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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 7-11, and 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 102052481 A in view of CN 205207834 U.
Regarding claim 1, CN 102052481 discloses a main valve seat 72 (see Figs. 1-5),
wherein the main valve seat comprises multiple first straight sides (see Figs. 1 and 3, left side and Figs, 4-5 show multiple straight sides with the top straight side connects to the camber and the bottom straight side connects to the α of the bottom side), a cambered side (see Fig. 3, top cambered part), multiple second straight sides (see Figs. 1 and 3, right side and Figs, 4-5 show multiple straight sides with the top straight side connects to the camber and the bottom straight side connects to the β of the bottom side), and a bottom side (see Fig. 3, bottom side) on a radial section of the main valve seat, wherein two ends of the cambered side are connected with a first end of the first top straight side and a first end of the second top straight side, respectively, and two ends of the bottom side are connected to a second end of the bottom straight side and a second end of the second bottom straight side, respectively; the first straight side and the second straight side are positioned in a circle in which the cambered side is positioned; and α denotes an inner angle between the first straight side and the bottom side, β denotes an inner angle between the second straight side and the bottom side, α<90°, and β<90°.
CN 102052481 lacks a single first straight side and a single second straight side.
CN 205207834 (see Fig. 2) discloses a single first straight side 5 and a single second straight side 5 (on opposite sides) in which the top part of the single straight side connects to the camber 2 (see Fig. 2, 5 connects to arc 31) and the bottom part of the single straight side connects to the bottom side 4 and 1 (see Fig. 2, 5 connects to 4). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the multiple straight sides of CN 102052481 to be a single straight side as disclosed by CN 205207834 as a matter of simple substitution of shapes and/or easier and/or cheaper to make a single straight side rather than multiple sides in the main valve seat that would require multiple cuts or molds with multiple edges.
Regarding claim 9, CN 102052481 discloses a four-way valve, comprising a valve sleeve and the main valve seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main valve seat is arranged in the valve sleeve (see Figs. 7-9, paragraph [0030]).
Regarding claim 10, CN 102052481 discloses wherein on a radial section of the valve sleeve, a region between a first straight side and an inner wall of the valve sleeve serves as a first storage region, a region between a second straight side and the inner wall of the valve sleeve serves as a second storage region, and the first storage region and the second storage region are configured to store solder (paragraphs [0031]-[0033]).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, CN 102052481 discloses the main valve seat extends in a preset direction (see Figs. 1-5) and an end surface of the main valve seat is perpendicular to the preset direction (vertical direction in Fig. 1); the main valve seat is provided with a plurality of mounting holes (see Fig. 1-2) arranged at intervals in the preset direction, each of the plurality of mounting holes comprises a first hole section and a second hole section that communicate with each other, and the first hole section and the second hole section are coaxially arranged; and D1 denotes a radial size of the first hole section, D2 denotes a radial size of the second hole section, and D2>D1 (see Figs. 1-2).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, CN 102052481 discloses α=β, and a length of the first straight side equals a length of the second straight side (see Figs. 1-2).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, CN 102052481 discloses chamfers are provided at a joint between the first straight side and the bottom side and a joint between the second straight side and the bottom side (see Figs. 1-5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 and 12-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The primary reason for the allowance of the claims 3-6 and 12-15 is the main valve seat having the combination of specific equations as cited in combination with the device as cited in claims 1 and 2 or claims 1 and 9 and 11.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. CN-108930816 discloses a main valve seat for a four way reversing valve.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN BASTIANELLI whose telephone number is (571)272-4921. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Craig Schneider, can be reached at telephone number (571) 272-3607 or Kenneth Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/John Bastianelli/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
571-272-4921