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 .
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 1-17 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. The issue herein lies with independent claims 1 and 15, and the requirements of “a nominal beam path trajectory” and “build plane”. The claims as written do not allow for the actual trajectory(ies) and plane(s) to be determined as written. And without that axes set; it is impossible to determine how these will be moved in reference to one another. As none of claims 2-14 or 16-17 clarify this issue, these claims must likewise be rejected under 35 USC 112 second paragraph.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In regards to independent claim 18, though US Patent Application Publication Numbers 20150100065, 20070280589 and 20040008400 all teach some of the limitations of independent claim 18, these references fail to teach a plurality of actuator elements disposed in the interior cavity and abutting the plurality of flex joints, wherein actuation of the plurality of elements causes the reflective optic on the support stage to move Claims 19-20 are allowed by virtue of their dependency on the allowed base claim 18.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICOLE M IPPOLITO whose telephone number is (571)270-7449. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:00am-4:00pm Mountain Time.
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/NICOLE M IPPOLITO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2881