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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-9, 11-13, and 15-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lanfant et al.(WO 2022/157440A1) US Publication 2024/0042671 is considered an English language translation and all paragraph numbers refer thereto.
Lanfant et al. discloses a method comprising feeding a first film into a pair of stacked cylindrical rollers rotating in opposite directions to continuously form a plurality of resonator chambers comprising a volume extending from the film, one roller having a plurality of protrusions and the other a plurality of dimples.(Figure 3) The reference discloses assembly with the second film can be done in a continuous process instead of the conditioning roll(5).[0014] The panels can be cut from the continuous supply at the exit.[0016] The reference does not disclose the film is supplied from a roll, though it does disclose a “film supply system”.[0018] It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to supply the first film from a roll since it is extremely well-known and conventional to supply films on rolls and it would have been obvious for this reason.
Regarding claim 11, Lafant et al. shows winding the formed first film rather than immediately joining it to a second film(Figure 3). While it does not explicitly disclose cutting the first film and then joining it to a second film, it does disclose that assembly can be done in the continuous line or separately.[0014] One in the art would appreciate that assembling them separately would require the first and second films to have been cut into sheets which are assembly as otherwise they would not be joined “separately” from the continuous process, and that joining pre-cut sheets is an obvious alternative to joining them in a continuous process.
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Lanfant et al. discloses heating above the melting temperature, which would be above the glass transition temperature.[0012] As the rollers are not heated, contact with them would cool the films.
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Lanfant et al. shows the resonator chambers can form a right n-agonal frustum(an n sided pyramid with the top cut off, Figure 1, [0065])
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Lanfant et al. the tips of the pyramids are missing, i.e. the film has holes in it at the tips of the pyramids.(Figure 2)
Regarding claims 6 and 16, while Lanfant et al. discloses the holes can be pierced, which is considered a form of punching.[0046]
Regarding claims 7 and 17, the resonator chambers and holes for a centered rectangular lattice.(Figure 1)
Regarding claims 8 and 18, the holes are the at top of the pyramids(if the panel is flipped over) not the sides.(Figure 2) One in the art would appreciate the top and bottom are simply to differentiate from the sides as the core is not in any location that its relationship to gravity matters and that the top and bottom are functionally equivalent.
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Lanfant et al. discloses the two films can be joined together by welding.[0068]
Claim(s) 4, 10, 14, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lanfant et al. as applied to claims 1, 3, 11, and 13 above, and further in view of JP S60244523.
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Lanfant et al. does not disclose using a vacuum to form the resonator core. JP S60244523 discloses it is known in the panel forming arts to use a vacuum to form pull the film into the dimples of a pair of rolls(machine translation). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to use a vacuum to help pull the film into the dimples since JP S60244523 teaches this is known in the panel forming arts(machine translation) and since this would aid in getting the film into the crevasses of the roll.
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Lanfant et al. does not show the panel has connections between the resonator chambers. JP S60244523 shows a formed panel with interconnected features between chambers formed by interconnections on the rolls.(Figure 2) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing make a panel with the shape of JP S60244523 having interconnections between the chambers since JP S60244523 teaches this is a known alternative shape for panels(Figures 3 versus Figure 5).
Conclusion
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BARBARA J. MUSSER
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1746
/BARBARA J MUSSER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1746