NON-FINAL OFFICE 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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Korea on 22 September, 2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the KR 10-2023-0127484 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 30 September, 2024; 27 March, 2025; and 2 December, 2025 are being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 4-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by PARK (US 5,522,216 – published 4 June, 1996).
As to claim 1, PARK discloses a refrigerator (20; col.5, line 1; figures 1-2; 120; col. 8, lines 21-22; figures 3a-3d) comprising:
a main body including an upper wall (top wall of body shown in figures 1-2 and 3d);
a storage compartment in the main body (col.5, lines 29-31);
a door (22/122; col.5, lines 2-11) configured to open and close the storage compartment;
a thermoelectric element (70; figure 3d) on the upper wall and including:
a heating portion (96; col. 7, lines 20-24) which generates heat and faces upward (based on disposal as shown in figure 3d, in view of figure 5), and
a cooling portion (98; col.7, line 20-24) which absorbs heat and faces downward (based on disposal as shown in figures 3d, in view of figure 5),
a cooling sink (102) including a cooling sink base (104) in contact with the cooling portion (figure 5), and a plurality of cooling fins (col.7, lines 44-52) protruding from the cooling sink based in a first direction perpendicular to a lower surface of the cooling sink base (see annotated figure 5, in view of the disposal of the system as shown in figure 3d) and extending in a second direction which is parallel to the lower surface of the cooling sink base (see annotated figure 5, in view of the disposal of the system as shown in figure 3d) so that the cooling sink is cooled by heat being absorbed by the cooling portion (col.7, lines 20-24; col. 7, lines 53-63);
a cooling fan (72) on the upper wall and configured to blow air toward the plurality of cooling fins in the second direction so that the air blown by the cooling fan is cooled by the cooling sink (see annotated figure 5, in view of the disposal of the system as shown in figure 3d); and
a cooling duct(duct flowing the air cooled by the cooling sink, as shown in annotated figure 5, in view of the disposal of the system as shown in figure 3d) on the upper wall and configured to guide the air cooled by the cooling sink into the storage compartment (figure 6a and 6c).
PNG
media_image1.png
764
1196
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Annotated Figure 5, in view of Disposal in Figure 3d of PARK
As to claim 2, PARK discloses wherein:
the cooling fan is a centrifugal fan configured to draw air into the centrifugal fan along an axial direction of the centrifugal fan and blow the air drawn into the centrifugal fan in a radial direction of the centrifugal fan (figures 6a and 6c; col.6, lines 53-67), and
the cooling fan is on a lower surface of the upper wall so that a rotating shaft(76) of the centrifugal fan is perpendicular to the lower surface of the upper wall and the cooling sink is positioned in the radial direction of the centrifugal fan (duct flowing the air cooled by the cooling sink, as shown in annotated figure 5, in view of the disposal of the system as shown in figure 3d, in addition to flow of air shown in figures 6a and 6c).
As to claim 4, PARK discloses wherein the main body includes:
an inner case having an inner case opening (32 opening at location of element, 70, as shown in figure 5),
an outer case having an outer case opening (30 opening at location of element, 70, as shown in figure 5),
a connecting frame between the inner case and the outer case (106 and/or frame defined by walls 50, 36, and 52 as shown in figure 5), and connecting the inner case opening and the outer case opening so that a through hole penetrating through the upper wall is formed (figure 5), and
an insulation (46 and/or 54; col. 5,line 66 – col.6, line 10) is in an insulating space formed by the inner case, the outer case, and the connecting frame (figure 5), and
the cooling duct is coupled to the connecting frame (figure 5).
As to claim 5, PARK discloses wherein the connecting frame includes:
a frame base connected to the inner case opening (see annotated figure 5), and
a frame body protruding from an upper surface of the frame base and connected to the outer case opening (see annotated figure 5), and
the cooling duct is coupled to the frame base (see annotated figure 5).
As to claim 6, PARK discloses wherein the cooling duct includes an elastic coupling protrusion (106) protruding upward from the cooling duct and elastically coupled to the frame base (figure 5).
As to claim 7, PARK discloses further comprising a cooling duct coupling member (106) passing through the cooling duct and coupled to the frame base so that the cooling duct is coupled to the frame base (figure 5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 8-15 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JENNA M MARONEY whose telephone number is (571)272-8588. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7AM to 4PM, EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Len Tran can be reached at (571) 272-1184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JENNA M MARONEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763 8/7/2026
JENNA M. MARONEY
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3763
Prosecution Insights