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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-15 in the reply filed on July 10th, 2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-13, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kajuch et al (US 2021/0308698).
As to claims 1 and 3, Kajuch et al. disclose a showerhead assembly comprising:
A housing defining an interior cavity
A spray face defining plurality of openings
A water distribution line within the interior cavity
Water distributors coupled to the valves (figure 4)
A plurality of electronically controlled valves disposed inside the cavity and coupled to the water distribution line (figure 3, par. 0027 – 0030).
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As to claim 2, the electronically controlled valves are normally-open acting valves and can be pulse-width modulation techniques (par. 0028).
As to claim 5, the water distribution line is a pressurized water distribution line (par. 0026).
As to claim 7, the water distribution line prevents leaks into the cavity.
As to claims 8 and 9, the housing comprises front plate and support structure (figure 1).
As to claims 10 and 15, the controller (par. 0035) can be configured to receive user’s input for spray patterns and change pulse width modulation.
As to claims 11-13, Kajuch et al. disclose a showerhead assembly comprising:
A housing defining an interior cavity
A spray face defining plurality of openings
A water distribution line within the interior cavity
Water distributors coupled to the valves (figure 4)
Flow splitter (par. 0029 and figure 4)
A plurality of electronically controlled valves disposed inside the cavity and coupled to the water distribution line (figure 3, par. 0027 – 0030).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 14 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.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Len Tran whose telephone number is (571)272-1184. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am - 4pm.
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/LEN TRAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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