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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “ventilator” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim 13. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 1-4, 6, 9-10 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2021023866 in view of Long (2024/0050271).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, WO2021023866 discloses a cold chamber 1 comprising: at least one wall 10; a walk-in interior space 3, the walk-in interior space 3 including: a wall cladding 13 arranged in front of the at least one wall 10, wherein the wall cladding 10 and the at least one wall form a cavity (Fig. 3).
WO2021023866 does not specifically disclose the at least one wall being heatable at least partially. However, WO2021023866 teaches a heating device installed on the floor 4 around a drain 18 to defrost or thaw the ice and snow build-ups. Attention is directed to Long which teaches a cold chamber 1 comprising a window panel structure 2060 being heated by electric heater 206003 (Fig. 6, paragraph [000087,0088]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of skill in the art to modify WO2021023866 cold chamber to have at least one wall being heated by a heater in views of the teaching of Long and teaching of heating the floor area near the drain for clearing ice/snow and moisture build-ups.
Regarding claim 2, the distance (0.2m or 20cm) between the wall cladding and the at least one wall is between 2-cm and 30-cm.
Regarding claim 3, the interior space is coolable and the air temperature is lower than the air temperature of the environment of the cold chamber, the air temperature of the interior space (less than -100oC) being below 15oC.
Regarding claim 4, the wall cladding (inner wall having viewing windows) is at least partially light- transmissive.
Regarding claim 6, the wall cladding 13 is attached to a ceiling of the cold chamber 3 by a suspension device 25 (web).
Regarding claim 8, the wall cladding 13 allows for gas exchange occurring between the cavity and the interior space of the cold chamber 3 (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 9, the wall cladding 13 is arranged in front of the at least one wall 10 to create a gap between an upper edge of the wall cladding 13 and a ceiling 20 of the cold chamber 3.
Regarding claim 12, the cold chamber 3 further comprises a ventilator 24 to ventilate the cavity between the at least one wall and the wall cladding.
Regarding claim 13, the cold chamber further comprises a drain 18 to drain water from the cavity.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2021023866 in view of Long (2024/0050271) and further in view of Geurtin et al. (2022/0062031).
Regarding claim 5, WO2021023866 does not disclose the wall cladding comprises acrylic glass. Attention is directed to Geurtin et al. which teach a cold chamber comprising wall panels 302 made of acrylic glass (paragraph [0117]). It would have been obvious to one of skill in the art to have the wall cladding of WO2021023866 made of acrylic glass view of the teaching of Geurtin et al., wherein doing so would be an obvious choice of material.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2021023866 in view of Long (2024/0050271) and further in view of KR2016411.
Regarding claim 7, WO2021023866 disclose LEDs in the interior space 3 but does not teach a light to illuminate the cavity between the wall cladding and the at least one wall. Attention is directed to KR2016411 which teaches a cold chamber 100 including at least one light 300 mounted between an inner wall and an outer wall. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of skill in the art to employ a light in WO2021023866 cold chamber between the wall cladding and the outer wall in view of the teaching of KR2016411 to illuminate the cavity between the wall cladding and the outer wall.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kuklinski teaches a cold chamber.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUYEN D LE whose telephone number is (571)272-4890. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Angwin can be reached at 517-270-3735. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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HUYEN D. LE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3754
/HUYEN D LE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754
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