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 § 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) 1, 6, 9, 11, 17, 21 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka, et al. (“Tanaka”) (U.S. Pub. 2011/0024458) in view of Pote (U.S. Pub. 2023/0094038).
Regarding claim 1, Tanaka discloses a drinking water dispensing device comprising:
a housing (1);
a water-cooling device (81) carried by the housing for cooling drinking water from a drinking water supply (B) stream having a first pressure;
an oxygen nanobubble generator (71) carried by the housing and coupled downstream from the water-cooling device;
and a drinking water dispensing outlet (62) carried by the housing and coupled downstream from the oxygen nanobubble generator.
Tanaka is silent that the oxygen generator is a nanobubble generator or a solid-state oxygen concentrator carried by the housing for supplying an oxygen stream to the oxygen nanobubble generator at a second pressure higher than the first pressure.
Pote discloses an oxygen infusing water dispensing apparatus with an oxygen nanobubble generator (12); a solid-state oxygen concentrator (13) for supplying an oxygen stream to the oxygen nanobubble generator (seen in Fig. 1) at a second pressure higher than the first pressure. (¶ [0032]: “Preferably, the pressure of the gas containing oxygen supplied to the nanobubble generator 12 may exceed water pressure in the nanobubble generator 12 by a minimum of 10 PSI differential gas pressure.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of Pote to substitute the oxygen generator with Pote’s nanobubble generator, since doing so would be a mere substitution of one known oxygen generator for another known oxygen generator with the expected results that the substituted generator would generator oxygen bubbles (see MPEP 2143 I B) and to include a solid-state oxygen concentrator to provide a gas containing oxygen to the nanobubble generator. (Pote: ¶ [0010])
Regarding claim 6, Tanaka discloses a water piping arrangement (62, 63, 53, others) carried by the housing and extending between the drinking water supply stream and the drinking water dispensing outlet.
Regarding claim 9, Tanaka, as modified by Pote, discloses the oxygen nanobubble generator is configured to generate an oxygen concentration at over 100 million/ml (Pote: claim 4).
Regarding claim 11, Tanaka is silent in regards to a user-operable switch carried by the housing and configured to operate the solid-state oxygen concentrator to dispense cooled oxygenated drinking water via the drinking water dispensing outlet. Pote discloses a user-operable switch (¶ [0051]: 52) carried by the housing and configured to operate the solid-state oxygen concentrator to dispense cooled oxygenated drinking water via the drinking water dispensing outlet.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of Pote of a user-operable switch carried by the housing to allow the user to control the dispenser to conserve power or prevent inadvertent dispensing.
Regarding claim 17, Tanaka discloses a drinking water dispensing device capable of performing the following steps during normal use, the steps comprising:
operating an oxygen nanobubble generator (71) carried by a housing (1) and coupled downstream from the water-cooling device downstream from a water-cooling device (81) carried by the housing for cooling drinking water from a drinking water supply (B) stream having a first pressure;
Tanaka is silent that the oxygen generator is a nanobubble generator or a solid-state oxygen concentrator carried by the housing for supplying an oxygen stream to the oxygen nanobubble generator at a second pressure higher than the first pressure.
Pote discloses an oxygen infusing water dispensing apparatus with an oxygen nanobubble generator (12); a solid-state oxygen concentrator (13) for supplying an oxygen stream to the oxygen nanobubble generator (seen in Fig. 1) at a second pressure higher than the first pressure. (¶ [0032]: “Preferably, the pressure of the gas containing oxygen supplied to the nanobubble generator 12 may exceed water pressure in the nanobubble generator 12 by a minimum of 10 PSI differential gas pressure.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of Pote to substitute the oxygen generator with Pote’s nanobubble generator, since doing so would be a mere substitution of one known oxygen generator for another known oxygen generator with the expected results that the substituted generator would generator oxygen bubbles (see MPEP 2143 I B) and to include a solid-state oxygen concentrator to provide a gas containing oxygen to the nanobubble generator (Pote: ¶ [0010]) so that oxygenated drinking water dispensing outlet (62) carried by the housing coupled downstream from the oxygen nanobubble generator.
Regarding claim 21, Tanaka, as modified by Pote, discloses the oxygen nanobubble generator is configured to generate an oxygen concentration at over 100 million/ml (Pote: claim 4).
Regarding claim 22, Tanaka is silent in regards to a user-operable switch carried by the housing and configured to operate the solid-state oxygen concentrator to dispense cooled oxygenated drinking water via the drinking water dispensing outlet. Pote discloses a user-operable switch (¶ [0051]: 52) carried by the housing and configured to operate the solid-state oxygen concentrator to dispense cooled oxygenated drinking water via the drinking water dispensing outlet.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of Pote of a user-operable switch carried by the housing to allow the user to control the dispenser to conserve power or prevent inadvertent dispensing.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka and Pote as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Suddarth (U.S. Pub. 2007/0235379).
Regarding claim 7, the combination is silent in regards to at least one water treatment magnet associated with the water piping arrangement.
Suddarth discloses a water treatment apparatus (2) comprising at least one magnet (30). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of Suddarth to include a magnetic water treatment apparatus within Tanaka’s fluid stream to create desirable frequencies to make the fluid an inhospitable environment for the biological contaminants, such as bacteria, algae, and fungi, reducing their numbers in the fluid. The fluid may be passed through a plurality of magnetic micro-spheres to interact with the water molecules to polarize mineral salts preventing the formation of deposits on the inside of related plumbing. (Suddarth: Abstract)
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka and Pote as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wittbold (U.S. Pub. 2008/0035241).
Regarding claim 8, Tanaka does not explicitly disclose that the housing has a recess to receive a drinking water container aligned with the drinking water dispensing outlets (Fig. 4: 62, 64).
Wittbold discloses a water dispenser with a housing (12) with a recess (20) to receive a drinking water container (cup seen in Fig. 7) aligned with a drinking water dispensing outlet (Fig. 1: 32). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of Wittbold’s recess to receive a drinking water container, such as a cup, aligned with a drinking water dispensing outlet to provide a horizontal support surface or shelf (26) to prevent dropping of the drinking water container while dispensing.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka and Pote as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sano, et al. (“Sano”) (U.S. Pub. 2012/0248141).
Regarding claim 10, Tanaka discloses the water-cooling device comprises a compressor (81) and an evaporator (8) but is silent in regards to a condenser arranged to define a refrigerant- based heat exchanger. Sano discloses a water-cooling device comprising a compressor (44), a condenser (48), and an evaporator (24) arranged to define a refrigerant-based heat exchanger (¶ [0048]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of Sano to include all of the components required which define a conventional refrigerant- based heat exchanger.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 12 requires, among other things, a solid-state oxygen concentrator carried by the housing for supplying an oxygen stream to the oxygen nanobubble generator at a second pressure higher than the first pressure and without a compressor. Prior art Pote teaches the solid-state oxygen concentrator which generates the second pressure with a compressor and it would not have been obvious to modify the prior art barring improper hindsight analysis. Claims 13-16 depend from claim 12.
Claims 12-16 are allowed.
Claims 2-5, 18, 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.
Claims 2 and 18 requires that the solid-state oxygen concentrator generates the second pressure without a compressor. Prior art Pote teaches the solid-state oxygen concentrator which generates the second pressure with a compressor and it would not have been obvious to modify the prior art barring improper hindsight analysis. Claim 3 depends from claim 2. Claim 19 depends from claim 18
Claims 4 and 20 requires an oxygen accumulator downstream from the oxygen concentrator and a pressure regulator coupled downstream from the oxygen accumulator. Pote discloses an oxygen accumulator (18) but fails to mention a regulator and it would not have been obvious to modify the prior art barring improper hindsight analysis. Claim 5 depends from claim 4.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See form PTO-892, attached.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J MELARAGNO whose telephone number is (571)270-7735. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri: 8 am - 5 pm +/- flex.
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/MICHAEL J. MELARAGNO/ Examiner, Art Unit 3754
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