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
Crossed out references on the initialed copy of the attached PTO-1449 are all duplicate citations, except for KR 10-2020-10119377 (no copy provided).
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 7 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 7 recites “T” in degrees Celsius which is incorrect, since T is in Kelvin (K) as recited in claim 1. The Examiner suggests the following amendment “[[T]] the temperature of the extrudate”.
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) 1-2 and 4-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 2000-0018319 in view of CN 102618010.
KR 2000-0018319 discloses a method for preparing a recycled acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin, the method comprising:
preparing an extrusion feed including an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) base resin including polyurethane, and
supplying the extrusion feed to an extruder to perform a depolymerization reaction of the polyurethane and extrude the extrusion feed to form an extrudate discharged from the extruder (See attached entire English translation provided by the Examiner; recycled PC/ABS base resin including polyurethane is fed into an extruder for extrusion to form an extrudate (extruded radiator grill), wherein the polyurethane is decomposed (depolymerization reaction) by heat and high shear force in the extruder to break down the bonds of polyurethane making the polyurethane into fine particles).
However, KR 2000-0018319 does not disclose the extrusion feed including a metal carboxylic acid salt or a hydrate of the metal carboxylic acid salt.
CN 102618010 discloses a method of recycling polyurethane including
preparing an extrusion feed including polyurethane and a metal carboxylic acid salt or a hydrate of the metal carboxylic acid salt, and
supplying the extrusion feed to an extruder to perform a depolymerization reaction of the polyurethane and extrude the extrusion feed (references are to the attached English translation provided by the Examiner; polyurethane, antioxidants, catalyst and alcoholysis agent are feed to an extruder for depolymerizing the polyurethane [0005], [0008], [0015]-[0016], wherein the catalysts include a metal carboxylic acid salt including zinc acetate and potassium acetate [0029].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to modify the method of KR 2000-0018319 to include a metal carboxylic acid salt, as disclosed by CN 102618010 because such a modification is known in the recycling art and would provide an alternative configuration for depolymerizing the urethane known to be operable in the art.
As to a master index (M) value calculated by Equation 1, as recited in instant claim 1, which satisfies 0.2≤M≤0.6, Equation 1 requires a residence time in extruder, a metal carboxylic acid salt content (parts by weight) in the extrusion feed based on 100 parts by weight of the ABS base resin, and temperature of the extrudate. CN 102618010 further discloses a residence time in extruder of 10 minutes (600 sec) , a metal carboxylic acid salt content (parts by weight) in the extrusion feed based on 100 parts by weight of the polyurethane of 0.03-5 parts [0022], and temperature of the extrudate of 220 degrees Celsius. Note that the instant claims recite a residence time of 30 to 400 sec (instant claim 6), a metal carboxylic acid salt content (parts by weight) of 0.05 to 2 (instant claim 4) and of 0.1 to 1 (instant claim 5), and temperature of 220 to 290 degrees Celsius. Thus, it would have been further obvious to further modify the method with a master index (M) value which satisfies 0.2≤M≤0.6 because such M values would have been found in finding operable residence times, metal carboxylic acid salt contents, and temperatures to enable decomposition (depolymerization) of the polyurethane in view of the teachings of CN 102618010 which disclose examples of operable residence times, metal carboxylic acid salt contents, and temperatures, which are very close to the instantly claimed residence times, metal carboxylic acid salt contents, and temperatures.
As to claim 2, CN 102618010 discloses the method wherein the metal carboxylic acid salt comprises at least one selected from zinc acetate and potassium acetate [0029], as mentioned above.
As to claims 4-5, CN 102618010 discloses the method wherein a content of the metal carboxylic acid salt in the extrusion feed is 0.03-5 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the polyurethane [0022], as mentioned above. The instant specification requires 100 parts by weight of ABS base resin including polyurethane, and thus the amount of polyurethane in 100 parts by weight of ABS base resin including polyurethane (which includes both ABS and polyurethane) is less than 100 parts by weight of polyurethane. In view of the lesser amount of polyurethane, it would have been further obvious to modify the method wherein a content of the metal carboxylic acid salt in the extrusion feed is 0.05 parts by weight to 2 parts by weight (or 0.1 parts by weight to 1 part by weight) with respect to 100 parts by weight of the ABS base resin because such a content of the metal carboxylic acid salt would have been found in view of the teachings of CN 102618010 in finding operable metal carboxylic acid salt (catalyst) contents to enable decomposition (depolymerization) of the lesser amount polyurethane in the ABS resin.
As to claim 6, CN 102618010 discloses the method wherein a residence time of the extrusion feed in the extruder is 10 minutes (600 sec) [0021], as mentioned above. As mentioned above, CN 102618010 discloses using 100 parts by weight of polyurethane. The instant specification requires 100 parts by weight of ABS base resin including polyurethane, and thus the amount of polyurethane in 100 parts by weight of ABS base resin including polyurethane (which includes both ABS and polyurethane) is less than 100 parts by weight of polyurethane. In view of the lesser amount of polyurethane, it would have been further obvious that a lower residence time would be required for a lesser amount of polyurethane. Therefore, it would have been obvious to further modify the method wherein a residence time (MRT) of the extrusion feed in the extruder MRT is 30 seconds to 400 seconds because such times would have been found in finding operable residence times in view of the teachings of CN 102618010 depending upon the process conditions including the lesser amount of polyurethane in the extrusion feed.
As to claim 7, CN 102618010 discloses the method wherein a temperature of the extrudate is 220°C [0015], as mentioned above.
As to claim 8-9, CN 102618010 further discloses the method wherein the extrusion feed further includes a polyhydric alcohol, such as glycerol (glycerin) and erythritol, wherein a content of the glycerol is 40-200 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of polyurethane, and a content of erythritol is 2-3 parts by weight respect to 100 parts by weight of polyurethane [0022], [0025], [0027]. The instant specification requires 100 parts by weight of ABS base resin including polyurethane, and thus the amount of polyurethane in 100 parts by weight of ABS base resin including polyurethane (which includes both ABS and polyurethane) is less than 100 parts by weight of polyurethane. In view of the lesser amount of polyurethane, it would have been further obvious to modify the method wherein a content of the polyhydric alcohol is 0.01 parts by weight to 3 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the ABS base resin because such a content would have been found in view of the teachings of CN 102618010 in finding operable polyhydric alcohol contents to enable decomposition (depolymerization) of the lesser amount polyurethane in the ABS resin.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 2000-0018319 in view of CN 102618010 as applied to claims 1-2 4-9 above, and further in view of Treskow et al. (US 2021/0179529).
KR 2000-0018319 and CN 102618010 do not disclose the limitations of claim 3.
Treskow et al. (US 2021/0179529) discloses that catalysts may be employed as salts or as hydrates [0065].
As mentioned above, CN 102618010 discloses the catalyst being zinc acetate or potassium acetate.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the catalyst to be a hydrate of zinc acetate or a hydrate of potassium acetate because it is known in the art that catalysts may be employed as salts or as hydrates, as disclosed by Treskow et al. (US 2021/0179529).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 2000-0018319 in view of CN 102618010 as applied to claims 1-2 4-9 above, and further in view of CN 110698808.
KR 2000-0018319 and CN 102618010 do not disclose the limitations of claim 10.
CN 110698808 disclose a method for recycling ABS resin including supplying an extrudate discharged from the extruder to a pelletizer to perform pelletization.
As mentioned above, KR 2000-0018319 discloses, after the performing of the depolymerization reaction of the polyurethane, extruding of the extrusion feed to form an extrudate product (a radiator grill).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the method to further comprise after the performing of the depolymerization reaction of the polyurethane and the extruding of the extrusion feed, supplying the extrudate discharged from the extruder to a pelletizer to perform pelletization, as disclosed by CN 110698808, because such a modification is known in the art and would provide an alternative configuration for the method capable of producing a different extrudate product (i.e., pellets).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH S LEYSON whose telephone number is (571)272-5061. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sam Xiao Zhao can be reached at 5712705343. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.S.L/Examiner, Art Unit 1744
/XIAO S ZHAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1744
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