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 Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities:
The claim recites “to have different radii each other”, which is grammatically incorrect.
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“extend” in line 1 needs to be “extends” be correct grammar.
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“a upper” should be “an upper” to be correct grammar.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-19 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.
Claim 1, line 8 and claim 18, line 8 recites “a filter unit” and elements of the filter unit: a filter frame, a second filter, a filter frame, a sealing member. It is unclear whether or not the filter unit includes the elements of the filter unit.
Claim 8, line 3 recites “different radii” and it is unclear which elements have these different radii.
Claim 14 recites “a upper” and “a lower” which is confusing.
The following elements do not have antecedent basis:
“the extension line” in claims 6, 8, 9 and 16.
The remaining claims are rejected for depending on claims 1 and 18.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1, 8-12, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith (US 2013/0091654) in view of Conrad ‘30 (US 2011/0314630) and Conrad ’62 (US 2014/0245562).
As to claim 1, Smith includes a cleaner (2) comprising:
a suction inlet (10; para 79) configured to guide air into the cleaner;
a cyclone unit (150, 160; para 100) configured to separate dust from air that is suctioned into the cleaner through the suction inlet;
a suction motor (16 and the upper piece in Fig. 4) configured to drive rotation of an impeller (18, 20) to generate a suction force that suctions air into the cleaner through the suction inlet (para 80);
a main body (The outer casing of 2) accommodating the suction motor and having an upper opening (The opening inside of 29 and 30; Fig. 2); and
a first filter (40) configured to filter air that is discharged from the cyclone unit and enters the suction motor (para 82);
Smith does not include:
a filter unit detachably coupled to the upper opening of the main body and surrounding a rotational axis of the impeller in a circumferential direction, wherein the first filter is positioned inside the main body by the filter unit,
a second filter disposed in the filter unit and configured to filter air that is discharged from the
suction motor before discharging it to an outside of the cleaner,
a filter frame extending in the circumferential direction with respect to the rotational axis in the filter unit so as to support the second filter; and
a sealing member sealing the filter unit and the main body when the filter unit is coupled to the
main body, wherein the sealing member is coupled to the filter frame so as to surround the
rotational axis in the circumferential direction.
Conrad ’30 includes a cleaner having a second filter (166) [a post-motor filter] configured to filter air that is discharged from a suction motor (164) before discharging it to an outside of the cleaner (para 79).
Conrad ’62 includes a cleaner having:
a filter unit (10960, 10961, 11015) detachably coupled to the upper opening of a main body (The outer casing of the cleaner) [Fig. 48],
a second filter (10960, 10961) disposed in the filter unit and configured to filter air that is discharged from the suction motor before discharging it to an outside of the cleaner,
a filter frame (11015) that supports the second filter (para 273 and Fig. 48); and
a sealing member (The “gasket”/”sealing member”) sealing the filter unit and the main body when the filter unit is coupled to the main body, wherein the sealing member is coupled to the filter frame (para 275 and Fig. 48).
It would have been obvious to modify Smith to include a second filter (a post-motor filter) configured to filter air that is discharged from a suction motor before discharging it to an outside of the cleaner, as taught by Conrad ’30, in order to further clean the air passing through the filter thereby reducing air pollution in the surrounding area. It would have been obvious to modify the second filter of Smith to include a filter unit detachably coupled to the upper opening of a main body, the filter unit including a filter frame that supports the second filter and a sealing member sealing the filter unit and the main body when the filter unit is coupled to the main body, wherein the sealing member is coupled to the filter frame, as taught by Conrad ’62, the filter frame providing the ability to maintain the filter in place, protecting the filter from damage due to vibrations, and the sealing member preventing air from escaping through the outside edge of the whole filter which would reduce airflow overall thereby impacting suction force of the cleaner.
The combination provides:
The filter unit surrounding a rotational axis (A vertical line intersecting 20) of the impeller in a circumferential direction (Having a filter and its frame between 18 and 30 would add this feature),
wherein the first filter is positioned inside the main body (The first filter would be inside the opening inside of 29 and 30, as seen in Fig. 2) by (near) the filter unit (The first and second filter are near each other),
the filter frame extending in the circumferential (horizontal) direction with respect to the rotational axis in the filter unit so as to support the second filter (The frame supports the second filter),
wherein the sealing member is coupled to the filter frame so as to surround the rotational axis in the circumferential direction (The seal is on the outermost edge of the frame thereby surrounding the axis).
As to claim 8, the combination of claim 1 can provide wherein the sealing member extends in the circumferential direction between the first filter and the second filter about the extension line of the rotation axis to have different radii (Elements of the claim would have different radii) [It would be obvious for one of ordinary skill to place the sealing member either at the top or bottom of the frame because the position of the sealing member can be either one].
As to claim 9, the combination of claim 1 provides wherein the sealing member is positioned radially away from the extending line of the rotational axis, and wherein the first filter and the second filter are formed to surround the extending line of the rotational axis (Having a filter and its frame between 18 and 30 would add this feature).
As to claim 10, the combination of claim 1 provides wherein the first filter is disposed below the second filter and is arranged to surround an outer circumference of the suction motor (Fig. 2).
As to claim 11, the combination of claim 1 provides wherein the sealing member is configured to prevent leakage of different air passages in the main body, and wherein the different air passages are defined as a first air passage (The air passage shown by the flow arrows in one of Fig. 9E and Fig. 9F) through which air is sucked into the suction motor and a second air passage (The air passage shown by the flow arrows in the other of Fig. 9E and Fig. 9F) through which air is exhausted from the suction motor (Fig. 4).
As to claim 12, the combination of claim 1 provides wherein the filter frame is positioned to an upper portion of the main body (Having a filter and its frame between 18 and 30 would add this feature).
As to claim 15, further comprising:
a motor housing (60) surrounding the suction motor, wherein the main body accommodates the motor housing (Fig. 2).
As to claim 16, the combination of claim 1 provides wherein the sealing member is positioned radially outward from the motor housing based on the extension line of the rotational axis of the impeller (The filter unit extends the full horizontal length of the upper opening of the main body because the sealing unit contacts the inner wall of 29; Fig. 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, 13-14, and 17-19 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW A. HORTON whose telephone number is (571)270-5039. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/ANDREW A HORTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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