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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment and corresponding arguments, filed 7/18/2025, have been reviewed and considered. Claims 1, 4, 5 and 10-16 have been amended and claims 2-3 have been canceled. Therefore, claims 1 and 4-16 are currently pending. Applicant’s amendment is considered sufficient in overcoming the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) rejections of the previous Office Action. However, applicant’s amendment and corresponding arguments fail to be persuasive in overcoming the combination of CHAE et al. (WO 2021/002566 A1) and SAUDI et al. (WO 2020/141506 A1). Particularly refencing the applicant’s limitation, “wherein the holder includes a protrusion that has a front end that is formed to be convex forward when viewed from a top, so that the front end is formed as a curved surface”, please note the annotated figure 3 of CHAE as shown below:
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Note that C1 and C2 within the representation above are part of “a front end” (i.e., front edge) of a [front] protrusion of the holder (152) that is inclined downward (para. 0128) (Figures 3 and 19). Note that both of C1 and C2 are curved and “convex forward when viewed from a top” as claimed. Since both of C1 and C2 are part of the front end, the front end of CHAE can be considered “a curved surface”. Note that the applicant has not claimed that the curved surface extends entirely across a front edge thereof or that the curved surface is located at a center of the front end. Accordingly, the prior art rejection(s) including the combination of references within the previous Office Action is deemed proper and still stands. This Office Action is a Final Rejection.
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, 4-8 and 10-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHAE et al. (WO 2021/002566 A1) in view of SAUDI et al. (WO 2020/141506 A1). Paragraph numbers for WO 2021/002566 A1 are in reference to US 2022/0251776 A1 (in English) which is the national stage application thereof.
Regarding claim 1, CHAE discloses a clothes folding machine (100) comprising: a frame part (110 including 111-115 and/or 116-119) that forms an external skeleton; a folding part (170) that is mounted to the frame part, holds clothes, and folds the held clothes; and a holder (151; particularly note 152) that is disposed in front of the folding part and holds the clothes before the clothes are held by the folding part, wherein the holder has a first curvature when viewed from a front and forms a convex surface upward (surface of 152; para 0130) (Figures 1-3, 5-6 and 18-19), and wherein the holder includes a protrusion (the inclined front portion of the main board 152) that has a front end that is formed to be convex forward when viewed from a top, so that the front end is formed as a curved surface (note that the forward corners are rounded/convex) (para 0128) (Figures 3 and 19) (note response section above). However, CHAE fails to disclose the holder comprising a second curvature that intersects the first curvature when viewed from one side.
SAUDI discloses a clothes folding machine (10) comprising a holder (20) including a main board (26) wherein the front of the main board has a curvature (bend 36) in order to more easily accept a garment thereon (Figures 1-5). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have provided the holder of CHAE with a front curvature (a second curvature that would intersect the first curvature), in light of the teachings of SAUDI, in order to more easily accept a garment.
Regarding claims 4-8 and 10, CHAE further fails to disclose the holder comprising a holder body, a holder side wall and a sleeve folding portion as claimed. SAUDI discloses the holder (20) including: a holder body (28) that holds the clothes on an upper surface (42); a holder side wall (54) that extends upward from one side of the holder body (28); and a sleeve folding portion (46; 48) that is formed to protrude inward from one side of the holder side wall (54) and folds one side edge of the clothes when the clothes passes through the holder body (Figures 1-8). SAUDI discloses wherein a side of the sleeve folding portion (46; 48) is formed at least on part with a slop with an upper end disposed more inwardly than a lower end (note that front edge/end of 48 is sloped wherein highest portion at 56 is disposed more inward than the portion between 56 and the side wall) (Figures 4 and 7-8). SAUDI discloses wherein the sleeve folding portion (46; 48) includes: a side plate (vertical extending plate that connects 26 to 28; figures 2, 3, 5-7 and 9) that extends upward from the holder body (28); and an upper plate (26) that extends medially from an upper end of the side plate (Figures 2-9). SAUDI discloses wherein the side plate has a rear end disposed inwardly than a front end (Figure 5). SAUDI discloses wherein the upper plate (26) has an inner end (36) disposed lower than an outer end (any other portion) (Figure 5). SAUDI discloses wherein the holder (20) includes: a holder body (28) that holds the clothes on an upper surface (42); a holder side wall (54) that extends upward from one side of the holder body (28); and a sleeve support portion (46; 48) that extends forward from one side of the holder body and supports one side of the clothes (Figures 1-9). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have provided the holder of CHAE in view of SAUDI with a holder body, a holder side wall and a sleeve support portion as claimed, in further light of the teachings of SAUDI, in order to simplify and reduce the footprint of the width folder thereof.
Regarding claim 11, CHAE discloses a loading part (130) that is movably coupled to the frame part and fixes one side of the clothes (with grippers 131) when the clothes is placed on the holder and transfers the clothes to the folding part (figures 2, 3, 5 and 18-20).
Regarding claim 12, CHAE discloses wherein the loading part (130) includes: a loading part body (137, 138) (Fig. 5); a gripper (131, 131) that is disposed on the loading part body (through 1311) and fixes the clothes to the loading part body (through 1311) (Figures 2, 3, 5 and 18-20); a pinion (141) that is disposed on one side of the loading part body (Fig. 5); and a rack (140) that is disposed on the frame part (118), extends in a retraction direction of the clothes (para 0116), and is connected to the pinion (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 13, CHAE discloses wherein the gripper (131, 131) includes: a lower plate (lower gripper members) that is fixedly coupled to the loading part body (through 1311) and is in close contact with a lower surface of the clothes (10); an upper plate (upper gripper members) that is disposed on an upper portion of the lower plate (respective lower gripper member), is movably coupled to the loading part body, and is in close contact with an upper surface of the clothes (10); a first link (hinge portion of one gripper) that has one side rotatably coupled (around hinge pin) to the lower plate and the other side rotatably coupled to the upper plate; and a second link (hinge portions of the other gripper) that is disposed to be spaced apart from the first link (grippers are spaced apart), has one side rotatably coupled to the lower plate, and the other side rotatably coupled to the upper plate (para 0100-0106) (Figures 2 and 5).
Regarding claim 14, CHAE discloses wherein the gripper (131) includes: a lower plate (lower gripper member) that is fixedly coupled to the loading part body (through 1311) and is in close contact with a lower surface of the clothes (10); an upper plate (upper gripper member) that is disposed on an upper portion of the lower plate, is movably coupled to the loading part body, and is in close contact with an upper surface of the clothes; and a first spring (spring) that has one side coupled to the lower plate and the other side coupled to the lower plate (para 0100-0106) (Figures 2 and 5).
Regarding claim 15, CHAE discloses wherein the gripper (131) includes: a lower plate (lower gripper member) that is fixedly coupled to the loading part body (through 1311) and is in close contact with a lower surface of the clothes (10); an upper plate (upper gripper member) that is disposed on an upper portion of the lower plate, is movably coupled to the loading part body, and is in close contact with an upper surface of the clothing (10); and a pressing member (1311) that has one side disposed on the loading part body (137, 138) and the other side in close contact with the upper plate (upper gripper member) (para 0100-0106) (Figures 2 and 5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9 and 16 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.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN E DURHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-8642. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Monday - Friday.
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NED
/NATHAN E DURHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3732