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
The Amendment filed on 12/24/2025 has been entered. Claims 2, 7 and 8 were canceled. Applicant’s amendments to the Claims have overcome each and every 112(b) rejections.
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) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamada (Japanese Patent Document JP 2005-240749A) in view of Kojima (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2014/0363306).
As per claim 5, Yamada discloses an axial fan, comprising: a hub attachable to a rotary shaft (center hub 2 as shown; figure 4); and five or less blades (3) arranged on the hub, each blade including a leading edge located forward in a rotation direction of the rotary shaft, a trailing edge located rearward in the rotation direction of the rotary shaft (leading edge and trailing edge of blades 3 shown; figure 4), and a porous part (7; figure 4), wherein the porous part is positioned at the outer peripheral edge (as shown; figure 4).
Izumi does not explicitly teach the trailing edge includes, a first section extending from the inner peripheral connecting part toward the leading edge, a second section extending from the outer peripheral connecting part toward the leading edge, and a third section curved and connecting the first section and the second section, a length of a trajectory in the rotation direction from the leading edge to a center position of the third section is a first distance, a length of the trajectory in the rotation direction from the leading edge to an intersection at which the trajectory intersects an imaginary line segment connecting the first section and the second section is a second distance, and the first distance is 95% or less of the second distance, and a non-arrangement range is obtained by extending, in the rotation direction, a circular range centered on the center position of the third section and having a radius that is 5 mm greater than a radius of the third section, and the porous part is located at a position outside the non-arrangement range.
Kojima (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2014/0363306) is a related prior art in that it deals with an axial-flow fan. Kojima teaches an inner peripheral connecting part connected to the inner peripheral edge, an outer peripheral connecting part connected to the outer peripheral edge (see annotated figure 5 below), a first section (103; figure 5) extending from the inner peripheral connecting part toward the leading edge, a second section (102) extending from the outer peripheral connecting part toward the leading edge, and a third section (104) curved and connecting the first section and the second section, a length of a trajectory in the rotation direction from the leading edge to a center position of the third section is a first distance, a length of the trajectory in the rotation direction from the leading edge to an intersection at which the trajectory intersects an imaginary line segment connecting the first section and the second section is a second distance, and the first distance is 95% or less of the second distance (as shown, the length of the trajectory from the third section 104 to the imaginary line is much greater than 5% of the length of the trajectory from the imaginary line to the leading edge; see annotated figure 5).
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Kojima teaches the recessed portion having the claimed first, second and third sections toward the leading edge of the blade formed in the trailing edge improves ventilating performance and noise suppression (paragraph [0038]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to modify Izumi’s trailing edge to incorporate Kojima’s recessed portion having the first, second and third sections for the purpose of improvement of ventilating performance and noise suppression.
It should be noted that Yamada’s porous part (7; figure 4) is located at the outer peripheral edge (12) and Kojima teaches the radius of the third section 104 is at least 8mm (paragraph [0052]). However as shown in the drawings, 8 mm radius of third section 104 is tiny in comparison to the spanwise length of the blade (see Kojima figures 5 and 6). Even if one attempts to draw the claimed non-arrangement range that has 12 mm radius (5mm greater than the radius of the third section), it would still be very small compare to the entire spanwise length of the blade and would not reach the outer peripheral edge. Therefore, the modified structure would also have at least one porous part located outside of the claimed non-arrangement range.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chin-Chih (U.S. Patent No. 6,994,522) in view of Jung (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2004/0101409).
As per claim 6, Chin-Chih discloses an axial fan, comprising: a hub attachable to a rotary shaft (center hub 3 as shown; figure 9, 12); and a plurality of blades (32) arranged on the hub, each blade including a leading edge located forward in a rotation direction of the rotary shaft, a trailing edge located rearward in the rotation direction of the rotary shaft (leading edge and trailing edge of blades 32 shown; figures 9, 12), and a porous part (34; figure 9, 12), a dimension from the leading edge to the trailing edge being a blade chord length, and the porous part being arranged at a position located forward from the trailing edge by 60% or more of the blade chord length (porous part 7 located at the very vicinity of either the leading edge or the trailing edge, i.e., at least one of them is located forward from the trailing edge by 60% or more of the blade chord length; figures 9, 12).
Chin-Chih does not explicitly teach wherein the plurality of blades comprises six or more blades.
Jung is related prior art in that it deals with an axial flow fan. Jung teaches an axial flow fan having seven blades result in the lowest noise (paragraph [0037]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to modify Chin-Chih’s number of blades to be seven because as Jung teaches, the measurement of noise level depends on the number of blades and seven is found to have the lowest noise generated (paragraph [0037]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3, 4 and 9 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claim 1 contains allowable subject matter a non-arrangement range is obtained by extending, in the rotation direction, a circular range centered on the center position of the third section and having a radius that is 5 mm greater than a radius of the third section, and the porous part is located ONLY at a position outside the non-arrangement range.
As per claim 1, Izumi (Japanese Patent Document JP H03-237298A) discloses an axial fan, comprising: a hub attachable to a rotary shaft (center hub as shown; figure 1); and five or less blades (1) arranged on the hub, each blade including a leading edge (3) located forward in a rotation direction of the rotary shaft, a trailing edge (4) located rearward in the rotation direction of the rotary shaft, and a porous part (there are nine porous parts 8 per blade), a dimension from the leading edge to the trailing edge being a blade chord length, and the porous part being arranged at a position located rearward from the leading edge by 40% or more of the blade chord length (at least one of the nine porous parts 8 meets this limitation, e.g., porous part 8 near the trailing edge is located at a location more than 40% of the chord length from the leading edge; figure 1).
Izumi does not explicitly teach the trailing edge includes, a first section extending from the inner peripheral connecting part toward the leading edge, a second section extending from the outer peripheral connecting part toward the leading edge, and a third section curved and connecting the first section and the second section, a length of a trajectory in the rotation direction from the leading edge to a center position of the third section is a first distance, a length of the trajectory in the rotation direction from the leading edge to an intersection at which the trajectory intersects an imaginary line segment connecting the first section and the second section is a second distance, and the first distance is 95% or less of the second distance, and a non-arrangement range is obtained by extending, in the rotation direction, a circular range centered on the center position of the third section and having a radius that is 5 mm greater than a radius of the third section, and the porous part is located at a position outside the non-arrangement range.
Kojima (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2014/0363306) is a related prior art in that it deals with a an axial-flow fan. Kojima teaches an inner peripheral connecting part connected to the inner peripheral edge, an outer peripheral connecting part connected to the outer peripheral edge (see annotated figure 5 below), a first section (103; figure 5) extending from the inner peripheral connecting part toward the leading edge, a second section (102) extending from the outer peripheral connecting part toward the leading edge, and a third section (104) curved and connecting the first section and the second section, a length of a trajectory in the rotation direction from the leading edge to a center position of the third section is a first distance, a length of the trajectory in the rotation direction from the leading edge to an intersection at which the trajectory intersects an imaginary line segment connecting the first section and the second section is a second distance, and the first distance is 95% or less of the second distance (as shown, the length of the trajectory from the third section 104 to the imaginary line is much greater than 5% of the length of the trajectory from the imaginary line to the leading edge; see annotated figure 5).
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However, even if one attempts to modify Izumi’s fan blade to incorporate Kojima’s trailing edge profile, because Izumi’s porous parts are located almost everywhere in the blade surface, the modified structure would fail to have the claimed feature “a non-arrangement range is obtained by extending, in the rotation direction, a circular range centered on the center position of the third section and having a radius that is 5 mm greater than a radius of the third section, and the porous part is located ONLY at a position outside the non-arrangement range”.
No relevant prior art of record sufficiently teaches the allowable subject matter in such a way that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the prior arts to create the claimed invention.
Claims 3, 4 and 9 are also allowed by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
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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/SANG K KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745