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 § 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 1-17 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding Claims 1-17
The term "substantially” in claim 1 is a relative term which renders the claims indefinite. The term is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Claims 2-17 are also rejected for being dependent on a rejected base claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Doughty (US 2016/0213217 A1) hereinafter Doughty.
Regarding Claim 1 Doughty teaches a cleaning module (Fig 1-11), comprising: a first rolling brush (310a) comprising first brushes (318) ; and a second rolling brush (310b) arranged substantially side by side with the first rolling brush (310a) and comprising second brushes (320, 330) , wherein when the first rolling brush (310a) and the second rolling brush (310b) rotate, an outer contour formed by a trajectory of outer ends of the first brushes (318) and an outer contour formed by a trajectory of outer ends of the second brushes (320, 330) at least partially interfere with each other (Fig 2and 7), and the first brushes (318) are not in contact with the second brushes (320,330) (Fig 2, 8 and 11).
Regarding Claim 2 Doughty teaches wherein projections of the first brushes (318) and the second brushes (320, 330) onto a horizontal plane at least partially overlap with each other when the first rolling brush (310a) and the second rolling brush (310b) rotate (Fig 11).
Regarding Claim 3 Doughty teaches wherein when projections of one of the first brushes (318) and one of the second brushes (320, 330) onto a horizontal plane at least partially overlap with each other, a distance between the one of the first brushes (318) and the one of the second brushes (320, 330) is less than half of a distance between adjacent ones of the first brushes (318) or of a distance between adjacent ones of the second brushes (see Fig 11).
Regarding Claim 4 Doughty teaches wherein the first brushes (318) and the second brushes (320, 330) are able to be in mirror symmetrical distribution in radial sections of the first rolling brush (310a) and the second rolling brush (310b) before the first rolling brush (310a) and the second rolling brush (310b) are assembled on the cleaning module (Fig 11).
Regarding Claim 5 Doughty teaches further comprising: an air channel (208) opening located at the top of the first rolling brush (310a) and/or the second rolling brush (310b) and configured such that an unobstructed airflow channel always exists between the air channel (208) opening and an operating surface when the first rolling brush (310a) and the second rolling brush (310b) rotate (Fig 6).
Regarding Claim 6 Doughty teaches wherein the first brushes (318) are first long brushes, the first rolling brush (310a) further comprises at least one first short brush (340) , and the first short brush (340) is not in contact with the second rolling brush (310b); and/or the second brushes (320, 330) are second long brushes (330), the second rolling brush (310b) further comprises at least one second short brush (320), and the second short brush (320) is not in contact with the first rolling brush (310a) (Fig 2,6 and 11).
Regarding Claim 7 Doughty teaches wherein each of the first short brushes (340) is arranged between two adjacent ones of the first long brushes (318), and/or, each of the second short brushes (320) is arranged between two adjacent ones of the second long brushes (330) (Fig 2,6 and 11).
Regarding Claim 8 Doughty teaches wherein the first brushes (318) are first long brushes, the first rolling brush (310a) further comprises at least one first short brush (340), and an outer contour formed by a trajectory of an outer end of the first short brush (340) when the first rolling brush (310a) rotates does not interfere with the outer contour formed by the trajectory of the outer ends of the second brushes (320, 330) when the second rolling brush (310b) rotates; and/or the second brushes (320, 330) are second long brushes (330), the second rolling brush (310b) further comprises at least one second short brush (320), and an outer contour formed by a trajectory of an outer end of the second short brush (320) when the second rolling brush (310b) rotates does not interfere with the outer contour formed by the trajectory of the outer ends of the first brushes (318) when the first rolling brush (310a) rotates (Fig 6-7 and 11).
Regarding Claim 9 Doughty teaches wherein the first rolling brush (310a) and the second rolling brush (310b) are arranged one behind the other side by side in a direction of movement of the cleaning module (Fig 2 and 11).
Regarding Claim 10 Doughty teaches wherein the first brushes (318) spirally extend in an axial direction of the first rolling brush (310a); and/or the second brushes (320, 330) spirally extend in an axial direction of the second rolling brush (see Fig 10-11).
Regarding Claim 11 Doughty teaches a thickness of the first long brush (318) is less than or equal to a thickness of the first short brush (340) (the thickness of the first long brush 318 at its bottom is less than the thickness of the first short brush 340 at its top portion see Fig 11); and/or a thickness of the second long brush (330) is less than or equal to a thickness of the second short brush (320) (thickness of the second long brush at its bottom is smaller than the thickness of the second short brush 320 at its top see Fig 11).
Regarding Claim 12 Doughty teaches, wherein the first rolling brush (310a) comprises a first support (314), the first support (314) being provided with a supporting surface that supports a first brush member (372) in a contact manner (Fig 9), and at least a part of the supporting surface being incompressible (Fig 9); and/or the second rolling brush (310b) comprises a second support (314), the second support (314) being provided with a supporting surface that supports a second brush member (Fig 10c) in a contact manner, and at least a part of the supporting surface being incompressible (Fig 10c).
Regarding Claim 13 Doughty teaches wherein the supporting surface of the first rolling brush (310a) is totally incompressible; and/or the supporting surface of the second rolling brush (310b) is totally incompressible (see Fig 10a-c par.0020 the vanes are the ones made of elastomeric material and not the core 314 )
Regarding Claim 14 Doughty teaches wherein the first long brushes (318) and the second short brushes (320) are arranged opposite to each other when the first rolling brush (310a) rotates; and/or the second long brushes (330) and the first short brushes (320) are arranged opposite to each other when the second rolling brush (310b) rotates (Fig 11).
Regarding Claim 15 Doughty teaches wherein the first brushes (318) and the second brushes (320, 330) are staggered (Fig 11).
Regarding Claim 16 Doughty teaches wherein the first long brushes (318) and the second short brush (320) are staggered, and/or the second long brushes (330) and the first short brush (340) are staggered when they rotate (Fig 11).
Regarding Claim 17 Doughty teaches A cleaning device, comprising the cleaning module (Fig 1-11 ) according to any one of claims 1-16 (Fig 2, 6 and 11).
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABIY TEKA whose telephone number is (571)272-9804. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 11-9 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel Wiehe can be reached at (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABIY TEKA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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