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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I, claims 1-10, in the reply filed on 5/15/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Espalin US2017/0064840A1.
Espalin discloses the claimed invention as follows:
Claim 1. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one conductive wire spool (24, Fig. 1);
a motion platform (“three-axis gantry system”1 in [0011] and [0035]; see 106 in Fig. 6) that includes a first actuator (see footnote 1) for following a first programmed motion in a first dimension and a second actuator for following a second programmed motion in a second dimension that is perpendicular to the first dimension;
a deposition head (10) that is mounted to the motion platform, receives a conductive wire (18) from the at least one conductive wire spool, and attaches the conductive wire onto a surface of a substrate (39; see Figs. 3A to 5B) ; and
a controller (automation motion system 106 comprising a three-axis gantry system necessarily requires a controller) that causes the motion platform to move along a programmed deposition path on the surface of the substrate, wherein at least a portion of the programmed deposition path varies in the first dimension and in the second dimension (see [0046] discussing motion in three-dimensional space to create the desired wire pattern; see also Fig. 5A).
Claim 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the motion platform further includes a third actuator (see footnote 1) for following a third programmed motion in a third dimension that is perpendicular to both the first dimension and the second dimension.
Claim 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the third programmed deposition path varies in the third dimension (see [0046] discussing motion in three-dimensional space to create the desired wire pattern).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 are alternatively rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Espalin in view of Forget (US2023/0041453A1).
As mentioned in footnote 1, it is deemed a three-axis gantry system is ubiquitous in the art, such that the presence of actuators configured to be program-controlled, and the requirement for a controller are implicitly disclosed. However, if Applicant disagrees, please refer to he Forget reference.
As mentioned in [0004[ of Forget, “a dispensing unit is mounted to a moving assembly or gantry for moving the dispensing unit along three mutually orthogonal axes (x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis) using servomotors controlled by a computer system or controller.” Forget further mentions “the dispensing unit is moved in the x- and y-axes along the desired path of the lines.” Forget further discloses a gantry system 44 (Fig. 2) whereby movement of beam 56 and carriage 58 employs ball screw mechanisms driven by respective motors (see [0029]), and an assembly 46 can be moved in a z-axis direction by a drive mechanism 60 (see [0031]), controlled by a controller (see abstract).
In view of the teachings of Forget, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to implement the three-axis gantry system of Espalin as including a controller and corresponding actuators for each of the three axes, to control the motion in three dimensions of the head 10 of Espalin, as a matter of utilizing a known configuration for a three-axis gantry system, with predictable results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Binstead (WO2015/185879A1) discloses an apparatus that can deposit wire on a substrate in two orthogonal directions, according to a controlled path.
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/LIVIUS R. CAZAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
1 A three-axis gantry system is a conventional motion system known in the art to allow motion in three orthogonal directions, X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis, a corresponding actuator being provided for each axis, for moving a tool in three dimensions according to a program control.
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