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 .
Specification
The specification amendments were received on 27 February 2026. These specification amendments are accepted.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: The claim depends from claim 10, which is canceled. 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.
Claims 1-9 and 11-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
With respect to claim 1: In line 17, the recitation “the cantilever support” is indefinite. Lines 7-8 of the claim define “a first cantilever support” and “a second cantilever support”. It is unclear if “the cantilever support” in line 17 refers to the first cantilever support, the second cantilever support, or both the first and second cantilever support.
With respect to claim 8: In lines 16-17, the recitation “the sides of the first and second ladder racks” lacks antecedent basis.
With respect to claim 11: In line 2, the recitation “the first and second side walls of the first and second ladder racks” lacks antecedent basis.
With respect to claims 2-7, 9, and 12-15: The claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C § 112(b) via dependency.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-8, and 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 10,670,327 B1 (Haenssler) in view of US 2009/0084914 A1 (Picken), US 2015/0076983 A1 (Lindblom), and US 5,437,426 A (MacDonald).
With respect to claim 1: Haenssler discloses a refrigerator appliance (household cooling appliance 1), comprising: an outer wrapper (housing 2) defining a central cavity (the interior cavity occupied by at least interior container 4); an inner liner (interior container 4) positioned within the central cavity (at least Fig. 1), the inner liner including at least a rear wall (rear wall 21), a first side wall (one of left side wall and right side wall), and a second side wall (the other of left side wall and right side wall) to at least partially define an inner cavity (receptacle 3); first and second ladder racks (retention rails 20) coupled to and extending along the rear wall of the inner liner (Fig. 1 and col. 3); a first cantilever support (one of the receiving elements 10) operably coupled to the first ladder rack (via carrier arm 11); a second cantilever support (the other of the receiving elements 10) operably coupled to the second ladder rack (via carrier arm 11), wherein each of the first and second cantilever supports extend into the inner cavity parallel to the first and second side walls (at least Figs. 1-3); and a storage feature (shelf bottom 7), wherein the storage feature includes first and second sides (left and right sides) and a front, and wherein the front extends outward from the first and second sides to at least partially conceal the first cantilever support and the second cantilever support.
Haenssler does not disclose the claimed “gaps” and/or the claimed “spacer”.
See Picken [0025]-[0028], Fig. 3B, and Fig. 4B. Picken discloses gaps defined between each cantilever support (support bracket 16) and a corresponding side wall (side panel 130). Picken discloses a suction cup 26 attached to a distal end of a support bracket 116 of a shelf panel 112 using a fastener 128. The suction cup 26 is disposed in the gap, and contacts the side panel 130 of a refrigerator to thereby provide lateral and vertical support for the shelf.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify at least one of Haenssler’s carrier units 9 to include one of Picken’s suction cups 26 and fasteners 128, in order to engage interior container 4 and thereby provide lateral and vertical support for the “storage feature” similarly to Picken’s invention.
This meets, as claimed, “and wherein a gap is defined between the first cantilever support and the first side wall and between the second cantilever support and the second side wall” (similarly to the gaps occupied by Picken’s magnets 24 in Picken Fig. 2).
The added suction cup 26 and fastener 128 meet, as claimed, “a spacer coupled to a distal end of the first cantilever support, wherein the spacer is located within the gap between the first cantilever support and the first side wall and engages the first side wall” (to provide lateral and vertical stability).
Haenssler does not disclose “a rail assembly atop each of the first cantilever support and the second cantilever support” as claimed.
Haenssler does not disclose “a storage feature coupled to each of the rail assemblies, wherein the storage feature includes first and second sides and a front, the front of the storage feature disposed adjacent to a distal end of the rail assemblies, and wherein the front extends outward from the first and second sides to at least partially conceal the first cantilever support, the second cantilever support, the gaps, and the spacer” as claimed.
Lindblom discloses a drawer 30 coupled to a top side of shelf 18 via mounting brackets 50 and telescoping brackets 44. The front wall 40 of the drawer 30 extends laterally beyond the side walls 36, 38. This conceals the telescoping brackets 44 and the mounting brackets 50 (at least Fig. 14).
See Haenssler Fig. 8. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Haenssler by replacing shelf bottom 7 with Lindblom’s mounting bracket 50, telescoping bracket 44, and drawer 30 in order to have the drawer 30 that is adjustable in height inside the refrigerator (instead of Haenssler’s shelf).
Drawers and shelves are known, alternative storage structures in the refrigerator art. Ergo, substituting a drawer for the shelf in Haenssler’s invention is an obvious modification thereto.
The added mounting bracket 50 and telescoping bracket 44 meet, as claimed, “a rail assembly atop each of the first cantilever support and the second cantilever support” (at support plateau 31 of Haenssler Fig. 8).
This meets, as claimed, “a storage feature (drawer 30) coupled to each of the rail assemblies, wherein the storage feature includes first and second sides (side walls 36, 38) and a front (front wall 40), the front of the storage feature disposed adjacent to a distal end of the rail assemblies (front wall 40 is adjacent to a distal end of telescoping member 46), and wherein the front extends outward from the first and second sides to at least partially conceal the first cantilever support, the second cantilever support (Haenssler Fig. 2 – the added drawer 30 at least partially blocks receiving elements 10), the gaps (front wall 40 extends laterally beyond receiving elements 10 and thereby at least partially blocks the gap that begins immediately beside receiving element 10), and the spacer” (front wall 40 extends laterally beyond receiving elements 10 and thereby at least partially blocks the suction cups 26 extending laterally from the receiving elements 10).
Haenssler does not disclose the claimed “locking members”.
MacDonald discloses locking brackets 28 that locks cantilever bracket 26 to an upright support 24 when the teeth 30 of the bracket 26 are engaged in slots 34 of the upright support 24. MacDonald’s upright supports 24 and cantilever brackets 26 are analogous and/or functionally equivalent to Haenssler’s retention rails 20 and receiving elements 10, respectively.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify each of Haenssler’s receiving elements 10 to include one of MacDonald’s locking brackets 28, in order to lock the receiving elements 10 to the retention rails 20 similarly to MacDonald’s invention.
The added locking brackets 28 meet, as claimed, “locking members (two locking brackets 28) coupled to the first and second ladder racks, wherein the locking members include first and second arms (main bodies of brackets 28) extending away from the cantilever support towards the rear wall, wherein the locking members include distal engagement portions (teeth 32) positioned perpendicular to the first and second arms (MacDonald Fig. 11: the vertical extent of tooth 32 is perpendicular to the horizontal arm portion from which it extends)”.
With respect to claim 2: Haenssler, as modified, meets adapter members (carrier arms 11), wherein the first and second cantilever supports are coupled to the first and second ladder racks via the adapter members.
With respect to claim 3: Haenssler, as modified, meets wherein the locking members (locking brackets 28) each engage a respective one of the adapted members (is mounted to carrier arm 11) and one of the first and second ladder racks, respectively, to increase stability of the first and second cantilever supports.
With respect to claim 5: Haenssler, as modified, does not meet “a third cantilever support operably coupled to the first ladder rack at a different height than the first cantilever support; and a fourth cantilever support operably coupled to the second ladder rack at a different height than the second cantilever support” as claimed.
Lindblom shows attaching multiple storage features to a single set of ladder racks.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Lindblom’s refrigerator to include a shelf or drawer, in addition to the one modified above, in order to provide greater storage options inside the refrigerator.
This meets, as claimed, a third cantilever support (one of the receiving elements 10 for the added shelf or drawer) operably coupled to the first ladder rack at a different height than the first cantilever support; and a fourth cantilever support (the other of the receiving elements 10 for the added shelf or drawer) operably coupled to the second ladder rack at a different height than the second cantilever support.
With respect to claim 6: Haenssler, as modified, meets a second storage feature (the added shelf or drawer), wherein the third and fourth cantilever supports together support the second storage feature.
With respect to claim 7: Haenssler, as modified, meets wherein the storage feature and the second storage feature are each operable between a stowed position fully within the inner cavity (similar to Lindblom Fig. 14) and a deployed position farther from the rear wall compared to the stowed position (similar to Lindblom Fig. 12).
With respect to claim 8: By making the same combinations and modifications as in the rejections above, the prior art of record makes obvious a cantilevered support system for a refrigerator appliance, comprising: an inner liner (interior container 4) defining a compartment (receiving space 3); a first ladder rack (one of the two retention rails 20 – see col. 3, lines 40-44) spaced parallel to a second ladder rack (the other of the two retention rails 20), wherein the first and second ladder racks are coupled to the inner liner (col. 3, lines 38-40: “retention rail 20 can in particular be arranged on a rear wall 21 of the inner container 4”), and wherein each of the first and second ladder racks includes a plurality of apertures (suspension slots 19); adapters (two carrier arms 11) engaged with the plurality of apertures of one of the first and second ladder racks via hooks (suspension hooks 18), respectively; hollowed cantilevered supports (two receiving elements 10 – see Figs. 4, 6, and 8 for “hollowed”) coupled to the adapters and extending away from the one of the first and second ladder racks, wherein each of the hollowed cantilevered supports includes a top side (at least Fig. 8); spacers (suction cups 26 and fasteners 128) being positioned at least partially in an interior of the hollowed cantilevered supports (the fasteners 128 pass through, and are positioned in, the interiors of the receiving elements 10) and extending to the inner liner (suction cups 26 contact the sides of interior container 4); rail assemblies (mounting brackets 50 and telescoping brackets 44) coupled to the top sides of the hollowed cantilevered supports (at support plateau 31 of Haenssler Fig. 8); locking members (locking brackets 28) coupled to the adapters to lockably engage the adapters to the first and second ladder racks, respectively, and extend vertically along inner surfaces of the sides of the first and second ladder racks (MacDonald Figs. 2 and 11: the inner edge of tooth 32, forming the notch 84, extends vertically along the inner surface of the upright support 24); and a storage feature (drawer 30) coupled to the rail assemblies, wherein the storage feature is operable between stowed (Lindblom Fig. 14) and deployed (Lindblom Fig. 12) positions via the rail assemblies, and wherein a front panel of the storage feature (front wall 40) at least partially blocks the interior of the hollowed cantilevered supports (Haenssler Fig. 2 – the added drawer 30 at least partially blocks receiving elements 10), the spacers (front wall 40 extends laterally beyond receiving elements 10 and thereby at least partially blocks the suction cups 26 extending laterally from the receiving elements 10), and the rail assemblies (Haenssler Figs. 3 and 8 – the added drawer 30 at least partially blocks the mounting brackets 50 and/or telescoping brackets 44 mounted on support plateaus 31).
With respect to claim 13: Haenssler, as modified, meets wherein the spacers each have a body (suction cup 26) and a protrusion (fastener 128) extending from the body.
Picken does not disclose fastener 128 meets “threaded”, as in the claimed “threaded protrusion”.
Lindblom [0042] discloses screws. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify fasteners 128 to be screws, because those are known fastening means that are predictably suitable for attaching the suction cups 26.
The fasteners 128 being screws meets “threaded protrusion” as claimed.
With respect to claim 14: Haenssler, as modified, meets wherein the bodies of the spacers are configured to abut the inner liner (suction cups 26 abut interior container 4) and the threaded protrusions of the spacers engage the hollowed cantilever supports (the screws engage receiving elements 10), respectively.
With respect to claim 15: Picken [0028] states:
Suction cup 26 may be made from any suitably soft and air-impervious material capable of forming a seal against a planar surface, such as nitrile, polyurethane, neoprene, vinyl, or silicone, for example.
At least the neoprene in Picken [0028] reads over “rubber” as claimed. Haenssler, as modified, meets wherein the spacers are constructed of at least one of plastic and rubber.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 10,670,327 B1 (Haenssler) in view of US 2009/0084914 A1 (Picken), US 2015/0076983 A1 (Lindblom), and US 5,437,426 A (MacDonald) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 1,997,793 (Hull).
With respect to claim 4: Haenssler, as modified, meets wherein the spacer (Picken’s suction cup 26, as added to Haenssler’s invention) is coupled to the first cantilever supports via a protrusion (the fastener 128 of the suction cup 26).
Haenssler, as modified, does not meet “the protrusion defining threads to rotatably adjust a distance between the first cantilever support and the first side wall” as claimed.
Picken’s fastener 128 is like fastener 28 of a different embodiment, which fastener 28 passes through an aperture in bracket 16.
Hull Fig. 3 shows a threaded set screw 145 for adjusting the position of a dimple portion 143 relative to a projection 140 on the lining 135 of a refrigerator.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify fastener 128 to be a threaded member that is threaded into the cantilever support, in order to provide adjustability in how far the suction cup projects laterally from the storage feature. This enables accommodation of different configurations of liners, shelf, cantilever supports, etc.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 10,670,327 B1 (Haenssler) in view of US 2009/0084914 A1 (Picken), US 2015/0076983 A1 (Lindblom), and US 5,437,426 A (MacDonald) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of EP 0 973 000 A2 (Borgna).
With respect to claim 9: Haenssler, as modified, does not disclose “wherein the first and second ladder racks each include first and second side walls extending from arear surface of the inner liner and into the compartment” as claimed.
Borgna Fig. 1a shows columns 16 (ladder racks) that each have first and second side walls extending from a rear surface of an inner liner and into a compartment.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Haenssler’s rails 20 to be formed like Borgna’s columns 26, because that is a known configuration in the art for conventional ladder racks.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-12 are 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.
Claim 11 is objected to in this Office action, as being dependent on canceled claim 10. To make claim 11 allowable, it must be rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of claims 8 and 9.
Claims 16-21 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 27 February 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The double patenting rejections made in the previous Office action are withdrawn, as being overcome by the Terminal Disclaimer filed 27 February 2026.
The claim objections made in the previous Office action are withdrawn, as being overcome by the claim amendments filed 27 February 2026.
The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 made in the previous Office action are withdrawn, as being overcome by the claim amendments filed 27 February 2026. The new claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 made in this Office action are necessitated by the latest claim amendments.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW ROERSMA whose telephone number is (571)270-3185. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:00.
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/ANDREW ROERSMA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3637