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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 6/25/24 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the claimed subject matter of claim 6 in combination with the limitations of claims 2 and 5 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(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.
Claim 6 is 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 the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 6 recites “the one or more divisions include vertical divisions and horizontal divisions”. The wording from claims 2 and 5 clearly disclose two separate divisions, one spanning from the outer edge and another spanning from the inner edge to the contact surface. The “vertical divisions” of Figs. 7a,b cannot read on claim 6 because it does not meet the requirements of claims 2 and 5. The “vertical divisions” of Figs. 8a,b cannot read on claim 6 because the divisions do not span from the inner and outer edges. The “horizontal divisions” of Figs. 9a/b cannot read on claim 6 because the divisions do not span to the contact surface. The claim must be amended to be consistent with the current disclosure.
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.
Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rotem (US Patent No. 11,413,727) in view of Beldam (US Patent No. 1,655,589).
Regarding claim 1, the Rotem reference discloses a vacuum gripper sealing element (145) comprising:
a mounting surface (145f) of the sealing element mountable to a receiving surface of a vacuum gripper base element (140a);
a contact surface (145c) of the sealing element opposite to the mounting surface and joined to the mounting surface through an outer edge and an inner edge (Fig. 5).
However, the Rotem reference fails to explicitly disclose a segmentation pattern dividing the vacuum gripper sealing element into a plurality of compressible segments which individually conform to one or more irregularities of an object surface when the contact surface is pressed thereagainst.
The Beldam reference, a seal, discloses a segmentation pattern (21,31,44,30,50,45,43) dividing the vacuum gripper sealing element into a plurality of compressible segments which individually conform to one or more irregularities of an object surface when the contact surface is pressed thereagainst.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to provide a segmentation pattern to the Rotem reference in view of the teachings of the Beldam reference in order to allow further contraction of the seal (Beldam, Lines 36-49).
Regarding claim 2, the Rotem reference, as modified in claim 1, discloses the segmentation pattern involves one or more divisions spanning from the outer edge to the contact surface (Beldam, Figs. 1-17).
Regarding claim 3, the Rotem reference, as modified in claim 1, discloses the segmentation pattern involves one or more divisions spanning from the outer edge to the inner edge (Beldam, Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 4, the Rotem reference, as modified in claim 1, discloses the segmentation pattern involves one or more divisions spanning partially along a cross-section of the vacuum gripper sealing element (Beldam, Figs. 3-17).
Regarding claim 5, the Rotem reference, as modified in claim 2, discloses the segmentation pattern additionally involves one or more divisions spanning from the inner edge to the contact surface symmetrically to the one or more divisions spanning from the outer edge to the contact surface (Beldam, Fig. 8).
Regarding claim 6, the Rotem reference, as modified in claim 5 and as best understood, discloses the one or more divisions include vertical divisions and horizontal divisions with respect to the contact surface (Beldam, Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 7, the Rotem reference, as modified in claim 2, discloses the segmentation pattern involves one or more divisions spanning from the outer edge to the contact surface; and wherein the segmentation pattern also involves one or more divisions spanning from the inner edge to the contact surface (Beldam, Figs. 8,10).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GILBERT Y LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-5894. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-430pm.
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/GILBERT Y LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675