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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgement is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1149 filed 02/09/2024 & 07/19/2024. These IDS have been considered.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kishikawa et al. (JP 2014105994; “Kishikawa”, see attached machine translation).
Regarding claim 1, Kishikawa discloses in at least figures 1-3 a combination weighing apparatus (1) comprising a first vibrator (160) that generates vibrations (¶ [0046]), a second vibrator (26) that generates vibrations (¶ [0036]), an article supplier (150) that has an outlet allowing articles (M) supplied from outside to be discharged (via 152) and conveys the articles (M) in response to the vibrations from the first vibrator (160) (¶ [0046]), a distribution table (2) circular in plan view (see figure 1) that discharges, in response to the vibrations from the second vibrator (26), the articles (M) supplied from the article supplier (150) in a radial direction while spiraling the articles (M) in a circumferential direction (¶ [0036]), a wall (23) arc-shaped that is attached to a first circumferential edge (22a) located downstream of the article supplier (150) and prevents discharge of the articles (M) from the first circumferential edge (22a), the first circumferential edge (22a) being part of a circumferential edge of the distribution table (2) (¶ [0037]), a plurality of feeding troughs (3) arrayed fanwise along a second circumferential edge that is part of the circumferential edge of the distribution table (3) and is out of the first circumferential edge (see figure 1, ¶ [0040) and a controller (8) that controls the vibrations of the first vibrator (160) and the vibrations of the second vibrator (26) (¶ [0057]) such that a discharge direction in which the articles (M) are discharged from the article supplier (150) to the first circumferential edge (22a) and a conveyance direction of the articles (M) on the distribution table (2) corresponding to the first circumferential edge (22a) are mutually inverse (¶¶ [0077]) and an aggregate of the articles (M) is formed at the first circumferential edge (22a) (¶¶ [0071]-[0073]).
Regarding claim 2, Kishikawa discloses in figure 11 a first combination weighing mechanism and a second combination weighing mechanism adjacent to each other (¶ [0029]), wherein the distribution table (2) includes a first distribution table (2) and a second distribution table (2) that the first combination weighing mechanism and the second combination weighing mechanism include, respectively, the first distribution table (2) and the second distribution table (2) being independent from each other, and a rotational direction of the first distribution table (2) and a rotational direction of the second distribution table (2) are identical to each other (see directional arrows in figure 11).
Regarding claim 3, Kishikawa discloses in figure 11 the article supplier (150) is asymmetric about a second straight line that passes through a center of a first straight line connecting a center of the first distribution table (2) and a center of the second distribution table (2) and is orthogonal to the first straight line (¶¶ [0085]-[0086], Examiner notes the off-center distribution tables with respect to the supplier as shown in Kishikawa figure 11 corresponds for figure 2 of the instant Application creating the clamed geometry).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2010/0108404 and CN 110155746 both teach using an arc-shaped wall along a circumference of a dispersion plate of a combinatorial weighing apparatus to better manipulate the conveyance of articles.
WO 2009/128379 and CN202522305 both teach tandem combinatorial weighing devices with the claimed arc-shaped wall along the portion of the dispersion tables that do not convey articles to troughs.
US 2024/0270507 likewise teaches a tandem combinatorial weighing apparatus as claimed but is not available as prior art under 102(a)(1) or 102(a)(2).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATALIE HULS whose telephone number is (571)270-5914. The examiner can normally be reached T-F 7-4 EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Catherine Rastovski can be reached at (571) 270-0349. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/NATALIE HULS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2863