DETAILED ACTION
This non-final Office action is in response to Applicant’s patent application filed on 11/13/2025. An action on the merits follows.
Claims 1-9 are pending in the application.
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 under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the lines are blurry and unclear. This makes it hard to distinguish between different elements and different features of the elements.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance. No new matter should be added.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the first gas valve”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Examiner assumes the Applicant is referring to the first air valve which has antecedent support in claim 1.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the second gas valve”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Examiner assumes the Applicant is referring to the second air valve which has antecedent support in claim 1.
Claims 2-3 and 9 recite the limitation “the first gas valve”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Examiner assumes the Applicant is referring to the first air valve which has antecedent support in claim 1.
Claims 2 and 4 recite the limitation “the second gas valve”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Examiner assumes the Applicant is referring to the second air valve which has antecedent support in claim 1.
Any remaining claims are rejected for depending on a rejected claim.
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.
(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.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1/2) as being anticipated by USPGP# 20050061370 of Higer et al. (henceforth Higer).
Regarding claim 1, Higer teaches
An easy-to-use vacuuming device (100), comprising:
a main body (110) and
a vacuum pump (2312),
wherein a top of the main body is provided with a wide-mouth end (1505, fig. 15), a bottom of the main body is provided with a standard-mouth end (1502, fig. 15), and an inner diameter of the wide-mouth end is greater than an inner diameter of the standard-mouth end (see fig. 15),
the main body is provided with a first air valve (left 2308, fig. 23) and a second air valve (right 2308, fig. 23), the first air valve is provided with a first bent pipe (see annotated fig. 23) that is connected to the wide-mouth end, and the second air valve is provided with a second bent pipe (see annotated fig. 23) that is connected to the standard-mouth end,
the main body is further provided with a vacuum detector (2310), and the vacuum detector is connected to the first gas valve, the second gas valve, and the vacuum pump through a three-way connecting pipe (see annotated fig. 23).
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Regarding claim 2, as shown in claim 1, Higer teaches
wherein a T-shaped three-way pipe (see annotated fig. 23) is connected between the first gas valve and the second gas valve, and a third port of the T-shaped three-way pipe is connected to the three-way connecting pipe (see annotated fig. 23).
Regarding claim 3, as shown in claim 1, Higer teaches
wherein a top of the first gas valve is provided with a first connecting end (see annotated fig. 23), and the first connecting end is provided with a first connecting port (see annotated fig. 23) that is connected to the first bent pipe (see annotated fig. 23).
Regarding claim 4, as shown in claim 1, Higer teaches
wherein a top of the second gas valve is provided with a second connecting end (see annotated fig. 23), and the second connecting end is provided with a second connecting port (see annotated fig. 23) that is connected to the second bent pipe (see annotated fig. 23).
Regarding claim 5, as shown in claim 1, Higer teaches
wherein the wide-mouth end is provided with a first vacuum sealing end (2700, fig. 27, para 0074 and 0087), the first vacuum sealing end has a stepped horn-mouth shape (2708), and steps of the first vacuum sealing end are provided with a first soft rubber sealing and fastening ring (2706).
Regarding claim 6, as shown in claim 1, Higer teaches
wherein the standard-mouth end is provided with a second vacuum sealing end (2700, fig. 27, para 0074 and 0087), the second vacuum sealing end has a stepped horn-mouth shape (2708), and steps of the second vacuum sealing end are provided with a second soft rubber sealing and fastening ring (2706).
Regarding claim 7, as shown in claim 5, Higer teaches
wherein a center of the first vacuum sealing end is provided with a first communication port (2704), and the first communication port is connected to the first bent pipe (para 0074).
Regarding claim 8, as shown in claim 6, Higer teaches
wherein a center of the second vacuum sealing end is provided with a second communication port (2704), and the second communication port is connected to the second bent pipe (para 0074).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 9, the prior art of record, in combination with other limitations of the claim, is silent on “wherein the main body is provided with a wide-mouth start button, a standard-mouth start button, …the wide-mouth start button is corresponding to the first gas valve, and the standard-mouth start button is corresponding to the second air valve.” USPGP# 20050061370 of Higer teaches all of the limitations of the claimed invention except for separate start buttons for the first and second air valves. Furthermore, it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add/modify such a configuration because doing so would require a complete redesign of the valve mechanism and cabinet mechanism of Higer. Therefore, the prior art, taken alone or in combination, fails to read on the present claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOBEEN AHMED whose telephone number is (571) 272-0356. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8:30 am to 5 pm).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anna Kinsaul can be reached on 571-270-1926. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/M. A./
Examiner, Art Unit 3731
/ANNA K KINSAUL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3731