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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-11 and 13-21 are pending and presented for examination on the merits.
Claims 15 and 16 are currently amended.
Election Acknowledged
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I, claims 1-11, 13-16, and 18-21, in the reply filed on 12/12/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is persuasive. Accordingly, the restriction is withdrawn.
In addition, claims 1, 15-18, and 21 are allowable. Claim 17, previously withdrawn from consideration as a result of a restriction requirement, includes all the limitations of an allowable claim. Pursuant to the procedures set forth in MPEP § 821.04(a), the restriction requirement between the inventions of Group I and Group II, as set forth in the Office action mailed on 10/16/2025, is hereby withdrawn and claim 17 is hereby rejoined and fully examined for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104. In view of the withdrawal of the restriction requirement, applicant(s) are advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application. Once the restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
Three (3) information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) were submitted on 07/27/2023, 08/10/2023, and 10/10/2025. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS are being considered by the examiner.
Objection to the Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference characters not mentioned in the description: FIG. 2: BLayer, HLayer, and DLV. (It is noted that the specification contains references to DLV,Core and DLV,Hull but not DLV.)
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) 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. 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.
Claims 2-11, 13, 14, 19, and 20 are 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.
Regarding claims 2-4, 7, 9-11, and 14, the claims are indefinite because of an internal inconsistency. The claims assume multiple outer paths (“the outer paths,” DHK spacing requires two or more outer paths, DLV, hull spacing between at least two adjacent outer paths, “one or more outer paths”). However, parent claim 1 permits the number of outer paths to be as low as one (“one or more outer paths” at line 11).
Regarding claims 5, 6, and 20, the claims are likewise rejected, as they depend on rejected claims 3 and 4.
Further regarding claims 4, 5, and 7, and regarding claim 8, the claims are indefinite due to an ambiguous antecedent basis of the term “the second average droplet diameter (dhull).” Parent claims 1 and 3 do not recite this term. Parent claim 1 recites the term “second average drop diameter” (not droplet), but labels it dcore (line 10). Parent claim 1 recites the label dhull, but associates the label with a “first average drop diameter” (line 8). Thus, “the second average droplet diameter (dhull)” lacks clarity, as there is no basis for this term and label.
Further regarding claims 5, 7, and 8, the claims are indefinite due to an ambiguous antecedent basis of the term “the first average droplet diameter (dcore).” Parent claim 1 recites the term “first average drop diameter” (not droplet), but labels it dhull (line 8). Parent claim 1 recites the label dcore, but associates the label with a “second average drop diameter” (line 10). Thus, “the first average droplet diameter (dcore)” lacks clarity, as there is no basis for this term and label.
Further regarding claim 6, the claim is likewise rejected, as it depends on rejected claims 3-5.
Further regarding claim 10, there is insufficient antecedent basis for the limitation “the third distance (DHK)” in the claim. There is no prior mention of a third distance or the label DHK in parent claim 1.
Regarding claim 13, the claim is indefinite due to an internal inconsistency. Claim 13 permits the angle (α) to be 0 (zero) degrees. When the angle (α) is 0 (zero) degrees, there is no overhang. However, parent claim 1 requires that the component contain an overhang, which requires that the angle (α) be greater than zero degrees. Thus, the angle (α) cannot be zero and also result in an overhang in the component.
Further regarding claim 13, the term “the angle (α)” is indefinite due to an ambiguous antecedent basis. Parent claim 1 refers to a “the first angle (α),” not just “angle (α).” Thus, it is unclear whether the terms refer to the same angle.
Regarding claims 14 and 19, the claims are likewise rejected, as they depend on rejected claim 13.
Further regarding claim 14, there is insufficient antecedent basis for the limitation “the third distance (DHK)” in the claim. There is no prior mention of a third distance or the label DHK in parent claims 1 or 13.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is likewise rejected, as it depends on rejected claims 3-6.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 15-18, and 21 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art reviewed do not teach a method of manufacturing a component in a dropwise fashion, where liquid material drops are deposited in one or more outer paths parallel to a contour, the spacing between the outermost path and the contour being increased proximal to the overhang by a compensation spacing based on the angle that forms the overhang.
US 2022/0234111 (A1) to Mantell et al. discloses operating a three-dimensional (3D) metal object manufacturing apparatus to form sloping surfaces having a slope angle of more than 45° from a line that is perpendicular to the structure on which the layer forming the slope surface is formed (abstract). The angle corresponds to a step-out distance from the perpendicular line and a maximum individual step-out distance determined from empirically derived data (para. [0018], [0019]; FIG. 1B). Multiple passes of an ejection head of the apparatus can be performed within a layer to form a sloped edge and the mass of the sloped structure is distributed within the sloped edge so the edge is formed without defects (abstract; para. [0024]).
US 2022/0168812 (A1) to Gibson discloses changing the drop pitch (space between the center of successive droplets) in order to modify the height of the built object (Fig. 8; para. [0058]).
Neither Mantell et al. nor Gibson discloses a scan path parallel to the edge in which the spacing between the contour and the outermost scan path of droplets is widened as a function of the angle for building an overhang according to instant claim 1. Mantell et al. and Gibson do not disclose an apparatus comprising a printhead, moving apparatus (configured as claimed), and control device configured to control the printhead and the moving apparatus to perform the method according to claim 1. Therefore, Mantell et al. and Gibson do not teach or suggest the inventions as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VANESSA T. LUK whose telephone number is (571)270-3587. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Keith D. Hendricks, can be reached at 571-272-1401. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VANESSA T. LUK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1733
April 04, 2026
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