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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 March 13, 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 24-45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ng (WO 2016/068899; paragraph references to corresponding US (US 2017/0252974) in view of Collins (US 2004/0080078).
Claim 24: Ng discloses a method including controlling, by a processor, a build material applicator to provide a plurality of layers of build material on a print bed (fig. 6; ¶¶ 87-88); controlling, by the processor, print agent applicators to apply print agent corresponding to a first color onto some of the plurality of layers of build material to generate a core segment having a first color (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48); controlling, by the processor, the print agent applicators to apply print agent corresponding to a second color onto some of the plurality of layers of build material to generate an outer peripheral segment having a second color (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48); and controlling, by the processor, the print agent applicators to apply print agent corresponding to a third color onto some of the plurality of layers of build material to generate an inner peripheral segment having a third color, wherein the third color is based on the first color and the second color, and wherein the core segment is nested within the inner peripheral segment and the inner peripheral segment is nested within the outer peripheral segment to form an object (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48). The first, second and third colors are black, and each layer includes integrally formed concentric regions or segments - the innermost being a core segment, surrounded by inner peripheral segment which is surrounded by the outermost peripheral segment (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48). Ng is silent as to the first, second and third colors being different. However, Collins discloses a method including controlling, by a processor, a build material applicator to provide a plurality of layers of build material on a print bed (¶ 16), including varying the color of successive layers that are nested inwardly from the surface of the object, creating multiple nested shells of different colors, where the colors of inner shells are selected based on the colors of the outer and adjacent shells (¶¶ 39-42). As taught by Collins, by selecting colors based on the outer and adjacent nested shells, a desired apparent color can be achieved (¶ 40). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have utilized different colored shells as taught by Collins in the method of Ng in order to achieve a desired apparent color.
Claim 25: Ng discloses controlling a heat source to apply radiation on the layers of build material to cause the material on which the print agent has been applied to fuse together and respectfully form the core, inner peripheral and outer peripheral segments (¶¶ 76-77).
Claim 26: Ng discloses controlling the print agent applicators to apply the print agent corresponding to each of the first, second, and third colors onto the plurality of layers of build material to generate the core segment to be surrounded in three dimensions by the inner peripheral segment which is surrounded in three dimensions by the outer peripheral segment. The first, second and third colors are black, and each layer includes integrally joined concentric regions or segments - the innermost being a core segment, surrounded by inner peripheral segment which is surrounded by the outermost peripheral segment (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48).
Claim 27: Ng discloses controlling the print agent applicators to apply, as the print agent corresponding to the second color, a fusing agent and colorant to generate the outer peripheral segment having the second color, the fusing agent including bronze (¶ 21).
Claim 31: Ng discloses a non-transitory computer-readable data storage medium storing program executable by a processor to perform processing (¶ 38). The medium includes controlling, by the processor, print agent applicators to apply print agent corresponding to a first color onto some of the plurality of layers of build material to generate a core segment having a first color (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48); controlling, by the processor, the print agent applicators to apply print agent corresponding to a second color onto some of the plurality of layers of build material to generate an outer peripheral segment having a second color (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48); and controlling, by the processor, the print agent applicators to apply print agent corresponding to a third color onto some of the plurality of layers of build material to generate an inner peripheral segment having a third color, wherein the third color is based on the first color and the second color and is to at least partially visually mask the core segment having the first color, and wherein the core segment is nested within the inner peripheral segment and the inner peripheral segment is nested within the outer peripheral segment to form an object (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48). The first, second and third colors are black, and each layer includes integrally formed concentric regions or segments - the innermost being a core segment, surrounded by inner peripheral segment which is surrounded by the outermost peripheral segment (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48). Ng is silent as to the first, second and third colors being different. However, Collins discloses a method including controlling, by a processor, a build material applicator to provide a plurality of layers of build material on a print bed (¶ 16), including varying the color of successive layers that are nested inwardly from the surface of the object, creating multiple nested shells of different colors, where the colors of inner shells are selected based on the colors of the outer and adjacent shells (¶¶ 39-42). As taught by Collins, by selecting colors based on the outer and adjacent nested shells, a desired apparent color can be achieved (¶ 40). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have utilized different colored shells as taught by Collins in the method of Ng in order to achieve a desired apparent color.
Claim 32: Ng discloses controlling a heat source to apply radiation on the layers of build material to cause the material on which the print agent has been applied to fuse together and respectfully form the core, inner peripheral and outer peripheral segments (¶¶ 76-77).
Claim 33: Ng discloses controlling the print agent applicators to apply the print agent corresponding to each of the first, second, and third colors onto the plurality of layers of build material to generate the core segment to be surrounded in three dimensions by the inner peripheral segment which is surrounded in three dimensions by the outer peripheral segment. The first, second and third colors are black, and each layer includes integrally joined concentric regions or segments - the innermost being a core segment, surrounded by inner peripheral segment which is surrounded by the outermost peripheral segment (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48).
Claim 34: Ng discloses controlling the print agent applicators to apply, as the print agent corresponding to the second color, a fusing agent and colorant to generate the outer peripheral segment having the second color, the fusing agent including bronze (¶ 21).
Claim 35: Ng discloses a print bed (¶ 38), a build material applicator (¶ 38), print agent applicators (¶¶ 43-48), a processor (¶ 38), and a memory storing program executable by a processor to perform processing (¶ 38) including controlling, by the processor, print agent applicators to apply print agent corresponding to a first color onto some of the plurality of layers of build material to generate a core segment having a first color (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48); controlling, by the processor, the print agent applicators to apply print agent corresponding to a second color onto some of the plurality of layers of build material to generate an outer peripheral segment having a second color (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48); and controlling, by the processor, the print agent applicators to apply print agent corresponding to a third color onto some of the plurality of layers of build material to generate an inner peripheral segment having a third color, wherein the third color is based on the first color and the second color and is to at least partially visually mask the core segment having the first color, and wherein the core segment is nested within the inner peripheral segment and the inner peripheral segment is nested within the outer peripheral segment to form an object (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48). The first, second and third colors are black, and each layer includes integrally formed concentric regions or segments - the innermost being a core segment, surrounded by inner peripheral segment which is surrounded by the outermost peripheral segment (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48). Ng is silent as to the first, second and third colors being different. However, Collins discloses a method including controlling, by a processor, a build material applicator to provide a plurality of layers of build material on a print bed (¶ 16), including varying the color of successive layers that are nested inwardly from the surface of the object, creating multiple nested shells of different colors, where the colors of inner shells are selected based on the colors of the outer and adjacent shells (¶¶ 39-42). As taught by Collins, by selecting colors based on the outer and adjacent nested shells, a desired apparent color can be achieved (¶ 40). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have utilized different colored shells as taught by Collins in the method of Ng in order to achieve a desired apparent color.
Claim 36: Ng discloses controlling a heat source to apply radiation on the layers of build material to cause the material on which the print agent has been applied to fuse together and respectfully form the core, inner peripheral and outer peripheral segments (¶¶ 76-77).
Claim 37: Ng discloses controlling the print agent applicators to apply the print agent corresponding to each of the first, second, and third colors onto the plurality of layers of build material to generate the core segment to be surrounded in three dimensions by the inner peripheral segment which is surrounded in three dimensions by the outer peripheral segment. The first, second and third colors are black, and each layer includes integrally joined concentric regions or segments - the innermost being a core segment, surrounded by inner peripheral segment which is surrounded by the outermost peripheral segment (fig. 5; ¶¶ 43-48).
Claim 38: Ng discloses controlling the print agent applicators to apply, as the print agent corresponding to the second color, a fusing agent and colorant to generate the outer peripheral segment having the second color, the fusing agent including bronze (¶ 21).
Claims 39 and 42: Collins discloses the third color is selected base on the first or second color such that the inner segment is masked (¶¶ 39-42).
Claims 40 and 43-44: Collins discloses the third color is selected based on the first color such that the third color is lighter than the second color so that the inner peripheral segment having the third color provides a light background for the outer segment (¶¶ 39-42).
Claims 41 and 44: Collins discloses the third color is selected based on the first color such that the third color of the inner segment is intermediate (¶¶ 39-42).
Conclusion
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/LARRY W THROWER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754