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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 1-20 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.
The last indent of claim 1 is confusing. The language, “to maintain to vary” is unclear whether the frequency is maintained, or varied. This is further confused by the last line, “to be greater than or equal to the reference frequency. If the frequency is the reference frequency, how is the “another motion mode” different from the “first motion mode” which is claimed to be at the reference frequency? The same is true of the last indent of claim 18, which varies the frequency greater than or equal to the reference frequency. If the frequency is equal to the reference frequency, it is unclear how the fourth motion mode differs from the first motion mode. The claims not specifically mentioned depend from claim 1 or 18, so they are unclear due to their dependency on unclear claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Korean Patent document KR 2021-0117199A to Heo et al (hereinafter “KR ‘199”).
KR ‘199 discloses a laundry treating apparatus (1) comprising: a treatment chamber (20) configured to receive laundry. A laundry hanger configured to hang the laundry and to be accommodated in the treatment chamber, a laundry hanger support located in the treatment chamber and configured to support the laundry hanger with the support configured to repeat a reciprocating motion between a first position and a second position, a driver configured to provide a driving force to the laundry hanger support (“The hanger may be provided in plurality. Accordingly, the driving unit 500 includes a hanger arrangement unit 510 for moving one or more of the plurality of hangers 610 in a first direction, and a transport driving unit for moving the hanger unit 600 along a second direction ( 540), it may include a reciprocating unit 520 for reciprocating the hanger unit 600 along the third direction.”), a moisture removal module to remove moisture in the air in the treatment chamber, a steam supply to supply steam to the treatment chamber (“1 shows an example of a conventional laundry treatment apparatus 1 . The clothes treatment apparatus 1 includes a cabinet 10 including an inlet on one surface, a first chamber 20 positioned inside the cabinet 10 to receive clothes through the inlet, and the first chamber 20 ), a second chamber 30 forming a space separated from the first chamber 20, is provided inside the second chamber 30 to generate steam and to form a space separated from the first chamber 20 ) and a door 70 for opening and closing the inlet by rotatably coupled to the steam unit (not shown) and the cabinet 10 . Considering the usage method of general users, preferably, the inlet will be provided on the front side of the cabinet 10 .
In addition, the laundry treatment apparatus 1 is located inside the second chamber 30 , and a blowing unit (not shown) that sucks air from the first chamber 20 and dehumidifies and heats the sucked air. It may further include a heat pump unit for discharging to the first chamber 20 after.”
and a controller configured to control the driver (“Such movement of the hanger may be referred to as a pop-up hanger, and such movement may be performed by the controller 900 controlling the hanger arrangement unit 510 .”)
KR ‘199 further states, “In addition, the control unit 900 for controlling the movement of the hanger unit 600 , the heat exchange unit 740 , the operation of the compressor P and the circulation fan 715 , the operation of the steam unit 730 , and the operation of various sensors. It may be located inside the second chamber. However, this is only an example, and the control unit 900 includes the movement of the hanger unit 600 , the operation of the heat exchange unit 740 , the compressor P and the circulation fan 715 , the operation of the steam unit 730 , and various sensors. If they can control their operations, they may be located anywhere in the laundry treatment apparatus 1000.”, and “The first chamber 110 (or the clothes processing chamber) may be a space for receiving and taking care of clothes. That is, it refers to a space in which processing such as removing foreign substances from clothes, sterilizing, removing odors, and drying by supplying hot air is performed. Accordingly, the first chamber 110 may be referred to as a clothes processing chamber.” These are seen to teach a steam cycle and a drying cycle.
KR ‘199 further states:
“In addition, in consideration of the high rotational speed of a general motor, the reciprocating unit 520 may further include a reduction gear (not shown) or a planetary gear unit (not shown) for lowering the respective rotational speeds of the at least one power motor. there is also The reduction gear or the planetary gear unit may be located inside each of the at least one power motor. In contrast, the reciprocating unit 520 uses a belt and a pulley to set the power motor rotating shaft provided in each of the at least one power motor and the moving body unit 526 moving by the at least one power motor to have different rotation ratios.”
and
“Considering the high rotation speed of a general motor, the movement driving unit 530 may further include a reduction gear (not shown) or a planetary gear unit (not shown) for lowering the respective rotation speeds of the at least one movement motor. . The reduction gear or the planetary gear unit may be located inside each of the at least one moving motor. On the other hand, the movement driving unit 530 uses a belt and a pulley to set the movement motor rotation shaft provided in each of the at least one movement motor and the movement guide unit 532 driven by the at least one movement motor at different rotation ratios.”
The two citations immediately above refer to “different rotation ratios” provided by the motor to the moving body unit and the movement guide. This is seen as a teaching of reciprocating the hanger support at different frequencies. While the reference does not refer to a reference frequency or motion modes, these are seen as obvious modifications in language for an ordinary practitioner in the at the time of filing. The reference teaches different rotation rates for the driver which will move the hangers at different frequencies, calling one of these frequencies a reference frequency and a higher frequency a different motion mode is seen as obvious nomenclature differences for the same structure.
In regard to 18, the discussion of claim 1 above discusses all of the claimed structure, with the exception of four motion modes. As states above, KR ‘199 teaches different rotation ratios which will provide different frequencies. The teaching is seen to apply to many different frequencies, each of which could be called a different motion mode. Although this language is not used in the reference, there does not seen to be any structural difference between the claim and the KR ‘199 disclosure.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-17,19 and 20 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. WO 2010/082759 and WO 2016/182285 show laundry treatment devices with means to move hangers supporting garments during treatments, such as steam and drying. Nam et al. US 2017/0327306 shows a laundry treating apparatus with a controller to control the treatment and movement of the laundry during treatment.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM C DOERRLER whose telephone number is (571)272-4807. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7-5.
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/WILLIAM C DOERRLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3993
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