DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/23/26 in regards to the prior rejection of claim 1 have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of amendments to the claim.
Applicant's arguments filed 4/23/26 in regards to the prior rejection of claim 15 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant asserts that the cited references fail to teach or suggest the claimed features. However, as set forth in the prior Office action, the cited prior art renders the claim obvious based on the specific teachings of the prior art.
Response to Amendments
Amendments to the claims overcome the objections to claims 3 and 13 set forth in the prior Office action. Therefore, the objections are withdrawn.
Amendments to the claims overcome the rejections of claims 1-14 under 35 USC 103 set forth in the prior Office action. Therefore, the rejections are withdrawn.
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.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 20210164145 by Kim et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20080022465 by Jun et al. and KR20030084363A by Ko.
As to claim 15, Kim teaches a laundry treating apparatus comprising first and second treating apparatuses with respective first and second treating units to receive laundry (fig. 1); an output unit in the first or second apparatus to output a screen (fig. 5); an input unit (e.g. buttons, dial) in the first or second apparatus to receive a user command for selecting a target to be displayed (fig. 5); start-stop buttons 51s in the first or second apparatus (fig. 5), wherein the output unit is configured to output a simultaneous screen to display progress information of both first and second courses, the screen comprising a first course object to display the progress of the first course and a second course object to display the progress of the second course (fig. 26).
Kim teaches respective start-stop buttons 51sT, 51sB (fig. 5) that cause respective courses of the first and second apparatuses to be performed when respective course selection screens are output (see e.g. figs. 24, 25). Kim does not teach a single start-stop button. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to modify the laundry apparatus taught by Kim to have a single start-stop button. Ko teaches that reducing the number of buttons on a laundry apparatus input unit is desirable because it reduces production cost (para. 24). Jun teaches a laundry apparatus having first and second treating apparatuses, the laundry apparatus having a single start-stop button and selecting buttons to select which of the treating apparatus to configure and operate (fig. 1, para. 62). One of ordinary skill in the art would have motivated to modify the laundry apparatus taught by Kim to have a single start-stop button in order to reduce production cost, as taught by Ko, and would have had sufficient direction to do so based on the teachings of Jun that demonstrate an application of a single start-stop button in a laundry apparatus having first and second treating apparatuses.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to maintain progress of the first and second courses when the start-stop button is manipulated on the simultaneous screen, in particular when neither apparatus is selected for input control (see Kim, para. 152); and to output a message to select the first or second course when the start-stop button is manipulated on the simultaneous screen. Based on the teachings of Kim and implied function of the apparatus selector buttons and start-stop button of Jun, one of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that if neither apparatus is selected the start-stop button would have no consequence if manipulated, and would have recognized as obvious to output a message to prompt a user to select an apparatus to control so the user's intent to stop or pause a course may be carried out.
Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record, taken alone or in obvious combination, fails to teach the totality of the limitations of the claim 1. In particular, the prior art of record does not teach a laundry treating apparatus have first and second treating apparatuses, an output unit, an input unit, and a start-stop button having the claimed functions. The term “mode” in the claims is interpreted as suggested by the disclosure to be an operational state in which particular courses or cycles are performed corresponding to the operational state, for example a washing mode, a washing/drying mode, and a drying mode (see para. 19). The terms course and mode are interpreted to be distinct elements, a course being a cycle of operation such as normal, delicates, rinse only; a mode being a machine state to perform a particular set of courses, as described above. The prior art of record does not teach the claimed course selection screens, mode selection object, and mode selection screen, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not have recognized as obvious to have the particular claimed configuration. The mode selection screen requires a plurality of modes performed by the first apparatus and a plurality of modes performed by the second apparatus to be displayed simultaneously, in such a way that they are “distinguished from each other” (i.e. a user being able to readily recognize which apparatus performs each of the displayed plurality of modes). This claimed configuration is not disclosed in the prior art of record and would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/SPENCER E. BELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711
Prosecution Insights