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 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xu et al. (CN 201354759 Y; hereinafter Xu).
Regarding claim 1, Xu (Fig.1-5 ) discloses a fan impeller mid-segment, comprising a disc (1) having a first side and a second side opposite to each other, wherein the first side is provided with a blade (2), and the second side is provided with a welding groove (3) configured to be welded with the blade (2) on another fan impeller mid-segment, and the number of the welding grooves (3) is two or more than two, and the welding grooves (3) are sequentially arranged at intervals along a circumferential direction of the disc (1); wherein the second side is also provided with a silencing groove (6) located between two adjacent welding grooves (3).
Regarding claim 14, Xu (Fig. 1-5) discloses a cross-flow fan impeller, comprising the fan impeller mid-segment according to claim 1. Refer to claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, Xu discloses the cross-flow fan impeller of claim 14. Refer to claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-13 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.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nagamori et al. (US 5,611,667) discloses a transverse fan.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIELLE M CHRISTENSEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3275. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Courtney Heinle can be reached at 571-270-3508. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Danielle M. Christensen/Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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