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 .
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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated
WO 2022206117 (“LYU et al.”).
Regarding Claims 1-5, LYU et al. discloses CLAIM 1- a refrigerator comprising:
a main body (10) including a storage compartment (110);
a first door (100) and a second door (100) rotatably connected to the main body to open or close the storage compartment (110); and
a rotating bar (20) coupled to the first door (100) so as to be rotatable with respect to the first door (100) about an axis of rotation, and configured to cover a gap between the first door (100) and the second door (100) when the first door (100) and the second door (100) are both closed, wherein the rotating bar includes:
a cam device (310) coupled to the first door (100), and including:
a hinge protrusion (340) coupled to the first door (100),
a fixed cam (320 connected to the hinge protrusion (340) and centered on the axis of rotation,
a rotary cam (330) that is rotatable with respect to the fixed cam (320) about the axis of rotation, and
an elastic member (331) (331) centered on the axis of rotation and configured to elastically contact the fixed cam (320) with the rotary cam (330) so that linear motion of the rotary cam (330) is converted into rotary motion of the rotary cam (330) by the contact of the fixed cam with the rotary cam (330), and
a rotating bar body (200) coupled to the cam device (310) so that rotation force formed by the rotary motion of the rotary cam (330) transferred to the rotating bar body (200) to rotate the rotating bar (20); CLAIM 2-wherein the rotating bar body (200) includes an insulating space corresponding to the gap between the first door (100) and the second door (100), an insulating material (pg. 7-8) in the insulating space, and a rotating space between the hinge protrusion (340) and the insulating space, and the fixed cam, the rotary cam (330), and the elastic member (331) are in the rotating space; CLAIM 3- wherein the cam device (310) further includes a rotary cam housing (formed within each side of 200, as seen in Fig. 2) covering an outer circumferential surface of the rotary cam (330), and the elastic member (331) is configured so that one end of the elastic member (331) is supported on an inner surface of the rotary cam housing (formed in each side of 200, as seen in Fig. 2), and another end of the elastic member (331) is supported on the rotary cam (330) so as to apply an elastic force on the rotary cam (330); CLAIM 4- wherein the fixed cam includes: a fixed cam body (320) connected to the hinge protrusion (340), and a fixed cam protrusion forming a fixed cam peak and a fixed cam valley along a circumferential direction of the cam device (310) at an end of the fixed cam body (as seen in Fig. 3), and the rotary cam includes: a rotary cam body (330) forming an exterior of the rotary cam (330), and a rotary cam protrusion forming a rotary cam peak and a rotary cam valley along the circumferential direction of the cam device (310); CLAIM 5-wherein the rotary cam (330) is configured to rotate between a first position where the rotary cam (330) peak is arranged to correspond to the fixed cam valley when the first door (100) is closed, and a second position where the rotary cam peak is arranged to correspond to another fixed can valley adjacent to the fixed cam valley when the first door (100) is open (as seen in Fig. 3), and the elastic member (331) is arranged such that the elastic force is maximum at a critical position where the fixed cam peak and the rotary cam (330).
Claims 1-6 and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2019138561 (“Morino et al”.)
Regarding Claims 1-6 and 10-12, Morino et al. discloses Claim 1- a refrigerator (100) comprising:
a main body (1) including a storage compartment;
a first door (2) and a second door (3) rotatably connected to the main body (1) to open or close the storage compartment; and
a rotating bar (20) coupled to the first door (2) so as to be rotatable with respect to the first door (2) about an axis of rotation, and configured to cover a gap (S) between the first door (2) and the second door (3) when the first door (2) and the second door (3) are both closed, wherein the rotating bar (20) includes:
a cam device (31, best seen in Figs. 5-7) coupled to the first door (2), and including: a hinge protrusion (35c) coupled to the first door (2), a fixed cam (35) connected to the hinge protrusion (35c) and centered on the axis of rotation
a rotary cam (34) that is rotatable with respect to the fixed cam (35) about the axis of rotation, and
an elastic member (33) centered on the axis of rotation and configured to elastically contact the fixed cam (35) with the rotary cam (34) so that linear motion of the rotary cam (34) is converted into rotary motion of the rotary cam (34) by the contact of the fixed cam (35) with the rotary cam (34), and
a rotating bar body (22, 23) coupled to the cam device (31, best seen in Figs. 5-7) so that rotation force formed by the rotary motion of the rotary cam (34) transferred to the rotating bar (20) body to rotate the rotating bar (20); Claim 2-
wherein the rotating bar body (22, 23) includes an insulating space corresponding to the gap (S) between the first door (2) and the second door (3), an insulating material (26) in the insulating space, and a rotating space between the hinge protrusion (35c) and the insulating space, and the fixed cam (35), the rotary cam (34), and the elastic member (33) are in the rotating space; Claim 3-wherein the cam device (31, best seen in Figs. 5-7) further includes a rotary cam housing (36) covering an outer circumferential surface of the rotary cam (34), and the elastic member (33) is configured so that one end of the elastic member (33) is supported on an inner surface of the rotary cam housing (36), and another end of the elastic member (33) is supported on the rotary cam (34) so as to apply an elastic force on the rotary cam (34);CLAIM 4-wherein the fixed cam (35) includes: a fixed cam body (35a) connected to the hinge protrusion (35c), and a fixed cam protrusion forming a fixed cam peak (35b2) and a fixed cam valley (35 b3, b4) along a circumferential direction of the cam device ( 31, best seen in Figs. 5-7) at an end of the fixed cam body (35a), and the rotary cam (34) includes: a rotary cam body (34d) forming an exterior of the rotary cam (34), and a rotary cam protrusion forming a rotary cam peak (34d2) and a rotary cam valley (34 d3, d4) along the circumferential direction of the cam device ( 31, best seen in Figs. 5-7); CLAIM 5-wherein the rotary cam (34) is configured to rotate between a first position where the rotary cam peak (34d2) is arranged to correspond to the fixed cam valley (35 b3,b4) when the first door (2) is closed, and a second position where the rotary cam peak (34d2) is arranged to correspond to another fixed cam valley (35 b3,b4) adjacent to the fixed cam valley (35 b3, b4) when the first door (2) is open, and the elastic member (33) is arranged such that the elastic force is maximum at a critical position where the fixed cam peak (35b2) and the rotary cam peak (34d2) correspond to each other between the first position and the second position of the rotary cam (34); CLAIM 6-wherein the rotary cam (34) includes a guide protrusion (34e) protruding from an outer circumferential surface of the rotary cam body (34d), and the rotary cam housing (36) includes a guide groove (36d) recessedly formed to correspond to the guide protrusion (34e) to allow the guide protrusion (34e) to be moved in a direction in which the axis of rotation extends.
CLAIM 10-wherein the rotating bar (20) further includes a rotating bar magnet (24) that magnetically interacts with the first door (2) and the second door (3), and a heating member (25, best seen in Figs. 13, 15 and 16) between the rotating bar magnet (24) and the rotating bar (20) body to prevent dew condensation on an outer surface of the rotating bar (20), and the rotating bar (20) body includes a plastic material in a portion of the rotating bar body (22, 23) that is adjacent to the heating member (25) and the rotating bar magnet (24); CLAIM 11- wherein the first door (2) includes a first door gasket (8) configured to apply a sealing force between the first door (2) and the main body (1) and the first door (2) and the rotating bar (20), and the first door gasket (8) includes a first gasket magnet (8a) configured to be coupled by magnetic interaction with the rotating bar magnet (24); CLAIM 12- wherein the second door (3) includes a second door gasket (8) configured to apply a sealing force between the second door (3) and the main body (1) and the second door (3) and the rotating bar (20), and the second door gasket (8) includes a second gasket magnet (8a) configured to be coupled by magnetic interaction with the rotating bar magnet (24).
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) 7-8 are re rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morino et al. as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of KR 20050104871 (“BYUN”).
Morino et al discloses the claimed invention but does not expressly disclose a connecting rib protruding from the rotary cam housing and a coupling body.
Regarding Claims 7-8, BYUN demonstrates (see Fig. 1) it is well known in the art to form a hinge cam device with a fixed cam (61); a rotary cam (50) CLAIM 7- which includes a connecting rib (extending along the side) and protruding from an outer surface of the rotary cam housing (extending along the outer side of 1) and configured to simultaneously rotate the rotary cam housing (1) and the rotating bar body (200), and at least a portion of the connecting rib is supported on a portion of the body (200) supporting the hinge cam device ; CLAIM 8-wherein the cam device (see Figs. 1-2) further includes a cam coupling body (42) configured to prevent the rotary cam (50) and the rotary cam housing (40) from being separated by an elastic force of the elastic member (51), and at least a portion of the fixed cam body (41)is between the cam coupling body (42) and the rotary cam housing (40).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have configured the rotary cam device could be configure with a housing having a connecting rib and cam coupling body, the coupling rib would securely fastening the housing to the rotating bar body and the coupling cam body will securely hold the cam device components within the housing; as demonstrated by BYUN to provide a simplified and sturdy hinge device to improve the operational stability and contact of the cam device within the rotating bar.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morino et al. in as applied to claim 5 above, in view of KR 101714745 (“Chu et al.”).
Morino et al. demonstrated a similar invention but dies not disclose an anti-friction grove. Chu et al. discloses a similar cam device (refer to Figs. 2-6) , wherein the fixed cam protrusion includes a first anti-friction groove (320, 330) configured to reduce an area of an inclined surface formed between the fixed cam peak and the fixed can valley so as to reduce friction due to contact between the fixed cam protrusion and the rotary cam protrusion, and the rotary cam protrusion includes a second anti-friction groove (320, 330) configured to reduce the area of an inclined surface formed between the rotary cam peak and the rotary cam valley so as to reduce friction due to contact between the rotary cam protrusion (along 200) and the fixed cam protrusion (along 100).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have configured the cam device with anti-friction grooves similar to the grooves as the grooves allow for smooth sliding movement by allow the lubricant to flow uniformly thereby inducing a quieter movement, taught by Chu et al.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morino et al. in as applied to claim 12 above, in view of US Patent No.: 5309680 (“Kiel”).
As seen in Figs. 11-16, Morino et al discloses, several ways to arrange the magnets in the rotating bar, Claim 13- wherein the first gasket magnet (8a) and the second gasket magnet (8a) are arranged to have the same magnetic poles facing the main body (1), and the rotating bar (20) magnet is a three-pole magnet (24, c, d, see Figs. 13 and 16) in which a magnetic pole which is the same as magnetic poles of the first gasket magnet (8a) and the second gasket magnet (8a) corresponding to the rotating bar (20) magnet is arranged in a middle of the three-pole magnet and other magnetic poles which are opposite to the magnetic poles of the first gasket magnet (8a) and the second gasket magnet (8a) are arranged on sides of the three-pole magnet.
Morino et al. does not expressly disclose the magnets arranges as a three pole magnet. Kiel demonstrates it is well known in the art to secure doors using a two or three pole magnet arrangement (94, best seen in Fig. 7). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the magnets taught by Morino et al. could be substituted for a three pole magnets as taught by Kiel, to provide a greater attractive sealing between the rotating bar and the first and second gasket magnet.
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 KIMBERLEY S WRIGHT whose telephone number is (571)270-3328. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 12:30-6:30.
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/KIMBERLEY S WRIGHT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3637
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