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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/6/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Amendment filed 8/6/2026 has been entered and fully considered. Claims 1-44, 45, 57 and 62 are cancelled. Claims 44, 46-56, 58-61 and 63 are pending. Claim 44 is amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/6/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that claim 44 has been amended to clarify the relationship between the receiving station, slot, enclosure and transfer station. Claim 44 now requires more than a generic opening or access slot. Lin discloses an automatic loading and unloading machine, including tooling plates, a trolley, a lifting mechanism and a clamping mechanism. Jackson discloses a system in which a tray of parts is received at a flip station and then joined with another tray in the flip station, before inversion. Neither Lin or Jackson discloses a receiving station from which a tray or machine cassette, already combined with one another, art transferred together through the slot, per se.
These features were not previously presented and will be addressed hereinafter.
Claim Objections
Claim 44 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 44 appears to be missing the following claim limitations: “wherein the transfer station comprises a cradle to receive the tray and the machine cassette placed on the tray over the pods; wherein the apparatus comprises an enclosure surrounding the cradle; and wherein the apparatus comprises a slot in the enclosure to enable a tray with a machine cassette placed on it to be inserted into the transfer station through the slot.” The arguments and the continued use of the slot throughout the claims indicates that this claim language was left out by mistake. The claim will be examined as if this claim language is still present. If applicant wishes to cancel the aforementioned claim language, please properly strike-out the appropriate claim language.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 44, 46-56, 58-61 and 63 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 44 recites “a machine cassette” in lines 3 and 4, and recites “a machine cassette” for the transfer station and the receiving station. Thus, it is unclear if the machine cassette in the transfer station and receiving stations are the same machine cassette.
For examination purposes, any mention of “a machine cassette” after the first mention will be examined as “the machine cassette”.
Claim 44 recites “a tray” in the receiving station, but already recites “the tray” earlier. Thus, it is unclear if “a tray” in the receiving state is the same as the previously recited trays.
Claim 44 recites the limitation "the slot" in line 15. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 46-56, 58-61 and 63 are rejected for depending on claim 44.
Claim 46 recites the limitation "said cradle" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 47-56 are rejected for depending on claim 46.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 44, 46-53, 56, 58-61 and 63 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIN et al. (CN 109205297 A, machine translation) in view of JACKSON et al. (US 6,139,243) and DVORAK (US 4,344,730)
With respect to claims 44 and 63, LIN et al. discloses a consumable unit manufacturing system comprising a consumable unit manufacturing device (Paragraph [0002]), such as an assembly line, and a machine cassette (item 6, figure 5; Paragraph [0014]) to receive pods, 7, (Figure 5; Paragraph [0014]) each of which forms part of a consumable unit for use with an inhalation device (Abstract; Paragraph [0014]) (e.g. these parts can be used and thrown away when done with them). The system comprises a transfer station for pods (Figures 1 and 9; Paragraphs [0014]-[0019]).
LIN et al. does not explicitly disclose the transfer station being configured to rotate the combined trays and cassette. JACKSON et al. disclose an apparatus for flipping a tray of parts from a first tray to a second tray (Abstract) comprising a transfer station, 20, (Column 3, lines 35-50) to receive the first tray, 12, and a second tray, 12’, (Column 3, lines 15-50) that is placed over the first. The parts within the first tray are transferred into corresponding pockets in the second tray (Column 3, lines 39-51). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to transfer the parts of LIN et al., from one tray to the other, in the manner taught by JACKSON et al. so that the parts can be inverted and transferred without damaging the parts being transferred (Column 2, lines 20-55).
JACKSON et al. discloses a receiving station adjacent to the transfer station and configured to receive a first tray of parts such that, when a second tray has been placed over the first tray, the combined trays are insertable form the receiving station into the transfer station (Column 4, lines 25-60).
LIN et al. discloses that the stacked structure is slid longitudinally (Paragraphs [0014-0019]).
Moreover, steps of placing; inserting and operating are recited as being performed by LIN et al. and JACKSON et al. . Thus, it would have been obvious to perform each and every operation described by LIN et al. and JACKSON et al. when using the structures of the apparatus.
JACKSON et al. discloses that the transfer station comprises a cradle to receive the first and second trays (item 36; Figure 4) and the cradle is mounted for rotation (Column 3, lines 60-65) implicitly about an axis, 78 and 80 (Figure 6; Column 4, lines 30-68; Column 5, lines 1-20)
LIN et al. does not explicitly disclose that the cradle is surrounded by an enclosure. DVORAK discloses an apparatus for transferring from a first tray to a second tray (Abstract). The apparatus comprising a transfer station, A, (Figure 1) to receive the first tray with the second tray placed over the first tray to rotate the combined trays to transfer the components thereof from the first to the second tray (Column 2, lines 10-45); The transfer station comprising a cradle, C, (Column 2, lines 40-50; Figure 6) and mounted for rotation about an axis, and that the cradle is surrounded by an enclosure in the form of a drum , B, (Figure 1) that rotates together with the cradle (Column 5, lines 1-10). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide the enclosure of DVORAK to encompass the trays of LIN et al. so as to encompass and protect the rotating components.
DVORAK discloses a slot, 45, for the assembly to be placed (Column 3, lines 15-50).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide the combined tray and cassette through the slot from one station to the other. Thereby removing any additional steps of separating the trays until the time of removing the pods.
With respect to claim 46, JACKSON et al. discloses that the transfer station comprises a cradle to receive the first and second trays (item 36; Figure 4) and the cradle is mounted for rotation (Column 3, lines 60-65) implicitly about an axis, 78 and 80 (Figure 6; Column 4, lines 30-68; Column 5, lines 1-20)
With respect to claims 47-49 and 52, JACKSON et al. discloses that the cradle is configured to rotate about axis (implicitly an axis represented by 40 and 42 ; Figure 4), in which the cassette is placed on it and in the cradle, then rotating the two trays together 180 degrees. The bottom tray is released, while the top is rotated back 180 degrees (Column 4, lines 10-60).
With respect to claims 50 and 51, JACKSON et al. discloses that the cradle comprises more than one support plates, 50, (Figures 4 and 5) that are configured so that the trays of pods have the cassettes placed thereon is insertable into the transfer station in the first position (Colum 4, lines 10-60). Once in the first position, this structure is then rotated about the axis to the second position. The tray and cassette are not separated until after rotation.
With respect to claims 53 and 56, JACKSON et al. discloses that the drive motor rotates the cradle about the axis (Column 4, lines 1-3).
With respect to claims 58-59, modified LIN et al. does not explicitly disclose that the cradle is surrounded by an enclosure. DVORAK discloses an apparatus for transferring from a first tray to a second tray (Abstract). The apparatus comprising a transfer station, A, (Figure 1) to receive the first tray with the second tray placed over the first tray to rotate the combined trays to transfer the components thereof from the first to the second tray (Column 2, lines 10-45); The transfer station comprising a cradle, C, (Column 2, lines 40-50; Figure 6) and mounted for rotation about an axis, and that the cradle is surrounded by an enclosure in the form of a drum , B, (Figure 1) that rotates together with the cradle (Column 5, lines 1-10). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide the enclosure of DVORAK to encompass the trays of modified LIN et al. so as to encompass and protect the rotating components.
With respect to claims 60 and 61, DVORAK discloses switches that are active to control the rotational position (Column 5, lines 48-68; Column 6, lines 1-23).
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Claim(s) 54 and 55 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIN et al. (CN 109205297 A, machine translation) in view of JACKSON et al. (US 6,139,243) and DVORAK (US 4,344,730) as applied to claims 44, 46-53, 56, 58-61 and 63 above, and further in view of WARD et al. (US 2014/0157583)
With respect to claims 54 and 55, modified LIN et al. discloses that the drive member is a motor (See rejection of claim 12), but does not disclose that the drive member is a hand wheel. WARD et al. discloses that a rotation power source may be a motor, 258, but could also be a hand wheel, 256 (Figures 3 and 6; Paragraphs [0057]-[0058]). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide a hand crank wheel in place of the electric motor or modified LIN et al., as taught by WARD et al., so that if a power source isn’t available to rotate the cradle and trays, they can still be rotated by hand.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEX B EFTA whose telephone number is (313)446-6548. The examiner can normally be reached 8AM-5PM EST M-F.
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/ALEX B EFTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1745
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