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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 11,262,120 B2 (Lv).
With respect to claim 1: Lv discloses a refrigerator (refrigerator appliance 50) comprising: a cabinet (box body 54) that defines a storage space (storage compartment 52); and a door (door body 10) configured to open and close the storage space; wherein the door includes: a panel assembly including (i) a front panel (front glass plate 49) that defines a front surface of the door (at least Fig. 1) and is made of a transparent material (glass), and (ii) a rear panel (the two rear glass plates 46) that is disposed at a rear of the front panel (at least Fig. 1) and made of a transparent material (glass), a door liner (housing 18) that defines a rear surface of the door (at least Fig. 1) and includes a liner opening being shielded by the rear panel (at least Fig. 1), an insulation material (insulation material 20) provided in a space (cavity 16) between a perimeter of the panel assembly and the door liner, and a sealing member (seal strip 24) disposed between the panel assembly and the door liner to seal so that the insulation material does not leak toward the liner opening.
With respect to claim 2: Lv discloses wherein the door liner includes: a protrusion part (at least rear frame part 38) disposed at a rear of the rear panel; and an inner surface part (inner wall 34) extending from an inner side of the protrusion part toward the rear panel, and wherein a front end part of the inner surface part is disposed to face a rear surface of the rear panel (Fig. 1).
With respect to claim 16: Lv discloses wherein the protrusion part and the inner surface part are formed to surround the liner opening (Figs. 1-2), wherein the inner surface part (inner wall 34) includes: a first inner surface part forming an upper end of the liner opening (Figs. 2-3: inner wall 34 of housing 18 above the main part 12); a second inner surface part forming both side ends of the liner opening (Figs. 2-3: inner wall 34 of housing 18 on the left and right sides of the main part 12; one “side end” shown in Figs. 1-2); and a third inner surface part forming a lower end of the liner opening (Figs. 2-3: inner wall 34 of housing 18 below the main part 12), and wherein the sealing member is coupled to the first inner surface part and the second inner surface part (Figs. 1-2).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 11, and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2022/0003482 A1 (Bae) in view of US 10,670,329 B2 (Kang).
With respect to claim 1: Bae discloses a refrigerator (refrigerator 1) comprising: a cabinet (cabinet 10) that defines a storage space (“storage space” @ [0098]); and a door (door 20) configured to open and close the storage space; wherein the door includes: a panel assembly (panel assembly 100) including (i) a front panel (front panel 110) that defines a front surface of the door and is made of a transparent material (Fig. 4 and [0110]-[0111]), and (ii) a rear panel (at least first insulating panel 120, may include second insulating panel 130) that is disposed at a rear of the front panel and made of a transparent material (Fig. 4 and [0121]), a door liner (door liner 200) that defines a rear surface of the door (at least Figs. 2 and 4) and includes a liner opening (liner opening 201) being shielded by the rear panel, an insulation material (insulator 400) provided in a space between a perimeter of the panel assembly and the door liner.
Bae does not disclose “a sealing member disposed between the panel assembly and the door liner to seal so that the insulation material does not leak toward the liner opening” as claimed.
See Bae Figs. 15-16. Bae provides a recessed space 204a where the door liner 200 contacts the first insulating panel 120. Bae [0279]-[0297] teach that the recessed space 204a accommodates insulation foaming liquid that leaks from the heat insulation space 410 (leaked portion 400a in Fig. 16), thereby preventing the insulation from leaking onto the rear surface 120a of panel 120.
Kang Figs. 23-24 and cols. 26-27 teach the use of a shielding member 79 that is formed of an attachable material such as tape, and used to prevent leaking of foamed insulation. Shielding member 79 may be attached to 1) the blocking part 77 and 2) the door liner 56 or the rear panel 65.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Bae’s door 20 to include Kang’s shielding member 79 on the inner surface 204b of the second body 204 and the adjacent rear surface 120a of the first insulating panel 120, as an obvious supplement to or replacement of the recessed space 204a. Both the recessed space 203a and the shielding member 79 are known in the art for preventing unwanted leaking of foamed insulation onto a panel assembly.
With respect to claim 2: Bae, as modified, meets wherein the door liner includes: a protrusion part (connection body 209) disposed at a rear of the rear panel; and an inner surface part (inner body 202) extending from an inner side of the protrusion part toward the rear panel, and wherein a front end part of the inner surface part is disposed to face a rear surface of the rear panel.
With respect to claim 3: Bae, as modified, meets wherein the sealing member (the shielding member 79 added to Bae’s door 20) includes: a first sealing part facing the inner surface part (part of shielding member 79 on inner surface 204b); and a second sealing part formed by bending outward from a front end part of the first sealing part and facing the rear surface of the rear panel (part of shielding member 79 on rear surface 120a).
With respect to claim 11: Bae, as modified, meets wherein an adhesive material (the adhesive on the inside of the tape forming shielding member 79) is disposed between the second sealing part and the rear surface of the rear panel.
With respect to claim 14: Bae, as modified, meets wherein the panel assembly further includes a spacer (spacer(s) 140) provided between the front panel and the rear panel to form an insulation layer, wherein a front end part of the inner surface part is in contact with the rear surface of the rear panel (contact surface 204d contacts rear surface 120a), and wherein the protrusion part overlaps the spacer in a front and rear direction (Figs. 4 and 15).
With respect to claim 15: Bae, as modified, meets wherein the inner surface part includes a lighting device mounting part (installation opening 206) cutting toward a rear (at least Fig. 14), and on which a lighting device (lighting unit 250) is mounted to illuminate a rear space of the door, and wherein the sealing member does not overlap with the lighting device mounting part in a front and rear direction (in Bae Fig. 14, the added sealing member 79 is at the inner surface 204b of second body 204, but not in the installation opening 206).
With respect to claim 16: Bae, as modified, meets wherein the protrusion part and the inner surface part are formed to surround the liner opening (at least Figs. 2-3 and 8-9), wherein the inner surface part includes: a first inner surface part forming an upper end of the liner opening (inner body 202 above liner opening 201); a second inner surface part forming both side ends of the liner opening (inner body 202 on the left and right sides of liner opening 201); and a third inner surface part forming a lower end of the liner opening (inner body 202 below liner opening 201), and wherein the sealing member is coupled to the first inner surface part and the second inner surface part.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 4-10, 12-13, 17 is/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.
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 ANDREW ROERSMA whose telephone number is (571)270-3185. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:00.
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/ANDREW ROERSMA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3637
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