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.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saito (US 2025/0353357) in view of Ariaux (US 2020/0406710).
Regarding claim 1, Saito discloses an air intake system for a vehicle HVAC system, comprising:
a housing (air conditioning duct 10) comprising an air inlet (air from vehicle interior as can be seen from fig. 1), a dehumidification component (refer to humidity controlling device 30), a first outlet (11) and a second outlet (12) disposed to receive air that has flowed past the dehumidification component, wherein the first outlet (11) is aligned to direct air flowing therethrough from a fan (20) that provides air flow within a vehicle air conditioning system and ultimately to a passenger compartment for the vehicle (vehicle interior as can be seen from fig. 1), and the second outlet (12) is aligned to direct air flowing therethrough out of the vehicle (vehicle exterior as can be seen from fig. 1) and not into the passenger compartment;
the dehumidification component (30) configured to receive electric current during operation (refer to par. 41, par. 76, and fig. 2A, wherein control unit 40 is electrically connected to the humidity control device 30; partition walls 35 forming the honeycomb structure 31 are preferably made of a material that can be heated by electric conduction, specifically made of a material having the PTC property).
While Saito discloses wherein the first outlet is aligned to direct air flowing therethrough from a fan that provides air flow within a vehicle air conditioning system and ultimately to a passenger compartment for the vehicle, Saito fails to explicitly disclose the fan being located downstream of the first outlet and providing air flow within a vehicle HVAC system and ultimately to the passenger compartment for the vehicle.
However, Ariaux teaches an air intake system for a vehicle HVAC module (refer to fig. 2), comprising an outlet assembly (11) aligned to direct air flowing therethrough toward a downstream fan (25) that provides air flow within a vehicle HVAC system (module 1 as can be seen from fig. 2) and ultimately to a passenger compartment for the vehicle (refer to par. 3, and return path 15), in order to create pleasant air conditions for passengers in the passenger compartment by cooling or heating the air that is fluidically connected to several ventilation openings limiting the vehicle interior (refer to par. 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Saito such that the fan is located downstream of the first outlet and providing air flow within a vehicle HVAC system and ultimately to the passenger compartment for the vehicle in view of the teachings by Ariaux, in order to create pleasant air conditions for passengers in the passenger compartment by cooling or heating the air that is fluidically connected to the vehicle interior.
Regarding claim 2, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the dehumidification component is a PTC heater (refer to par. 76, and fig. 2A, wherein partition walls 35 forming the honeycomb structure 31 are preferably made of a material that can be heated by electric conduction, specifically made of a material having the PTC property).
Regarding claim 3, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the dehumidification component is a desiccant (refer to par. 100, wherein the moisture absorbing layer 36 is a material including, but not limited to, aluminosilicate, silica gel, silica, graphene oxide, polymer adsorbents, polystyrene sulfonic acid, and metal organic frameworks (MOFs)).
Regarding claim 4, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the dehumidification component is a ceramic humidity regulator (refer to par. 78, wherein the humidity control device has outer peripheral wall 32 and partition walls 35 preferably made of ceramics containing barium titanate (BaTiO.sub.3)-based crystals as a main component in which a part of Ba is substituted with a rare earth element).
Regarding claim 5, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the housing is configured to be disposed such that air flowing into the air inlet flows from the passenger compartment of the vehicle (refer to air from vehicle interior entering the housing as in fig. 1).
Regarding claim 6, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Saito as modified discloses a valve (51, 52) disposed downstream of the dehumidification component (30), wherein the valve is operable to control air flow from the dehumidification component and to the first and second outlets (refer to fig. 1).
Claim(s) 7-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saito (US 2025/0353357), Ariaux (US 2020/0406710), and further in view of Ichishi (US 2014/0223943).
Regarding claim 7, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the dehumidification component (30) includes a plurality of separate zones (34), with each zone being capable of providing dehumidification of air that flows therethrough when energized and providing insignificant dehumidification when not energized (refer to par. 144, wherein control unit 40 can control the power source, thereby adjusting the heating state of the honeycomb structure 31 by controlling a voltage applying state to a pair of electrodes 37a, 37b of the dehumidification component 30), but fails to explicitly disclose wherein each of the plurality of zones can be separately controlled by an HVAC controller by selectively allowing electrical current flow to one or more zones desired for dehumidification of air flowing therepast and selectively preventing electrical current flow to one or more zones not desired for dehumidification of air flowing therepast.
However, Ichishi further teaches an air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising a PTC heater (37) including a plurality of separate zones (37a, 37b and 37c as can be seen from fig. 6), wherein each of the plurality of zones can be separately controlled by a controller (refer to par. 81, wherein the operation of each zone SW1, SW2, SW3 is independently controlled by a control signal output from the air-conditioning control device 50) by selectively allowing electrical current flow to one or more zones (refer to par. 80, wherein each switch element SW1, SW2, SW3 switches each PTC element h1, h2, h3 included in each zone 37a, 37b, 37c between an energized state (ON state) and a de-energized state (OFF state)) and selectively preventing electrical current flow to one or more zones, in order to change the overall heating capability of the PTC heater (refer to par. 81).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to further modify Saito such that each of the plurality of zones can be separately controlled by an HVAC controller as taught by Ichishi by selectively allowing electrical current flow to one or more zones desired for dehumidification of air flowing therepast and selectively preventing electrical current flow to one or more zones not desired for dehumidification of air flowing therepast, in order to change the overall heating capability of the dehumidification component.
Regarding claim 8, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 7. Further, Saito as modified discloses a valve (51, 52) disposed downstream of the dehumidification component (30), wherein the valve is operable to control air flow from the dehumidification component and to the first (11) and second (12) outlets, wherein the HVAVC controller (40) is configured to operate the dehumidification component and the valve together such that air flows through one or more zones of the plurality of separate zones of the dehumidification component that is being operated by the HVAC controller and then past the valve toward the first outlet (refer to par. 143, wherein the control unit 40 is electrically connected to valves 51 and 52 and adjusts the heating state of the dehumidification component 30).
Regarding claim 9, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 8. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the valve (51, 52) is positioned to block air from flowing past the one or more zones of the dehumidification component (30) that are not desired for dehumidification (refer to fig. 1).
Regarding claim 10, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 8. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the valve (51, 52) is operable to direct air that flows through the one or more zones that are being operated by the HVAC controller to the first outlet (11), and to direct air that flows through the one or more zones of the plurality of zones that are not being operated to the second outlet (by individually controlling 51 and 52 as can be seen from fig. 1).
Regarding claim 11, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 10. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the housing directs condensed water vapor from the dehumidification component to flow out of the second outlet (refer to par. 44, wherein the dehumidification component 30 can be regenerated by heating the dehumidification component 30 to separate the moisture adsorbed by the dehumidification component 30 and discharging the air containing the moisture to the vehicle exterior through the second flow path 12).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saito (US 2025/0353357), Ariaux (US 2020/0406710), Ichishi (US 2014/0223943), and further in view of Srivastava (US 10,882,379).
Regarding claim 12, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 7. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the air inlet comprises an inlet aperture (allowing the entrance of air from the vehicle interior or vehicle exterior), but fails to explicitly disclose a door that can selectively allow air flow through the inlet aperture and block air flow through the inlet aperture, wherein the door is controlled by the HVAC controller.
However, Srivastava further teaches that it is known in the art of refrigeration (refer to fig. 1A), to provide an air intake system (10) for a vehicle, comprising a door (34) that can selectively allow air flow through an inlet aperture and block air flow through the inlet aperture, wherein the door is controlled by a controller (actuator 36 which drives the door 34 is controlled by air-conditioning control device 24), in order to continuously adjust an interior air opening (30) and an exterior air opening (32) simultaneously, and therefore changing an exterior air introduction ratio, which is a ratio of the exterior air to the entirety of air to be introduced into the housing (12) (refer to col. 4, lines 53-61).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to further modify Saito by providing a door that can selectively allow air flow through the inlet aperture and block air flow through the inlet aperture, wherein the door is controlled by the HVAC controller in view of the teachings by Srivastava, in order to change an exterior air introduction ratio, which is a ratio of the exterior air to the entirety of air to be introduced into the housing.
Claim(s) 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saito (US 2025/0353357), Ariaux (US 2020/0406710), and further in view of Lee (KR 2017/0057018 A).
Regarding claim 13, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Saito as modified discloses the dehumidification component, but fails to explicitly disclose a heat sink disposed downstream of the dehumidification component, such that air that passes the dehumidification component passes the heat sink before flowing to the first or second air outlet.
However, Lee further teaches a dehumidifying module (refer to figs. 1-4), comprising a heat sink (120) disposed downstream of a dehumidification component configured to receive electric current during operation (refer to par. 2, wherein electronic dehumidification using a thermoelectric element performs dehumidification), such that air that passes the dehumidification component (refer to fig. 4) passes the heat sink (120) before flowing to an outlet (by means of blowing fan 140 as can be seen from fig. 4), in order to realize the stable performance of the dehumidification component (refer to par. 46).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to further modify Saito by providing a heat sink disposed downstream of the dehumidification component as taught by Lee such that air that passes the dehumidification component passes the heat sink before flowing to the first or second air outlet, in order to realize the stable performance of the dehumidification component.
Regarding claim 14, Saito as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 13. Further, Saito as modified discloses wherein the heat sink (120 as taught by Lee) receives heat from air that flows therepast on a path toward the second outlet (12), wherein the received heat flows to a portion of the heat sink (120 as taught by Lee) that air directed to the first outlet (11) flows therepast to transfer heat from the air flowing to the second outlet to the air flowing toward the first outlet (refer to fig. 1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANA M VAZQUEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-0611. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-4.
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/ANA M VAZQUEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763