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
1. 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.
2. Claims 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 18 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.
With respect to claim 9, it’s unclear if “a plurality of ribs” in line 4 is the same as “a plurality of ribs” in the second line.
With respect to claim 10, “the plurality of inlet portions” and “both sides of the door opening device” lack antecedent basis. Claim 11 is rejected for being dependent on claim 10.
With respect to claim 12, “the plurality of inlet portion” lacks antecedent basis.
With respect to claim 14, “the front surface” lacks antecedent basis.
With respect to claim 18, line 1, “According to claim 16” is unclear if it is referring to the refrigerator according to claim 16.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. Claims 1, 5, 8, 13, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 100750247 (KR ‘247) further in view of CN 106288619 A (CN ‘619).
With respect to claim 1, KR ‘247 discloses a refrigerator (Fig.3) comprising: a cabinet forming a storage space; and a door (100, FIg.3) configured to open and close the storage space, wherein the door includes: an out plate (not labeled outer plate of door with bent upper end, Fig.3, Fig.4) having a bending portion that forms a front surface of the door (FIg.3, FIg.4) bent backward (Fig.4); a door liner (not numbered, see back of door 100 in Fig.3 at the gasket) forming a rear surface of the door; a door cap (110, FIg.3, FIg.4) having an insertion groove (140, FIg.4) that connects the out plate and the door liner to form an outer surface of the door (Fig.3, Fig.4) and into which the bending portion is inserted (FIg.4); and an insulation material (“the door of the refrigerator is foam filled with a urethane liquid”, see translation pg.2 second paragraph) formed by injecting a foaming liquid into the inside of the door (liquid urethane), and wherein an inlet portion (150, FIg.4) is formed in the door cap (110), which communicates with the insertion groove (140, FIg.4) and guides the foaming liquid into the insertion groove (140).
With respect to claim 1, KR ‘247 doesn’t explicitly teach the out plate is made of metal. CN ‘619 teaches an out plate (100) having a bending portion (110, Fig.5, Fig.6) that forms a front surface of the door is made of metal (see translation pg.3 last paragraph). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to make the out plate of KR ‘247 from metal, such as taught by CN ‘619, in order to provide a sturdy durable rigid material to support the front of the door.
With respect to claim 5, the combination shows (KR ‘247/CN ‘619) wherein the door cap (110, KR ‘247/200, CN ‘619) includes: a front part (front part of 120, Fig.4, KR ‘247/210, Fig.6, CN ‘619) configured to support the out plate (Fig.4/FIg.6) from the rear, wherein the insertion groove is recessed in the front part (Fig.4/FIg.6), and wherein the inlet portion (150, KR ‘247, Fig.4) is formed in a shape of a hole penetrating the bottom of the insertion groove (140).
With respect to claim 8, the combination (KR ‘247) shows wherein a blocking portion (bottom surface of 130/bottom of bent part of the out plate, FIg.4) is formed inside the insertion groove (140), and wherein the blocking portion protrudes to block at least a portion of the inlet portion (150) from above.
With respect to claim 13, the combination shows (KR ‘247/CN ‘619) wherein the door cap includes: a front part (front part of 120, FIg.4 in KR ‘247/210, FIg.6 in CN ‘619) configured to support the out plate from the rear, wherein the insertion groove (140, KR ’247) and the inlet portion (150, FIg.4) are formed at the front part, and wherein the inlet portion (150) is recessed from the lower end of the front part to the insertion groove (140, Fig.4), and the foaming liquid passes between the out plate and the inlet portion and heads toward the insertion groove (see translation pg.3 paragraphs 7 and 8).
With respect to claim 14, wherein the combination (KR ‘247) shows the inlet portion (150) is formed to be stepped from the front surface of the front part (Fig.4).
With respect to claim 20, modified KR ‘247 doesn’t show a hinge. CN ‘619 shows a hinge (Fig.1) connecting the door (10) and the cabinet (20) and configured to opening and closing the storage space by rotating the door (“one side of the door 10 is hinged on the box body”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include a hinge to the door of modified KR ‘247, such as taught by CN ‘619, in order to pivotally support the door to easily open and close the door.
4. Claims 2-4, 6 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 100750247 (KR ‘247) in view of CN 106288619 A (CN ‘619) in further view of CN 107687738 A (CN ‘738).
With respect to claim 2, modified KR ‘247 doesn’t show a recessed handle. CN ‘738 shows wherein a recessed handle (curved outer recess of 20, FIg.3) is formed in the door cap (20) so that a user can hold the handle to open the door (2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include a recessed handle to the door cap of modified KR ‘247, such as shown by CN ‘738, in order to easily pull the door open.
With respect to claim 3, modified KR ‘247 shows wherein the door cap includes: an upper door cap (110, FIg.4) forming an upper surface of the door wherein the inlet portion (150) is formed on the upper door cap (110), and as modified by CN ‘738, wherein the handle is formed on the upper door cap (20, CN ‘738, FIg.2). The combination doesn’t show a lower door cap. CN ‘619 shows a lower door cap (300, Fig.2) forming a lower surface of the door (100, Fig.2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include a lower door cap to the refrigerator door of modified KR ‘247, such as taught by CN ‘619, in order to couple the lower ends of the door liner and the out plate at the lower end of the door and provide aesthetically pleasing appearance to the door.
With respect to claim 4, the combination shows (KR ‘247/CN ‘619) wherein the door cap includes: a front part (front part of 120, FIg.4 in KR ‘247/210, FIg.6 in CN ‘619) configured to support the out plate from the rear and in which the insertion groove (140, KR ’247) is formed, and wherein the inlet portion (150, KR ‘247) penetrates the bottom of the insertion groove (140) connecting the handle and the front part.
With respect to claim 6, the combination doesn’t show plurality of ribs and the inlet portion between the ribs. CN ‘738 shows wherein the insertion groove is provided with a plurality of ribs (21a, FIg.5) configured to support the bending portion, and wherein the inlet portion (21a, Fig.5) is located between the plurality of ribs (21a). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include plurality of ribs, and to locate the inlet portion between the plurality of ribs, such as taught by CN ‘738, in order to support and reinforce the out plate and ensure there is a gap between the outer plate and the door cap to prevent scratching of the out plate.
With respect to claim 15, KR ‘247 in view of CN ‘619 doesn’t show a plurality of ribs. CN ‘738 shows wherein a plurality of ribs (22a, Fig.6) are formed along the insertion groove (20a, FIg.6), and wherein a greater number of the plurality of ribs (22a, FIg.6) are disposed in an area outside the inlet portion (21a) than in an area of the inlet portion with respect to the inlet portion (FIg.6). It would have been obvious to include plurality of ribs along the insertion groove of modified KR ‘247, such as taught by CN ‘738, in order to support and reinforce the bent portion of the out plate and ensure there is a gap between the out plate and the door cap to prevent scratching of the out plate.
5. Claims 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 100750247 (KR ‘247) in view of CN 106288619 A (CN ‘619) in further view of CN105466101 (CN ‘101).
With respect to claim 10, modified KR ‘247 doesn’t show a handle and an opening device. CN ‘101 shows wherein the door cap includes: a handle (221a, Fig.5) recessed to put the user's hand therein; and a door opening device (224, 226, 227, 228, Fig.5) including an operation member (224) configured to operate by the user and a push member (228, Fig.7) configured to push the cabinet to open the door in conjunction with the operation of the operation member (224). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include a door opening device to the door cap of modified KR ‘247, such as shown by CN ‘101, in order to easily separate the door from the cabinet and pull it open. The combination (KR ‘247) teaches wherein the plurality of inlet portions are disposed on both sides of the door opening device. The inlet portions 150, Fig.5, are disposed all through the length of the door cap; “a plurality of through-holes 150 to be spaced apart by a predetermined interval in the transverse direction (lateral direction of the refrigerator door 100) in the insertion portion (120)” (see translation pg.4 second paragraph). Thus since the plurality of the inlet portions extend along the length of the door cap as modified they would be disposed on both sides of the door opening device.
With respect to claim 12, the combination (KR ‘247) shows wherein the inlet portion (150) includes of a plurality of holes disposed at regular intervals (Fig.5; “a plurality of through-holes 150 to be spaced apart by a predetermined interval in the transverse direction (lateral direction of the refrigerator door 100) in the insertion portion (120)”, see translation pg.4 second paragraph), and wherein the plurality of inlet portion (150) are formed so that the diameter of the holes (150) becomes larger as the distance from the door opening device increases (Fig.4, the diameter of the holes 150 increases towards the inside of the door away from the door opening device).
6. Claims 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 100750247 (KR ‘247) in view of CN 106288619 A (CN ‘619) in further view of WO 2015/033754 A1 (WO ‘754).
With respect to claim 16, modified KR ‘247 doesn’t show a door sheet on the rear surface of the out plate. WO ‘754 shows wherein a door sheet (36M, 36H, FIg.8A) in contact with the foaming liquid (44, FIg.8A) is provided on a rear surface of the out plate (35), wherein the door sheet includes: a first door sheet (36M) extending upward from the lower end of the out plate (35, FIg.6); and a second door sheet (36H, Fig.6, FIg.8A) disposed above the first door sheet, and wherein the first door sheet (36M) and the second door sheet (36H) are formed of different materials (36M is a cushioning material composed of foam material; 36H made of a reinforcing material; translation pg.4 last paragraph, pg.5 paragraph 4). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include a door sheet to the rear surface of the out plate, such as taught by WO ‘754, in order to absorb the expanded volume in response to the expansion when the foaming liquid material expands due to an increase in temperature so as to keep the out plate from being deformed and to further reinforce and support the out plate.
With respect to claim 17, the combination (WO ‘754) shows the first door sheet (36M) is made of a compressible material (cushion material comprised of foam, see translation pg.5 paragraph 4) and is thicker than the second door sheet (36H, FIg.8A).
7. Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 100750247 (KR ‘247) in view of CN 106288619 A (CN ‘619) in further view of US 2011/0132024 A1 (Lim).
With respect to claim 19, modified KR ‘247 doesn’t show a rail. Lim shows a rail (41, FIg.1) connecting the door (70) and the cabinet (10) and configured to opening and closing the storage space by pulling the door in and out. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the refrigerator of KR ‘247 in view of CN ‘619 such that a rail connects the door and the cabinet, such as taught by Lim, in order to easily slide out and open the door when needed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is 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.
Claims 9, 11 and 18 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/HIWOT E TEFERA/Examiner, Art Unit 3637