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 § 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.
Claim 4 is 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.
Line 4 recites “the opening” of the hose. There is no antecedent basis for that element.
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schroter (US 2002/0078524) in view of CN 107348897 A and Capraro (EP 0951856 A2).
As to claim 1, Schroter includes a classification device comprising:
a body (1) defining a classification space therein, including an upper discharge port (The pipe at 5) and a lower discharge port (The cylindrical pipe located between 1 and 6), the upper discharge port being provided in an upper portion of the body so as to be connected to a suction device (33) that creates a negative pressure in the classification space, and the lower discharge port being provided in a lower portion of the body so as to discharge the foreign matter that has fallen into the classification space, and a container (6) defining a storage space for storing the foreign matter discharged from the lower discharge port of the body (para 59).
Schroter does not include a hose configured to suck dust containing fine dust and foreign matter from a tip thereof, and the body connected to an end of the hose so that the hose communicates with the classification space, a lid member configured to be mounted on the container defining the storage space for storing the foreign matter discharged from the lower discharge port of the body, including an air intake configured to communicate with the storage space, and positioned below the body; and
an air introduction pipe connected to the air intake of the lid member and configured to be disposed in the storage space.
CN 107348897 A includes a cleaner with a hose (14, 15, 16) configured to suck dust containing fine dust and foreign matter from a tip (16) thereof (Machine translation, para 19). Also, a container (1) has a top part that has an air intake (The air opening at 8/9) configured to communicate with the storage space, and an air introduction pipe (5) connected to the air intake of the lid member and configured to be disposed in a storage space of the container (Fig. 10).
Capraro includes a cleaner with a lid member (20 or 35; claims 2 and 4) configured to be mounted on a container (13 or 12; para 19) defining a storage space for storing the foreign matter entering it (Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to modify Schroter to have a hose configured to suck dust containing fine dust and foreign matter from a tip thereof, as taught by CN 107348897 A, in order to allow dirt to be sucked up more efficiently by the operator. The modification provides the body connected to an end of the hose so that the hose communicates with the classification space.
It would have been obvious to modify Schroter to have an air introduction pipe connected to the air intake of the lid member and configured to be disposed in a storage space of the container, as taught by Capraro, in order to direct dirt downward more precisely, so that dirt does not gather on the interior surface from the top to the bottom of the container.
It would have been obvious to modify the container of Schroter to have a lid at its top, as taught by Capraro, in order to enable the container to be emptied.
The above modifications provide the lid with an air intake (because the lid is on top of the container and that container was modified to include a pipe inside of it), which would communicate with the storage space and be below the body. Note that Capraro already includes a lid with an air intake on it.
As to claim 2, Capraro provides wherein the air introduction pipe is connected to the air intake of the lid member so that a lower end thereof faces a bottom of the container (See Fig. 12 of Capraro).
As to claim 3, wherein the lower portion of the body is formed by a tube body, and the tube body has a cross-sectional area smaller than a cross-sectional area of a center of the body (The lower part of 1 is narrower than the upper part), and a lower end of the tube body forms the lower discharge port (The lower discharge port is at the bottom of 1) [Fig. 1].
As to claim 4, further comprising a coarse filter (4) provided at the tip of the hose (4 is at the same place as an end of the hose, which may be interpreted as having the pipe at 2) and having a plurality of openings (A filter inherently includes multiple openings), wherein each of the plurality of openings is smaller than the opening of the hose (Fig. 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is 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.
Claim 6 is allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The best reference combination, Schroter (US 2002/0078524) in view of CN 107348897 A and Capraro (EP 0951856 A2), does not include a compaction device (31) receiving dust having passed through an upper discharge port (The pipe at 5) of a body (1), the device compressing the dust into a pellet (Fig. 1 and para 68), as stated in claim 6, final 3 lines.
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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW A. HORTON whose telephone number is (571)270-5039. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica S. Carter can be reached at (571) 272-4475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW A HORTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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