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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2026.02.09 has been entered.
Status of the Claims
Claims 1, 4, 5, and 13 have been amended.
Claims 4 and 13 amended to incorporate previously objected to as allowable subject matter from dependent claims.
Claims 14, and 15, have been canceled.
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(s) 1 – 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 213931251, “Lai,” in view of JP 2007162467, “Yuei.”
Regarding Claim 1: Lai discloses a portable wind blowing device (Figures 1 – 6), comprising: a hanging body portion (Generally interpreted as the “U-shaped” housing formed by shells 10 and 20; [0024]), defining at least one air inlet (18, 32), a receiving cavity (Generally interpreted as the internal volume of the hanging body formed by at least the first accommodating cavity 17 and the air duct 16, shown receiving the fan in at least Figures 3 and 5), and at least one air outlet (19, 29); at least one fan assembly (40, 46), received in the receiving cavity (As shown in at least Figures 3 and 5); wherein each of the at least one fan assembly is arranged with: a centrifugal airflow zone (As shown in at least Annotated Figure A); a mixed-flow booster blower (As shown in at least Annotated Figure A; The term mixed-flow booster has been provided its broadest reasonable interpretation such that the centrifugal fan of Lau which provides a mixing of flow passing though the fan reads over the recited limitation), wherein the mixed-flow booster blower comprises diagonal fan blades (As shown in at least Annotated Figure A; The fan blades are shown being arranged angled to the center of rotation such that they are interpreted as being diagonal fan blades), the diagonal fan blades are configured to direct air from the exterior of the device into the centrifugal airflow zone and to generate a high pressure airflow (As shown in at least Annotated Figure A; The airflow which is produced by the centrifugal fan and provided through the centrifugal zone into the concentration channel for delivery to the outlets 19); an airflow concentration channel, configured to concentrate the high pressure airflow in the centrifugal airflow zone and to direct high pressure airflow to be blown out of the device through the at least one air outlet (As shown in at least Annotated Figure A); however, Lai fails to explicitly disclose wherein, the mixed-flow booster blower further comprises a hub on which the diagonal fan blades are arranged; the hub comprises a front side facing the at least one air inlet; each of the diagonal fan blades comprises a front edge portion that is extending from and is inclined with respect to the front side of the hub; in a direction from a circumference edge of the front side to a central region of the front side, the front side of the hub is gradually protruding to form a sloped front side; an air suction channel covers a region that is defined by the front edge portions of all of the diagonal fan blades.
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Annotated Figure A: Features of the Centrifugal Fan of Lai
Yuei teaches fan assembly comprising a mixed-flow booster blower used for blowing air (5) (As shown in at least Figures 1 – 5, 8, and 9; Described in at least [0002]), wherein, the mixed-flow booster blower further comprises a hub (6) on which the diagonal fan blades (8b) are arranged (As shown in at least Figure 5); the hub comprises a front side facing the at least one air inlet (Interpreted as the upper side of hub 6 facing towards the airflow inlet shown as the upper direction as arranged in Figure 5); each of the diagonal fan blades comprises a front edge portion that is extending from and is inclined with respect to the front side of the hub (The front edge portion of each fan blade 8b interpreted as the top edge of the fan blade arranged opposite the hub and closest to the air inlet as shown in at least Figure 5; The top edge of each fan blade is shown inclined with respect to the front side of the hub as shown in each of Figures 1 and 5 wherein the top edge of each fan blade is shown arranged having a non-parallel curvature with respect to the curved surface of the front side of the hub); in a direction from a circumference edge of the front side to a central region of the front side, the front side of the hub is gradually protruding to form a sloped front side (As shown in at least Figure 5; The hub is shown gradually protruding along the radial direction of the hub, forming a sloped surface, which is shown protruding in the axial direction of the airflow inlet); an air suction channel covers a region that is defined by the front edge portions of all of the diagonal fan blades (The air suction channel is interepted as comprising the channel formed above the diagonal fan blades and bounded by the inner radial surface of the partition plate 9, a secondary channel is shown formed between the partition plate 9 and the annular shroud 7 which further comprises an air suction channel).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the portable wind blowing device of Lai to have substituted the fan assembly with that of Yuei with the predicted results that such a fan assembly would be capable of use in the device of Lai and that such a modification amounts to a simple substitution of one know centrifugal blade assembly for that of another. Such a substitution would have been obvious since, an express suggestion to substitute one equivalent component or process for another is not necessary to render such substitution obvious (MPEP 2144.06).
Regarding Claim 2: Lai, in view of Yuei, teaches the portable wind blowing device according to claim 1; once combined, Yuei further teaches the fan assembly is further arranged with an auxiliary fan (As shown in at least Figure 5; The portion of the fan formed by the radial outermost blades 8a is interpreted as forming an auxiliary fan), two airflow intaking ports are defined on one side of the fan assembly (As shown in at least Figures 4 and 5; The space of the inlet formed between the hub, the partition plate, and the blades forms a first air inlet port, and the space of the inlet formed between the partition plate, the shroud, and the blades forms a second air inlet port), and the two airflow intaking ports comprise: a main airflow intaking port (As shown in at least Figures 4 and 5; The main airflow intaking port is interpreted as the first air inlet (previously described herein) proving the flow path as shown being pressurized by blades 8b), communicating with the mixed-flow booster blower to form the high pressure airflow; and an auxiliary airflow intaking port (As shown in at least Figures 4 and 5; The auxiliary airflow intaking port is interpreted as the second air inlet (previously described herein) proving the flow path as shown being pressurized by blades 8a), communicating with the auxiliary fan to form an auxiliary airflow; wherein, the high pressure airflow and the auxiliary airflow are converged in the airflow concentration channel (As shown in at least Figures 4 and 5; The first and second airflows converge when exiting the fan assembly such that they would converge in a flow channel in which the fan assembly is placed in service.).
Regarding Claim 3: Lai, in view of Yuei, discloses the portable wind blowing device according to claim 2; once combined, Lai further discloses wherein the number of the at least one fan assembly is two, the two fan assemblies are respectively located at two ends of the hanging body portion (As shown in a least Figures 1 – 4; The apparatus comprises two fan assemblies 40 which are shown located at opposing extents of the “u-shaped” body forming the hanging body portion such that they are interpreted as being located at the two ends of the hanging body portion). It is noted that claim 3 presents Clause A, followed by the conjunction “and/or,” Clause B, followed by the conjunction “or,” followed by Clause C. As such, a minimum of one element of clauses A, B, and C is required to meet the limitations of the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 – 13, and 16 – 20 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.
Lai, in view of Yuei, fails to explicitly disclose or teach “an inner side surface that is adjacent to and facing a neck when the neck fan is worn around the neck; and an outer side surface that is facing away from the neck when the neck fan is worn around the neck; both the inner side surface and the outer side surface are surfaces that are exposed to an exterior of the neck fan; the body portion further defines one or more vent holes that penetrate the body portion, from the inner side surface to the outer side surface, for air circulation, the fan assembly is configured to intake air through the at least one air inlet and blow the air out of the fan through the at least one air outlet, the one or more vent holes are configured to allow air, which is located at a side of the body portion away from the neck, to flow through freely to circulate with air, which is located at a side of the body portion adjacent to the neck,” as recited by newly amended claim 4.
Lai, in view of Yuei, fails to explicitly disclose or teach “each airflow guiding blade further comprises a front edge portion connected between the blade top portion and the front side of the hub; and the front edge portion is inclined with respect to the front side of the hub; and the blade top portion of the airflow guiding blade comprises a first top portion disposed near the front edge portion and a second top portion away from the front edge portion; the second top portion is recessed toward the front side of the hub,” as recited by newly amended claim 13 which has incorporated subject matter from previously objected to claims 14 and 15.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2026.02.09 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues on page 12 of their Remarks that “due to the configuration of the front side of the hub (i.e. the entire side is a sloped in shape), the air suction channel is larger in area.”
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However, it is noted that the claim fails to recite any such limitation which would indicate that “the entire [front] side [of the hub] is a sloped in shape.” In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “the entire side is a sloped in shape”) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). Applicant further directs arguments to the extent of the curved surface in at least page 13 of their Remarks where they indicate that “[the] central region of the hub in YUEI is flat […] the hub in YUEI is only partially sloped in shape.” [emphasis removed from original] It is noted that such an argument is directed towards unclaimed subject matter and that the claim as presented fails to require an absence of a flat portion arranged on the hub such as the shaft attachment portion 10a as shown in at least Figure 5 of Yeui. It is further noted that as shown in at least Figure 34 of the instant application (indicated on at least page 11 of Applicant’s Remarks as providing support for the instant claim amendments) the hub is shown comprising a flat portion at the airflow inlet side of the hub at the termination of the attachment of the shaft 25 in a similar manner to that of Yuei.
Applicant argues on pages 12 and 13 of their Remarks that “in YUEI, a region in which the air can be intaken may be limited [and that] no air can be intaken through a region above the entire central region of YUEI.”
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It is noted that the subject limitation merely recites “the front side of the hub is gradually protruding to form a sloped front side.” The claim does not prescribe a specific shape or the extent of the curvature of the front side of the hub. As is shown in at least Figure 5 of Yuei, as further discussed in at least the aforesaid rejection of claim 1 in at lest ¶7, Yuei teaches a front side of a hub which is curved in profile and protruding in the direction of the airflow inlet. Moreover, the arrangement of the shaft attachment 10a does not prohibit airflow in a manner which would prevent air to be “intaken through a region above the entire central region.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/BENJAMIN DOYLE/Examiner, Art Unit 3746 2026.03.07
/MARK A LAURENZI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3746 3/18/2026