DETAILED ACTION
In Reply filed on 02/03/2026, claims 1-16 are pending. Claims 5-13 are withdrawn based on the restriction requirement. Claim 1 is currently amended. Claims 1-4 and 14-16 are considered in the current Office 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 Previous Objections/Rejections
Previous objections to the drawings are withdrawn based on the Applicant’s amendment to the specification.
335 USC 112(b) rejections of claims are withdrawn based on the Applicant’s amendment.
35 USC 102 and 103 rejections are maintained in view of the Applicant’s amendment and argument. See Response to Argument below.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1, lines 14-15 recites the limitation “the splitting/coupling unit emits a pattern beam obtained by converting the light beam having the first pattern…and emits a pattern beam obtained by converting the light beam having the second pattern reflected from the splitting/coupling unit” should read as “the splitting/coupling unit emits a first pattern beam obtained by converting the light beam having the first pattern…and emits a second pattern beam obtained by converting the light beam having the second pattern reflected from the splitting/coupling unit” for the purpose of clarifying that the two pattern beams are different.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1, 3-4, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN107479205 (“Ye et al” hereinafter Ye), machine translation provided in Office Action dated 08/29/2025.
Regarding Claim 1, Ye teaches a stereolithography apparatus (abstract and Figure 3) comprising:
a splitting/coupling unit (Figure 3, dichroic prism 117) that splits incident light applied to a photocurable resin to form a cured portion (page 9, lines 40-48, dichroic prism 117 splits the light from the light source assembly 112 into three light beams and the light beams are guided to the molding groove and cure the molding materials, page 2, lines 41-42), in a first direction and a second direction (Figure 3), couples light beams obtained by splitting incident light and being incident from the first direction and the second direction (page 9, lines 42-44), and emits the coupled light in a third direction (Figure 3, the coupled light beam then emitted through the lens assembly 15 which is located at a different direction from the first and second direction); and
a first spatial light modulation unit (Figure 3, pattern determining elements 113 which might be spatial light modulator, page 5, lines 50-52) that is arranged in the first direction to modulate a light beam from the splitting/coupling unit into a light beam having a first pattern having a pattern of the cured portion (Figure 3 and page 9, lines 40-41 and page 8, lines 13-27), and emit the light beam having the first pattern to the splitting/coupling unit, for coupling of the light beam having the first pattern (page 9, lines 40-41 and page 8, lines 13-27); and
a second spatial light modulation unit (Figure 3, a second pattern determining elements 113 which might be spatial light modulator, page 5, lines 50-52; more than one pattern determining element 113 is present) that is arranged in the second direction to modulate a light beam from the splitting/coupling unit into a light beam having a second pattern in the vicinity of the first pattern (Figure 3 and page 9, lines 40-41 and page 8, lines 13-27), and emit the light beam having the second pattern to the splitting/coupling unit, for coupling of the light beam having the second pattern (page 9, lines 40-41 and page 8, lines 13-27), wherein
the splitting/coupling unit emits a pattern beam obtained by converting the light beam having the first pattern transmitted through the splitting/coupling unit, and emits a pattern beam obtained by converting the light beam having the second pattern reflected from the splitting/coupling unit (page 9, lines 36-44 and Figure 3, the light rays of the respective wavebands are transmitted to the pattern deciding elements 113 with different pattern information, and the dichroic prism 117 will then have different Light of different wavebands of the pattern information is coupled to the same optical path and then transmitted to the lens assembly 115 and the light splitting element 114. Different pattern information of light beam is different pattern beam. Thus, the dichroic prism of Ye capable of being used as intended as discussed above and thus meets all of the structural limitations as claimed. See MPEP 2114.).
Regarding Claim 3, Ye teaches the stereolithography apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the first spatial light modulation unit (Figure 3, pattern determining elements 113 which might be spatial light modulator, page 5, lines 50-52) modulates the light beam from the splitting/coupling unit into the light beam having the first pattern, and reflects the light beam having the first pattern to the splitting/coupling unit (page 9, lines 56-58), and
the second spatial light modulation unit (Figure 3, a second pattern determining elements 113 which might be spatial light modulator, page 5, lines 50-52; more than one pattern determining element 113 is present) modulates the light beam from the splitting/coupling unit into the light beam having the second pattern, and reflects the light beam having the second pattern to the splitting/coupling unit (page 9, lines 56-58).
Regarding Claim 4, Ye teaches the stereolithography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second pattern is a pattern adjacent to the first pattern in a direction parallel to a surface of the photocurable resin (Figure 3 and page 2, lines 41-42).
Regarding Claim 16, Ye teaches the stereolithography apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second optical system (Figure 3, lens assembly 115) that reduces the light emitted from the splitting/coupling unit (page 7, lines 42-54).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 2 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN107479205 (“Ye et al” hereinafter Ye), machine translation provided in Office Action dated 08/29/2025 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of CN113043588 (“Wei al et” hereinafter Wei), machine translation provided.
Regarding Claim 2, Ye teaches the stereolithography apparatus according to claim 1, but fails to teach wherein the incident light is laser light from a femtosecond laser light source.
However, Wei teaches the incident light is laser light from a femtosecond laser light source (page 3, lines 27-29, the light source module might be a femtosecond laser).
Ye and Wei are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because both are in the same field of additive manufacturing for manufacturing an article using a plurality of modulation unit. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modified the apparatus of Ye such that it discloses all of the abovementioned limitation as taught by Wei to improve printing accuracy by using femtosecond laser to excite the non-degenerate two-photon polymerization effect (page 5, lines 37-38).
Regarding Claim 14, Ye teaches the stereolithography apparatus according to claim 1, but fails to teach further comprising a resin holding portion that is arranged in the third direction to hold the photocurable resin, and hold the cured portion formed by light emitted from the splitting/coupling unit.
However, Wei teaches a resin holding portion (Figure 6, load displacement module 40) that is arranged in the third direction to hold the photocurable resin (Figure 6 and load displacement module 40 is arrange in a third direction, different from the direction of the first spatial light modulator 203 and second spatial light modulator 204 and holds photoresist 403 such as photosensitive resin material, page 11, line 28), and hold the cured portion formed by light emitted from the splitting/coupling unit (Figure 6 and page 10, lines 46-59. The displacement platform 401 hold the cured portion and moved the cured portion).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modified the apparatus of Ye such that it discloses all of the abovementioned limitation as taught by Wei because the combination of the known elements provides a predictable result, namely, another known design in the field of stereolithography. See MPEP 2143.
Regarding Claim 15, Ye teaches the stereolithography apparatus according to claim 1, but fails to teach further comprising a first optical system that is arranged between a light source that generates the incident light and the splitting/coupling unit to enlarge a beam diameter of the incident light.
However, Wei teaches a first optical system that is arranged between a light source that generates the incident light and the splitting/coupling unit to enlarge a beam diameter of the incident light (Figure 6 and page 9, lines 33-37).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modified the apparatus of Ye such that it discloses all of the abovementioned limitation as taught by Wei to expand beams and to filter the laser beam (page 9, lines 33-37).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 02/03/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The Applicant argues Ye's dichroic prism 117 does not emit a pattern beam obtained by converting the light beam having the first pattern transmitted through the dichroic prism 117, and emit a pattern beam obtained by converting the light beam having the second pattern reflected from the dichroic prism 117. See, e.g., Ye, Fig. 3.
The Examiner respectfully disagreed. Ye discloses The dichroic prism 117 splits the light from the light source assembly 112 into three light beams having different wavebands. The light rays of the respective wavebands are transmitted to the pattern deciding elements 113 with different pattern information, and the dichroic prism 117 will then have different Light of different wavebands of the pattern information is coupled to the same optical path and then transmitted to the lens assembly 115 and the light splitting element 114 (Figure 3 and page 9, lines 40-44 and page 9, line 56- page 10, line 2). In other words, the light beam generated by the light source assembly 112 is split into three different light beams with different wavebands and transmitted to respective pattern deciding elements 113 (Figure 3, pattern determining elements 113 which might be spatial light modulator, page 5, lines 50-52). Each of the pattern deciding elements 113 have different pattern information which formed patterned beams. The patterned beams then emit/reflect (page 9, lines 10-13, the dichroic mirror can reflect a first light and penetrate a second light or vice versa) through dichroic prism 117 again with different wavebands and pattern information to the lens assembly 115. Thus, Ye does teach the added limitations of claim 1 and the rejection is maintained.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XINWEN (Cindy) YE whose telephone number is (571)272-3010. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8:30 - 17:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Susan Leong can be reached at (571) 270-1487. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SEYED MASOUD MALEKZADEH/Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1754
XINWEN (CINDY) YE
Examiner
Art Unit 1754