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 .
Claims 12-17 have been examined.
Election/Restrictions
Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)). The applicants have only stated an election of the claims 12-17 and no other remarks.
Claims 1-11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/22/2025.
It is noted that the examination of the method claims are noted in light of the election of Invention II. Here, with the examination of the process claims, in the event of any allowance of said process claims, the non-elected product claims would not be eligible for rejoinder.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 12-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
GILDERSLEEVE (US 2019/0232525 A1) in view of CHRISTIAN (US 4226568 A) and GRAU (US 5364578 A).
Re: 12, GILDERSLEEVE teaches of a method of adjusting the assembly, the method including the steps of:
providing a recipe (the term recipe seen as be operational instructions for the process of operation of the machine) comprising predetermined driving block positions, to a controller of the assembly, the predetermined driving block positions being suitable for driving block engagement with the pallet; and
actuating the controller to command the motor to move the driving blocks to positions corresponding to the predetermined driving block positions of the recipe.
See teaching by GILDERSLEEVE, see [0048], regarding controller 114 that includes
GILDERSLEEVE does not specifically teach of the process of operation upon a bell packer assembly. Regarding for a bell packer assembly of claim 1 and for a concrete pipe manufacturing machine base pallet, see below.
Further, GRAU teaches of an automation control panel 23 that allows for control of the machine, a vibration assembly (see vibrator 65) for supporting a base pallet (turntable 17, see also base plate 46) of a concrete pipe manufacturing machine (see molds 13, 14, 18, 19 for forming pipes), the vibration assembly comprising: an assembly frame (see Figs. 1 and 2); at least two pallet driving blocks (see drive means and motor and rollers assemblies) supported for position adjustment relative to one another on the frame, the pallet driving blocks (see drive means for rotating the pallets) being configured to transmit force to the base pallet of the concrete pipe manufacturing machine; and a vibrator 65 connected to at least one of the pallet driving blocks. Here, the automation control panel thereby teaches of teaching of instructions/recipe for the operation of the pipe making machine, particularly with the operation of the pallet operation which is applicable to the GLIDERSLEEVE reference.
Further, in a related teaching with the GRAU reference, the CHRISTIAN reference teaches of a bell packer for a pipe machine and having pallet positioners 188, a vibration assembly (see vibrator 163) for supporting a base pallet (pallets that are located above turntable 34) of a concrete pipe manufacturing machine (see abstract), the vibration assembly comprising: an assembly frame (see Figs. 1 and 8); at least two pallet driving blocks (see drive units 37, 124, 128) supported for position adjustment relative to one another on the frame, the pallet driving blocks being configured to transmit force to the base pallet of the concrete pipe manufacturing machine; and a vibrator 65 connected to at least one of the pallet driving blocks.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modify GLIDERSLEEVE with the operation of the pallet with the operation for concrete pipe making as taught by GRAU allowing for operations of the pallet positioning, and further with the bell packer as taught by CHRISTIAN, this is seen under KSR, see MPEP 2143, as this is seen as combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Re: 13 (upon 12), in which the step of actuating the controller comprises actuating the controller by selecting the recipe on a user interface.
(See teaching by GILDERSLEEVE, [0048, 0066, 0078] regarding an operator to select a store motion profile, which is seen as the claimed recipe.)
Re: 14, a method of adjusting a bell packer assembly, the method including the steps of:
providing a recipe comprising predetermined driving block positions to a controller of a bell packer assembly, the predetermined driving block positions being suitable for driving block engagement with a base pallet of a concrete product of a desired size; and actuating the controller to command the motor to move the driving blocks to respective positions corresponding to the respective predetermined drive block positions of the recipe.
(See teaching similar to claim 12 above by GLIDERSLEEVE in view of CHRISTIAN and GRAU regarding the operation of the pallet operations for a bell packer assembly.)
Re: 15 (upon 14), in which the step of actuating the controller comprises selecting the recipe on a user interface of the controller.
(See teaching by GILDERSLEEVE, [0048] regarding an operator to select a store motion profile, which is seen as the claimed recipe.)
Re: 16 (upon 14), in which the step of actuating the controller comprises selecting the recipe on a user interface of the concrete pipe manufacturing machine.
(See teaching by GILDERSLEEVE, [0048, 0066, 0078] regarding an operator to select a store motion profile, which is seen as the claimed recipe, and wherein, this combined with the teaching with the CHRISTIAN and GRAU for operation of the concrete pipe manufacturing machine.)
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GILDERSLEEVE in view of CHRISTIAN and GRAU as applied to claim 14 above, and further in view of ADLY (US 5248248 A).
Re: 17 (upon 14), in which the step of actuating the controller includes:
actuating a locking element to permit motion of the driving blocks before the controller commands the motor to move the driving blocks; and
actuating the locking element again to lock the driving blocks in place in response to a sensor signal indicating that the driving blocks have reached respective positions corresponding to the respective positions prescribed by the recipe.
Wherein, CHRISTIAN teaches of a locking element, see latches 47, which can be operated in the process, and GRAU teaches of the base plate that is locked by a hub 62 and integral key 60 that meshes with the spline 61 of the shaft 48.
Meanwhile, ADLY teaches of position sensor 192 for the platform 44, wherein the information to the location of the cores 27, 28 in relation to molds 39, 42. The signal from the sensor 192 is fed to controller 197 for use in operation of the machine, see Col. 9, lines 50-54.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have further modify the process of the modified GLIDERSLEEVE in particular of the locking mechanism taught by the CHRISTIAN and GRAU for the position control operation and further with the use of the sensor as taught by ADLY to sense and operate the machine, this is seen under KSR, see MPEP 2143, as this is seen as combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached PTO-892 form, of particular note:
KIM (US 5930978 A) teaches of general packer controller that includes pallet and operations control.
KOBAYASHI (US 5652002 A) a vibration apparatus for molding box and having a controller, see Fig. 5.
MITCHELL (EP 0388347 A and US 4957424 A) teaches of concrete pipe making machine and with controller and sensors to the power for the heads.
SCHULTZ (US 4756861 A) teaches of packer head for concrete pipe forming and having pallet and vibration ring.
TOFFOLON (US 4400149 A) teaches of concrete pipe making apparatus.
TRAUTNER (US 3655842 A) teaches of vibrating core for concrete pipe making machine.
DAVIES (US 3343239 A) teaches of concrete block forming machine with pneumatic vibration and with teaching of changes to the assembly that can be done either manual control or under automatic or mechanically activated control, see Col. 1, lines 23-30.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EMMANUEL S LUK whose telephone number is (571)272-1134. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9 to 5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Xiao S Zhao can be reached at 571-270-5343. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EMMANUEL S LUK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1744