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 .
Response to Amendment
In response to the amendment received 10/30/2025, the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of claims 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 have been maintained, and the objection to claim 8 has been withdrawn from the previous office action.
Election/Restrictions
Newly amended and submitted claims 18 and 19 are directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed for the following reasons:
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11-17, drawn to a powder bed-based additive manufacturing apparatus, classified in B29C64/153.
II. Claims 18 and 19, drawn to a filament based additive manufacturing apparatus, classified in B29C64/209.
Inventions I and II are directed to related products. The related inventions are distinct if: (1) the inventions as claimed are either not capable of use together or can have a materially different design, mode of operation, function, or effect; (2) the inventions do not overlap in scope, i.e., are mutually exclusive; and (3) the inventions as claimed are not obvious variants. See MPEP § 806.05(j). In the instant case, the inventions as claimed are mutually exclusive with materially different designs, and produce three dimensional products via different mechanisms, such as by a powder bed fusion . Furthermore, the inventions as claimed do not encompass overlapping subject matter and there is nothing of record to show them to be obvious variants.
Restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper because all the inventions listed in this action are independent or distinct for the reasons given above and there would be a serious search and/or examination burden if restriction were not required because one or more of the following reasons apply:
the inventions have acquired a separate status in the art in view of their different classification;
the inventions have acquired a separate status in the art due to their recognized divergent subject matter; and/or
the inventions require a different field of search (e.g., searching different classes/subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search strategies or search queries).
Since applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention, this invention has been constructively elected by original presentation for prosecution on the merits. Accordingly, claims 18 and 19 are withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 C7FR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
To preserve a right to petition, the reply to this action must distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement. Otherwise, the election shall be treated as a final election without traverse. Traversal must be timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are subsequently added, applicant must indicate which of the subsequently added claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
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, and 11-17 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 configured to apply ultrasonic heating energy 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)).
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 14, Brown further discloses wherein the print head is in contact with the powdered print material ([0055] emission device 72 in contact with bulk substrate 14 through emissions 76 and dynamic template 74).
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 10/30/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant's argument regarding claim 1 on page 5 of applicant's remarks that Brown employs a fixed emission device supplying ultrasonic energy in conjunction with a dynamic template, neither of which move relative to the bulk substrate, the examiner disagrees, and notes, as stated above in the rejection, the emission device(s) of Brown are coupled to emission device actuation system(s) configured to move the emission device to control patterns of excitation generated by the overlapping emissions ([0018]).
In response to applicant's argument regarding claim 1 on page 5 of applicant's remarks that there is no motivation to modify Brown’s device based on Ghandi’s teachings as Ghandi’s device is specific to FDM printing which is substantially different from powder based bed printing, the examiner disagrees, and recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, the rationale to combine the references is that the substitution of one known element for another yields predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art (see MPEP 2143 (I) (B)), as stated above in the rejection of claim 1.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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