Detailed Action1
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 June 11, 2026 has been entered.
America Invents Act Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 USC 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis 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.
Claim Objections
Claim 5 objected to because of an informality: reference character “(19)” in line 22 should be changed to “(25)”. Appropriate correction is required.
Duplicate Claim Warning
Applicant is advised that should claim 16 be found allowable, claim 19 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 706.03(k).
Rejections under 35 USC 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112:
(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 5-6, 8-10, 16, and 19-20 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 applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 5 recites a guide sleeve adapted to surround the threaded sleeve (19) and melt a thermoplastic filament in contact with the threaded sleeve; … control the heat source to limit the temperature to just below a melting temperature of the thermoplastic filament. In light of Applicant’s originally filed disclosure, It is unclear if the guide sleeve or threaded sleeve is configured to melt the thermoplastic filament (the claim makes it sound like the guide sleeve melts the filament but this is not what is taught in Applicant’s originally filed disclosure). In addition, it is unclear what the metes and bounds of “just below a melting temperature” are. For example, how far below the melting temperature can it be and still be “just below”.
Further, it is unclear if the filament is referring to the component. Applicant's specification teaches forming the component via an FDM process, which uses filament. This process includes melting filament in layers to form the component. However, the FDM produced component does not comprise individual filaments anymore. The examiner recommends amending the claim to recite something similar to: a guide sleeve (25) adapted to surround the threaded sleeve (19); … the guide sleeve (25) is partially surrounded by a heat source, the heat source configured to heat the threaded sleeve within the guide sleeve so that the threaded sleeve melts the component when the threaded sleeve is screwed into the component; and the at least one temperature sensor providing temperature data to control the heat source to heat the threaded sleeve to a target temperature.
The rest of the claims are rejected for depending from claim 5.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 8-10, 16, and 19-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 5 was amended to include subject matter deemed allowable in the Office action mailed on March 11, 2026. The examiner notes that the insulation layer is interpreted as being a different and more insulating material than other portions of the guide sleeve, and is a material with a low thermal conductivity.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed June 11, 2026 (“the remarks”) have been fully considered. The examiner agrees that the previous prior art rejections are overcome and have been withdrawn.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kyle Cook whose telephone number is 571-272-2281. The examiner’s fax number is 571-273-3545. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner's supervisor Thomas Hong (571-272-0993). The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/KYLE A COOK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3726
1 The following conventions are used in this office action. All direct quotations from claims are presented in italics. All information within non-italicized parentheses and presented with claim language are from or refer to the cited prior art reference unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Prosecution Insights