DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to amendments received 30 October 2025.
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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: Regarding claim 10, lines 9-10, “fan blade” should be changed to the fan blade. 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 6-7 and 10 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.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the low-pressure side of the fan" in lines 8-9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the high-pressure side of the fan" in line 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the swept area of the free end of fan blade" in lines 9-10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tei (JP 2005-002911 A using machine translation previously provided) in view of Lucas (WO 2021/178711 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tei discloses a fan [1] comprising: a first fan blade [3] having a pivot end [3a] and a free end [3b]; a first body [2] having a first end attached to the first fan blade pivot end [3a] and a second end attached to a fan frame (see power terminal [9]); the first fan blade [3] being free to oscillate by pivoting on the first body [2] wherein the free end [3b] experiences the largest displacement of the blade [3]; a baffle [7] located at the free end [3b] of the first fan blade [3] and having a first window [7c] surrounded by a first window edge, wherein the first window [7c] has dimensions sized to create a clearance (paragraph 0033: “predetermined gap;” also see gap in Figure 4) between the first window edge and a swept area of the first blade free end [3b], wherein the baffle [7] is configured to increase the fan's delivered pressure by minimizing air back flow; a power terminal [9] configured to apply time-varying forces causing the first fan blade [3] to oscillate (paragraphs 0008-0011, 0023-0035, and Figures 1-5). Tei does not disclose a first spring or a motor having a stator. Lucas, however, discloses a similar fan (Figures 2 and 9-10) comprising: a first fan blade [30] having a pivot end [A] (see annotated Figure 10 below for all reference letters) and a free end [B]; a first spring [C] having a first end [D] attached to the first blade pivot end [A] and a second end [E] attached to a fan frame [32]; a motor [26, 28] having a stator [26] attached to the fan frame [32] and an armature [28] attached to the first fan blade [30], wherein the stator [26] is configured to apply time-varying magnetic forces (paragraph 0055: “periodic magnetic fields”) to the armature [28] thereby causing the first fan blade [30] to oscillate (paragraphs 0048, 0055-0056, Figures 2-3, 9-10, and annotated Figure 10 below). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure Tei’s fan to include a first spring having a first end attached to the first fan blade pivot end and a second end attached to a fan frame and a motor having a stator attached to the fan frame and an armature attached to the first fan blade because Lucas teaches that this configuration has advantages over the prior art fan blade (see Figure 1, which is similar in structure to Tei’s fan blade) of avoiding instabilities, stress risers, surface damage, premature spring failure, and significant noise (paragraphs 0005, 0008, 0011, and 0048-0049).
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Regarding claim 2, the modified Tei discloses the fan of claim 1 further comprising: a first compression chamber [F] (see annotated Figure 1 below for all reference letters) located on one side of the first fan blade [3] and being partially bounded by the first fan blade [3], the baffle [7] and a first boundary wall [5A] located beside the first fan blade [3]; whereby air is free to flow into the first compression chamber [F] from a low-pressure side (see air suction opening [4a] in Figure 1) of the fan [1] and flow out of the first compression chamber [F] through the first window [7c] and into a high-pressure side (see air blowing opening [4b] in Figure 1) of the fan [1]; and whereby the first compression chamber [F] and the first fan blade [3] are configured so that the motion of the first fan blade [3] creates a time-varying change in the first compression chamber volume which increases the pressure of air delivered by the fan [1] to levels higher than those that can be achieved without a compression chamber (paragraphs 0009, 0029, 0032, and annotated Figure 1 below).
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Regarding claim 3, the modified Tei discloses the fan of claim 2 further comprising: a second compression chamber [G] located on the opposite side of the first blade [3] from the first compression chamber [F] and being partially bounded by the first fan blade [3], the baffle [7] and a second boundary wall [5B]; whereby air is free to flow into the second compression chamber [G] from the low-pressure side (see air suction opening [4a] in Figure 1) of the fan [1] and flow out of the second compression chamber [G] through the first window [7c] and to the high-pressure side (see air blowing opening [4b] in Figure 1) of the fan [1]; and whereby the second compression chamber [G] and the first fan blade [3] are configured so that the motion of the first fan blade [3] creates a time-varying change in the second compression chamber volume [G] which increases the pressure of air delivered by the fan [1] to levels higher than those that can be achieved with only a single compression chamber (paragraphs 0009, 0029, 0032, and annotated Figure 1 above).
Regarding claim 4, the modified Tei discloses the fan of claim 3 further comprising: a first compression chamber end cap [10] that seals one end of the first and second compression chambers [F, G]; and a second compression chamber end cap [6] that seals the opposite end of the first and second compression chambers [F, G] (paragraphs 0029-0030, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS, Figures 1-2, 12, and annotated Figure 1 above).
Regarding claim 5, the modified Tei discloses the fan of claim 1 further comprising: a second fan blade [3’] (see annotated Figure 12; wherein four units are combined) having a pivot end [3a’] and a free end [3b’]; a second spring [C of Lucas for reasons provided in paragraph 10 above] having a first end [D of Lucas] attached to the second blade pivot end [A of Lucas] and a second end [E of Lucas] attached to the fan frame [32 of Lucas]; the second fan blade [3’] being free to oscillate by pivoting on the second spring [C of Lucas] whereby the free end [3b’] experiences the largest displacement of the second fan blade [3’]; the baffle [7] having a second window [7c’] (see Figure 12; wherein four windows [7c] exist) surrounded by a second window edge, wherein the second window [7c’] has dimensions sized to create a small clearance (paragraph 0033: “predetermined gap;” also see gap in Figure 4) between the second window edge and a swept area of the second fan blade free end [3b’], whereby the baffle [7] is configured to increase the fan's delivered pressure by minimizing air back flow; a first compression chamber [H] (see annotated Figure 12 below for all reference letters) partially bounded by the first fan blade [3], the second fan blade [3’] and the baffle [7]; a second armature [28 of Lucas] attached to the second fan blade [3’], whereby the stator [26 of Lucas] is configured to apply time-varying magnetic forces to the second armature [28 of Lucas] which causes the second blade [3’] to oscillate; wherein the first compression chamber [H] is configured so that the fan [1] operates to deliver a pressure greater than the pressure that could be achieved without a compression chamber (paragraphs 0008-0011, 0023-0035, 0052-0053, Figures 1-5 and 12, and annotated Figure 12 below; also see paragraphs 0048, 0055-0056, Figures 2-3, 9-10, and annotated Figure 10 above of Lucas and motivation for combining Lucas with Tei provided in paragraph 10 above).
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Regarding claim 6, the modified Tei discloses the fan of claim 5 further comprising: a second compression chamber [I] located on an opposite side of the first fan blade [3] from the first compression chamber [H] and being partially bounded by the first fan blade [3], the baffle [7] and a first boundary wall [5C]; a third compression chamber [J] located on an opposite side of the second fan blade [3’] from the first compression chamber [H] and being partially bounded by the second fan blade [3’], the baffle [7], and a second boundary wall [5D] (wherein although 4 fan units are combined in Figure 12; two fan units can be combined such that the third compression chamber [J] would be bounded by the second boundary wall 5D]; whereby air is free to flow into the second compression chamber [I] from the low-pressure side (see air suction opening [4a] in Figure 12) of the fan and flow out of the second compression chamber [I] through the first window [7c] and into the high-pressure side (see air blowing opening [4b] in Figure 12) of the fan; whereby air is free to flow into the third compression chamber [J] from the low-pressure side (see air suction opening [4a] in Figure 12) of the fan and flow out of the third compression chamber [J] through the second window [7c’] and into the high-pressure side (see air blowing opening [4b] in Figure 12) of the fan; whereby the motion of the first and second fan blades [3, 3’] create a time-varying change in the second and third compression chamber volumes which increases the pressure of air delivered by the fan [1] to levels higher than those that can be achieved without the second and third compression chambers (paragraphs 0029, 0032-0033, 0052-0053, Figure 12, and annotated Figure 12 above).
Regarding claim 7, the modified Tei discloses the fan of claim 6 further comprising :a first compression chamber end cap [10] that seals one end of the first, second and third compression chambers [H, I, J]; and a second compression chamber end cap [6] that seals the opposite end of the first, second and third compression chambers [H, I, J] (paragraphs 0029-0030, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS, Figure12, and annotated Figure 12 above).
Regarding claim 8, Lucas discloses in the modified Tei, the fan of claim 1 wherein the first spring [C] comprises a steel spring wire (paragraphs 0048, 0051, 0055-0056, and annotated Figure 10 above).
Regarding claim 9, Lucas discloses in the modified Tei, the fan of claim 5 wherein the second spring [C] comprises a steel spring wire (paragraphs 0048, 0051, 0055-0056, and annotated Figure 10 above).
Regarding claim 10, Tei discloses a fan [1] comprising: a fan blade [3] having a pivoting end [3a] and a free end [3b]; a body [2] having a first end attached to the pivoting end [3a] of the fan blade [3] and a second end attached to a fan frame (see power terminal [9]); the fan blade [3] configured to oscillate so that the free end [3b] experiences the largest displacement of the blade [3]; a baffle [7] located at the free end [3b] of the fan blade [3] and having a window [7c] surrounded by a window edge, wherein the window [7c] is configured to frame the moition of the fan blade [3] thereby creating a clearance (paragraph 0033: “predetermined gap;” also see gap in Figure 4) between the window edge and the swept area of the free end [3b] of fan blade [3], at least one compression chamber [F] (see annotated Figure 1 above for all reference letters) located on one side of the fan blade [3] and being partially bounded by the fan blade [3], the baffle [7] and a boundary wall [5A], wherein the boundary wall [5A] is located beside the fan blade [3]; and a power terminal [9] configured to cause the fan blade [3] to oscillate by pivoting (paragraphs 0008-0011, 0023-0035, Figures 1-5, and annotated Figure 1 above). Tei does not disclose a spring or a motor having a stator. Lucas, however, discloses a similar fan (Figures 2 and 9-10) comprising: a fan blade [30] having a pivoting end [A] (see annotated Figure 10 above for all reference letters) and a free end [B]; a spring [C] having a first end [D] attached to the pivoting end [A] of the fan blade [30] and a second end [E] attached to a fan frame [32]; and a motor [26, 28] having a stator [26] attached to the fan frame [32] and an armature [28] attached to the fan blade [30], wherein the motor [26, 28] is configured to cause the fan blade [30] to oscillate by pivoting on the spring [C] (paragraphs 0048, 0055-0056, Figures 2-3, 9-10, and annotated Figure 10 above). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure Tei’s fan to include a spring having a first end attached to the pivoting end of the fan blade and a second end attached to a fan frame and a motor having a stator attached to the fan frame and an armature attached to the fan blade because Lucas teaches that this configuration has advantages over the prior art fan blade (see Figure 1, which is similar in structure to Tei’s fan blade) of avoiding instabilities, stress risers, surface damage, premature spring failure, and significant noise (paragraphs 0005, 0008, 0011, and 0048-0049).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Specifically, Tei has been introduced which discloses a baffle located at the free end of the blade. Lucas is relied on as a secondary reference for teaching blade springs, a motor, a stator, and an armature for the benefits outlined above.
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.
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/AUDREY B. WALTER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746