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 .
Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the present application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDSs dated 12 October 2023, 30 April 2024, and 22 January 2025 have been considered by the examiner.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7, and 10-13, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ha (US 20210331466) in view of Tsuji (US 20240375399).
Re: claim 1, Ha discloses a driving member 150, 160, 190 (Fig. 1) including a power source (para. 78 discloses voltage source); a slider (Fig. 1 bottom rectangular components of gantry 130 that correspond to guiderails 211 & 212, and elements 140, 141, 142) configured to linearly move (capability to so move disclosed in at least Fig. 1 and para. 72 which discloses elements 140-142 that perform linear movement); a guide member 211, 212 coupled to the slider and configured to provide a movement path to the slider (coupling & configuration disclosed in at least Figs. 1 & 2 and in para. 73); and a bracket 150, 160 coupled to the slider (coupling via gantry 130 disclosed in Fig. 1), wherein the bracket is divided into a first bracket 151, 160 (Figs. 1, 2) and a second bracket 152, 160 separated from each other by a first gap (first gap between 151 and 152 and their corresponding portions to 160 disclosed in Figs. 1, 2).
While Ha does not explicitly disclose that the power from a power supply moves the guide member, the Office takes Official Notice that a person of ordinary skill in the art at a time prior to the effective date would have known that a power source of some kind, such as, but not limited to, electrical, mechanical, or human, would have been needed to move a moveable component.
Ha does not explicitly disclose a first cooling member configured to cool the first bracket and a second cooling member configured to cool the second bracket, and the driving member includes a third cooling member configured to cool the power source.
Tsuji discloses a first cooling member 525 (Fig. 9) configured to cool the first bracket 522 (configuration disclosed in at least Fig. 9 where one of the five head assemblies 50 is disclosed, where each head assembly has a first bracket 522) and a second cooling member configured to cool the second bracket (configuration disclosed in at least para. 31, and Fig. 4 disclose a total of five head assemblies 50, where each head assembly is comprised of a bracket 522 and a cooling member 525, shown in Fig. 9).
While Tsuji does not explicitly disclose a separate third cooling member to cool the power source, Tsuji does disclose cooling members 525 (Fig. 9) and the existence of a power source (para. 77). The cooling member 525 of Tsuji is capable of cooling the head assembly 50, which is comprised of heat generating components such as the print heads themselves and the piezo actuators 831. A person of ordinary skill in the art at a time prior to the effective date would have been able to apply the teaching of having the cooling member 525 disposed proximate to other heat generating components within device 100, such as a power source, in order to dissipate the heat generated by that component. Hence, the claim limitation is the obvious application of a known technique to a known device that yields predictable results.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at a time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a first cooling member configured to cool the first bracket and a second cooling member configured to cool the second bracket, and the driving member includes a third cooling member configured to cool the power source, as disclosed by Tsuji, applied to the device disclosed by Ha for the purpose of dissipating the heat generated by heat-generating components in the printing device.
Re: claim 11, Ha discloses a chuck 121 configured to support a substrate S (Fig. 1); a driving device including a driving member 150, 160, 190 (Fig. 1) including a power source (para. 78 discloses voltage source); a slider (Fig. 1 bottom rectangular components of gantry 130 that correspond to guiderails 211 & 212, and elements 140, 141, 142) configured to linearly move (capability to so move disclosed in at least Fig. 1 and para. 72 which discloses elements 140-142 that perform linear movement); a guide member 211, 212 configured to provide a movement path to the slider and coupled to the slider (coupling & configuration disclosed in at least Figs. 1 & 2 and in para. 73); and a bracket 150, 160 coupled to the slider (coupling via gantry 130 disclosed in Fig. 1), and at least one inkjet head 151-153 coupled to the bracket (coupling disclosed in Fig. 1) and configured to dispense a chemical liquid toward the substrate (para. 89 discloses dispensing ink); wherein the bracket is divided into a first bracket 151, 160 (Figs. 1, 2) and a second bracket 152, 160 separated from each other by a first gap (first gap between 151 and 152 and their corresponding portions to 160 disclosed in Figs. 1, 2).
While Ha does not explicitly disclose that the power from a power supply moves the guide member, the Office takes Official Notice that a person of ordinary skill in the art at a time prior to the effective date would have known that a power source of some kind, such as, but not limited to, electrical, mechanical, or human, would have been needed to move a moveable component.
Ha does not explicitly disclose a first cooling member configured to cool the first bracket and a second cooling member configured to cool the second bracket, and the driving member includes a third cooling member configured to cool the power source.
Tsuji discloses a first cooling member 525 (Fig. 9) configured to cool the first bracket 522 (configuration disclosed in at least Fig. 9 where one of the five head assemblies 50 is disclosed, where each head assembly has a first bracket 522) and a second cooling member configured to cool the second bracket (configuration disclosed in at least para. 31, and Fig. 4 disclose a total of five head assemblies 50, where each head assembly is comprised of a bracket 522 and a cooling member 525, shown in Fig. 9).
While Tsuji does not explicitly disclose a separate third cooling member to cool the power source, Tsuji does disclose cooling members 525 (Fig. 9) and the existence of a power source (para. 77). The cooling member 525 of Tsuji is capable of cooling the head assembly 50, which is comprised of heat generating components such as the print heads themselves and the piezo actuators 831. A person of ordinary skill in the art at a time prior to the effective date would have been able to apply the teaching of having the cooling member 525 disposed proximate to other heat generating components within device 100, such as a power source, in order to dissipate the heat generated by that component. Hence, the claim limitation is the obvious application of a known technique to a known device that yields predictable results.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at a time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a first cooling member configured to cool the first bracket and a second cooling member configured to cool the second bracket, and the driving member includes a third cooling member configured to cool the power source, as disclosed by Tsuji, applied to the device disclosed by Ha for the purpose of dissipating the heat generated by heat-generating components in the printing device.
Re: claims 2 and 12, Ha and Tsuji disclose the limitations of claims of claims 1 and 11 respectively, and Ha further discloses that the first gap (Fig. 1, the gap between adjacent brackets 150, 160) is formed so that the first bracket 150, 160 and the second bracket 150, 160 (where Fig. 1 discloses multiple brackets 150, 160) are separated from each other in a direction parallel to a moving direction of the slider (Fig. 1 discloses parallel, and where the slider is comprised of the bottom rectangular components of gantry 130 that correspond to guiderails 211 & 212, and elements 140, 141, 142).
Re: claim 3, Ha and Tsuji disclose the limitations of claim 1, and while Ha does not explicitly disclose that the first gap (Fig. 1, the gap between adjacent brackets 150, 160) is formed so that the first bracket 150, 160 and the second bracket are separated from each other in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the slider (Fig. 1 where the slider is comprised of the bottom rectangular components of gantry 130 that correspond to guiderails 211 & 212, and elements 140, 141, 142), Ha makes such disclosure where the brackets are separated from each other in a parallel direction, as noted above with respect to claim 2. It would have been obvious to try for a person of ordinary skill in the art at a time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied the teaching of Ha with respect to the brackets being separated in a parallel direction to those separated in a perpendicular direction. The motivation to do so would be for the purpose of the maintaining the positioning of the heads with respect to each other and with respect to the slider independent of the sliding direction as dictated by design requirements.
Re: claim 4, Ha and Tsuji disclose the limitations of claim 1, and Ha further discloses that the first bracket 150, 160 has a rectangular shape according to the first gap (shape with respect to first gap disclosed in Fig. 1), and the second bracket is separated from the first bracket in directions parallel to and perpendicular to the moving directions of the slider (parallel & perpendicular disclosed in Figs. 5-6 and Figs. 8-18, were element 150 has L-shaped portions on its distal ends and in Fig. 19 which has a u-shape portion at one end).
Re: claims 5 and 13, Ha and Tsuji disclose the limitations of claims 1 and 11 respectively, and Tsuji further discloses that the cooling members each include a cooling passage (para. 80 discloses that two lines circulating cooling water are arranged in loops on the back surface of drive substrate 522).
Re: claims 7 and 15, Ha and Tsuji disclose the limitations of claims 1 and 11 respectively, and Ha further discloses a controller 29 configured to control each of the cooling members to be switched between an operation mode and a non-operation mode (para. 81 discloses that controller 29 may control the driving of cooling members 525).
Re: claim 10, Ha and Tsuji disclose the limitations of claim 1, and Ha further discloses at least one inkjet head 151-153 (Fig. 1) coupled to the bracket 150, 160 and configured to dispense a chemical liquid toward a substrate (para. 89 discloses ink).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 8, 9, 14, 16, and 17 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.
Claims 18-20 are allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGELA MEDICH whose telephone number is (313)446-4819. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM ET.
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/ANGELA M. MEDICH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871