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 .
DETAILED ACTION
CLAIM INTERPRETATION
The presence of claim limitations that are preceded by the phrases “wherein” often raises a question as to the limiting effect of the claim limitations (see MPEP §2111.04). The Examiner has interpreted the limitations following the phrase “wherein” as positively being claimed (i.e. the claim limitations are required and/or the claim limitations following the “wherein clause” limits the structure), where “wherein” is being used as a transitional phrase.
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.
Claims 1-5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DOEPKER (US Patent 11,111,921 B2) in view of JP ‘869 (Japanese Patent Publication JP H04-44869, a machine translation was provided with the foreign reference in the IDS that was filed on 5/27/2026 and is utilized in the rejection below).
Regarding claim 1, DOEPKER discloses: a co-rotating scroll compressor (see Abstract) comprising:
a housing (22, 24; 222, 224); a driving mechanism (20, 98; 220, 298, 100); a driving scroll (76; 276); a driven scroll (78; 278); and a driven mechanism (92; 292),
the housing having a scroll chamber (see Figures 1 and 3, that shows a scroll chamber that contains the driving and driven scrolls (76, 78; 276, 278)) in which the driving scroll and the driven scroll are accommodated (see Figures 1 and 3), and a partition wall (14, 16; 214, 216) that separates the storage chamber from the scroll chamber (see Figures 1 and 3, it is noted that the storage chamber only contains oil and gas refrigerant),
the driving scroll being configured to be driven to rotate around a driving axis by the driving mechanism (see Figures 1 and 3, Column 8, lines 28-52),
the driven scroll being eccentric to the driving scroll (see Figures 1 and 3, Column 8, lines 28-52), and configured to be driven to rotate around a driven axis by the driving scroll and the driven mechanism (see Figure 1, Column 8, lines 28-65),
a supporting portion protruding from the partition wall into the scroll chamber with the driving axis at a center (see Figures 1 and 3 that shows a supporting portion near the center and driving axis A1),
the driving scroll being supported by a bearing (52,252) disposed between the driving scroll and the supporting portion so as to be driven to rotate around the driving axis (see Figures 1 and 3, Column 8, lines 1-14),
a scroll compression part being formed of the driving scroll and the driven scroll (see Figures 1 and 3), and
a lubricating oil supply passage (see Figures 1 and 3 that shows lubricating oil supply passage via (99; 299) or (56, 60, 72, 74; 258, 256, 272) in communication with the oil storage portion (see Figures 1 and 3), through which the lubricating oil is supplied to the scroll compression part or the bearing (see Figures 1 and 3).
DOEPKER fails to disclose a storage chamber that separates a refrigerant drawn from an outside into gas and liquid and stores liquid refrigerant, an oil storage portion in which lubricating oil is stored being provided in the scroll chamber, and the lubricating oil supply passage has a lubricating oil cooling portion that cools the lubricating oil in the lubricating oil supply passage with the refrigerant in the storage chamber.
Regarding claim 1, JP ‘869 teaches: a housing (59);
a storage chamber (68) (see Figure 3 that shows a storage chamber that surrounds (50)) that separates a refrigerant drawn from an outside into gas and liquid and stores liquid refrigerant (see Figure 3, and first page of the translation)
an oil storage portion (67) in which lubricating oil is stored being provided in the compressor chamber (see Figure 3), and
the lubricating oil supply passage has a lubricating oil cooling portion that cools the lubricating oil in the lubricating oil supply passage with the refrigerant in the storage chamber (see Figure 3 and Page 1 and top of Page 2 of the machine translation).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a storage chamber that separates a refrigerant drawn from an outside into gas and liquid and stores liquid refrigerant, an oil storage portion in which lubricating oil is stored being provided in the scroll chamber, and the lubricating oil supply passage has a lubricating oil cooling portion that cools the lubricating oil in the lubricating oil supply passage with the refrigerant in the storage chamber in the co-rotating scroll compressor of DOEPKER , in order to provide cooling of the lubricating oil, as well as, a combination of an accumulator for the refrigerant with the scroll compressor. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a storage chamber that separates a refrigerant drawn from an outside into gas and liquid and stores liquid refrigerant, an oil storage portion in which lubricating oil is stored being provided in the scroll chamber, and the lubricating oil supply passage has a lubricating oil cooling portion that cools the lubricating oil in the lubricating oil supply passage with the refrigerant in the storage chamber in the co-rotating scroll compressor of DOEPKER, since it requires only routine skill in the art to utilize improvements of cooling of a compressor and combining an accumulator with a compressor, as taught by JP ‘869, to improve the apparatus of the co-rotating scroll compressor due to design incentives of improving cooling of the compressor, as well as, reducing the number of components and space by having the accumulator and compressor as a single component.
Regarding claim 2, DOEPKER further discloses: the driving scroll (76; 276) has a driving scroll end plate (80, 280), a driving scroll spiral body (82, 282) that is formed integrally with the driving scroll end plate and protrudes toward the driven scroll in a spiral shape (see Figures 1 and 3), and a cover body (102, 104; 302, 304) connected to the driving scroll end plate with the driven scroll held between the cover body and the driving scroll end plate (see Figures 1 and 3),
the driven scroll (78; 278) has a driven scroll end plate (86, 286), and a driven scroll spiral body (88, 288) that is formed integrally with the driven scroll end plate and protrudes toward the driving scroll end plate in a spiral shape (see Figures 1 and 3), and
the lubricating oil is supplied from the lubricating oil supply passage to a sliding portion between the driven scroll end plate and the cover body (Column 9, lines 14-24).
Regarding claim 3, DOEPKER further discloses: the lubricating oil is supplied from the lubricating oil supply passage to the bearing (see Figures 1 and 3, Column 7, line 46 – Column 8, line 13), and
the lubricating oil supply passage extends through the supporting portion (see Figures 1 and 3 that shows the lubricant oil supply passage (58, 258, and 72) extending thru the supporting portion).
Regarding claim 4, DOEPKER further discloses: a driven shaft portion (90) that is eccentric to the driving axis (see Figure 1, where the driven shaft portion is along A2) and extends in parallel to the driving axis in the housing (see Figure 1); and a bushing (69) into which the driven shaft portion is inserted (see Figure 1), wherein a bushing bearing is disposed between the driven scroll and the bushing (see Figure 1),
the lubricating oil is supplied from the lubricating oil supply passage to the bushing bearing, (see Figure 1, Column 7, line 46 – Column 8, line 13) and
the lubricating oil supply passage extends through the driven shaft portion or the bushing (see Figure 1, where the lubricating oil supply passage extends thru the bushing (69).
Regarding claim 5, DOEPKER further discloses: the lubricating oil supply passage extends through the cover body (see Figures 1 and 3, Column 9, lines 14-24).
Regarding claim 7, DOEPKER further discloses: the lubricating oil cooling portion is formed of a pipe (see Figures 1 and 3, where the pipe is part of (99) in Figure 1, and the pipe is (299, 272) in Figure 3) disposed in the storage chamber (see Figures 1 and 3), and
a passage inside the pipe forms a part of the lubricating oil supply passage (see Figures 1 and 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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
Applicant's submission of an information disclosure statement under 37 CFR 1.97(c) with the timing fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(p) on May 27, 2026 prompted the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Considered IDS was provided on July 15, 2026. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 609.04(b). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Communication
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARY DAVIS whose telephone number is (571)272-9965. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8 am-4pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Essama Omgba can be reached at (469) 295-9278. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Mary A Davis/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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