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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 8, 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kagawa et al. (US 20210404716), hereinafter referred to as Kagawa.
Re claim 1, Kagawa teaches an air conditioner, comprising:
an outdoor unit (e.g. 2);
one or more indoor units (e.g. 3) including an indoor heat exchanger (e.g. 32); and
a first refrigerant distributor (e.g. 4-1) disposed between the outdoor unit and the one or more indoor units (see Fig 2), and including a first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe (e.g. 42-1) connected to the outdoor unit and configured to allow a gaseous refrigerant of a first pressure to flow (e.g. Fig 2-3 and ¶ 84), a first low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe (e.g. 43-1) connected to the outdoor unit and configured to allow a gaseous refrigerant of a second pressure lower than the first pressure to flow (e.g. Fig 2-3), a first liquid refrigerant pipe (e.g. 41-1) connected to the outdoor unit configured to allow a liquid refrigerant to flow (e.g. ¶ 78; Fig 2-3), and a plurality of control valves (46, 47, 58) configured to regulate the flow of refrigerant according to an operation condition,
wherein the first refrigerant distributor includes a first distributor connection pipe (e.g. 81) branched from the first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe and configured to be fluidly connected to another distributor (4-2).
Re claim 2, Kagawa teaches the air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the first refrigerant distributor includes a first gaseous refrigerant connection pipe (e.g. 48A-2 and 49A-2) connected to the first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe and the first low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe and configured to allow the gaseous refrigerant of the first pressure or the second pressure to flow selectively according to opening/closing of the plurality of control valves.
Re claim 3, Kagawa teaches the air conditioner of claim 2, further comprising a second refrigerant distributor (e.g 4-2) fluidly connected to the first refrigerant distributor, wherein the second refrigerant distributor includes a second high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe (e.g. 42-2) connected to the first distributor connection pipe, a second low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe (e.g. 43-2) connected to the first gaseous refrigerant connection pipe, and a second liquid refrigerant pipe (e.g. 41-2) connected to the first liquid refrigerant pipe.
Re claim 4, Kagawa teaches the air conditioner of claim 2, wherein the first gaseous refrigerant connection pipe includes a high-pressure gaseous refrigerant branched pipe (e.g. 48A-1) branched from the first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe, a low-pressure gaseous refrigerant branched pipe (e.g. 49A-1) branched from the first low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe, and a gaseous refrigerant joined pipe (e.g. 11A-1) where the high-pressure gaseous refrigerant branched pipe and the low-pressure gaseous refrigerant branched pipe are merged.
Re claim 8, Kagawa teaches the air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the first distributor connection pipe further includes a distributor connection branched pipe (91) branched from the first low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe.
Re claim 14-15, see rejection for claim 1 above.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 7-10, 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Park et al. (US Pat No. 7,124,595), hereinafter referred to as Park.
Re claim 1, Park teaches an air conditioner, comprising:
an outdoor unit (e.g. A);
one or more indoor units (e.g. C) including an indoor heat exchanger (e.g. 62); and
a first refrigerant distributor (e.g. B1) disposed between the outdoor unit and the one or more indoor units (see Fig 2), and including a first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe (e.g. 23) connected to the outdoor unit and configured to allow a gaseous refrigerant of a first pressure to flow (e.g. Fig 2), a first low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe (e.g. 26) connected to the outdoor unit and configured to allow a gaseous refrigerant of a second pressure lower than the first pressure to flow (e.g. Fig 2), a first liquid refrigerant pipe (e.g. 21) connected to the outdoor unit configured to allow a liquid refrigerant to flow (e.g. Fig 2), and a plurality of control valves (30, 80) configured to regulate the flow of refrigerant according to an operation condition,
wherein the first refrigerant distributor includes a first distributor connection pipe (e.g. 72) branched from the first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe and configured to be fluidly connected to another distributor (B1 see Fig 2).
Re claim 5, Park teaches the air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the plurality of control valves include a first distributor connection valve (80) configured to selectively control the refrigerant flow between the first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe and the first distributor connection pipe.
Re claim 7, Park teaches the air conditioner of claim 1, further comprising a second refrigerant distributor (B1) connected to the first refrigerant distributor, wherein the first distributor connection valve is opened in a state in which the first distributor connection pipe is connected to the second refrigerant distributor (see Fig 2).
Re claim 8, Park teaches the air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the first distributor connection pipe further includes a distributor connection branched pipe (72) branched from the first low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe (see Fig 2).
Re claim 9, Park teaches the air conditioner of claim 8, wherein the plurality of control valves include a second distributor connection valve (80) configured to selectively control the refrigerant flow between the first low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe and the distributor connection branched pipe (see Fig 2).
Re claim 10, Park teaches the air conditioner of claim 9, further comprising a second refrigerant distributor (B1) connected to the first refrigerant distributor, wherein the second distributor connection valve is opened when all of indoor units directly connected to the second refrigerant distributor operating in cooling mode (see Fig 2).
Re claim 14-15, see rejection for claim 1 above.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park.
Re claim 6, Park teaches the air conditioner of claim 5. Park does not teach the limitation of wherein the first distributor connection valve is disposed on the first distributor connection pipe. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have arrange the first distributor connection valve on the first distributor connection pipe, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art MPEP 2144.04 VI. (C)
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kagawa.
Re claim 11, Kagawa teaches the air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the first refrigerant distributor includes: an outdoor unit connection port (P2) positioned on a first surface to connect the outdoor unit with pipes inside the first refrigerant distributor; and a parallel connection port (see Fig 4)
Re claim 12, Kagawa teaches the air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the first refrigerant distributor includes:
a first outdoor unit connection port (P2) configured to connect to the first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe;
a second outdoor unit connection port (P3) configured to connect to the first low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe; and
a parallel connection port (see Fig 4) configured to connect to the first distributor connection pipe, and
Kagawa does not teach the limitation of wherein a diameter of the parallel connection port is smaller than a diameter of the first outdoor unit connection port or the second outdoor unit connection port.
However, it would have been obvious to try, by one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was filed, to have the diameter of the parallel connection port to be smaller than the diameter of the other connection port since there are a finite number of identified, predictable potential solutions to either be smaller, same or greater and one of ordinary skill in the art could have pursued the known potential solutions with a reasonable expectation of success.
Re claim 13, Kagawa teaches the air conditioner of claim 1. Kagawa does not teach the limitation of wherein the first distributor connection pipe has a diameter smaller than a diameter of the first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe or the first low-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe.
However, it would have been obvious to try, by one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was filed, to have the diameter of the first distributor connection pipe to be smaller than the diameter of the first high-pressure gaseous refrigerant pipe since there are a finite number of identified, predictable potential solutions to either be smaller, same or greater and one of ordinary skill in the art could have pursued the known potential solutions with a reasonable expectation of success.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. (see PTO-892).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NELSON NIEVES whose telephone number is (571)270-0392. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
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/NELSON J NIEVES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763 10/2/2026
