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 .
Summary
This action is responsive to the amendments filed on 12/29/2025. The amendment has been entered. Applicant has submitted Claims 1-13 for examination.
Examiner finds the following: 1) Claims 1-13 are rejected; 2) no claims objected to; and 3) no claims allowable.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for priority to USPRO 63/451911 filed 03/13/2023.
Response to Arguments and Remarks
Examiner respectfully acknowledges Applicant’s arguments, remarks, and amendments.
Regarding Applicant’s arguments and remarks about the combination of Vaughan and Band-Aid, Examiner is not persuaded. More specifically, Applicant argues that it is not reasonable to combine Vaughan and Band-Aid since Vaughan is specifically an adjustable system and Band-Aid is not.
Examiner notes that if PHOSITA was using Vaughan on the same sized pipes over and over again that PHOSITA would not have to adjust Vaughan and would be able to put on and take of Vaughan as needed. Examiner understands that the above situation, comparable to the claimed invention, would lead to a reasonable desire from PHOSITA for a sealed, sized cap as described in Band-Aid.
Examiner notes, as Applicant pointed out, to use Vaughan in a static manner would ignore a critical component of Vaughan, the adjustability. Examiner, generally, does not disagree, but notes that for the purposes of this comparison to this static use is to show the similarities and differences between the claimed invention and Vaughan. Examiner is supposing that if PHOSITA were to use Vaughan in this static manner, which seems reasonable if PHOSITA were to use Vaughan over and over again on pipes of the same size, that PHOSITA would reasonably be able to apply the alignment principles of Vaughan to Band-Aid and the cap teaching of Band-Aid to Vaughan. As such, Examiner is not persuaded.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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:
Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 4-8, and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vaughan (US6823600B1) in view of Band-Seal (BAND-SEAL® End Caps, Internet Archive Date 2020/07/05).
Regarding Claim 1, Vaughan discloses:
A laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, C6, L5-6, “adjustable fit laser-projecting tool”) comprising:
a … housing adapted to fit over an end of a pipe of a predetermined diameter (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, see FIG. 1 for the adjustable fit laser-projecting tool, and see FIG. 4 showing how the adjustable fit laser-projecting tool fits around large cylindrical object 51), the … housing having an inner wall … and abuts an outer wall of the pipe when the pipe is inserted into the … housing (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, see FIG. 1 for the adjustable fit laser-projecting tool, and see FIG. 4 showing how the adjustable fit laser-projecting tool fits around large cylindrical object 51), the … housing further including a center hole and a laser module housing aligned with a center axis of the pipe when the pipe is inserted into the … housing (Vaughan, FIG. 4, C6, L52-55, “The laser diode adjustment screws 40 are used to center the light beam 56 minimizing horizontal, vertical and angular offset to the center of the laser-projecting reference tool,” and C8, L12-16, “With the top v-block 14 and bottom v-block 16 clamped into place by the v-block clamping rod 20 and clamping rod nuts 22 the slide scale assembly 66 can be moved to a desired position in reference to the cylindrical object. This positioning, in most cases, would be the centerline axis of the cylindrical object”); and
a laser module disposed within the laser module housing (Vaughan, FIG. 1, C6, L27-28, laser diode module adjustment cylinder 24) so as to align with the center axis of the pipe, the laser module emitting laser light out of the center hole (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, C6, L7-13, “The front of the adjustable fit laser-projecting tool is considered to be the side which the laser diode module 29 projects the light beam 56 outwardly perpendicular to a cylindrical object's cross sectional plane within the outer diameter of said cylindrical object parallel to and including the longitudinal centerline axis of said cylindrical object, parallel to the centerline axis of the object”).
Vaughan does not explicitly disclose:
… a pipe-shaped housing…
… an inner wall that is concentric with and abuts the outer wall …
However, Band-Seal, in a similar field of endeavor (pipe caps) discloses:
… a pipe-shaped housing (Band-Seal, Image. Examiner notes that the cap is designed to seal the end of a pipe) …
… an inner wall that is concentric with and abuts the outer wall (Band-Seal, Image. Examiner notes that the cap is designed to seal the end of a pipe, and as such, inherently the inner wall of the seal must be concentric with the outer wall of the pipe for proper sealing) …
It would have been obvious to PHOSITA before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Vaughan with the pipe-shaped housing of Band-Seal. PHOSITA would have known about the uses of rubber pipe caps as disclosed by Band-Seal and how to use them to modify Vaughan. PHOSITA would have been motivated to do this as a use of known technique to improve similar devices in the same way (See MPEP § 2143 (I)(C)), specifically the use of a known pipe cap for clamping onto a pipe.
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 1 and Vaughan further discloses:
… further comprising at least one elongated styled level vial set in a corresponding recessed slot on an outer wall of the pipe-shaped housing for horizontal pitch / fall / level use (Vaughan, FIG. 1, C6, L25, level vial 58).
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 1 and Vaughan further discloses:
… the laser module housing has the center hole at one end thereof and a cap on another end thereof that is removable to provide access to the laser module when the laser module is housed within the laser module housing (Vaughan, FIGS. 7-10, C7, L33-35, “FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 10 are isometric views of the slide scale assembly 66 with different laser diode modules. FIG. 7 shows a laser diode module dot generator 29”).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose:
…wherein the laser module comprises a battery powered class IIIA laser module with an on/off power switch.
However, Vaughan discloses power switch 50 in FIG. 1, C6, L33, and from FIG. 3, C7, L17-19:
“…the power source 60 is shown to be a common battery, which is held in the power source holder 48.”
Examiner also notes that Applicant states in [0032]:
…conventionally available laser modules 800.
It would have been obvious to PHOSITA before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that Vaughan uses a battery powered laser. PHOSITA would have known about the uses of battery powered lasers as disclosed by Vaughan. PHOSITA would have modified the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal to use whichever battery powered laser would be appropriate for their needs.
Regarding Claim 7, Vaughan discloses:
A method of providing precise continuous straight line locations for boring plumb or pitched alignment holes through at least one of studs, walls, or roofs and for shooting a level line for pipe/conduit work, comprising:
inserting an end if a pipe of a predetermined diameter into a … laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, C6, L5-6, “adjustable fit laser-projecting tool”) whereby an outer wall of the pipe … abuts an inner wall of the ... laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, see FIG. 1 for the adjustable fit laser-projecting tool, and see FIG. 4 showing how the adjustable fit laser-projecting tool fits around large cylindrical object 51) and a center hole if the … laser plumb/pitch device is aligned with a center axis of the pipe (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, C6, L7-13, “The front of the adjustable fit laser-projecting tool is considered to be the side which the laser diode module 29 projects the light beam 56 outwardly perpendicular to a cylindrical object's cross sectional plane within the outer diameter of said cylindrical object parallel to and including the longitudinal centerline axis of said cylindrical object, parallel to the centerline axis of the object”);
inserting a laser module into a laser module housing of the … laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device so as to align with the center axis of the pipe whereby laser light may be emitted out of the center hole when the pipe is inserted into the … laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device (Vaughan, FIG. 4, C6, L52-55, “The laser diode adjustment screws 40 are used to center the light beam 56 minimizing horizontal, vertical and angular offset to the center of the laser-projecting reference tool,” and C8, L12-16, “With the top v-block 14 and bottom v-block 16 clamped into place by the v-block clamping rod 20 and clamping rod nuts 22 the slide scale assembly 66 can be moved to a desired position in reference to the cylindrical object. This positioning, in most cases, would be the centerline axis of the cylindrical object”); and
directing the laser light to an area for boring at least one hole to accommodate a pipe extension or for indicating a plumb line alignment point (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, C6, L7-13, “The front of the adjustable fit laser-projecting tool is considered to be the side which the laser diode module 29 projects the light beam 56 outwardly perpendicular to a cylindrical object's cross sectional plane within the outer diameter of said cylindrical object parallel to and including the longitudinal centerline axis of said cylindrical object, parallel to the centerline axis of the object”).
Vaughan does not explicitly disclose:
… a pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device …
… an outer wall of the pipe is concentric with and abuts an inner wall …
However, Band-Seal, in a similar field of endeavor (pipe caps) discloses:
… a pipe-shaped housing (Band-Seal, Image. Examiner notes that the cap is designed to seal the end of a pipe) …
… an outer wall of the pipe is concentric with and abuts an inner wall (Band-Seal, Image. Examiner notes that the cap is designed to seal the end of a pipe, and as such, inherently the inner wall of the seal must be concentric with the outer wall of the pipe for proper sealing) …
It would have been obvious to PHOSITA before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Vaughan with the pipe-shaped housing of Band-Seal. PHOSITA would have known about the uses of rubber pipe caps as disclosed by Band-Seal and how to use them to modify Vaughan. PHOSITA would have been motivated to do this as a use of known technique to improve similar devices in the same way (See MPEP § 2143 (I)(C)), specifically the use of a known pipe cap for clamping onto a pipe.
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 7, and further Vaughan discloses:
… wherein the pipe has a first diameter, and wherein inserting the end of the pipe into the pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device comprises inserting the end of the pipe into the pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device whereby an outer wall of the pipe abuts a first inner wall of the pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, C6, L22-24, “The slide scale brackets 42 use bracket screws 46 to attach the slide scale brackets 42 to the top v-block 14 and bottom v-block 16”).
Regarding Claim 11, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 7, and further Vaughan discloses:
… further comprising determining at least one of a horizontal pitch, fall, or level using at least one elongated styled level vial set in a corresponding recessed slot on an outer wall of the pipe-shaped housing of the laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device (Vaughan, FIG. 1, C6, L25, level vial 58).
Regarding Claim 12, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 7, and Vaughan further discloses:
… further comprising providing a cap on an end of the laser module housing opposite the center hole once the laser module has been inserted into the laser module housing (Vaughan, FIGS. 7-10, C7, L33-35, “FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 10 are isometric views of the slide scale assembly 66 with different laser diode modules. FIG. 7 shows a laser diode module dot generator 29”).
Regarding Claim 13, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 12, and further discloses:
… wherein the laser module comprises a battery powered class IIIA laser module with an on/off power switch, further comprising turning the laser module on/off using the on/off power switch (Vaughan, FIG. 1, C6, L33, e power switch 50, and FIG. 3, C7, L17-19, “the power source 60 is shown to be a common battery, which is held in the power source holder 48”).
Although Vaughan fails to specifically disclose a battery powered laser, Vaughan does disclose a power switch FIG. 1, C6, L33, and from FIG. 3, C7, L17-19:
“…the power source 60 is shown to be a common battery, which is held in the power source holder 48.”
Examiner also notes that Applicant states in [0032]:
…conventionally available laser modules 800.
It would have been obvious to PHOSITA before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that Vaughan uses a battery powered laser. PHOSITA would have known about the uses of battery powered lasers as disclosed by Vaughan. PHOSITA would have modified the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal to use whichever battery powered laser would be appropriate for their needs.
Claims 2 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vaughan (US6823600B1), in view of Band-Seal (BAND-SEAL® End Caps, Internet Archive Date 2020/07/05), and in further view of Webb (US20190126359A1).
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 1, and Vaughan further discloses:
… wherein the pipe-shaped housing has a first inner wall that abuts an outer wall of a pipe of a first diameter when inserted into the pipe-shaped housing (Vaughan, FIGS. 1 & 4, C6, L22-24, “The slide scale brackets 42 use bracket screws 46 to attach the slide scale brackets 42 to the top v-block 14 and bottom v-block 16”), and …
The combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal does not explicitly disclose:
… a second inner wall that abuts an outer wall of a pipe of a second diameter, smaller than the first diameter, when inserted into the pipe-shaped housing.
However, Webb, in a similar field of endeavor (Alignment Device For Aligning A Drill Bit With A Pilot Hole) discloses:
… a second inner wall that abuts an outer wall of a pipe of a second diameter, smaller than the first diameter, when inserted into the pipe-shaped housing (Webb, FIG. 6, [0034], alignment pin 108).
It would have been obvious to PHOSITA before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal with the adjustable alignment technique of Webb. PHOSITA would have known about the method of alignment and support using a device smaller than pipe diameter as disclosed by Webb and how to use them to modify the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal. PHOSITA would have been motivated to do this as a use of known technique to improve similar devices in the same way (See MPEP § 2143 (I)(C)), specifically the use of a known method of alignment and support using a device smaller than pipe diameter.
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 8, but does not explicitly disclose:
… wherein the pipe has a second diameter smaller than the first diameter, wherein inserting the end of the pipe into the pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device comprises inserting the end of the pipe into the pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device whereby an outer wall of the pipe abuts a second inner wall of the pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device.
However, Webb, in a similar field of endeavor (Alignment Device For Aligning A Drill Bit With A Pilot Hole) discloses:
… wherein the pipe has a second size smaller than the first size, wherein inserting the end of the pipe into the pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device comprises inserting the end of the pipe into the pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device whereby an outer wall of the pipe abuts a second inner wall of the pipe-shaped laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device (Webb, FIG. 6, [0034], alignment pin 108).
It would have been obvious to PHOSITA before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal with the adjustable alignment technique of Webb. PHOSITA would have known about the method of alignment and support using a device smaller than pipe diameter as disclosed by Webb and how to use them to modify the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal. PHOSITA would have been motivated to do this as a use of known technique to improve similar devices in the same way (See MPEP § 2143 (I)(C)), specifically the use of a known method of alignment and support using a device smaller than pipe diameter.
Claims 3 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vaughan (US6823600B1), in view of Band-Seal (BAND-SEAL® End Caps, Internet Archive Date 2020/07/05), and in further view of Banner (US20110141464A1).
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose:
… at least one button styled level vial on an outer end of the pipe-shaped housing for vertical plumb use.
However, Banner, in the same field of endeavor (apparatus for measuring the inner surface of a structure embedded in the ground and defining a tunnel, such as a corrugated metal culvert or arch), discloses:
… at least one button styled level vial on an outer end of the pipe-shaped housing for vertical plumb use (Banner, FIG. 2, [0010], circular bubble-type level 54).
It would have been obvious to PHOSITA before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal with the circular bubble-type levels of Banner. PHOSITA would have known about the uses of circular bubble-type levels as disclosed by Banner and how to use them to modify the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal. PHOSITA would have been motivated to do this as a use of known technique to improve similar devices in the same way (See MPEP § 2143 (I)(C)), specifically using a of circular bubble-type level for leveling a top surface (see Banner [0010]).
Regarding Claim 10, the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal discloses Claim 7, but does not explicitly disclose:
… determining a vertical plumb using at least one button styled level vial on an outer end of the housing of the laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device.
However, Banner, in the same field of endeavor (apparatus for measuring the inner surface of a structure embedded in the ground and defining a tunnel, such as a corrugated metal culvert or arch), discloses:
… determining a vertical plumb using at least one button styled level vial on an outer end of the housing of the laser plumb/pitch pipe alignment device (Banner, FIG. 2, [0010], circular bubble-type level 54).
It would have been obvious to PHOSITA before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal with the circular bubble-type levels of Banner. PHOSITA would have known about the uses of circular bubble-type levels as disclosed by Banner and how to use them to modify the combination of Vaughan and Band-Seal. PHOSITA would have been motivated to do this as a use of known technique to improve similar devices in the same way (See MPEP § 2143 (I)(C)), specifically using a of circular bubble-type level for leveling a top surface (see Banner [0010]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHAD A REVERMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0079. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9-5 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kara Geisel can be reached at (571) 272-2416. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHAD ANDREW REVERMAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2877
/Kara E. Geisel/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2877