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 .
Statement of Examination
This application was originally directed towards a method of control for a laundry device (as filed on 07/25/2024). A completely new set of claims, drawings, specification, inventorship, and attorney of record was filed 10/31/2024. The Examiner believes this was done in error and will be examining the entire original filing dated 07/25/2024 directed towards the laundry device and its method of control.
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.
Claims 1-5, 7, and 9-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0299892 (Hahm hereinafter) in view of US 2018/0057995 (Kim hereinafter) and further in view of US 2018/0340284 (Quinn hereinafter).
Regarding claim 1, Hahm teaches a washing machine and control method that discloses controlling a laundry treating apparatus including a tub where water is stored (Figures 1 and 2 with tub 110), a drum disposed inside the tub to store laundry therein (Inherent of drum 120), and a heater configured to heat the drum (Heater 215), the method comprising: a motion execution step of alternately performing a stirring motion to rotate the drum with a first number of rotations creating a centrifugal force smaller than 1 G (¶ 208 with Figure 15), and a heat transfer motion to rotate the drum with a second number of rotations creating a centrifugal force equal to or greater than 1 G (¶ 220); and a heating step of heating the drum by operating the heater (Drying with heat as shown in Figure 15).
Hahm is silent with respect to the heater configured to heat the drum by generating an eddy current in the drum.
However, Kim teaches a laundry treatment apparatus that discloses a heater configured to heat the drum by generating an eddy current in the drum (Heater 70 in Figures 1 and 2 with coil 74 per ¶ 26).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace the heater of Hahm with the induction heater of Kim to increase temperature control.
Hermes is silent with respect that wherein when dryness of the laundry reaches preset reference dryness, an execution time of the heat transfer motion is set to be greater than an execution time of the stirring motion.
However, Quinn teaches the control of a laundry device that discloses when dryness of the laundry reaches preset reference dryness, an execution time of the heat transfer motion is set to be greater than an execution time of the stirring motion (Figures 3 and 4 where the RMC of the clothes is set and when reached the cycle proceeds to an end of cycle step and when applied to the operation of Hahm the operation will proceed to the cooling and tumbling step).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify eh operation procedures of Hahm with the teachings of Quinn to allow for more efficient drying by shortening steps when possible.
Regarding claim 2, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose that when the dryness of the laundry is smaller than the preset reference dryness, the execution time of the stirring motion and the execution time of the heat transfer motion are set to be the same as each other (under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the times are set to zero when the required dryness is achieved).
Regarding claim 3, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose a rotation direction of the drum set in the stirring motion and a rotation direction of the drum set in the heat transfer motion are the same as each other (Evident from Figure 15 of Hahm).
Regarding claim 4, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose that the first number of rotations is set to a number of rotations causing the laundry to fall, roll, or slide at a vertical level equal to or lower than a vertical level of a horizontal line passing through a rotation center of the drum (¶ 208 of Hahm).
Regarding claim 5, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose a drying step composed of the heating step and a heat exchange step is divided into a preheating period (Initial heating of Hahm/Kim), a constant drying rate period (Middle portion when the temperature has reached the required setting), and a falling drying rate period (Eventual cooling of Hahm), and the reference dryness is set to a value between highest dryness and lowest dryness defining the constant drying rate period (During the active drying stages of Hahm will be in this range).
Regarding claim 7, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose that the heating step is started simultaneously with the motion execution step or is started after start of the motion execution step (Evident from Figure 15 of Hahm).
Regarding claim 9, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose a dehydration step started before the heating step and the motion execution step are executed (1040 of Hahm per ¶ 199 and 205), wherein the dehydration step includes removing water from the laundry by rotating the drum with a number of rotations creating the centrifugal force equal to or greater than 1G (¶ 199 and 205 of Hahm).
Regarding claim 10, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 9 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose that a stirring heating step started before the dehydration step is executed (Steps 1020 and 1030 of Hahm in Figure 13), wherein the stirring heating step includes heating the drum by operating the heater while rotating the drum at a number of rotations creating the centrifugal force smaller than 1G (Washing and rinsing cycles would need to be less than 1 G to allow for the clothing to be agitated).
Regarding claim 11, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 10 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose that the number of rotations of the drum set in the stirring heating step is set to be equal to or smaller than the number of rotations of the drum set in the stirring motion (¶ 195 and 197 of Hahm).
Regarding claim 12, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose that the heating step includes controlling a temperature of the drum to maintain a temperature of the laundry equal to or lower than 90 degrees Celsius (¶ 223 of Hahm).
Regarding claim 13, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 12 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose that the heating step includes maintaining the temperature of the drum equal to or lower than 100 degrees Celsius (¶ 223 of Hahm).
Regarding claim 14, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 12 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose a cooling step of lowering the temperature of the laundry by rotating the drum when the heating step and the motion execution step are completed (Figure 15 with the cooling step of Hahm).
Regarding claim 15, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 14 where the combination of Hahm, Kim, and Quinn would further disclose a number of rotations set in the cooling step is set to be smaller than the first number of rotations (¶ 242 of Hahm).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0299892 (Hahm) in view of US 2018/0057995 (Kim) in view of US 2018/0340284 (Quinn) and further in view of US 2018/0202097 (Chung hereinafter).
Regarding claim 6, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 but are silent with respect that the reference dryness is set to dryness where a moisture content of the laundry is in a range of 30% to 20%.
However, Chung teaches a laundry treatment apparatus that discloses a dryness setting of RMC of 20% (¶ 232).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the RMC of Hahm/Kim/Quinn with the specific value of Chung to achieve a desirable dryness for the clothing being dried.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0299892 (Hahm) in view of US 2018/0057995 (Kim) in view of US 2018/0340284 (Quinn) and further in view of US 2005/0044639 (Kwang hereinafter).
Regarding claim 8, Hahm’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 but are silent with respect that the heating step is executed before start of the motion execution step, and an interval between a start time point of the heating step and a start time point of the motion execution step is set within a preset reference time.
However, Kwang teaches a laundry treatment apparatus that discloses a heating step is executed before start of the motion execution step (Figure 4 shows a step of turning on the blower and the heater then starting the motion of the drum), and an interval between a start time point of the heating step and a start time point of the motion execution step is set within a preset reference time (Arbitrary preset time shown in Figure 4 between the steps in Kwang).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the operation of the heater and drum of Hahm with the interval taught by Kwang to allow for heating conditions to be obtained before operating the drum cycles.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 10378558 and US 013/0328223 each detail an aromatherapy device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CONNOR J. TREMARCHE whose telephone number is (571)272-2175. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 0700-1700 Eastern.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MICHAEL HOANG can be reached at (571) 272-6460. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CONNOR J TREMARCHE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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