DETAILED ACTION
The communication dated 1/13/2025 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 1-18 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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugiura U.S. Publication 2021/0323033 (henceforth referred to as Sugiura).
As for claim 1, Sugiura teaches a pressure washer (Fig. 1: part 2), comprising a rear bracket assembly, an front bracket assembly extending upward from the rear bracket assembly (Fig. 2), a power head assembly (paragraph [0053]; Fig. 7) fixed on the rear bracket assembly, and a washing assembly (paragraph [0044]; Fig. 7) connected with the front bracket assembly, wherein the power head assembly comprises: a housing assembly (Fig. 7: part 74), the housing assembly comprising a rear housing, an front housing assembled with the rear housing, a battery pack cavity (Fig. 7: part 30) at least partially accommodated in the front housing and a cover (Fig. 7: part 24) covering a top of the battery pack cavity; a motor pump assembly (Fig. 7: part 62), the motor pump assembly accommodated in a first accommodating cavity formed by assembling the front housing and the rear housing; a battery pack assembly (Fig. 7: part 38), the battery pack assembly accommodated in the battery pack cavity, the battery pack cavity comprising at least two battery packs (Fig. 7: parts 38a and 38b) connected in series or in parallel, and a driving assembly, the driving assembly comprising a water-cooled driver (Fig. 7: part 58) and a circuit controller (Fig. 7: part 52), the water-cooled driver electrically connected with the motor pump assembly in the rear housing to drive the motor pump assembly to work, and the circuit controller electrically connected with the battery pack assembly to access a power of each battery pack and distribute the power to the water-cooled driver.
Sugiura differs from the instant claims in failing to teach the front and rear components are upper and lower, respectively. However, absent the demonstration of any new or unobvious results, the claimed configuration is considered by Examiner to be prima facie obvious as a rearrangement of parts. It is old and well known to rearrange parts, with no change in their respective functions, due to size/space design criteria, the manufacturing expense thereof or purely for aesthetics. See MPEP § 2144.04, VI, C. Rearrangement of Parts.
As for claim 3, Sugiura further teaches that, a power switch (Fig. 1: part 16) and a mode switch (Fig. 7: part 54) are arranged at a middle position of the upper housing, the power switch is configured to control an on-off of the power head assembly (power [0042]), and the mode switch is configured to provide a variety of working modes to the power head assembly, the working modes comprise an energy-saving mode and/or a high-power mode (paragraphs [0053]-[0058]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 4-18 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: Sugiura U.S. Publication 2021/0323033, the closest prior art, differs from the instant claims in failing to teach that the upper housing and the lower housing are further assembled to form a second accommodating cavity and a third accommodating cavity, the battery pack cavity is accommodated in the second accommodating cavity and the third accommodating cavity to accommodate the at least two battery packs, the first accommodating cavity is located between the second accommodating cavity and the third accommodating cavity, the battery pack cavity comprises a first accommodating part accommodated in the second accommodating cavity, a second accommodating part accommodated in the third accommodating cavity, and a connecting part connecting the first accommodating part and the second accommodating part, and the first accommodating cavity is formed below the connecting part and separates the first accommodating part from the second accommodating part. 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 pressure washer taught by Sugiura 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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Barr can be reached at (571)272-1414. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LEVON J SHAHINIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711
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