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 .
Claims 1-20 have been presented for examination.
Claim Objections
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities: On line 2, the claim repeats “the notification” twice. 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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yanagiuchi et al1 [Yanagiuchi] JP2023004269.
Referring to claim 1, Yanagiuchi teaches the dehumidifier management method, comprising:
receiving a notification condition related to a water level in a water tank of a dehumidifier from a user [0081];
obtaining water level information about the water level in the water tank [0081, 0090-0091]; and
providing the user with a notification corresponding to the notification condition, in response to the obtained water level information satisfying the received notification condition, [0081, 0090-0091]
wherein the received notification condition differs from a full water level notification condition where the water level in the water tank reaches a full water level [0081, 0090-0091].
Referring to claim 2, Yanagiuchi teaches the condition being a user defined water level being reached [0081].
Referring to claim 3, Yanagiuchi teaches that the indication provided to the user includes an LED indication of the water level [Fig. 16, 0085, 0088, 0091].
Referring to claims 14-16, these are rejected on the same basis as set forth hereinabove with respect to claims 1-3 respectively. Yanaguichi teaches the method and therefore teaches the system performing the method.
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) 2, 4-5, 10, 15 and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yanagiuchi as applied to claims 1-3 and 14-16 above, and further in view of Ito et al2 [Ito] JP2008175424.
Referring to claim 2, while Yanagiuchi teaches the invention substantially as claimed above, it is not explicitly taught to provide a notification if a time has elapsed since removing the water tank from the dehumidifier. Ito teaches providing a notification when a time has elapsed and the water has not been disposed of [claims 1, 3]. It is interpreted that disposing of the water requires removal of the water tray. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the teachings of Ito into Yanagiuchi because it would otherwise allow for bacteria to grow as taught by Ito [0025].
Referring to claim 4-5, Ito teaches notifying a user to empty the tray if it has had water in it for a predetermined amount of time and not emptied [0025, claim 1]. The designated water level is interpreted as being at least any water within the tray. Because Ito enables dehumidification once the humidity reaches a certain level, it necessarily begins to fill the tray upon activation.
Referring to claim 10, Ito teaches detecting temperature and humidity and enabling dehumidification for a given temperature when the humidity exceeds an allowable level [claim 3].
Referring to claims 15 and 17-18, these are rejected on the same basis as set forth hereinabove with respect to claims 2 and 4 respectively.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yanagiuchi as applied to claims 1-3 and 14-16 above, and further in view of Uneo3 JP2011218313.
Referring to claim 8, while Yanagiuchi teaches the invention substantially as claimed above including setting a water level to enable an indication, it is not explicitly taught to provide an indicator of an expected weight of the water tank based on the set level. Ueno teaches providing an indicator indicating an expected weight based on the selected water level claims 1-3. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the teachings of Ueno into Yanagiuchi because doing so would provide the information to the user so they can determine if the water should be drained at the users convenience as taught by Uneo [abstract].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7, 9, 11-13 and 19-20 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.
REASONS FOR ALLOWANCE
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
US Pat No 4649898 to Martinson teaches providing a warning to a user when a water level reaches an upper level [col. 6 lines 5-29].
PGPUB 2015/0022334 to Guillory teaches providing an alert when a water level reaches a pre-determined fill level [abstract].
PGPUB 2017/0003041 to Kim teaches a dehumidifier that determines water level and allows a user to set a threshold humidity and temperature [0038].
The prior art of record does not teach or suggest either individually or in combination, providing an expected stop notification when a remaining water level in the water tank is lower than a determined average usage water level which is based on an amount of change in the water level in the tan from a start to end of a dehumidifying operation (claims 6 and 19); determining the defined water level corresponds to the temperature and humidity levels (claim 9); and providing a first, second, third and fourth interface elements for setting a notification cycle and the designated water level corresponding to the first condition, activating/deactivating the notification according to the third condition, and storing the set personalized notification list respectively (claim 11).
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK A CONNOLLY whose telephone number is (571)272-3666. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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/MARK A CONNOLLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115 9/6/26
1 Cited by applicant.
2 Cited by applicant
3 Cited by applicant
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