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 § 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.
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.
Claims 1 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by
US 2019/0274510 (“YANG”).
YANG teaches an automatic cleaning device comprising an accommodating appliance (FIG. 1), the accommodating appliance comprising: a box body (3) having an accommodating space (31), wherein a partition wall (10) is arranged in the accommodating space to divide the accommodating space into a dust box space (2) and a water tank space (1); a top cover (unnumbered, FIG. 1) buckled on the box body and configured to close the accommodating space; and a one-way valve assembly (11) arranged on a wall of the box body, wherein the one- way valve assembly is in a closed state (compressed state; FIG. 3; par. [0041]) in response to an external acting force applied to the one-way valve assembly being not greater than a threshold value, so that the dust box space is isolated from outside at a position where the one-way valve assembly is arranged (par. [0045]); and in response to the external acting force applied to the one-way valve assembly being greater than the threshold value, the one-way valve assembly is switched from the closed state to an open state (ejected state; FIG. 5; par. [0041]), so that the dust box space is communicated with the outside at the position where the one-way valve assembly is arranged (par. [0045]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-12 and 14-16 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: .
Regarding claims 2-12, 15, and 16, the prior art of record, whether taken individually or in combination, when considered in light of the claimed subject matter as a whole as interpreted in light of the Specification as originally filed, fails to disclose or render obvious that a bottom of the box body is provided with an open corner-missing space, a first side wall of the corner-missing space is adjacent to the dust box space, and the one-way valve assembly is arranged on the first side wall, the corner-missing space and the dust box space are isolated from each other in response to the one-way valve assembly being in the closed state; and the corner-missing space and the dust box space are communicated with each other in response to the one-way valve assembly being switched from the closed state to the open state.
Regarding claim 14, the prior art of record, whether taken individually or in combination, when considered in light of the claimed subject matter as a whole as interpreted in light of the Specification as originally filed, fails to disclose or render obvious that a side wall of the accommodating space is provided with a second opening and an air vent, in response to the accommodating appliance being accommodated in the accommodating space, the side wall of the accommodating space abuts against the second side wall of the box body, the second opening is sealedly engaged with the first opening on the second side wall, and the air vent is communicated with the corner- missing space.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: CN 111166257 (“LI”) and CN 109259673 (“XIA”).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY M BLEVINS whose telephone number is (571)272-8581. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Hollweg can be reached at 571-270-1739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JERRY M BLEVINS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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