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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/19/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
In response to the amendment received 05/19/2026, the following rejections have been withdrawn from the previous office action:
35 U.S.C. 103 rejection of claim 14
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 3, 5, 7, and 12 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.
Claim 3 recites “wherein the ultrasonic energy is filtered using a low pass filter”, which renders the claim vague and indefinite as it is not clear if the “low pass filter” is a further limitation of the “acoustic filter” introduced in claim 1 or refers to a new limitation. For the purposes of examination, the claimed “low pass filter” will be considered to further limit the “acoustic filter” of claim 1.
Claim 5 recites “wherein the ultrasonic energy is filtered using a band pass filter”, which renders the claim vague and indefinite as it is not clear if the “band pass filter” is a further limitation of the “acoustic filter” introduced in claim 1 or refers to a new limitation. For the purposes of examination, the claimed “band pass filter” will be considered to further limit the “acoustic filter” of claim 1.
Claim 7 recites “wherein the ultrasonic energy is filtered using a high pass filter”, which renders the claim vague and indefinite as it is not clear if the “high pass filter” is a further limitation of the “acoustic filter” introduced in claim 1 or refers to a new limitation. For the purposes of examination, the claimed “high pass filter” will be considered to further limit the “acoustic filter” of claim 1.
Claim 12 recites “wherein the broadband ultrasonic horn further comprises at least one of a low pass filter, a band pass filter, and a high pass filter”, which renders the claim vague and indefinite as it is not clear if the “low pass filter”, “band pass filter”, and “high pass filter” are further limitations of the “acoustic filter” introduced in claim 1 or refer to new limitations. For the purposes of examination, the claimed “low pass filter”, “band pass filter”, and “high pass filter” limitations will be considered to further limit the “acoustic filter” of claim 1.
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) 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11-13, and 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Published Application US20160271870A1, hereafter Brown, in view of Published Application US20170113405A1, hereafter Gandhi.
Regarding claim 1, Brown discloses an apparatus for additive manufacturing printing [0001], comprising:
a print bed (“bulk substrate” [0032]) of powdered print material (“granular substrates, layered substrates, and the like” [0032]); and
a print head configured to move relative to the print bed ([0018] emission device coupled to emission device actuation system configured to move the emission device to control patterns of excitation generated by the overlapping emissions) having an ultrasonic energy head ([0029] one or more emitters; [0033] emission system 12 with focusing system; [0134] ultrasonic frequencies) as the sole heating source (in one embodiment, ultrasonic energy is the only source of energy used [0133-0134]), wherein the ultrasonic energy head is in direct physical contact with the powdered print material ([0033 emission system 12 with focusing system; [0055] focusing system is dynamic template 74; [0057] dynamic template 74 in contact with substrate material used to produce the article 20), wherein the ultrasonic energy head is configured to apply, via an acoustic filter ([0057] dynamic template 74), targeted filtered ultrasonic heating energy optimized to the powdered print material ([0083] acoustic emissions may be of sufficient energy, wavelength, etc., to cause physical and/or chemical changes in the material of the bulk substrate 14) to weld at least a portion of the powdered print material ([0047] welding; [0059] pattern of excitation 82 may cause vibrations sufficient to cause localized heating to write a cross-sectional geometry into the layer) to form in-layer patterns (“complex shapes and patterns in each layer” [0058, 0140]) of the print material into a printed output (“desired article of manufacture” [0065, 0126]) according to a print plan (“three dimensional image” [0059, 0126]) that exerts control over the print head ([0082, 0126]).
Regarding the “print bed of powdered print material comprising polymers and non-polymers” limitation, the examiner notes that the inclusion of the material or article worked upon by a structure being claimed does not impart patentability to the claims (MPEP 2115).
Brown is silent on the ultrasonic emitter being in the form of an ultrasonic horn.
In the analogous art of additive manufacturing, Gandhi discloses the use of an ultrasonic horn (202) to amplify the ultrasonic vibrations that are induced by the transducer (200) ([0024]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to substitute the known ultrasonic horn form in place of the known form of the ultrasonic emitter of Brown to yield the predictable result of amplifying the ultrasonic vibrations produced by the emitter (MPEP 2143 (I) (B)).
Brown is silent on wherein the
Regarding claim 3, Brown discloses wherein the ultrasonic energy is filtered using a low pass filter ([0071] the inclusions 132 of the dynamic template 74 may be controlled to have a spatial periodicity corresponding to a desired bandgap in the waveforms. Thus, if the inclusions 132 may be controlled to produce an output within upper and lower bounds, one of ordinary skill in the art would know that they may also be controlled to produce an output with only upper bounds).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to control the inclusions 132 of the dynamic template 74 of Brown to produce an output with only upper bounds in order to achieve the desired level of filtering.
Regarding claim 5, Brown discloses wherein the ultrasonic energy is filtered using a band pass filter ([0071] inclusions 132 of dynamic template 74 may be controlled to have a spatial periodicity corresponding to a desired bandgap in the waveforms).
Regarding claim 7, Brown discloses wherein the ultrasonic energy is filtered using a high pass filter ([0071] the inclusions 132 of the dynamic template 74 may be controlled to have a spatial periodicity corresponding to a desired bandgap in the waveforms. Thus, if the inclusions 132 may be controlled to produce an output within upper and lower bounds, one of ordinary skill in the art would know that they may also be controlled to produce an output with only lower bounds).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to control the inclusions 132 of the dynamic template 74 of Brown to produce an output with only lower bounds in order to achieve the desired level of filtering.
Regarding claim 9, Brown discloses wherein the amount of ultrasonic heating energy applied by the ultrasonic print head correlates to a specific material ([0034] phonon reactive materials that melt depending on a particular vibrational frequency, or materials capable of being sintered based on vibration and heat; [0037] directing controlled emissions toward the substrate, resulting in controlled excitation of the substrate, such as producing phonons; acoustic phonons produced by excitation of the bulk substrate may be individually or collectively manipulated to cause vibration and/or heating in the bulk substrate 14 for manufacturing).
Regarding claim 11, Brown further discloses wherein the ultrasonic horn is a broadband ultrasonic horn ([0068] dynamic template 74 serves to focus a wide-band emission of the emission device 72).
Regarding claim 12, Brown further discloses wherein the broadband ultrasonic horn further comprises at least one of a low pass filter, a band pass filter ([0071] inclusions 132 of dynamic template 74 may be controlled to have a spatial periodicity corresponding to a desired bandgap in the waveforms), and a high pass filter.
Regarding claim 13, Brown further discloses wherein the ultrasonic print head is configured to tunably deliver the ultrasonic heating energy to the print material ([0027] vibration and heating caused by emissions specifically tuned to the particular solid material being used for manufacture).
Regarding claim 15, Brown further discloses wherein movement of the print head relative to the print bed is in three dimensions ([0106] actuating arms 242, 244 of emission device actuation system 240; [0106] emission device actuation system includes various servomechanisms controllable by system controller 140 to control movement of emission devices).
Regarding claim 16, modified Brown further discloses wherein the ultrasonic horn comprises a plurality of ultrasonic horns ([0106] multiple emission devices).
Regarding claim 17, modified Brown further discloses wherein the plurality of ultrasonic horns are selectable according to the print plan ([0111] one or more of the first, second, and third emission devices 160, 162, 260 may be configured to cause positioning of the bulk substrate 14, while one or more of the emission devices not used for this positioning may instead be used to cause excitation to sinter, melt, or cause some other combining process to occur to form the bulk substrate 14 in place).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/19/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument regarding claim 1 on page 4 of applicant’s remarks that Brown and Ghandi, alone or in combination, do not teach or suggest where the ultrasonic energy head is in direct physical contact with the powdered print material, and where the ultrasonic energy head comprises an ultrasonic horn and an acoustic filter, the examiner disagrees, and notes, as stated in the rejection of claim 1, that the acoustic filter of Brown (dynamic template 74) is in direct contact with the powdered print material (bulk substrate 14) and is a part of the ultrasonic energy head ([0033 emission system 12 with focusing system; [0055] focusing system is dynamic template 74; [0057] dynamic template 74 in contact with substrate material used to produce the article 20).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY HEMINGWAY whose telephone number is (571)272-0235. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 6-4.
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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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/T.G.H./Examiner, Art Unit 1754
/SUSAN D LEONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1754
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