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 .
Status of Application
Claims 1-7 are pending and have been examined in this application. This communication is the first action on the merits. The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 09/18/2024 has been considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP2013166410A to Ukita.
A) As per Claim 4, Ukita teaches a vehicle air-conditioning device (Ukita: Figure 1) comprising:
an air conditioning case (Ukita: Figure 1, Item 11) defining an air passage for air to be blown into a vehicle compartment of a vehicle; and
a heating device (Ukita: Figure 1, Item 12) for heating air flowing through the air passage, wherein
the air conditioning case is formed with a defroster opening (Ukita: Figure 1, Item 20) for blowing air toward an inner surface of a front windshield of the vehicle, and side-face opening (Ukita: Figure 1, Item 16) for blowing air into the vehicle compartment from end parts in a left-right direction of the vehicle,
a defroster door (Ukita: Figure 1, Item 21) for opening and closing the defroster opening and a face door (Ukita: Figure 1, Item 17) for opening and closing the side-face opening are provided inside the air conditioning case,
a gap opening (Ukita: Figure 2, gap shown at Items 25-26 & 17b) for communication between upstream and downstream of the face door in an air flow direction in a face closed state, in which the face door closes the side-face opening, is formed adjacent to the side-face opening,
the air conditioning case has a ventilation structure in which, in the face closed state, air that has passed through the heating device is guided to the defroster opening along an opening plane of the gap opening, and air that has passed around the heating device flows in a direction which intersects with the opening plane of the gap opening, and the gap opening is configured to open and close (Ukita: Figure 2, gap shown at Items 25-26 & 17b; Item 17 can close gap by blocking Item 24).
B) As per Claim 5, Ukita teaches that the air conditioning case defines a cold-air bypass passage (Ukita: Figure 1, portion of airflow not through Item 12 but to the right within Item 11) for allowing air to flow while bypassing the heating device, and a defroster passage (Ukita: Figure 1, Item 14) for guiding air that has passed through at least one of the heating device and the cold-air bypass passage to the defroster opening, the cold-air bypass passage is located adjacent to the defroster passage and extends along a partition wall (Ukita: Figure 1, wall of Item 11) provided between the cold-air bypass passage and the defroster passage, and the partition wall extends in a direction which intersects with the opening plane of the gap opening.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 & 6-7 allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: Closest prior art of Ukita does not teach the sliding door and it would not be obvious to add a sliding door to Ukita as the face door needs to rotate to block either the face opening or the passage. No other single reference or combination of references was found to read on all of the claims of Claim 1.
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 ALLEN SCHULT whose telephone number is (571)272-8511. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, HELENA KOSANOVIC can be reached at 571-272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Allen R. B. Schult/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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