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
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.
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.
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.
Claims 1, 2 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Liao (CN107322907) in view of Ogihara (US 6,005,223) and Komiyama (US 5,282,878). An English machine translation of Liao (CN107322907) is included with the Notice of Reference Cited (PTO-892).
With respect to the limitations of claim 1, Liao teaches a bottle preform heating apparatus, comprising a cavity (Fig 1, central cavity of heating pack 4, 0025), a top cover (opening of heating pack 4 for insertion of bottle preform 2, 0026) and a plurality of heating lamps (parallel annular infrared lamps 41, 0025), a first receiving cavity, the first receiving cavity is cylindrical (central cavity of heating pack 4), each of the plurality of heating lamps comprises a lamp tube, the lamp tube comprises an arc portion (parallel annular infrared lamps 41, inherently having an arc portion), the arc portion is disposed in the first receiving cavity (central cavity of heating pack 4, lamps 41), the top cover is disposed on top of the cavity, the top cover is provided with a first through hole, a preform tube of a bottle preform is configured to pass through the first through hole so as to be inserted into the first receiving cavity and surrounded by the arc portion (opening of heating pack 4 for insertion of bottle preform 2, see figure 1); and a radius of the first receiving cavity is less than a distance between an end of a handle of the bottle preform facing away from the preform tube and a central axis of the preform tube (Fig 1, where handle distance extends further outward of heating pack 4).
Liao discloses the claimed invention except for a first receiving cavity and a second receiving cavity are formed in the cavity, the first receiving cavity is cylindrical, the second receiving cavity is connected to a side surface of the first receiving cavity, each of the plurality of heating lamps comprises a lamp tube and a lamp base, the lamp tube comprises an arc portion and two connection portions, an end of each connection portion of the two connection portions is connected to the lamp base, another end of the each connection portion is connected to an end of the arc portion, the arc portion is disposed in the first receiving cavity, the two connection portions and the lamp base are disposed in the second receiving cavity.
However, Ogihara discloses a first receiving cavity (Fig 1, cavity of heating box 22 surrounding preform 12, Col 4) and a second receiving cavity (air insulating layer 48, first and second insulating plates 44, 46, Col 5) are formed in the cavity, the first receiving cavity is cylindrical (as disclosed by Liao), the second receiving cavity is connected to a side surface of the first receiving cavity (air insulating layer 48 connected to cavity of heating box 22 surrounding preform 12), each of the plurality of heating lamps comprises a lamp tube (Fig 4, infrared heater 42a, Col 7) and a lamp base (retaining plate 84, Col 7), the arc portion is disposed in the first receiving cavity (as disclosed by Liao, Fig 1), the two connection portions and the lamp base (retaining plate 84, Col 7) are disposed in the second receiving cavity (48) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the bottle preform heating apparatus of Liao having a first receiving cavity silent to a second receiving cavity with the first receiving cavity and a second receiving cavity are formed in the cavity, the first receiving cavity is cylindrical, the second receiving cavity is connected to a side surface of the first receiving cavity, each of the plurality of heating lamps comprises a lamp tube and a lamp base, the two connection portions and the lamp base are disposed in the second receiving cavity of Ogihara for the purpose of providing a known second cavity configuration that prevents excessive heating of terminal boards and the like, thereby improving durability of the apparatus (Col 2, lines 50-52).
Additionally, Komiyama discloses the lamp tube comprises an arc portion and two connection portions (Figs 1, 2, infrared ray lamp 30a, 30b, terminals 36, 37, Col 3), an end of each connection portion of the two connection portions is connected to the lamp base (Komiyama, support plate 64), another end of the each connection portion is connected to an end of the arc portion (Fig 2, infrared ray lamp 30a, 30b, terminals 36, 37) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the bottle preform heating apparatus of Liao in view of Ogihara having an annular lamp tube silent to the recited terminals with the lamp tube comprises an arc portion and two connection portions, an end of each connection portion of the two connection portions is connected to the lamp base, another end of the each connection portion is connected to an end of the arc portion of Komiyama for the purpose of providing a known terminal configuration that allows current to be safely provided for energizing the lamp tube.
With respect to the limitations of claim 2, Liao in view of Ogihara and Komiyama discloses further comprising a mounting base, the mounting base (Ogihara, Fig 4, supporting plate 64, Col 6) is detachably connected to the cavity, the mounting base (64) is disposed in the second receiving cavity (Ogihara, air insulating layer 48), the mounting base is provided with a plurality of fixing holes disposed at intervals (fixing holes 78, Col 6), the lamp base comprises a fixing sheet, the fixing sheet is provided with a U-shaped notch (engaging groove 88, Col 7), and the each of the plurality of heating lamps is fixed to the mounting base by a screw (bolts 80, Col 6) that passes through the U-shaped notch and that is screwed in a corresponding fixing hole of the plurality of fixing holes.
With respect to the limitations of claim 10, Liao teaches the central axis of the preform tube inserted in the first receiving cavity coincides with a central axis of the first receiving cavity (see figure 1).
Claims 3-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Liao (CN107322907) in view of Ogihara (US 6,005,223) and Komiyama (US 5,282,878) as applied claim 1, further in view of Montex (US 2012/0267357).
With respect to the limitations of claim 3, Liao in view of Ogihara and Komiyama discloses the claimed invention except for further comprising a plurality of heat insulation rings, a heat insulation ring of the plurality of heat insulation rings is configured to be placed between two adjacent lamp tubes to surround a periphery of an arc portion of each of the two adjacent lamp tubes. However, Montex discloses further comprising a plurality of heat insulation rings , a heat insulation ring of the plurality of heat insulation (0057, reflecting device 20 is made of ceramic) rings (Figs 1-3, reflector 23, having multiple ring shaped grooves, 0052) is configured to be placed between two adjacent lamp tubes (lamps 16, 0051) to surround a periphery of an arc portion of each of the two adjacent lamp tubes is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the bottle preform heating apparatus of Liao in view of Ogihara and Komiyama having an annular lamp tube silent to a plurality of heat insulation rings with the further comprising a plurality of heat insulation rings, a heat insulation ring of the plurality of heat insulation rings is configured to be placed between two adjacent lamp tubes to surround a periphery of an arc portion of each of the two adjacent lamp tubes of Montex for the purpose of providing a known heat reflecting configuration that is suitable for optimizing the efficiency in the heating installation, in order to reduce the consumption of electrical energy (0007).
With respect to the limitations of claim 4, Montex discloses the plurality of heat insulation rings are spaced apart from an inner wall of the cavity so that a heat insulation cavity is formed between the plurality of heat insulation rings and the cavity (Figs 1, 2, cavity between support member 21 and gap 13, 0046, 0050).
Claims 5, 6 and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon claims 1 and 4.
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Liao (CN107322907) in view of Ogihara (US 6,005,223) and Komiyama (US 5,282,878) as applied claim 1, further in view of Feuilloley (US 2017/0215232).
With respect to the limitations of claims 8 and 9, Liao in view of Ogihara and Komiyama discloses the claimed invention except for a first cooling cavity is disposed within the cavity, a first water inlet and a first water outlet are disposed on a surface of the cavity, and the first water inlet and the first water outlet communicate with the first cooling cavity; a second cooling cavity is disposed within the top cover, and a second water inlet and a second water outlet are disposed on a surface of the top cover, and the second water inlet and the second water outlet communicate with the second cooling cavity.
However, Feuilloley discloses a first cooling cavity (left, right cooling circuit 18, fluid channel 19, 0052) is disposed within the cavity, a first water inlet and a first water outlet are disposed on a surface of the cavity (inlet, outlet connectors 22, 0060), and the first water inlet and the first water outlet communicate with the first cooling cavity (18, 19, 22); a second cooling cavity (bottom cooling circuit 18, fluid channel 19) is disposed within the top cover, and a second water inlet and a second water outlet are disposed on a surface (inlet, outlet connectors 22) of the top cover, and the second water inlet and the second water outlet communicate with the second cooling cavity (18, 19, 22) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the bottle preform heating apparatus of Liao in view of Ogihara and Komiyama having cavity silent to the recited cooling cavities with the first cooling cavity is disposed within the cavity, a first water inlet and a first water outlet are disposed on a surface of the cavity, and the first water inlet and the first water outlet communicate with the first cooling cavity; a second cooling cavity is disposed within the top cover, and a second water inlet and a second water outlet are disposed on a surface of the top cover, and the second water inlet and the second water outlet communicate with the second cooling cavity of Feuilloley for the purpose of providing a cooling circuit configuration that ensures thermal regulation of the boundary part to a relatively low predetermined temperature (0062).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 6 and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THIEN S TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7745. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday [8:00-4:00].
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/THIEN S TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 1/27/2026