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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s reply filed April 24, 2026 is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-10 remain pending and are addressed below.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lu et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0203384.
As to claim 1, Lu shows an auto-swinging shower (see Figs. 1-7; and see paragraphs [0023]-[0025]) comprising: a water flow-through part (1 + 2), a water outlet assembly (3), an impeller (4) and a transmission assembly (5); the water flow-through part is provided with a water flow-through cavity (a1); a water inlet end (proximate “c1”) of the water outlet assembly is pivotally engaged with a water outlet end of the water flow-through part and communicates with the water flow-through cavity (see Figs. 5 and 7); the impeller is rotatably engaged in the water flow-through cavity; the transmission assembly comprises a gear shaft (inclusive of the pinion-type gear located immediately below the impeller 4; see Fig. 6) and an output gear (51), the gear shaft is in transmission connection to a rotating shaft (central portion of impeller 4, located radially inward of the shown impeller vanes, which rotates around “bolt 41”; see Figs. 5-7) of the impeller; the output gear is in transmission connection with the gear shaft (see Fig. 6); a transmission rod (52) is arranged on the output gear; a protrusion (protruding part on “31”, which defines “311”) is arranged on the water outlet assembly at a side of the output gear (see Fig. 6), a hole (311) is formed on the protrusion (see Figs. 6 and 7); wherein the transmission rod is at least partially received in the hole (portion “52a” of “52” is received in “311”; see Figs. 6 and 7), and as the output gear rotates, the transmission rod moves relative to the hole in a constrained sliding manner to actuate the protrusion for driving the water outlet assembly to swing around a pivot shaft (such as the portion proximate “b2”) between the water outlet assembly and the water flow-through part (see again, paragraph [0025]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 are allowed.
Claims 2-6 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the section under “Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 102” on pages 9-12 of the “Remarks” portion of the response filed April 24, 2026, with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARREN W GORMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-4901. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:30-4:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arthur Hall can be reached at (571)270-1814. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DARREN W GORMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752
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