DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
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 of invention and/or species, and corresponding claims (1, 3, 4) is acknowledged. The election has been made without traverse. Non-elected claims are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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 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.
Claim 1 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 as being unpatentable over Assink (US 20040028958 A1).
In reference to claim 1, Assink discloses manufacturing a product comprising
a first accumulating step of producing a first accumulated fiber body in which a plurality of first fibers, which are natural fibers, and a plurality of second fibers including a first core portion and a first coating layer coating the first core portion and having a first melting point are mixed; (“providing from about 40% to about 70% by weight of said panel of a cellulose component; providing from about 30% to about 60% by weight of said panel of a conjugate fiber, said conjugate fiber having a first portion of a first thermoplastic and a second portion of a second thermoplastic having a melting temperature less than the melting temperature of said first thermoplastic; dispersing together said cellulose component and said conjugate fiber to form a non-woven fibrous batt having a plurality of regions of contact between adjacent conjugate fibers” [Claim 47])
a heating step of heating the first accumulated fiber body to melt the first coating layer; (“a first heating step in which at least a portion of said second thermoplastic melts in said batt” [Claim 50])
a first cooling step of cooling the first accumulated fiber body in a state where the first coating layer is melted to solidify the first coating layer; (“a first cooling step after said first heating step in which said second thermoplastic solidifies” [Claim 50])
a pressurized heating step of heating the first accumulated fiber body to melt the first coating layer and applying a predetermined compressive force to the first accumulated fiber body (“a second heating step after said first cooling step in which a portion of said second thermoplastic melts in said batt” [Claim 50] and see “heating and compressing said non-woven fibrous batt by compressing” [Claim 47];
Also see “batt is then shaped or compressed to a desired density, heated and then cooled to thereby form interfiber bonds throughout the resulting batt. After forming the preferred embodiment batt, a panel or other product may be fashioned from the batt by one or more shaping and bonding processes which, for example may include a molding or thermoforming operation” [P0029]
Also see “most preferred process utilizes a plurality of heating and compression steps as opposed to a single heating and compression step. Use of a plurality of steps, most preferably two heating steps and two or more compression steps, has been found to result in a significantly superior molded product” [P0047].
Thus, Assink forms an accumulation, fuses the fibers by heating and cooling, and then shapes the accumulation by heating, compression, and cooling. This is the same as the inventive steps); and
a second cooling step of cooling the first accumulated fiber body subjected to the pressurized heating step to a temperature lower than the first melting point to solidify the first coating layer (“a second cooling step after said second heating step in which said second thermoplastic solidifies” [Claim 50].)
The difference between Assink and the claimed invention is that Assink does not describe their product as being intended for use as a soundproof sheet.
The intended use of the same product or the intended use of a produce resulting of the same process is not a matter of invention.
In reference to claim 4, the cited prior art discloses claim 1 as above.
Assink further discloses that in the first accumulated fiber body, a content of the second fiber to a content of the first fiber is 12.0% by mass or more and 40.0% by mass or less (“providing from about 40% to about 70% by weight of said panel of a cellulose component; providing from about 30% to about 60% by weight of said panel of a conjugate fiber” [Claim 47])
Claim 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 as being unpatentable over Assink (US 20040028958 A1) in view of Jacek (US 20200024844 A1).
In reference to claim 3, the cited prior art discloses claim 1 as above.
Assink further discloses that the first fiber is a cellulose fiber (“Suitable commercially available treated cellulose fiber for use in the present invention includes NU-WOOL.RTM.” [P0021];
an average fiber length of the first fiber is 10 μm or more and 50 mm or less, (“Suitable commercially available treated cellulose fiber for use in the present invention includes NU-WOOL.RTM.” [P0021]. These fibers are between 10micron-50mm);
in the second fiber, the first core portion is polyethylene terephthalate, and the first coating layer is polyethylene, and ( “most preferably, for such PET core” [P0026] and “binder… polyethylene” [P0022]. See “fiber component and the binder component are provided as a single bi-component blended fiber 20. In this bi-component or conjugate fiber, the two materials may be arranged in co-axial arrangement, with an inner strand 22 of higher melting point fiber, such as fiber 12, surrounded by a sheath 24 of lower melting point binder polymer, such as binder component 16” [P0024]);
Assink further disclose that “Suitable polyester bi-component fibers for use in the present invention are commercially available under the trade designation "PET bi-component fiber" from various manufacturers” (P0024), but does not provide examples having an average second fiber length of the second fiber is 100 μm or more and 5 mm or less as claimed.
In the same field of endeavor, acoustic panels (abstract), Jacek forms a similar material with fibers and discloses that “the plurality of fibers has an average length within the range of about 0.5 mm to about 15 mm… or about 0.5 mm to about 5 mm” (P0049). Jacek indicates the fibers can be polyethylene (P0048).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art with a reasonable expectation of success before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the fibers to be less than 5 mm as claimed;
in order to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results; use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way; apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results; and/or choose from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Conclusion
Any prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20210363693 A1 and US 9416532 B2 also provides the length of fibers as claims and in the same field of endeavor
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS R KRASNOW whose telephone number is (571)270-1154. The examiner can normally be reached M-R: 8am-5pm.
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, Xiao Zhao can be reached on 571-270-5343. 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.
/NICHOLAS KRASNOW/Examiner, Art Unit 1744