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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-4, 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu et al. (CN 218982188U) in view of Choi et al. (KR 20220157008 A) and Kim et al. (KR 2018044539 A).
Lu et al. discloses a drying apparatus comprising: an upper drying part 600 (Fig. 4) comprising a first drying nozzle 500 which is formed above an object 300 to be dried and the upper drying part comprising a second drying heating assembly 110 formed on a same surface as the first drying nozzle 500 (Fig. 4); and a lower drying part comprising a lower drying nozzle 500 which is formed below the object to be dried and which extends along the width direction of the object to be dried (Fig. 4), wherein the object to be dried with different heat sources (Fig. 4, by first heat source of hot air nozzle 500 and second heat source of infrared heating assembly 110). However, Lu et al. do not disclose the first drying nozzle comprises a hot air heater and extends along a width direction of the object to be dried. Lu et al. also do not disclose a second drying nozzle comprises an infrared heater. Choi et al. discloses a hot air drying nozzle 111 comprises a hot air heater (not shown, translation, page 3, paragraph 7) and extends along a width direction of the object S to be dried (Figs. 2-3). Kim et al. discloses a drying nozzle 150 comprises an infrared heater 160 (Fig. 4). Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the drying apparatus of Lu et al. to provide the first drying nozzle with a hot air heater and to extend the first drying nozzle along a width direction of the object to be dried as taught by Choi et al. in order to heat the air immediately before being discharged from the drying nozzle and to distribute the hot air over the width direction of the object to be dried to improve the drying efficiency and to further modify the drying apparatus of Lu et al. to substitute the drying nozzle 150 with infrared heater 160 of Kim et al. for the second drying heating assembly 110 of Lu et al. in order to deliver concentrated, directional radiant heat to the object to be dried and thus improve drying efficiency.
Regarding claim 3, As Lu et al. discloses wherein the second drying heating assembly comprises at least one second division heater 100A, 100B divided along the width direction of the object 300 to be dried (Fig. 5), the drying apparatus of Lu et al. as modified by Choi et al and Kim et al. as above would show the second drying nozzle comprises at least one second division nozzle divided along the width direction of the object to be dried.
Regarding claim 4, Lu et al. discloses wherein the lower drying nozzle is formed in a direction facing the first drying nozzle (Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 8, Lu et al. as modified by Choi et al. and Kim et al. as above discloses the claimed invention except for wherein a width of the first drying nozzle is formed from 150 mm to 250 mm, a width of the second drying nozzle is formed from 130 mm to 180 mm, and a width of the lower drying nozzle is formed from 150 mm to 250 mm. It appears that the drying apparatus of Lu et al. as modified by Choi et al. and Kim et al. would operate equally well with the claimed width since applicant has not disclosed that the range claimed solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose, indicating simply that the width “may” be within the claimed ranges (specification, page 2,lines 24-26). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to cause the drying apparatus of Lu et al. to have a width of the first drying nozzle is formed from 150 mm to 250 mm, a width of the second drying nozzle is formed from 130 mm to 180 mm, and a width of the lower drying nozzle is formed from 150 mm to 250 mm, because it appears to be an arbitrary design consideration which fails to patentably distinguish over Lu et al. in view of Choi et al. and Kim et al.
Claims 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu et al. (CN 218982188U) in view of Choi et al. (KR 20220157008 A) and Kim et al. (KR 2018044539 A) as applied to claim 1 as above, and further in view of Song et al. (KR 20220030745 A).
The drying apparatus of Lu et al. as modified by Choi et al. and Kim et al. as above includes all that is recited in claims 5-7 except for further comprising a shielding adjustment part formed between the object to be dried and the upper drying part, the shield adjustment part comprising: a guide rail formed in a width direction and a longitudinal direction of the upper drying part; and a shielding plate configured to shield a portion or all of a space between the object to be dried and the first drying nozzle or between the object to be dried and the second drying nozzle along the guide rail; wherein the shielding plate is formed such that at least one shielding plate configured to shield a first end or a second end of the object to be dried by being moved in a longitudinal direction of the second drying nozzle is provided; wherein the shielding plate is formed such that a width of the shielding plate is larger than a width of the first drying nozzle or a width of the second drying nozzle. Song et al. discloses a drying apparatus comprising a shielding adjustment part 140 formed between the object 112 to be dried and the upper drying part 130, 170 (Fig. 2), the shield adjustment part 140 comprising: a guide rail 160 formed in a width direction and a longitudinal direction of the upper drying part (Fig. 7); and a shielding plate 140 configured to shield a portion or all of a space between the object to be dried and the first drying nozzle or between the object to be dried and the second drying nozzle along the guide rail (Figs. 2-3, 7-10); wherein the shielding plate 140 is formed such that at least one shielding plate configured to shield a first end or a second end of the object to be dried by being moved in a longitudinal direction of the second drying nozzle is provided (Figs. 3, 7-10); wherein the shielding plate 140 is formed such that a width of the shielding plate is larger than a width of the first drying nozzle or a width of the second drying nozzle (Fig. 6). Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to further modify the drying apparatus of Lu et al. to include a shielding adjustment part formed between the object to be dried and the upper drying part, the shield adjustment part comprising: a guide rail formed in a width direction and a longitudinal direction of the upper drying part; and a shielding plate configured to shield a portion or all of a space between the object to be dried and the first drying nozzle or between the object to be dried and the second drying nozzle along the guide rail; wherein the shielding plate is formed such that at least one shielding plate configured to shield a first end or a second end of the object to be dried by being moved in a longitudinal direction of the second drying nozzle is provided; wherein the shielding plate is formed such that a width of the shielding plate is larger than a width of the first drying nozzle or a width of the second drying nozzle as taught by Song et al. in order to control an area to which the surface of the object to be dried is exposed to infrared rays.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-15 are allowed.
Claims 9-12 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the primary reason for allowance of claims 9-15 is the inclusion of the limitations regarding the second drying nozzle comprises a plurality of second division nozzles in the width direction and a second single nozzle integrally formed in the width direction and the second single nozzle and the second division nozzles are alternately formed between each first drying nozzle or on two sides of in a longitudinal direction of the object to be dried in claims 9 and 13 in combination with the remaining claimed elements.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lu et al. (EP 4624058 A1) is same as CN 218982188U.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSICA J YUEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4878. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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/Jessica Yuen/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3762
JY
Prosecution Insights