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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 9/3/26 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-22 and 24-25 remain pending.
The rejections of claims 1, 9 and 22 (and their dependents) are withdrawn in response to Applicant’s persuasive arguments.
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 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 of this title, 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.
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Claims 9-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai (7128525) in view of Chou (US6295639).
Regarding claim 9, Tsai teaches air pump comprising: a pump housing (80) comprising an inlet (811) and an outlet (51), a pump body (30, 40) extending from an interior of the pump housing and in a fixed spatial relationship relative to the pump housing (the pump housing is considered to be “coupled in a fixed spatial relationship” because it is attached to the pump body and restricted from detaching by the plate 90, thus the spatial relationship is “fixed”. The Applicant appears to be attempting to claim that the pump housing is immovably fixed), the pump body having an inlet end (61) in fluid communication with the inlet and an outlet end (see annotated figure) in fluid communication with the inlet end and the outlet, an air passageway (see annotated figure) extending between the inlet and the inlet end, the air passageway extending adjacent to the pump body, and a nozzle (82).
Tsai fails to explicitly teach the nozzle is removably coupled to the pump housing at the inlet.
In an analogous art, Chou teaches an air compressor. Chou teaches a detachable nozzle (6) for switching between various nozzle shapes for attaching onto various kinds of devices (Col. 3 lines 40-55).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the air pump of Tsai and change it so that the nozzle is removably coupled to the pump housing at the inlet as taught by Chou to allow for attaching onto various kinds of devices.
Regarding claim 10, Tsai as modified teaches the inlet comprises a plate (90) extending along a suction direction of the inlet.
Regarding claims 11-19, Tsai teaches the air pump of claim 10, but fails to teach the nozzle comprises a lock which cooperates with the plate of the air inlet to couple the nozzle to the inlet, wherein the nozzle is rotatable within the inlet to rotate from a first position to a second position, wherein, in the first position, the lock member is spaced apart from the plate such that the nozzle is translatable within the inlet, wherein, in the second position, the lock is positioned behind the connecting plate such that the nozzle is held in place within the inlet, wherein the plate extends from one side of the inlet to a second side of the inlet to define a plurality of openings through the inlet, wherein the nozzle includes an extension portion and a hook, the hook formed on the extension portion and cooperating with the plate to couple the nozzle to the inlet, wherein the nozzle is rotatable within the air inlet to rotate from a first position to a second position, wherein, in the first position, the hook extends through one of the plurality of openings and is spaced apart from the connecting plate such that the nozzle is translatable within the inlet, in the second position, the hook extends through one of the plurality of openings and is positioned behind the connecting plate such that the nozzle is held in place in the inlet.
In an analogous art, Chou teaches an air compressor. Chou teaches a nozzle (6) having an extension portion (see Fig. 4), a hook (61), where the nozzle moves around an axis between a first position and a second position (axis shown in dotted line in Fig. 4), the hook is separated from a plate (5), the air nozzle translatable along an axial direction (the nozzle translates when twisted into the connecting plate), and when the air nozzle is in the second position, the hook is connected to the connecting plate (see Fig. 8), and the air nozzle is held in place within the air inlet.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the structure of Tsai and add a nozzle with the hook arrangement as taught by Chou for the purpose of having an interchangeable nozzle that is securely mounted.
Regarding claim 20, Tsai as modified teaches the pump body comprises an upper cover (30) and a lower cover (40) couplable to the upper cover.
Regarding claim 21, Tsai as modified teaches the inlet end is formed in the lower cover and the outlet end is formed in the upper cover.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8, 22 and 24-25 are allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CAMERON A CORDAY whose telephone number is (571)272-0383. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4 EST.
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/CAMERON A CORDAY/Examiner, Art Unit 3745
/COURTNEY D HEINLE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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