Ex Parte Jerg et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardDec 15, 201613058881 (P.T.A.B. Dec. 15, 2016) Copy Citation United States Patent and Trademark Office UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O.Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 13/058,881 02/14/2011 Helmut Jerg 2008P03223WOUS 4783 46726 7590 12/19/2016 RS»H Home. Ann1ianrp.s Pomoratinn EXAMINER 100 Bosch Boulevard NEW BERN, NC 28562 KO, JASON Y ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 1711 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 12/19/2016 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): MBX-NBN-IntelProp@bshg.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte HELMUT JERG and KAI PAINTNER Appeal 2015-004437 Application 13/058,881 Technology Center 1700 Before TERRY J. OWENS, N. WHITNEY WILSON, and AVELYN M. ROSS, Administrative Patent Judges. OWENS, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE The Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’ rejection of claims 34—93. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). The Invention The Appellants claim a dishwasher. Claim 34 is illustrative: 34. A dishwasher, comprising: a washing container; an air-guiding channel to generate an air flow; a sorption drying system to dry items to be washed, the sorption drying system having a sorption container with reversibly dehydratable sorption material, the sorption container connected to the washing container by the air-guiding channel; and a heater assigned to the reversibly dehydratable sorption Appeal 2015-004437 Application 13/058,881 material for desorption of the sorption material; wherein the dishwasher is configured to control a ratio of a heat output of the heater and an air volume flow of the air flow which flows through the sorption material to be between 100 W sec/1 and 1250 W sec/1. The claims stand rejected as follows: claims 34—37, 52—56, 65—73 and 76—93 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) over Jerg, claims 34—37, 52—59 and 65— 93 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Jerg, claims 38—51, 55, 56, 63 and 64 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Jerg in view of Chu, claims 60—62 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Jerg in view of Chu and Anderson, and claims 34—93 provisionally on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting over claims 35—96 of copending application no. 13/055,945, claims 42—102 of copending application no. 13/056,131, claims 34—93 of copending application no. 13/059,237, claims 34—90 of copending application no. 13/059,074, claims 34—93 of copending application no. 13/059,078 and claims 34—93 of copending application no. 13/059,236.2 1 Citations herein to Jerg are to US 2007/0295360 A1 (published Dec. 27, 2007) which the Examiner relies upon as an English language equivalent of WO 2006/061293 A1 (Final Act. 5). 2 Application no. 13/055,945 issued as US 9,034,115 on May 15, 2015 and application no. 13/056,131 issued as US 8,961,705 on Feb. 24, 2015. A provisional obviousness-type double patenting rejection over claims 14—33 of application no. 13/054,572 is moot because that application stands abandoned (as of Aug. 11, 2014). The References Chu Anderson Jerg1 US 5,879,764 Mar. 9, 1999 US 2003/0000106 A1 Jan. 2, 2003 WO 2006/061293 A1 June 15, 2006 The Rejections 2 Appeal 2015-004437 Application 13/058,881 OPINION We affirm the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 and reverse the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) and the provisional obviousness-type double patenting rejections. Rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) “Anticipation requires that every limitation of the claim in issue be disclosed, either expressly or under principles of inherency, in a single prior art reference.” Corning Glass Works v. Sumitomo Elec. U.S.A., Inc., 868 F.2d 1251, 1255-56 (Fed. Cir. 1989). The Appellants’ claim 34, which is the sole independent claim, requires a dishwasher configured to control the ratio of heat output of a sorption material heater to air volume flow through the sorption material to be between 100 W sec/1 and 1250 W sec/1. Jerg discloses a dishwasher (1) comprising a valve (19) for removing condensate from dish-drying air circulated through a vertical air duct (17) by a fan (9), a sorption column (10) containing zeolite beads which adsorb and store moisture remaining in the circulating air, and an electric heating element (12) which, in a subsequent washing of dishes, heats the zeolite beads such that they release the adsorbed water into the circulating air, thereby providing at least part of the heat needed to heat the dishes and/or the liquor used to rinse them (H 4, 28, 29; Fig. 1). Removing condensate in the air before the air reaches the sorption column (10) reduces the sorption column’s size and space requirement (| 29). The Examiner finds that Jerg’s dishwasher has the same structure as that of the Appellants and, therefore, is capable of controlling the 3 Appeal 2015-004437 Application 13/058,881 Appellants’ claim 34’s above-stated ratio, thereby rendering that ratio mere intended use (Final Act. 6; Ans. 3). The Appellants’ claim 34’s configuration requirement is a structural limitation, not an intended use. The Examiner does not establish that Jerg discloses a dishwasher having that configuration. Accordingly, we reverse the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b). Rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 Chu discloses polymer-bound water-adsorbent beads which contain at least about 10 wt% zeolite and have a preferred maximum size of at least about 0.1 mm, a preferred bulk density of about 0.6 g/ml, more preferably about 0.65-0.8 g/ml, and a preferred water adsorption capacity of at least about 3 wt% (col. 3,11. 1^16, 22-25, 31-33, 46-A7; col. 4,11. 10-13). The beads can be used in any system wherein conventional inorganic-bound adsorbent beads are used and, when confined, can treat fluid (gas or liquid) which is actively circulated through them by a pump, fan or heater (col. 4, 11. 47-54). The Appellants assert that Chu is nonanalogous art (App. Br. 8—10; Reply Br. 3 4). The test of whether a reference is from an analogous art is first, whether it is within the field of the inventor’s endeavor, and second, if it is not, whether it is reasonably pertinent to the particular problem with which the inventor was involved. See In re Wood, 599 F.2d 1032, 1036 (CCPA 1979). A reference is reasonably pertinent if, even though it may be in a different field of endeavor, it is one which, because of the matter with which it deals, logically would have commended itself to an inventor’s attention in considering the inventor’s problem. See In re Clay, 966 F.2d 656, 659 (Fed. Cir. 1992). The Appellants assert that the problem with 4 Appeal 2015-004437 Application 13/058,881 which they were involved is difficulty in drying a reversibly hydratable material used in dishwashers whereas the problem to which Chu is directed is reducing dust released by adsorbent beads between multiple panels in an insulating glass unit and, therefore, is not reasonably pertinent to the Appellants’ problem (App. Br. 9). Jerg is the first named inventor in the present application. The problem addressed by Jerg and the other inventors in the present application is lack of optimized sorption/desorption by a confined zeolite in the type of system used in the Jerg reference (Spec. Tflf 2—6). The Appellants solve that problem by using in the recited zeolite grain, bed and container characteristics, desorption heater wattages and zeolite temperatures, and air flow rates through the zeolite bed. Chu’s disclosure is not limited to the problem relied upon by the Appellants but, rather, also pertains to use of confined adsorbent zeolite beads to treat a fluid (gas or liquid) actively circulated through the confined beads (col. 4,11. 47—54). Hence, Chu logically would have commended itself to the Appellants’ attention in considering their problem of determining how to optimize the type of system disclosed by Jerg wherein confined zeolite is used to adsorb water from circulating air. Chu, therefore, is analogous art. The Appellants assert that Chu does not disclose the Appellants’ recited fill height (claims 39-45) or average fill density (claims 47—51)3 (App. Br. 10-11; Reply Br. 4—6). 3 The Appellants’ assertion that the Examiner has the burden of establishing the meaning of the Appellants’ claim term “fill density” is incorrect (App. Br. 11; Reply Br. 5—6). The Appellants are required by 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph to provide claims having a clear meaning. 5 Appeal 2015-004437 Application 13/058,881 That assertion is deficient in that the Appellants are attacking Chu individually when the rejection is based on a combination of Jerg and Chu. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 426 (CCPA 1981); In re Young, 403 F.2d 754, 757-58 (CCPA 1968). The Appellants assert that Jerg does not disclose the Appellants’ recited heat output/air volume ratio (claim 34) or sorption system dimensions (claims 85—87) (App. Br. 5—8; Reply Br. 1—3, 6—7). Jerg discloses a dishwasher comprising a reversibly-hydratable sorption system which is similar in structure and compactness to that of the Appellants and functions the same way, i.e., removing condensate from dish-drying air circulated through a vertical air duct by a fan, storing in confined zeolite beads (Jerg’s sorption column (10); the Appellants’ sorption container (SB)) moisture remaining in the circulating air, and releasing the adsorbed water by heating the zeolite with an electric heater to produce heated, moist air used to heat the rinse liquor and/or dishes in a subsequent wash (Jerg, || 4, 28, 29; Fig. 1; Spec. Tflf 5, 13, 15, 17, 40; Fig. 3). Jerg is silent as to the sorption system’s heat output/air volume ratio or sorption system dimensions. Consequently, one of ordinary skill in the art, through no more than ordinary creativity, would have optimized those features through no more than routine experimentation. See KSR Int 7 Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 418 (2007) (in making an obviousness determination one “can take account of the inferences and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ”). If one of ordinary skill in the art were unable to do so, Jerg’s disclosure would be nonenabling under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph. Chu, as indicated above, provides zeolite characteristics for use by one of ordinary skill in the art as a starting point 6 Appeal 2015-004437 Application 13/058,881 for optimizing the zeolite-related features of a sorption system such as that of Jerg in which a circulating gas is treated by confined zeolite beads. Due to the similarities in structure (compare Jerg’s Fig. 1 and the Appellants’ Fig. 3) and purpose (as pointed out above), there is reason to believe that optimizing Jerg’s sorption system would lead to results including those obtained through the Appellants’ optimization of their sorption system. Thus, we are not persuaded of reversible error in the rejections under 35U.S.C. § 103. Obviousness-type double patenting rejections The Examiner’s sole rationale for the obviousness-type double patenting rejections is that “[ajlthough the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they are substantially directed toward the same invention, a subgenus of the copending application (and thus anticipated), or an obvious variant” (Final Act. 5). That bald assertion is insufficient for establishing that the Appellants’ recited claim features would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art over those recited in the relied-upon applications’ claims. Accordingly, we reverse the obviousness-type double patenting rejections. DECISION/ORDER The rejection of claims 34—37, 52—56, 65—73 and 76—93 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) over Jerg is reversed. The rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 of claims 34—37, 52—59 and 65—93 over Jerg, claims 38—51, 55, 56, 63 and 64 over Jerg in view of Chu and claims 60—62 over Jerg in view of Chu and Anderson are affirmed. The rejections of claims 34—93 7 Appeal 2015-004437 Application 13/058,881 provisionally on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting over claims 35—96 of copending application no. 13/055,945, claims 42—102 of copending application no. 13/056,131, claims 34—93 of copending application no. 13/059,237, claims 34—90 of copending application no. 13/059,074, claims 34—93 of copending application no. 13/059,078 and claims 34—93 of copending application no. 13/059,236 are reversed. It is ordered that the Examiner’s decision is affirmed. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). AFFIRMED 8 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation