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 § 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.
Claim 1-10 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth 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.
With regard to independent Claim 1, the independent claim recites “a fish tank cleaning water pump” in the preamble, yet have no limitations directed to how it could be used for a fish tank. MPEP 2111.02(II) states “the claim preamble must be read in the context of the entire claim. If the body of a claim fully and intrinsically sets forth all of the limitations of the claimed invention, and the preamble merely states, for example, the purpose or intended use of the invention, rather than any distinct definition of any of the claimed invention' s limitations, then the preamble is not considered a limitation and is of no significance to claim construction.” Therefore, the limitation of “a fish tank” in the preamble of Claim 1, is not given patentable weight.
Claims 1-10 recites the term “hood-shaped” refer to the base (3). The term “hood-shaped is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. There are many kinds of hoods, e.g., car hood, lab vacuum hood, sweatshirt hood, and none of them have the same shape. The Examiner requests Applicant to describe the hood in terms of geometric shapes. For example, the double-layer hood-shaped base in the drawings appears to be a frustum of a trapezoidal pyramid. Furthermore, does “hood-shaped” indicate that the base is hollow? For the purpose of examination, “hood-shaped base” is examined as hollow frustrum of a trapezoidal pyramid based on the drawings.
With regard to Claims 1-10, the claims refer to the base as “double-layer”. However, no further explanation is provided in any of the claims as to what the layers are. Furthermore, the double-layer base is claimed to have at least an inner wall (Claim 2) and a bottom (Claim 2) and an outer side (Claim 5), but it is not clear how any of these features intersect with the double layer.
With regard to Claim 1, the claim refers to “an outer border” that is fixedly connected to an outer side of the double-layer hood-shaped base. However, there were no further explanation on what the outer border could be. In such a device any outer perimeter can be considered as “an outer border”. For examining purposes, the term “an outer border” has been construed to be the outer perimeter of the base.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “an isolation position” when identifying where the return water channel is provided at. However, there were no further explanation on what the isolation position could be. There are many ways to interpret what an isolation position can be, e.g., a position that isolates an object, a position that prevents transfer, a safety, a maintenance position, and none of the position have similar function. The examiner requests Applicant to describe what “an isolation position” in term of physical location and function. For example, the isolation, a space created between the cleaning chamber and a top of the housing, allowing the return water channel to flow through the space.
With regard to Claim 3, the claim referred to “an isolation space” located in the center of the sealant sealed water pump coil. However, there were no further explanation on what the “isolation space” is for. Similar to the “isolation position” of Claim 1, the examiner requests Applicant to describe what “an isolation space” in term of its function.
Prior Art
Currently, no prior art rejections are made over Claims 1-10. The Examiner will assess allowability of the claims once the 112(b) rejections over claims 1 and 3 are addressed.
Páges (US 6,688,845) and Yoo et al. (US 2009/0173284) are the closest prior art to Claims 1-10.
Regarding Claim 1, Páges discloses a cleaning water pump (Fig. 1), comprising a housing (See annotated Fig.1; housing is defined as a rigid casing that encloses and protects a piece of moving or delicate equipment), wherein the housing has a shape of convex cover (See annotated Fig. 1); a top of the water pump upper component is fixedly connected to the top of the inner wall of the housing (See annotated Fig. 1); a side wall of the housing with the base and the outer border form a sealed water injection pressure chamber (Fig. 1, Pressure Chamber (2)); the top of the inner wall of the housing (See annotated Fig. 1) is fixedly connected to a cleaning chamber (Fig. 1, Suction Chamber (1); the suction chamber defined in Páges implies a chamber that allows dirty water to sucked in for filtering), a return water channel is provided at an isolation position between the cleaning chamber and a top of the housing (Fig.1, See Claim 3);
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Páges did not teach a fish tank cleaning water pump, comprising a top of an inner wall of the housing is provided with a power cord outlet, a bottom of the housing is provided with a double-layer hood-shaped base, and a top of the double-layer hood-shaped base is provided with a water pump upper component, an outer side of the double-layer hood-shaped base is fixedly connected to an outer border; and a pressure regulating valve is provided at a water outlet position of the cleaning chamber and above the housing; the water injection pressure chamber is communicated with an interior of the return water channel.
In related field of endeavor, Yoo et al. teaches a fish tank cleaning water pump with a pressure regulating valve (Fig 1, Check valve (21) provided at a water outlet position (Fig.1, discharge pipe (20) of the cleaning chamber (Fig. 1, cleaner body (30)) and above the housing (Fig. 1, Cover (31)).
Furthermore Wang (CN 2142821) teaches the motivation of solving the problem of the need to replace all water in the fish tank, and a difficulty in completely removing fish discharge and fish residue under bottom stones during water replacement (see Abstract).
However, none of these references alone or together would lead one of ordinary skill in the art to recite the invention of Claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANH HUYNH NGOC BUI whose telephone number is (571)270-5588. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday: 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin L Lebron can be reached at 5712720475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/A.H.B./Examiner, Art Unit 1773
/BENJAMIN L LEBRON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1773
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