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 .
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.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 11 recites the limitation "the droplet guide" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The Examiner suggests changing the dependency of claim 11 from claim 4 to claim 9. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1, 3, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KR 20200113952 A to Kim et al.
Regarding claim 1, Kim et al. discloses an apparatus comprising an energy conversion block comprising:
a liquid storage module (Fig. 2: 130) configured to at least temporarily store liquid;
a droplet formation module provided with a plurality of nozzles (131) to transform the liquid stored in the liquid storage module into droplets and drop the droplets; and
an energy conversion module provided with a plurality of energy conversion devices (120) to output electrical energy through contact with the falling droplets.
Regarding claim 3, Kim et al. discloses an energy collection unit (Fig. 2: 141) configured to receive electrical energy output from the plurality of energy conversion devices, convert a discrete flow of energy output from the plurality of energy conversion devices into a continuous flow of energy, and supply the continuous flow of energy to a battery or a load (145).
Regarding claim 8, Kim et al. discloses the energy conversion block comprises one or more energy conversion modules selected from among an independent-type energy conversion module configured such that the plurality of energy conversion devices outputs electrical energy independently (Fig. 6D) and an integrated-type energy conversion module configured such that the plurality of energy conversion devices is integrated with each other to output electrical energy (Fig. 6B).
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.
Claims 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 20200113952 A to Kim et al.
Regarding claim 5, Kim et al. discloses an apparatus as described above including the energy conversion block is configured such that one or more energy conversion modules selected from among a first energy conversion module configured to generate output of a first energy and a second energy conversion module configured to generate output of a second energy are stacked vertically, thereby meeting an energy output requirement (Fig. 6B).
However, it fails to disclose a first capacity and a second capacity.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the energy conversion modules be of different capacities, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
One would have been motivated to do so to reach a desired output.
Regarding claim 6, Kim et al. discloses an apparatus as described above including the droplet formation module comprises one or more nozzles selected from among a first nozzle configured to form a droplet and a second nozzle configured to form a droplet (Fig. 2: 131).
However, it fails to disclose a first size and a second size.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have different sized nozzles, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955).
One would have been motivated to do so to reach a desired droplet flow.
Regarding claim 7, Kim et al. discloses an apparatus as described above including the liquid storage module comprises a bottom surface at least partially concavely formed (Fig. 5C: right 130), and wherein, among the plurality of nozzles of the droplet formation module, a nozzle (131) connected to a concave portion of the liquid storage module is formed to have a length, and a nozzle (131) connected to another portion of the liquid storage module is formed to have a length, whereby tips of the plurality of nozzles are located on a same line.
However, it fails to disclose a short length and a long length.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have different length nozzles, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955).
One would have been motivated to do so to reach a desired droplet flow.
Claims 2, 4, and 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 20200113952 A to Kim et al. in view of KR 20210110182 A to Hong et al.
Regarding claims 2, 4, and 12, Kim et al. discloses an apparatus as described above.
However, it fails to disclose the limitations from claims 2, 4, and 12.
Hong et al. teaches:
a plurality of energy conversion blocks (multiple levels seen in Fig. 1), each comprising the liquid storage module (Fig. 2: 120 or 140), the droplet formation module (160), and the energy conversion module (150) grouped into a block, wherein the plurality of energy conversion blocks is stacked vertically so that the droplets used in the energy conversion module of an upper energy conversion block enters the liquid storage module of a lower energy conversion block (stacked modules in Fig. 1).
the energy conversion block comprises a plurality of energy conversion modules stacked vertically, and wherein the droplets used in an energy conversion module located at a higher position fall to an energy conversion module located at a lower position and are used again to generate energy (stacked modules in Fig. 1).
the plurality of energy conversion modules is disposed such that a direction of energy conversion devices disposed at a higher position and a direction of energy conversion devices disposed at a lower position are opposite each other so that droplets falling from end points of the energy conversion devices disposed at a higher position fall to start points of the energy conversion devices disposed at a lower position (Fig. 1: top module starts on the right side, second module starts on the left side and they alternate until the bottom).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of the plurality of energy conversion modules as disclosed by Hong et al. to the apparatus disclosed by Kim et al.
One would have been motivated to do so to generated additional energy.
Regarding claims 9-11, Kim et al. discloses an apparatus as described above.
However, it fails to disclose the limitations from claims 9-11.
Hong et al. teaches:
a droplet guide module (Fig. 3: 163) disposed between the plurality of energy conversion modules stacked vertically to guide a direction of the droplets falling from the energy conversion module.
the droplet guide module is formed, based on placement of the energy conversion devices of an energy conversion module disposed thereabove and placement of the energy conversion devices of an energy conversion module disposed therebelow, to guide the droplets falling from end points of upper energy conversion devices to fall to start points of lower energy conversion devices (Fig. 1: the guides are oriented in alternating positions).
the droplet guide module comprises: a first droplet guide module formed to guide the droplets in a first direction; and a second droplet guide module formed to guide the droplets in a second direction, and wherein the first droplet guide module and the second droplet guide module are alternately disposed (Fig. 1: the guides are oriented in alternating positions).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of the droplet guide modules as disclosed by Hong et al. to the apparatus disclosed by Kim et al.
One would have been motivated to do so to guide the droplets towards the energy conversion modules.
Conclusion
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/VIET P NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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