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REQUEST FOR CONTINUED EXAMINATION(RCE)TRANSMITTAL
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Application 10/117,848 I Filing I 2002-04-08 Docket Number 1999P14024WOUS I Art I 3637
Number Date (if applicable) Unit
First Named Udo Wenning et at. Examiner Hanh Van Tran
Inventor Name
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Doc code: RCEX

Doc description: Request for Continued Examination (RCE)

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Signature of Registered U.S. Patent Practitioner
Signature IAndre Pallapiesl Date (YYYY-MM-DO) 2010-05-04
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ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.: 1999P14024WOUS

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

In re Application of:

Application Number:

Filing Date:

Group Art Unit:

Examiner:

Title:

Udo Wenning et al 10/117,848 04/08/2002

3637

Hanh Van Tran REFRIGERATOR

Mail Stop RCE Commissioner for Patents P.O. Box 1450

Alexandria, VA 22313-1450

AMENDMENT I

Dear Sir:

This Amendment further responds to the Final Office Action dated May 27, 2009, (for which an Appeal Brief was filed on October 29, 2009), the Examiner's Answer dated January 21, 2010, and the Advisory Action dated April 14, 2010 .

Please grant any extension of time deemed necessary and charge or credit Deposit Account No. 502786 for any deficiency or overpayment of fees.

Please amend the application as follows:

Amendments to the Claims, as reflected in the listing of claims, begin on page 2 of this paper; and

Remarks begin on page 4 of this paper.

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ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.: 1999P14024WOUS

IN THE CLAIMS:

Please amend the claims as follows. This listing of the claims will replace all prior versions, and listings, of claims in the application:

1-19. (Canceled)

20. (CURRENTLY AMENDED) A refrigerator, comprising:

a heat-insulating housing; and

a heat-insulating door fastened to the housing;

at least one of the housing and the door comprising: an outer cladding;

an inner cladding;

a heat insulation layer between the outer cladding and the inner cladding; a vacuum insulation panel between the outer cladding and the inner

cladding and disposed closer to the inner cladding than the outer cladding; and

an intermediate layer provided between a non-planar surface of the inner cladding and a substantially planar surface of the vacuum insulation panel in order to prevent distortions in the outer cladding due to different coefficients of expansion between the vacuum insulation panel and the heat insulation layer, wherein the intermediate layer comprises a shape that is separately molded from the inner surface of the inner cladding.

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ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.: 1999P14024WOUS

21. (Previously Presented) The refrigerator of claim 20, wherein the

intermediate layer adapts a surface of the vacuum insulation panel to the nonplanar surface of the inner cladding.

22.-26. (Canceled)

27. (Previously Presented) The refrigerator of claim 20, wherein the

intermediate layer comprises a heat insulating layer.

28. (Previously Presented) The refrigerator of claim 20, wherein the

intermediate layer comprises a non-vacuum panel.

29. (Canceled)

30. (Previously Presented) The refrigerator of claim 20, wherein the intermediate layer comprises a shape that is molded to an inner surface of the inner cladding to have a shape which matches a shape of the non-planar inner surface of the inner cladding.

31. (Previously Presented) The refrigerator of claim 30, wherein the

intermediate layer comprises a shape that is also molded to a surface of the vacuum insulation panel to have a shape which matches a shape of the vacuum insulation panel.

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ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.: 1999P14024WOUS

REMARKS

Claims 20,21,27,28,30 and 31 are pending in the application. Claims 1- 19,22-26 and 29 were previously canceled without prejudice or disclaimer of the subject matter they contain. Solely in an effort to advance prosecution and place the claims in condition for allowance, independent claim 20 is amended. Support for this amendment may be found in at least Paragraph [004] of the published application. This amendment is being presented to address the Examiner's comment in the Examiner's Answer that the claims do not specifically recite this feature (see the first full paragraphs in the Examiner's Answer at pages 6 and 7), in particular, that the claimed invention's ability to prevent, or advantage of preventing, distortions/deformations in the outer cladding due to temperature differentials is a "feature" that is not read into the claims.

Applicants respectfully submit that the purported combination of disparate teachings in Japanese Patent No. 05157446 to Goto et al. (hereinafter "Goto"), in view of European Patent No. 0434225 to Cur et al. (hereinafter "Cur") and U.S. Patent No. 6,305,768 to Nishimoto (hereinafter "Nishimoto") as rendering claims 20-21,27-28 and 30-31 unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. §1 03(a) should be reconsidered and withdrawn. Indeed, there is no reasonable suggestion or motivation to combine the applied references in the manner advanced by the Examiner, except from using Applicants' invention as a template through an improper hindsight reconstruction of Applicants' claims. See Ex Parte Crawford et a/., Appeal 20062429, Decided May 30,2007 and Ex Parte Katoh et a/.,

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ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.: 1999P14024WOUS

Appeal 20071460, Decided May 29,2007. The Examiner simply has not provided a sufficient enough reason and/or explicit analysis of why the disclosures of the applied references should be combined to reach the presently claimed invention. See Ex Parte Erhzy et a/., Appeal 20071375, Decided May 11,2007.

As the Examiner previously acknowledged, Goto does not disclose (1) a vacuum insulation panel disposed closer to the inner cladding than the outer cladding and (2) an intermediate layer positioned between a non-planar surface of the inner cladding and the vacuum insulation panel. Although the Examiner asserts that motivation to combine Goto with Cur and Nishimoto stems from a desire to achieve "economical manufacturing costs and energy efficiency," the Examiner has not shown where in the applied references it is disclosed or taught that "economical manufacturing costs and energy efficiency" is a problem intended to be solved by each of the applied references. For instance, Goto's stated purpose is merely to show how to completely bury a vacuum heatinsulation material to form an insulating casing of a refrigerator to prevent deterioration of vacuum heat-insulation material (see Goto abstract). Goto does not show how to prevent distortions in the outer cladding, as claimed. Further, Cur merely teaches that thermal efficiency and structural rigidity of a refrigerator cabinet can be achieved using a combination of relatively thin vacuum insulation panels in the various configurations disclosed therein. In Cur, there is no mention achieving "economical manufacturing costs". It is believed that one of

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ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.: 1999P14024WOUS

skill in the art would appreciate that structural rigidity is not enough to prevent distortions in the outer cladding, i.e., a structurally rigid cabinet can still have distortions in the outer cladding. Moreover, Nishimoto states at column 5, lines 59-65, that the problem solved is to entirely hold the inside of heat insulation walls in a vacuum state as well as to provide easy evacuation, light-weight and uniform strength, reduction of remaining gas and prevention of entrance of gas from the outside and also to facilitate disassembling after scrapping of the heat insulation walls so as to simplify recycling. There is no mention that Nishimoto's teachings are intended to prevent deformations/distortions in the outer cladding.

Alone or combined, the applied references are conspicuously mute as to the features required by the claimed invention, namely the prevention of distortions in the outer cladding. The Examiner has not provided any evidence or pointed to any clear teachings in the applied references that it was conventional in the art to assemble a refrigerator encompassed by the claims. See Ex Parte Ow/ett, Appeal 20070644, Decided June 20, 2007. Applicants respectfully submit that an artisan having common sense at the time of the claimed invention would not have reasonably considered the claimed configuration of features. Ex Parte Green, Appeal 20071271, decided June 12, 2007. In other words, it would not have been obvious to modify the structure of Goto in view of Cur or

Nishimoto to reach the claimed invention. In sum, the unsupported assertions of obviousness are not legally viable because the assertions do not adequately and only take into account knowledge which was within the level of ordinary skill at

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ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.: 1999P14024WOUS

the time the claimed invention was made and inappropriately includes knowledge

gleaned only from the Appellant's disclosure. Such a hindsight reconstruction is

not proper. See In re McLaughlin, 443 F.2d 1392, 170 USPQ 209 (CCPA 1971).

It is believed that each of the claims is now in condition for allowance for

the reasons of record. However, if anything further is required to place the

claims in better condition for allowance, then the Examiner is invited to contact

the undersigned representative at the telephone number listed below.

In view of the above, entry of the present Amendment and allowance of

the pending claims are respectfully requested. If anything further could be done

to place the above-captioned patent application in better condition for allowance

(i.e., via Examiner's Amendment), then please contact the undersigned attorney

at the telephone number listed below.

Respectfully submitted,

IAndre Pallapiesl

Andre Pallapies Registration No. 62,246 Date: May 4,2010

BSH Home Appliances Corporation 100 Bosch Blvd.

New Bern, NC 28562 Phone: 252-672-7927

Fax: 714-845-2807 andre.pallapies@bshg.com

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