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 .
Rejections 35 U.S.C. § 112
1. 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 1-12 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.
At issue is whether claim 1 is directed to a foreign matter removal device intended to remove foreign matter from a surface of an electrode or a system requiring a foreign removal device and a surface of an electrode. Independent claim 1, in the penultimate line recites “…an adjustment unit recessed in a recess direction away from the surface of the electrode…”, it is not clear whether this limitation intends for the foreign matter removal device and the surface of the electrode be claimed as a system or whether the foreign matter removal device is being claimed alone. In other words, the phrase “the surface of the electrode” implies that the electrode is being claimed in addition to the foreign matter removal device as the surface of the electrode, necessarily requires the presence of the electrode. Additionally, last line of claim 6 is rejected for this reasons of requiring the surface of the electrode.
Claims 2-12 are rejected for their dependency on claim 1.
Rejections 35 U.S.C. § 102
2. 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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WIPO Patent Publication (98/19009) to Lindstrom et al. (cited by Applicant).
Regarding independent claim 1, Lindstrom et al. discloses a blowing unit (11) that is configured to blow air toward the electrode surface of the electrode, a suction unit (14) that sucks is configured to suck foreign matter separated from the electrode surface of the electrode (See page 5 lines 1-17 and claim 7) (See FIG. 1),
and an extension unit (17) extending between the blowing unit (11) and the suction unit (11) with that the extension unit (17) is formed with includes an adjustment unit (25) recessed in a recess direction (P2) away from the electrode surface (W) of the electrode, the recess direction (P2) being perpendicular to the transfer direction (R) (See page 5 lines 15-20 and FIG. 1).
Regarding claim 2, Lindstrom et al. discloses that the blowing unit (11) and the suction unit (14) are formed of each includes a slit (at up right arrows in FIG. 1 and down left arrows in FIG. 1) forming an angle with relative to the transfer direction (R) of the electrode,
the foreign matter removal device (10) is configured such that the air blown from the blowing unit (11) moves toward in an air travel direction opposite to the transfer direction (R) of the electrode, and the foreign matter removal device (10) is configured such that the air sucked by the suction unit (14) moves in the same air travel direction as the moving direction of the blown air (See FIG. 1 of Lindstrom et al.).
Regarding claim 3, Lindstrom et al. discloses that the angle of the blowing unit (11) relative to the transfer direction (R) is a first acute angle has a value substantially equal to the angle of the suction unit (14) relative to the transfer direction (R) that is a second acute angle (See FIG. 1 of Lindstrom et al.).
Rejections 35 U.S.C. § 103
3. 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:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 4, 5 and 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WIPO Patent Publication (98/19009) to Lindstrom et al. (cited by Applicant).
Regarding claim 4, Lindstrom et al. is silent regarding that the blowing unit (11) is configured to blow the air at an angle at which the air is blown to the blowing unit forms of 35 degrees to 55 degrees with relative to the transfer direction. However, absent criticality in the specification this 20 degree range, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date to modify the blowing unit (11) of Lindstrom et al. to have the blowing unit (11) tilted at least at angle of 35 degrees relative to the transfer direction (R) in order to tilt the blowing unit (11) adjust to different surfaces.
Regarding claim 5, Lindstrom et al. teaches that the blowing unit (11) is formed of includes a slit (See upright arrow in FIG. 1) forming an angle with relative to the transfer direction (R) but is silent regarding a width of the slit is 0.03 mm to 0.07 mm. However, absent criticality in the specification this 0.04 mm it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date to modify the width of the slit (See at upright arrow in FIG. 1) in order to adjust to different surfaces.
Regarding claim 9, Lindstrom et al. is silent regarding that the suction unit (14) is configured to suck the foreign matter at an angle at which the suction unit sucks foreign matters is of 35 degrees to 55 degrees. However, absent criticality in the specification this 20 degree range, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date to modify the suction unit (14) of Lindstrom et al. to have the suction unit (14) tilted at least at angle of 35 degrees relative to the transfer direction (R) in order to tilt the suction unit (14) adjust to different surfaces.
Regarding claim 10, Lindstrom et al. is silent the suction unit (14) is formed of includes a slit forming an angle with relative to the transfer direction, and the width of the slit is 1.0 mm to 3.0 mm. However, absent criticality in the specification this 2 mm, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date to modify the suction unit (14) of Lindstrom et al. to have the suction unit (14) slit (See FIG. 1 of Lindstrom et al.) adjust to different surfaces.
Regarding claim 11, Lindstrom et al. is silent that the extension unit (17) has a length of the extension unit is 20 mm to 35 mm. However, absent criticality in the specification this 15 mm range, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date to modify the length of the extension unit (17) of Lindstrom et al. to be at least 20 mm in order to adjust to the contours of different surfaces for the electrode.
Regarding claim 12, Lindstrom et al. is silent a depth of the adjustment unit (25) is has a depth of 3mm to 5mm, and the depth of the adjustment unit is calculated based on one a distance between a first surface of the extension unit on which the adjustment unit is not formed and a second surface of the extension unit within the adjustment unit that is farthest from the first surface in the recess direction. However, it would have been obvious to adjust the depth adjustment unit (25) to be at least 3mm in order to adjust for different surfaces.
Conclusion
4. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL D. JENNINGS whose telephone number is (571)270-1536. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4:30pm. EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica S. Carter can be reached at (571) 272-4475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MICHAEL DEANGILO. JENNINGS
Examiner
Art Unit 3723
/MICHAEL D JENNINGS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723