Ex Parte MINAMISAKODownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardJun 26, 201914338468 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Jun. 26, 2019) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 14/338,468 07/23/2014 23400 7590 06/28/2019 POSZ LAW GROUP, PLC 12040 SOUTH LAKES DRIVE SUITE 101 RESTON, VA 20191 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Hirokazu MINAMISAKO 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 ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 129F_005 9570 EXAMINER NAMAY, DANIEL ELLIOT ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3762 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 06/28/2019 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): mailbox@poszlaw.com dposz@poszlaw.com tvarndell @poszlaw.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte HIROKAZU MINAMISAKO Appeal 2018-007926 Application 14/33 8,468 Technology Center 3700 Before: JILL D. HILL, LEE L. STEPINA, and ARTHUR M. PESLAK, Administrative Patent Judges. PESLAK, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Hirokazu Minamisako ("Appellant")1 appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's decision rejecting claims 1-5. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ). We REVERSE. 1 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is the Applicant and is identified as the real party in interest. Appeal Br. 4. Appeal 2018-007926 Application 14/33 8,468 THE CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER Appellant's invention relates to "a heating and hot water supply system." Spec., 1 :6. Sole independent claim 1, reproduced below, is representative of the claimed subject matter: 1. A heating and hot water supply system comprising: a heater configured to heat a heat medium; a hot water supply heat exchanger that performs heat exchange between the heat medium and water; a hot water storage tank that stores water heated by the hot water supply heat exchanger; a heating heat exchanger that heats an inside of a room using the heat medium; a heat medium pump that feeds the heat medium; a circulation pipe that annularly connects a discharge side of the heat medium pump, the heater, the hot water supply heat exchanger, the heating heat exchanger, and a suction side of the heat medium pump in order; a first bypass pipe that bypasses the hot water supply heat exchanger from the circulation pipe; a second bypass pipe that bypasses the heating heat exchanger from the circulation pipe; a first flow regulator that is provided at a junction between the circulation pipe and the first bypass pipe, and is configured to regulate a first ratio between a flow rate of the heat medium flowing into the hot water supply heat exchanger and a flow rate of the heat medium flowing into the first bypass pipe, such that the first ratio may vary between more than two values between 0% and 100%; a second flow regulator that is provided at a junction between the circulation pipe and the second bypass pipe, and is configured to regulate a second ratio between a flow rate of the heat medium flowing into the heating heat exchanger and a flow rate of the heat medium flowing into the second bypass pipe, such that the second ratio may vary between more than two values between 0% and 100%; and a controller configured to control the first flow regulator and the second flow regulator in accordance with degrees of a 2 Appeal 2018-007926 Application 14/33 8,468 hot water supply request for heat exchange by the hot water supply heat exchanger and a heating request for heat exchange by the heating heat exchanger, wherein the circulation pipe conveys the heat medium from the discharge side of the heat medium pump, through the heater, through the hot water supply heat exchanger, through the heating heat exchanger, and to the suction side of the heat medium pump, and the heating heat exchanger performs heat exchange between the heat medium provided along the circulation pump and indoor air to heat the inside of the room and reduce the temperature of the heat medium. REJECTION Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Kopatschek (DE 201 02 610 Ul, published May 3, 2001)2 and Kamiya (US 2009/0320503 A 1, published Dec. 31, 2009). DISCUSSION The Examiner finds that Kopatschek discloses many of the limitations of claim 1 including a heater 4 configured to heat a heat medium and a heating heat exchanger 12, 13 that heats an inside of a room using the heat medium. Final Act. 2-3. The Examiner also finds that Kopatschek discloses first and second flow regulators, but that Kopatschek's flow regulators do not vary the flow to values between 0% and 100%. Id. at 4. The Examiner finds that Kamiya discloses a valve that regulates flow and considers that it would have been obvious to use that type of valve in the first and second flow regulators of Kopatschek "for the purpose of providing 2 Reference to the page and line number of DE 201 02 610 are with respect to the machine translation of this document included in the file wrapper. 3 Appeal 2018-007926 Application 14/33 8,468 improved efficiency & a higher degree of temperature control of the hot water & heating water system." Id. at 5. Appellant argues, inter alia, that "the Examiner conflates [Kopatschek's] underfloor/inner wall heater 12 and the external wall heater 13" in asserting that the combination of these elements is a heating heat exchanger that heats the inside of a room, whereas Kopatschek discloses that they are "two different elements that operate in two different manners and perform two different functions." Appeal Br. 15. According to Appellant, only "underfloor/inner wall heater 12 operates to heat a room inside a building" and "external wall heater 13 operates to heat an outer wall of a building ... to provide thermal insulation for the building." Id. at 15-16 (citing Kopatschek, 3:10-11 and 8:12). Appellant contends, however, that Kopatschek describes that "the underfloor/inner wall heater 12 heats the inside of a room, but does so using hot water from the buffer memory 10 heated by the solar energy exchanger 32, not the brine heated by the solar collector 4," which the Examiner finds corresponds to the recited heat medium. Id. at 16 ( citing Kopatschek, Fig. 1 ). Appellant also points to disclosure in Kopatschek that heater 13 creates "a directed outwards thermal insulated vertical insulation." Id. ( citing Kopatschek, 3: 10-11 ). The Examiner responds that Kopatschek teaches that "Heaters # 12 and 13 work as separate components to heat the interior space of the building." Ans. 6. According to the Examiner, both heaters separately heat the interior of the building because "Heater # 12 warms interior floors and walls while Heater #13 provides the interior of the building with 'a constant temperature protective shield (thermal insulation).'" Id. ( citing Kopatschek, 4 Appeal 2018-007926 Application 14/33 8,468 8: 17-19). The Examiner concedes that the heated brine from solar collector 4 is not used by heater 12 to heat the interior of the building. Id. Appellant replies that Kopatschek's "wall heater 13 operates to create a constant temperature protection shield (thermal insulation) with respect to the interior of the building ... this is not the same as heating an inside of a room using a heat medium." Reply Br. 4. Appellant argues that it is improper to characterize Kopatschek's external wall heater 13 as operating "to heat the interior space of the building," because although "external wall heater 13 provides thermal insulation that prevents heat from escaping from an interior room, it performs no function that actually heats the interior room." Id. For the following reasons, we do not sustain the rejection of claim 1. Claim 1 recites, in part, "a heating heat exchanger that heats an inside of a room using the heat medium ... the heating heat exchanger performs heat exchange between the heat medium provided along the circulation pump and indoor air to heat the inside of the room." Appeal Br. 24-25 (Claims App.). The Specification discloses that "[t]he heat medium is passed through the heating heat exchangers 31, 32 to heat air in a room ... heating heat exchangers 31, 32 may include heating heat exchangers such as, for example, a radiator, a fan coil unit, or a floor heating heater." Spec. 7:20-24. The Specification also discloses that "[t]he heating heat exchangers 31, 3 2 perform heat exchange between the heat medium and indoor air to heat the inside of the room and reduce the temperature of the heat medium." Spec. 10:7-8. The language of claim 1 is, thus, consistent with the Specification which describes that the heat exchanger heats the room by an exchange of heat between the heat medium and indoor air. 5 Appeal 2018-007926 Application 14/33 8,468 As noted above, Kopatschek's heater 12 does not use the heated brine from solar collector 4 to heat the interior of a room. Heater 13 does use the brine from solar collector 4 as a heat source. Although we appreciate that Kopatschek's heater 13 provides "a constant temperature protective shield (thermal insulation)" (Ans. 6), we agree with Appellant that providing a protective thermal shield is different than providing for heat exchange between the heat medium and indoor air to heat the room as required by claim 1. See Reply Br. 4. Kopatschek's heater 13, is described as an "outer wall heater" or "external wall heating" element. Kopatschek, 8: 11-18. As such, Kopatschek's heater 13 provides an exchange of heat between the heat medium and the external wall to provide "a constant temperature protective shield (thermal insulation)" that is "directed outwards." In light of this disclosure in Kopatschek, we determine that the Examiner has not adequately established that heater 13 "heats an inside of a room" by performing "heat exchange between the heat medium provided along the circulation pump and indoor air to heat the inside of the room," as required by our construction of claim 1. Accordingly, we determine that the Examiner's finding that Kopatschek discloses a heating heat exchanger that heats an inside of a room using the heat medium as required by claim 1 is not supported by the requisite preponderance of the evidence. The Examiner does not rely on Kamiya to cure this deficiency in Kopatschek. See Final Act. 4-5. Consequently, this rejection is based on an erroneous factual finding and the conclusion of obviousness cannot stand. See In re Warner, 379 F.2d 1011, 101 7 ( CCP A 1967) (holding that "[ t ]he legal conclusion of obviousness must be supported by facts. Where the legal conclusion is not supported by 6 Appeal 2018-007926 Application 14/33 8,468 facts it cannot stand."). Therefore, we do not sustain the rejection of claim 1 and claims 2-5 which depend from claim 1 as unpatentable over Kopatschek and Kamiya. DECISION The Examiner's decision rejecting claims 1-5 is reversed. REVERSED 7 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation