DETAILED ACTION
The communication dated 12/27/2024 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 1-15 are currently pending.
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 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 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ryu et al. U.S. Publication 2018/0000311 (henceforth referred to as Ryu).
As for claim 1, Ryu teaches a dishwasher (Fig. 1: part 100) comprising: a tub (Fig. 1: part 112); a basket (Fig. 2: part 132) in the tub and configured to receive dishware; a sprayer (Fig. 2: part 155b) including a spray rotor (Fig. 2), wherein the spray rotor includes: a nozzle body (Fig. 2; the upper half of sprayer 155b with nozzles depicted pointing upward), and a base body (Fig. 2; the lower half of sprayer 155b with nozzles depicted pointing downward) coupled to the nozzle body so that the base body and the nozzle body together form a space; and a duct including (Fig. 2; the tube from valve 154c to sprayer 155b): a duct body in which washing water is flowable, a duct bearing (Fig. 2; the location where the duct meets sprayer 155b) to which the nozzle body is rotatably coupled (paragraph [0073]), wherein the duct bearing is configured to supply washing water flowing in the duct body from the duct body to the space formed by the base body and the nozzle body, and a duct holder that supports the base body so that the duct holder, together with the duct bearing, rotatably supports the spray rotor, and so that the washing water supplied to the space formed by the base body and the nozzle body is sprayed by the spray rotor toward the basket to wash dishware received in the basket (paragraphs [0064]-[0075]; Fig. 2).
As for claim 15, Ryu further teaches that the dishwasher includes a plurality of the duct bearings and a plurality of the duct holders arranged at predetermined intervals along a direction along which the duct body longitudinally extends, the dishwasher includes a plurality of the spray rotors, and the duct holders of the plurality of duct holders, together with the duct bearings of the plurality of duct bearings, support spray rotors of the plurality of the spray rotors, respectively (Fig. 2; sprayers 155a, 155b, and 155c are spaced apart at predetermined intervals in the direction that a portion of the ducts from valve 154c and this direction could be longitudinal depending on the orientation of the dishwasher itself).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-14 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Ryu et al. U.S. Publication 2018/0000311, the closest prior art, differs from the instant claims in failing to teach the particular limitations of dependent claims 2, 4, 7, and 11-12. Furthermore, it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the dishwasher taught by Ryu as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEVON J SHAHINIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1384. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30am-6:00pm.
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/LEVON J SHAHINIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711
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