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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 3-5 in the reply filed on 2/13/2026 is acknowledged.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: On page 27, line 13, “output” it is objected because it is not the correct word in the used context. Therefore, it is suggested to change “output” to - -out- -. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Su et al. (US 2022/0234156 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Su discloses a cutting apparatus (2; Fig. 16) comprising a holding table (22) for holding a workpiece (11) thereon; a cutting unit (30) having a spindle (34; Fig. 2) on which a cutting blade (36) for cutting the workpiece (11) held on the holding table (22) is mounted; a replacing mechanism (76) for replacing consumable products including the cutting blade (36); a controller (82) for controlling at least the cutting unit (30) and the replacing mechanism (76); and a reading unit (260; Fig. 17) for reading identification marks (214) on consumable products stored in respective storage regions (254) of a storage tray (252), wherein the controller (82) includes a storage section (82b) for storing information of the consumable products to be mounted in the cutting apparatus (2), and a replacement product position storage section (82a; [0027]) for identifying and storing which storage regions of the storage tray the consumable products to be mounted in the cutting apparatus (2) have been stored in, on a basis of the identification marks (214) read by the reading unit (260), and the replacing mechanism (76) mounts the consumable products from the storage regions (254; Fig. 17) identified and stored by the replacement product position storage section in the cutting apparatus (2).
Regarding claim 5, Su discloses wherein the consumable products are stored on the storage tray (252)with the identification marks (214) held abutting against the storage tray (252), the storage tray (252) includes regions aligned with the respective identification marks (214) on the consumable products stored on the storage tray (252), the regions being each made of a transparent material (see [0292], and the reading unit (260) includes an image capturing camera (see [0292]) for capturing images of the identification marks (214) through the storage tray (252).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The references listed on the attached PTO-892 are cited to show cutting apparatus.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERMIE E COZART whose telephone number is (571)272-4528. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30am - 7:00pm.
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/JERMIE E COZART/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
March 21, 2026
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