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 .
Claims 1-12 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-12 are objected to because of the following informalities: The abbreviation “PTC” is used in claim 1 without first introducing what “PTC” is. It is clear from the specification that it is “Positive Temperature Coefficient” but as it is the claims could be improved in their clarity. 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 1-12 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 regards to claim 1, line 16 recites “the humidity control device”. It is unclear as to which humidity control devices is being referred to as there potentially could be multiple (“at least one”).
A similar issue occurs in line 1 of claims 2, 3, 4, 7, and line 2 of claim 12.
Dependent claims are rejected for the same reasons as the claims from which they depend.
Prior Art
Matsumoto et al. (JP 2022080532) teaches a vehicle air conditioning system (abstract; fig 2), comprising: an air conditioning duct (duct block 13) for allowing air to flow therethrough; a first humidity control unit having at least one humidity control device (one of either 11A or 11B) disposed in the air conditioning duct and a second humidity control unit having at least one humidity control member (the other of 11a or 11b) comprising a moisture absorbing material (made of a material that absorbs water) (abstract and fig 2). Matsumoto et al. further teaches a power source (power supply system that powers heater 21 of the moisture absorbing system 11). The amount of moisture absorbing material in the first and second are taken to be the same (a ratio of 1) as they are taught as generally being the same components (see whole document).
Assignee’s other documents such as Konno (US 2025/0074142) and Saito (2024/0317026), which have earlier priority dates, teach the claimed humidity control device structure of “a honeycomb structure having an outer peripheral wall and partition walls disposed on an inner side of the outer peripheral wall, the partition walls defining a plurality of cells, each of the cells extending from a first end face to a second end face to form a flow path, at least the partition walls being made of a material having a PTC property; a pair of electrodes provided on the honeycomb structure; and a moisture absorbing material-containing layer formed on a surface of each of the partition walls” (see whole documents).
The prior art as a whole, however, does not teach that the second humidity control unit is disposed downstream of the first humidity control. In the prior art such as Matsumoto et al., the two units are arranged in parallel to allow one to be used while the other is regenerated (using flow switcher 19). Documents such as Konno and Saito teach that one of the enhanced humidity control units are sufficient to achieve the desired humidity control. There is no motivation to duplicate the humidity control units arranged in series as there is no taught benefit of doing so nor would a person having ordinary skill in the art expect some additive benefit of doing so.
Dependent claims are free of prior art for at least the same reasons as the claims from which they depend.
Conclusion
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/DONALD R SPAMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1799
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