “length direction”, since the fixing plate, as defined by the claim could be a round plate, or some other shape that does not have an inherent length direction.
In claim 2, it is unclear as to what applicant intends to claim as the invention with respect to the mist outlet being “arranged opposite” to the lighting assembly.
In claim 3, applicant states, “a concave surface (52) being concave towards an inner side of the mist guiding tube (2)”, which does not appear to agree with the disclosure of the application, specifically as the invention is disclosed by element (52) in Figure 3 of the drawings of the application. Applicant should clarify the intended orientation of the concave surface (52) within the claims.
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 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by CN 110332495 A.
CN 110332495 A (Figs. 3-5) discloses a simulated flame humidifier with an atomizer (8) for generating a mist from water stored within the mist generating portion of the device, one end (upper end) of the mist guiding assembly (1,2) connected to the humidifying assembly (8 within the outer housing), wherein the mist guiding assembly includes a mist guiding tube (1, 2 in Fig. 3), a mist outlet grid (4), and a lighting assembly (3,3a,3b,1c,1d,5), the lighting assembly and the mist outlet grid are both disposed in the mist guiding tube (1,2), the lighting assembly (at least the upper portion thereof (5)) being disposed above the mist outlet grid (4), the mist outlet grid having a fixing plate (4a) and a plurality of vertically inclined mist guiding surfaces (4c) successively arranged along the length direction of the fixing plate (4a) (claim 1).
CN ‘495 A also discloses that the mist guiding tube (1,2) includes an upper cover (1) that forms a mist outlet opening at the upper end of portion (2), the upper cover (1) being arranged on a portion of the overall device housing that creates the lower cover, the combination of the upper cover and the lower cover creating a mist guiding channel that guides mist from the humidification assembly (8) to the mist outlet opening at the top center of the device that is open to the ambient environment through the top center opening in element (5) of the lighting assembly (claim 2).
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 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 110332495 A taken together with Kubicek et al.
CN 110332495 A (Figs. 3-5), as applied in paragraph 6 above is considered to anticipate the invention as recited by instant claims 1 and 2. However, if applicant cannot agree that the vertically inclined mist guiding surfaces (4c) thereof are anticipatory of applicant’s claimed “mist guiding inclined surfaces (32)” of independent claim 1, then Kubicek et al (178 in Fig. 6; col. 5, lines 3-9) clearly discloses inclined ribs (178) for guiding mist along the outlet mist channel of the device to provide a more uniform distribution of the mist across the length of the mist outlet opening, thereby producing a more uniform, aesthetically pleasing simulated flame effect from the device.
Therefore, even in the event that applicant cannot agree that CN ‘495 A anticipates the instantly claimed mist guiding inclined surfaces, Kubicek et al clearly suggest providing obliquely inclined mist guiding surfaces (178) within the mist guiding channel of a simulated flame humidifier to provide a uniform distribution of the mist along the length of the mist outlet, and therefore it would have been obvious for an artisan at the time of the filing of the application, to modify the vertically inclined mist guiding surfaces of CN ‘495 A to be obliquely inclined, in view of Kubicek et al, since such would provide for a more uniform simulated flame emanating from the mist outlet of the device, thereby providing a more aesthetically pleasing simulated flame.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the reference combination as applied to claims 1-2 in paragraph 8 above, and further in view of CN 210688082 U.
The reference combination as applied to claims 1-2 in paragraph 8 above substantially discloses applicant’s invention as recited by instant claim 3, except for the upper cover having a mist guiding curved surface with a convex surface above a concave surface forming the wall of the device leading to the mist outlet.
While claim 3 has been rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for apparently misdescribing the structure of the inventive device relative to the mist guiding curved surface (see the 112(b) rejection of claim 3 in paragraph 4 above), CN 210688082 U (Fig. 1) discloses a mist guiding curved surface (a concave surface followed immediately by a convex surface of the sidewalls of the mist guiding surface immediately below the flame port (5)) that essentially matches the disclosure of the mist guiding curved surface (51,52 in Fig. 3 of the instant application). It would have been obvious for an artisan at the time of the filing of the application, to modify the shape of the mist guiding surface immediately upstream of the mist outlet of the device as suggested by the primary reference combination, to have a curved mist guiding surface with a concave surface followed by a convex surface in the direct of mist flow, in view of CN ‘082 U, since such would promote a rolling action in the mist flow to provide a more natural appearing simulated flame at the outlet of the device.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the reference combination as applied to claim 3, in paragraph 9 above, and further in view of Betz et al.
The reference combination as applied to claim 3, in paragraph 9 above substantially discloses applicant’s invention as recited by instant claim 4, except for the slot and convex edge connection of the upper and lower covers of the device.
Betz et al (Abstract; Figs. 1 and 6) discloses a simulated flame humidifier similar to each of the references applied in combination to instant claim 3 above, wherein Betz et al teaches upper and lower housing elements being connected together by a convex edge (threaded conical screw) of the lower housing element (Fig. 6) engaged within a limited slot (the conical hole surrounding the screw) of the upper housing element. It would have been obvious for an artisan at the time of the filing of the application, to provide for a convenient connection between the upper and lower cover elements of the primary reference combination as applied to claim 3 above, in the form of a matching convex edge and limited slot in the cover elements, in view of Betz et al, since such is a well known convenient means for providing a strong, positive connection between mating elements of a device.
Claims 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the reference combination as applied to claim 4, in paragraph 10 above, and further in view of Zhou ‘805.
The reference combination as applied to claim 4, in paragraph 10 above substantially discloses applicant’s invention as recited by instant claims 5-7, except for the silicone sealing ring of instant claim 5; and the ultrasonic welding connection of the upper and lower covers, as recited by instant claim 6. It is noted that CN ‘495 A (Fig. 3) of the primary reference combination as applied to independent claim 1 and thus each of the dependent claims within each of the combination reference rejections above, clearly teaches that the lighting assembly as being in the form of an LED light board (3,3a,3b), as recited by instant claim 7.
Initially, it is noted that the prior art made of record herein generally teaches two forms of a simulated flame humidifier, the first having the mist generation means housed within the same structure that is used to deliver the mist stream to the ambient environment and the second form using a mist generator that is outside of the mist delivery housing and connected thereto by conventional conduit means. The instant claims are broad enough to read on both forms of a simulated flame humidifier, with the primary reference (CN ‘495 A) disclosing the mist generating means being housed within the mist delivery housing structure. Whereas, instant claim 5 appears to recite a structure that would be of the second type, i.e., having a mist generator arranged exterior to the mist delivery housing, thus requiring a conduit to convey the generated mist from the mist generating means to a separate mist delivery housing, Zhou ‘805 (Figs. 1-4) is applied as teaching the second common form of a simulated flame humidifier, which uses conduits (31) to convey mist generated by a well known atomizer (3) to a simulated flame humidifier delivery means (1). Wherein it is standard plumbing practice to always maintain a watertight sealed fluid conveyance means within a device that is designed to convey liquids in the form of a bulk liquid or a dense mass of water vapor mist, to thereby prevent leakage from the device, it would have been obvious for an artisan at the time of the filing of the application to utilize an o-ring seal at the conduit connections from the mist generation means and the mist delivery means, in the event that the chosen device used an external mist generation device, as in Zhou ‘805, using the well known o-ring seal means, as in instant claim 5, of the reference combination (in particular, Betz et al 615 in Fig. 6), to thereby prevent water leakage during use of the device as suggested by the reference combination.
With regard to the ultrasonic welding technique being used to connect the upper and lower cover members of instant claim 6, ultrasonic welding, heat staking, adhesive bonding, etc. are all equivalent analogous attachment means that are well known within the art for attaching adjacent housing elements, particularly, plastic elements that are commonly used in humidifiers due to their corrosion resistance within the known wet environment. It would have been obvious for an artisan at the time of the filing of the application, to substitute ultrasonic welding of the housing elements of the reference combination humidifier, in place of the screw elements of Betz et al, since such would avoid the well known corrosion issue and would also create a leak-proof bond by chemically bonding and sealing the adjacent housing elements together in a well known manner.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/C.S.B/5-29-26
/CHARLES S BUSHEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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