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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 1-11 in the reply filed on 8/04/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 12-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 8/04/2025.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on December 29th, 2025 has been entered. Claims 1-11 remain pending in the application.
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 1, 4, 6-8, and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vohler (EP Patent No. 3674611) in view of Burkhardt (EP Patent No. 2995870) and further in view of Hartl (US Patent No. 20110232217).
Regrading Claim 1, Vohler teaches an electric surface temperature control system for a floor, wall or ceiling construction, with at least one heating cable (Paragraph 1-2 and Figure 2, a surface temperature control system comprising at least one flexible heating element cable 1), with at least one carrier plate, which has a film-like plate made of plastic (Figure 2, Carrier Element 7 has Flat Carrier 9 that is a hollow chamber plate made of a plastic material), which is flat or profiled, and comprises a first plate side, which is provided to rest on a ground and (Figure 2, Carrier Element 7 is flat with one side on the ground) comprises a second plate side, which is opposite the first plate side (Figure 2, Carrier Element 7 has another side that faces up), and with a first functional layer arranged on the second plate side, wherein the first functional layer is formed from a fibrous layer (Paragraph 25 and Figure 2, On its side facing the flexible heating cable 1, the carrier film 8 comprises a second element 10 of the hook and loop connection made from fibrous material), and wherein a second functional layer is provided on the heating cable at least in sections (Paragraph 24 and Figure 1, The outer side of the flexible heating cable 1 is formed in the form of a spiral by a first element 6 of a hook and loop connection), which second functional layer is formed from a hook tape and the heating cable is fastenable on the carrier plate by the first functional layer and second functional layer with the formation of a hook-and-loop fastener (Paragraph 24-25, The flexible heating cable 1, on the outside of which the first element 6 of the Velcro connection is located, is releasably fixed to the carrier element 7 via the second element 10, forming the Velcro connection).
Vohler fails to teach that the carrier is provided for receiving a contact agent, such as mortar or adhesive, which is curable to form a contact layer with the surface covering to be applied and wherein the at least one carrier plate, which comprises the film-like plate made of plastic is formed with a plurality of chambers formed by recesses and/or elevations from a plane of the film-like plate, the outer end faces of which form the first plate side and opposite the second plate side is formed by surface portions,- wherein wall portions between the end faces forming the first plate side and the surface portions forming the second plate side extend perpendicularly or conically tapering from the surface portions to the end faces of the chamber.
Burkhardt teaches a surface temperature control system (Paragraph 1, Surface Temperature Control System) where the carrier is provided for receiving a contact agent, such as mortar or adhesive, which is curable to form a contact layer with the surface covering to be applied (Figure 2 and Paragraph 30, Flat carrier 4 has an adhesive layer 13 layer applied to it and is cured).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vohler to incorporate a contact agent on the second side of the carrier plate as stated in Burkhardt. The adhesive layer provides connection between the first layer that connects with the heating wire and the carrier (Paragraph 28, Contact Agent).
Vohler in view of Burkhardt fails to teach that at least one carrier plate, which comprises the film-like plate made of plastic is formed with a plurality of chambers formed by recesses and/or elevations from a plane of the film-like plate, the outer end faces of which form the first plate side and opposite the second plate side is formed by surface portions,- wherein wall portions between the end faces forming the first plate side and the surface portions forming the second plate side extend perpendicularly or conically tapering from the surface portions to the end faces of the chamber.
Hartl teaches a support plate for a floor, wall, or ceiling (Abstract, Support Plate) where the at least one carrier plate, which comprises the film-like plate made of plastic (Figure 2, Foil-Plate 11 made of plastic) is formed with a plurality of chambers formed by recesses and/or elevations from a plane of the film-like plate (Figure 1-2, Chamber 12 formed by recesses and elevations), the outer end faces of which form the first plate side (Figure 1-2, Outer End faces 21) and opposite the second plate side is formed by surface portions (Figure 1-2, The second plate side 26), and where wall portions between the end faces forming the first plate side and the surface portions forming the second plate side extend perpendicularly or conically tapering from the surface portions to the end faces of the chamber (Figure 1-3, Wall portion 18 extend perpendicularly or conically tapering from The second plate side 26 to the Outer End faces 21).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vohler in view of Burkhardt to incorporate that the structure of the plastic carrier plates contains chambers and recesses as stated in Hartl. The plastic carrier plates are cost effective and can be made from different kinds of plastics. (Paragraph 16, Costs).
Regrading Claim 4, Vohler in view of Hartl teaches that the first functional layer consists of a sheet-like material (Figure 2 and Paragraph 26, Second Element 10 is Sheet like and is attached to the Carrier Element 7).
Vohler fails to teach that the first functional layer is at least partially or completely laminated, glued or welded onto the second plate side
Burkhardt teaches a surface temperature control system (Paragraph 1, Surface Temperature Control System) where the first functional layer is at least partially or completely laminated, glued or welded onto the second plate side (Paragraph 30, First Element 11 is attached to carrier 4 with the adhesive layer 13).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vohler in view of Hartl to incorporate that the first functional layer is glued to the second side of the carrier plate as stated in Burkhardt. The adhesive layer provides connection between the first layer that connects with the heating wire and the carrier’s protection layer. (Paragraph 28, Adhesive Layer).
Regrading Claim 6, Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl teaches that the first functional layer is formed from a felt, a non-woven, a fibrous fabric or a net-like fibrous fabric (Vohler: Paragraph 25, Second Element 10 is made of fleece, velour fabric, plush, terry cloth or other textile fabric).
Regrading Claim 7, Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl teaches that the second functional layer is designed in the form of a strip and surrounds the heating cable in the form of a spiral or helix or is formed as at least one longitudinal strip and fixed to the sheathing of the heating cable along the heating cable (Vohler: Figure 1 and Paragraph 24, First element 6 is a strip that surrounds the heating cable 1 in a spiral and is fixed to the sheath 3 along the heating cable 1), wherein the at least one longitudinal strip at least partially encircles the sheathing of the heating cable or the one longitudinal strip completely surrounds the heating cable (Vohler: Figure 1 and Paragraph 24, First element 6 is a strip that partial encircles the heating cable 1).
Regrading Claim 8, Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl teaches that the second functional layer is integrated on the outer circumference of a sheathing of the heating cable (Vohler: Figure 1, First Element 6 is fixed to outer circumference of Sheath 3).
Regrading Claim 10, Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl teaches that a third functional layer, in particular a fabric or a non-woven, is provided on the first plate side of the carrier plate (Vohler: Paragraph 15, A third layer is provided on the bottom surface of carrier 9 and is made of polymer material which fabrics are made of).
Regrading Claim 11, Vohler in view of Hartl fails to teach that the carrier plate with the first functional layer or the carrier plate with the first and third functional layers has a height of less than four millimetres.
Burkhardt teaches a surface temperature control system (Paragraph 1, Surface Temperature Control System) where the carrier plate with the first functional layer or the carrier plate with the first and third functional layers has a height of less than four millimetres (Paragraph 28, Carrier 4 is 1 cm to 20 cm, therefore Carrier 4 with the added layers would be above that range).
While Burkhardt may not expressly teach the that the carrier plate and the functional layers have a height less than 4 mm of the instant claim. Burkhardt teaches a length that falls outside the range of the instant claim. In Gardner v. TEC Syst., Inc., 725 F.2d 1338, 220 USPQ 777 (Fed. Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 830, 225 USPQ 232 (1984), the Federal Circuit held that, where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device. MPEP § 2144.04-IV-A.
Furthermore, since applicants have not disclosed that these modifications solve any stated problem or are for any particular purpose and it appears that the device would perform equally well with either designs, these modifications are a matter of design choice. Absent a teaching as to criticality that the height range of the carrier plate and the functional layers is less than 4 mm, this particular arrangement is deemed to have been known by those skilled in the art since the instant specification and evidence of record fail to attribute any significance (novel or unexpected results) to this particular arrangement. In re Kuhle, 526 F.2d 553,555,188 USPQ 7, 9 (CCPA 1975). MPEP 2144.05.
Claims 5 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vohler (EP Patent No. 3674611) in view of Burkhardt (EP Patent No. 2995870) and further in view of Hartl (US Patent No. 20110232217) and Morand (US Patent No. 20110101291).
Regrading Claim 5, Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl teaches that the first functional layer is fastened to the entire surface portions of the carrier plate (Vohler: Figure 2 and Paragraph 26, Second Element 10 is Sheet like and is attached to the Carrier Element 7 's entire surface.).
Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl fails to teach that the structure of the carrier plates contains chambers and recesses.
Morand teaches a heating wire support meshing (Paragraph 2, Heating Wire Support meshing) where the carrier has recesses and chambers (Figure 1-2, Showcases Mat Section 11 of Support Mesh 10 where it has a plurality of chambers formed by recesses with two surfaces forming the first plate side and the second plate side).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl to incorporate that the structure of the carrier plates contains chambers and recesses as stated in Morand. The frames of the recess and chambers have a wire receiving means in the form of vertical wire-receiving slots for receiving and guiding an electric heating wire. (Paragraph 17, Wire-Receiving Slots).
Regrading Claim 9, Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl teaches that the carrier plate is able to form hook-and-loop fastening connections (Vohler: Paragraph 24-25, Heating cable is placed on the carrier and forms a hook-and-loop fastening connection).
Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl fails to teach that the heating cable can be attached to the surface portions the recesses.
Morand teaches a heating wire support meshing (Paragraph 2, Heating Wire Support meshing) where the heating cable is fastenable to the surface portions adjacent to the recesses, resting on the surface portions and/or spanning the recesses (Figure 6, Showcases that the heating wire is attached to receiving slots 17 and spans the recesses).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vohler in view of Burkhardt and Hartl to incorporate that the heating cable can be attached to the surface portions the recesses as stated in Morand. The frames of the recess and chambers have a wire receiving means in the form of vertical wire-receiving slots for receiving and guiding an electric heating wire. (Paragraph 17, Wire-Receiving Slots).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Pages 12-13, filed December 29th, 2025, with respect to the rejections of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are not persuasive. The structure of the invitation is too general and not claimed in detail in claim 1. However, upon further consideration, a new grounds of rejection is made in view of Hartl that claims a more similar structure.
Furthermore, Applicant claims that the prior art fails to teach the claimed carrier plate because the prior art’s carrier plates are not easy to transport and collapse easier. This argument is not based on any evidence that would proof that the prior art structure is weaker and relies on limitation from the specification section and not found in the claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAMZEH HICHAM AMIN whose telephone number is (571)272-4235. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:00 am - 4:00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, IBRAHIME ABRAHAM can be reached at (571) 270-5569. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HAMZEH HICHAM AMIN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761