DETAILED ACTION
The Amendment filed 08/28/26 has been entered. Claims 1-20 are still pending. In light of the claim amendment, the previous rejections are withdrawn, however, revised 102 and 103 rejections are detailed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Li
Claim(s) 1-2, 6, 13-16 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Li (CN 112963479) (attached). Li is directed to a bistable cell and multi-steady state mechanical structure and multi-layer structure. See Abstract.
Claim 1: Li discloses a shell-based material [Figs. 1, 12] comprising: a plurality of interconnected unit cells (2) [see Fig. 1], each unit cell including a continuously curved shell, the shell having at least one perforation [see Fig. 12 (on each face)] defining a snapping motif on the shell, wherein the shell-based material has a predetermined number of structural states [see Abstract (“bistable cell and multi-steady state”)] based on the snapping motif defined on the shell of the unit cell and on the at least one perforation defined on the shell, the predetermined number of structural states including a first structural state, and a second structural state being different from the first structural state, wherein the shell-based material is stable in both of the first structural state and the second structural state, the shell-based material being reversibly deformable from the first structural state to the second structural state upon application of a first load and reversibly deformable from the second structural state to the first structural state upon application of a second load, and the shell-based material remaining in the second structural state after removal of the first load and remaining in the first structural state after removal of the second load [see Abstract (“bistable cells”)]. See Figs. 1, 12.
Claim 2: Li discloses that each shell has a configuration of Schwarz P of alternative level set constants. See Translation (“the node connecting piece is Schwartz P structure”).
Claim 6: Li discloses that the predetermined number of structural states includes 2^(n−1) structural states, wherein n corresponds to a number of layers of the multilayer staggered perforations. See Abstract.
Claim 13: Li discloses that the at least one perforation includes a first perforation extending along a first direction, and a second perforation extending along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. See Fig. 12.
Claim 14: Walterspiel discloses that the snapping motif is reproduced on the shell using rotation transformations about the first and second directions. See Fig. 1.
Claim 15: Li discloses that the shell-based material has the first structural state and the second structural state along the first direction, and further has a third structural state being different from the first and second structural states, and a fourth structural state being different from the first, second and third structural states, the third and fourth structural states being along the second direction. See Abstract.
Claim 16: Li discloses that the at least one perforation further includes a third perforation extending along a third direction orthogonal to the first and second directions. See Fig. 12.
Claim 18: Li discloses that at least one of the first and second structural state is a stable structural state. See Fig. 3A.
Claim 19: Li discloses a damper comprising the shell-based material of claim 1. See Fig. 1; Abstract.
Claim 20: Li discloses a shell network comprising the shell-based material of claim 1. See Fig. 1.
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.
Li in view of Walterspiel
Claim(s) 3-5, 7-12 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Walterspiel (U.S. Patent No. 10,506,840) (previously cited). Walterspiel is directed to a shock absorbing system. See Abstract.
Claim 3: Li is relied upon as in claim 1 above but does not disclose the inclusion of at least one “elliptical perforation.” Walterspiel discloses another damper-type shell-based material [Figs. 3A-4E] comprising: a plurality of interconnected unit cells (200) [see Fig. 3A (via 312)], each unit cell including a continuously curved shell [see Figs. 4A-4E], the shell having at least one perforation (204, 210, 218, 224, 230) defining a snapping motif on the shell [see col. 9, line 22 – col. 10, line 8 (impact results in compression, then return or buckling/bulging)], wherein the at least one perforation includes an elliptical perforation. See col. 3, line 8; Figs. 3A-4E. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to include the Waterspiel perforations to the spherical portion of the Li cells because this facilitates the transition from one structural state to another depending on the loads expected for an intended use of the shock absorbing system.
Claim 4: Walterspiel discloses that at least one of the unit cells is configured for supporting a predetermined load in a load direction, and a major diameter of the elliptical perforation extends along the load direction. See col. 3, line 8 (load direction can be chosen to line up accordingly).
Claim 5: Walterspiel discloses that the at least one perforation includes a plurality of multilayer staggered perforations. See Fig. 3A-4E.
Claims 7-9: It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to make the perforations rectangular because Walterspiel already discusses that the shapes of the holes could be of any type, including but not limited to, circular, oval, hexagonal, etc. A rectangular shape is another simple shape, like a circle, oval, hexagon, square, etc. and would have been an obvious choice, especially in light of Figure 4C, which is effectively a rectangular shape. Since Walterspiel discloses that the holes may be in a variety of locations, orientations and the direction of the load can be chosen accordingly, it would further be obvious for the load to be in a direction orthogonal to the long sides of the rectangular perforations.
Claim 10: Li discloses that a section of the shell extending between adjacent staggered perforations defines a hinge, and the shell bends and twists about the hinge between the first structural state and the second structural state, the first and second structural states being consecutive structural states. See Fig. 1 (“hinge” could be due to rods 1 between shells 2). “Hinge” can be construed broadly here without further clarification.
Claim 11: Li discloses that the second structural state corresponds to a snap-back behavior of the unit cell. See Abstract.
Claim 12: Li discloses that the second structural state corresponds to a snap-through behavior of the unit cell. See Abstract; Translation (made of polymer or metal material).
Claim 17: Li does not explicitly disclose the use of a “thermosplastic polyurethane” but since it explicitly contemplates plastic materials, the use of this material would be obvious to one skilled in the art at the effective filing date of the invention, given its material properties, wide availability and low cost.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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VISHAL SAHNI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3657
/VISHAL R SAHNI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616 September 8, 2026
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