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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 20-27 and 31-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ABAD et al. (US 5,954,070) in view of KR 102122399, hereinafter referred to as “’399”.
Re Claim 20, ABAD et al. teaches an industrial cleaning machine for cleaning parts comprising: at least one cleaning chamber (where 64 is) for receiving parts requiring cleaning, and a pneumatically operated cleaning system (uses pumps), including at least one pneumatically actuated pump 40, 42 operated by compressed air supplied to the cleaning machine to pump and supply liquid (col. 3 lines 34-66), wherein the cleaning machine integrates a control device configured to monitor and control operation of the cleaning machine (e.g., concentration measuring devices 54, 56) and to operate autonomously on power provided by a battery (col. 5 lines 1-19 discuss battery use), wherein the control device include an air circuit (pneumatic pumps require air to operate, See Claims 5-6 also pumps are driven by pressurized gas/air).
Re Claim 20, ABAD et al. does not appear to explicitly teach to gather status information and communicate to a remote server. However, it is well known in a cleaning machine to provide such communication for remote and automated operations. For example, ‘399 teaches an IoT service to wirelessly communicate information of an ultrasonic cleaner to a user and display relevant information on a screen. See [0001]-[0005] and [0033].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to modify the cleaning device as taught by ABAD et al. and provide remote communication of a status information as taught by ‘399 to, for example, operate the cleaning device using a smart phone.
Re Claims 21-22 and 31-32, it is considered obvious to provide operational parameters especially error messages for operation, noting that concentration measuring devices (50, 52) are already taught. Re Claim 32, measuring the pressure of the air is considered well known and obvious to ensure proper pump function.
Re Claims 23-27, ‘399 teaches to operate according to IoT ([0009]) and wireless communication, and using a geolocalization device [0033] and thus makes obvious operating according to these wireless communication standards.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 28-30 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.
Re Claims 28-30, there appears to be no teaching or motivation to measure the air quality or temperature quality of the environment for these cleaning machines in combination of the above combination of references.
Claims 34-43 are allowable.
Re Claim 33-34 (and 35-43), a rechargable battery using a turbine generator is known (DE 4105614). However, it uses high pressure fluid. It does not appear to be taught or made obvious to use the turbine generator to form part of the air circuit and be operated by the compressed air supplied to the cleaning machine, without impermissible hindsight.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON Y KO whose telephone number is (571)270-7451. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00-6:00.
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JASON Y. KO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1711
/JASON Y KO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711
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