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 § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 5, 11, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nomura (JP 3291407, see attached English translation).
As to claim 1, Nomura discloses an indoor unit comprising:
a cabinet, including a shell formed with an accommodation chamber (Fig. 1);
an air outlet 17 and an air inlet 9 spaced apart from each other and communicated with the accommodation chamber;
bottom and top plates of the chamber (Fig. 1);
a heat exchange assembly including a heat exchanger 13 arranged inside the accommodation chamber;
an internal fan 15 in the chamber to guide airflow from the exchanger 13 to the outlet 17; and
a refrigerant detection device 35 arranged inside the chamber to detect refrigerant that leaks from the heat exchange assembly, the detection device 35, the fan 15, and the air outlet 17 being arranged on a first (downstream) side of the exchanger 13, and the inlet 17 being arranged at a second (upstream) side of the exchanger 13 (Fig. 1);
wherein a distance between the refrigerant detection device 35 and the bottom plate is smaller than ½ of a distance between the bottom plate and top plate (Fig. 1).
As to claim 5, Nomura discloses the detection device 35 arranged between the exchanger 13 and the outlet 17 (Fig. 1).
As to claims 11 and 15, the claims are rejected for the same reasons as discussed above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 2-3, 6-10, 12-13, and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nomura as applied in the rejections above.
As to claims 2-3 and 12-13, Nomura teaches providing the detection device 35 at a lower half of the housing (Fig. 1), but is silent regarding any specific dimensional location for the sensor 35. However, the specific distance from the sensor 35 to the bottom of the housing is recognized as a result-effective variable, i.e. a variable which achieves a recognized result. In this case, the recognized result is that a certain sensor location will provide a desired leakage detection response. Therefore, since the general conditions of the claim were disclosed in the prior art by Nomura, it is not inventive to discover the optimum workable range by routine experimentation, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to locate the sensor at a position 15-25mm from the bottom plate of the housing as claimed.
As to claims 6-10 and 16-20, Nomura is silent in regards to any specific structure of the exchanger 13 or manner of mounting the detector 35. However, However, it would have been an obvious design choice to modify the reference by having the exchanger 13 structured as claimed and the detector 35 mounted as claimed, since applicant has not disclosed that having a particular structural configuration solves any stated problem or provides any unexpected result, and it appears that the system would perform equally well with any type of heat exchanger 13 with the sensor 35 mounted/arranged in proximity to a potential leak point.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 8, filed 6/4/2026, with respect to the interpretation of limitations under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Said 112(f) interpretation has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 9-10, filed with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. 102 & 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Nomura (JP 3291407) as set forth above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN BRADFORD whose telephone number is (571)270-5199. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00 - 4:00 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jerry-Daryl Fletcher can be reached at (571)270-5054. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN BRADFORD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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