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 7 is objected to because they include reference characters which are not enclosed within parentheses.
Reference characters corresponding to elements recited in the detailed description of the drawings and used in conjunction with the recitation of the same element or group of elements in the claims should be enclosed within parentheses so as to avoid confusion with other numbers or characters which may appear in the claims. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities: “and” is missing before “guiding by the guiding zone”. 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 1-13 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 1 recites a guiding zone outside the jaw of the device bearing the external heat treatment where this language is indefinite as it is unclear if the jaw being mentioned is the jaw having the external heat treatment zone, where the guiding portion is on the outside (exterior portion) of this jaw, or if the jaw being referenced is the jaw opposite the jaw having the external heat treatment zone. The last line of claim 1, recites “the other jaw” where it is unclear which jaw is being referenced. It is suggested Applicant amend the claim to recite a first jaw and a second jaw and then refer to the appropriate first or second jaw as needed.
Claim 12 recites “an additional treatment” and “an additional treatment zone” where it is unclear if this additional treatment and additional treatment zone are the same or different from the additional treatment and additional treatment zone recited in claim 1. Claim 12 also recites the additional treatment notably being upstream of “the abovementioned heat treatments” where it is unclear what is intended by “the abovementioned heat treatments”.
Claim 13 recites “the additional treatment” where it is unclear if this refers to the additional treatment of claim 12 or the additional treatment of claim 1, or if they are one in the same.
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 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ngo et al. (US 20170135457) and Altamore (US 6070596).
Regarding claim 1, Ngo et al. disclose a process for treating at least one lock of hair, involving the movement of a device (1) along the lock of hair from the root to the tip of the hair in order to perform, during a passage of the device (1) over the lock of hair, the following steps:- a heat treatment of a portion of the lock of hair by gripping between two jaws (6,6’, 7,7’) of the device that are hinged together and passing through an internal heat treatment zone (zone defined between 4 and 5) extending between the two jaws, an additional treatment of the portion of the lock of hair by passage through an additional treatment zone (zone defined by 31 and/or 32) by the treatment device as it moves over the lock of hair, the additional treatment being performed by an additional treatment member (31 and/or 32) extending from one of the jaws (7,7’) to the other of the jaws (6,6’) during the movement of the device along the lock of hair, and guiding the portion of the lock of hair by passing it through a guiding zone (zone defined by 21,22) extending outside the jaw, the guiding zone having guiding surfaces (curved surfaces of 21,22 at distal and proximal portions of 6, Refer to Figures 2 and 3) at the proximal and/or distal part of the jaw, forming laterally to the guiding zone an obstacle to the hair that is sufficient to contain the hair in said guiding zone, in which the guiding zone is formed at least partially by a lateral recess (interior space defined between plates 4,5 and 21 including 22 and space into which comb teeth extend and steam outlets dispense, best shown in Figure 4) of one of the jaws (6), a part of the additional treatment member extending from the other jaw into the lateral recess (the comb teeth 32 extend into the lateral recess and the steam outlets 31 dispense into the lateral recess, where the guiding zone keeps the steam moving toward the hair instead of the scalp) (Refer to paragraphs 0028, 0031-0033, 0035, 0065, 0066 and 0082-0086). However, Ngo et al. do not disclose a heat treatment of the portion of the lock of hair by passage over an external heat treatment zone extending on the outer surface of the jaw bearing the guiding zone. Altamore discloses a similar process for treating locks of hair, where a lock of hair is placed between two pivoting jaws of a device and subjected to heating via an internal heat treatment zone. Altamore further explains the device provides heated external surfaces on the jaws as well, so that the hair is heat treated by passing the hair over the external heat treatment zone on the outer surfaces of the jaws (Refer to Figure 3, heating elements 44 heat the inner and outer surfaces of the jaws and Figure 7). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the process of Ngo et al. such that the outer surface of the jaws include an external heat treatment zone heated via the same heating means as the internal heat treatment zone, and heat treating the lock of hair by passing it over and contacting the external heating zone as taught by Altamonte in order to facilitate and expedite imparting the desired shape onto the hair by heating it while contacting the exterior surface.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, Ngo et al. further disclose the heat treatment by the internal heat treatment zone takes place at a temperature above 50°C (Refer to paragraph 0048).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, where the combination further discloses the heat treatment by passing over an external heat treatment zone is at a temperature above 50°C when the device is in use. Altamore is relied upon for the teaching of providing an external heat treatment zone, where such is achieved via the configuration of the heating element in the jaw, which serves to heat both the inner heat treatment zone and the outer heat treatment zone. Modifying Ngo et al. per the teachings of Altamore to have such an arrangement results in the internal and external heat treatment zones being heated via the same heating element and therefore reaching comparable temperatures, where Ngo et al. discloses temperature greater than 50°C (Refer to paragraph 0048).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, wherein Ngo et al. disclose the guiding surface (curved surfaces of 21,22 at distal and proximal portions of 6, Refer to Figures 2 and 3) form an obstacle to the portion of the lock of hair (Refer to Figure 2). Ngo et al. disclose the upper jaw has an overall width of 45 mm (l1) and the inner treatment surface has a width of 25 mm (l), where the difference between these measurements accounts for a small portion of the jaw opposite the guiding surface and the guiding surface (Refer to Figure 4), meaning the guiding surface is more than 2 mm. Ngo et al. also disclose the radius of the curve forming the guiding surface is 14 mm (Refer to Figure 4).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, Ngo et al. further disclose the guiding surface has a variable height (Refer to Figures 2 and 4 which depict the height of the guiding surfaces decreases toward a lateral edge of the jaw).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, where the heat treatment in the internal heat treatment zone is performed before the heat treatment in the external heat treatment zone on the portion of the lock of hair when the device is moved over the lock of hair (Refer to paragraph 0085 of Ngo et al., where the modification provides the external heat treatment zone on the jaw(s) thereby heating the hair with the external hair treatment zone after heat has been applied via the internal heat treatment zone).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, Ngo et al. further disclose the internal heat treatment surface is a hair contact surface (surface of 4,5) of an internal heat treatment member (4,5), the process including passing the portion of the lock of hair, placed under mechanical tension between a lateral edge (right of left most side of 4,5) of the internal treatment member (4,5) and an outer surface (outer surface(s) of 6,7) of the jaw (6,6’, 7,7’) bearing the internal treatment member (4,5) adjacent to the lateral edge against the lateral edge, the portion of the lock of hair under tension presenting an angle with a median plane of the device, extending between the jaws in the moved-together configuration of the jaws. Ngo et al. explain the hair is wrapped around the portion of the first jaw (6) or a portion of both of the jaws (6,7) while part of the hair is clamped between both of the jaws. Figure 4 has been annotated below to depict the path a lock of hair occupies when wrapped about the device, where the angle is greater than 90 degrees and appears to be less than 120 degrees. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the process of the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore such that the angle of the hair under tension between a lateral edge of the internal hair treatment member and the outer surface of the jaw be greater than 90 degrees and less than 120 degrees as Ngo et al. disclose the general conditions of the claim and it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art.
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Regarding claim 8, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, Ngo et al. further disclose the internal heat treatment zone is laterally offset upstream or downstream (Refer to Figures 2-4) the hair being moved from upstream to downstream during the heat treatment.
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, wherein the heat treatment by passing over the external heat treatment zone takes place by contact of the portion of the lock of hair with an external heating surface extending over at least part of the outer surface of one of the jaws. As explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, Ngo et al. was modified to provide an external heat treatment zone per the teachings of Altamore, such that when the hair is passed over the external heat treatment zone, contact between the hair and this zone provides a heat treatment to the hair.
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, including heat treatment by passing through an additional external heat treatment zone extending over the outer surface of the other of the two jaws of the device. As explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, the device of Ngo et al. was modified such that each jaws provide an external heat treatment zone per the teachings of Altamore, and Ngo et al. teach passing the hair over the outer surfaces of the two jaws; thus, the combination provides heating of the hair by these external heat treatment zones on the outer surfaces of the jaws.
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, Ngo et al. disclose gripping of the device by an outer surface of a distal portion of the jaws not having an external heating surface during the movement of the device along the lock of hair (Refer to paragraphs 0014, 0034 and 0046, the device is gripped at the handle portions 6’,7’ of each jaw).
Regarding claims 12 and 13, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, an additional treatment (steam treatment via 31 and/or combing via 32) of the portion of the lock of hair by passage through an additional treatment zone (31 and/or 32) by the treatment device as it moves over the lock of hair, the additional treatment notably being upstream of the abovementioned heat treatments and of the guiding of the hair (Refer to Figures 2-5), where the additional treatment includes the application of steam (via 31) and/or combing (via 32) of the portion of the lock of hair.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Ngo et al. and Altamore disclose the process of treating hair of claim 1 above, the steps of the process are performed in succession along the lock of hair, in the following order: heat treatment in the internal heat treatment zone, hair guiding, and heat treatment in the external heat treatment zone or heat treatment in the internal heat treatment zone, heat treatment in the external heat treatment zone, guiding by the guiding zone (Refer to paragraph 0085 of Ngo et al., where the winding step allows for guiding the hair then place it on the external hair treatment, or vice versa depending on the direction in which the hair is wound about the device).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TATIANA L NOBREGA whose telephone number is (571)270-7228. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-4pm.
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/TATIANA L NOBREGA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799