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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 4-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over You et al. (KR 20220099408) in view of Miyagawa (JP 2005342509).
You et al. discloses a refrigerator (1) comprising: a main body (10); storage compartments (30, 31, 32) provided inside the main body (10); a duct (100) disposed at the rear side of
the storage compartments (30, 31, 32); and a purifier assembly (200) which is mounted inside the storage compartments (30, 31, 32) and into which the air discharged from the duct (100) flows so as to be purified, and discharged to the storage compartments (30, 31, 32), wherein the purifier assembly (200) includes: an inlet (206) connected to an upper cold air outlet (120a) of the duct (100); a photocatalytic filter (212) for deodorizing and/or sterilizing the air flowing into the inlet (206); a UV light source (211) disposed above the photocatalytic filter (212) so as to emit light at the photocatalytic filter (212); and a first outlet (205) for discharging, to the storage compartment (30), the air deodorized and/or sterilized by the photocatalytic filter (212) (see paragraphs [0038]-[0088] and figures 1-16).
Claim 1 differs from You et al. in that a sterilizing lamp is included, the sterilizing lamp provided between an inlet and a deodorizing filter so as to sterilize air flowing into the inlet, and a deodorizing lamp is provided on the side opposite to the sterilizing lamp with respect to the deodorizing filter as You only teaches one lamp.
Miyagawa teaches an air sterilizer and air deodorizer (abstract) including a special ultraviolet light emitter (4) which is provided between an air suction port (1) and a first photocatalyst-supporting layer (5) so as to sterilize bacteria and viruses in the air having flowed into the air suction port (1 ); and the special ultraviolet light emitter ( 4) is provided on the side opposite to a first ultraviolet light emitter (6) with respect to the first photocatalyst-supporting layer (5) (see paragraph [0020] and figure 1). A person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have substituted the arrangement of lamps and filter as in Miyagawa motivated by an expectation of successfully sterilizing and deodorizing air.
The combination results in the claimed arrangement.
With regards to claim 2, the components as discussed above are in the claimed order.
With regards to claim 4, Miyagawa teaches that the sterilizing lamp can be made out of a tube which is a cylindrical shape (second to last paragraph of description). A person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have provided a tube/cylindrical shaped lamp motivated by an expectation of successfully providing the lamp.
With regards to claim 5, the combination results in the order of components of the inlet, a space, the lamp 4, a space, and then the filter 5 (fig 1 of Miyagawa). The first space corresponds to a first sterilizing area and the second space to the second sterilizing area as claimed.
With regards to claim 6, the arrangement in Miyagawa has the claimed larger distance from the inlet to the lamp than the lamp to the filter (and thus the larger first sterilizing area) (fig 1). Additionally, a person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have sized the device as desired.
With regards to claims 7 and 8, You et al. teaches that the purifier assembly (200) includes a housing (201) mounted on the upper wall of the refrigerator; the housing (201) includes second and first housings (202, 203) for forming the upper and lower surfaces of the purifier assembly (200), respectively; an air purifier (201) is accommodated in the housing (201); and the first outlet (205) is formed in the first housing (203) (see paragraphs [0064]-[0068], and figures 4 and 5).
The second housing is mounted to the first housing and it is taken that the second housing has the lamps and filters mounted to it at least as part of the same device.
With regards to claim 9, the inlet is formed by the first housing and the second housing (You et al. “The purifier assembly 200 may include an inlet 206 corresponding to the cold air discharge port 120a to face the cold air discharge port 120a. The inlet 206 may be formed at a rear end of the housing 201. The inlet 206 may be open toward the rear. The inlet 206 may be formed by the first housing 203 and the second housing 202. Cold air discharged from the cold air discharge port 120a may be introduced into the housing 201 through the inlet 206.”
You et al. does not clearly describe a blocking rib. Miyagawa teaches a blocking, reflecting, and flow control plate (13) in the space between the inlet and lamp (4) (fig 1). A person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have added a blocking, reflecting, and flow control plate (13) in the space between the inlet and lamp as taught by Miyagawa in order to achieve the desired light blocking, reflection, and flow through the purifier.
The plate is a blocking rib configured to prevent and/or reduce ultraviolet rays emitted from the sterilizing lamp from leaking out through the inlet is provided in the first housing and the second housing adjacent to the inlet.
With regards to claims 10-12 a person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have duplicated the blocking, reflecting, and flow control plate and positioned them as desired in order to achieve the desired blocking, reflecting, and flow control inside the purifier device.
With regards to claim 13, the position around each of the sterilizing lamp, the deodorizing filter, and the deodorizing lamp are considered to be mounting portions to which they can be mounted. As to the deodorizing filter rib and the deodorizing lamp rib, a person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have duplicated the blocking, reflecting, and flow control plate and positioned them as desired in order to achieve the desired blocking, reflecting, and flow control inside the purifier device.
With regards to claim 14, a person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have duplicated the blocking, reflecting, and flow control plate and positioned them as desired in order to achieve the desired blocking, reflecting, and flow control inside the purifier device. Additionally, a person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have sized the device as desired.
With regards to claim 15, this occurs when the lengths are so selected (such as a short side along the flow path through the filter versus a bigger length along the rib). Additionally, a person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have sized the device as desired.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over You et al. (KR 20220099408) in view of Miyagawa (JP 2005342509) above and further in view of Seo (US 2018/0272024).
With regards to claim 3, the combination does not teach that the outlet is disposed between the deodorizing filter and the deodorizing lamp. Seo teaches an air purifier for a refrigerator (abstract and fig 1). Seo teaches an outlet (14) being between a filter (30) and its associated UV light (41). A person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have placed the outlet between the deodorizing filter and lamp at the end of the sterilization and deodorization apparatus in order to make the flow path more compact as shown in Seo. The arrangement also helps align the light with the cells of the photocatalytic filter while not aligning with the outlet thus preventing some undesirable light leakage (para [0056]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DONALD R SPAMER whose telephone number is (571)272-3197. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 9-5.
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/DONALD R SPAMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1799
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