Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 18, 2026
Application No. 18/491,001

MACHINE FRAME, AND FASTENING ASSEMBLY CONSISTING OF A MACHINE FRAME AND AT LEAST ONE FASTENING ELEMENT

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Oct 20, 2023
Examiner
STERLING, AMY JO
Art Unit
3631
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Somic Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH & Co. Kg
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
76%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 3m
To Grant
87%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 76% — above average
76%
Career Allow Rate
1291 granted / 1691 resolved
+24.3% vs TC avg
Moderate +11% lift
Without
With
+10.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 3m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
1712
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.1%
-39.9% vs TC avg
§103
39.4%
-0.6% vs TC avg
§102
40.8%
+0.8% vs TC avg
§112
15.3%
-24.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1691 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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. DETAILED ACTION This is a Non-final Office Action for application number 1 8 / 491,001 MACHINE FRAME, AND FASTENING ASSEMBLY CONSISTING OF A MACHINE FRAME AND AT LEAST ONE FASTENING ELEMENT filed on 10/20/2023 . Claims 1- 17 are pending. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement submitted on 10/20 / 2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 10 3 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. Claims 1 -5 , 7 and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 10 3 as being unpatentable over United States Patent No. 8,292,380 to Fan . With regards to claim 1, t he patent to Fan discloses a device (10) having a plurality of supports (21) , wherein the plurality of supports comprises at least one longitudinal support and at least one crossbeam (See Figure 1) , wherein at least one of the supports is formed by a profile element having an open profile (See Figure 2) , and wherein the profile cross section of the open profile extends substantially in a vertical direction . The percentage of openness has not been speci8fically stated, however it is obvious from Figure 2, that it is more over at least 40% of its total length in a vertical direction. With regards to claim 2, Fan does not teach that the profile element is manufactured from sheet metal , however it has been held that a suitable material is obvious and sheet metal is strong for a rack. With regards to claim 3, Fan does not specifically teach that the profile is produced from a bending profile , however it has been held that a suitable manufacturing process is obvious and bending is a suitable way to make a profile as it is a low heat process. With regards to claim 4, Fan teaches wherein the cross section of the profile has a substantially horizontally extending support rib (216) on a side facing towards an interior of the machine. With regards to claim 5, Fan teaches wh erein the cross section of the profile has a substantially vertically extending rib (214) adjoining an inner end of the horizontally extending support rib, and/or a substantially vertically extending rib adjoining an outer end of the horizontally extending support rib. With regards to claim 7, Fan teaches wherein the profile has a rib (215) , at its lower end, that extends substantially vertically. With regards to claim 10, Fan teaches at least one stand (60) that extends in a height direction of the machine frame, wherein at least one of the stands is formed by a metal angle plate. (See Figure 1) With regards to claim 11, Fan teaches wherein at least one connecting element (40) , which serves to connect a support to a stand . Fan does not teach the material it is made from, however it has been held that a suitable material is obvious and electrically conductive material is suitable for a rack as the material is strong. With regards to claim 12, Fan teaches wherein a lower, substantially horizontally extending longitudinal support (40) of the machine frame is arranged so as to be offset, by a predetermined distance, from a longitudinal center of the machine frame. Allowable Subject Matter Claim s 6, 8 , 9 and 13-17 are 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. With regards to claim 6, the prior art does not teach wherein the profile has a rib, at its upper end, that extends obliquely downwards and outwards. With regards to claim 8, the prior art does not teach wherein an outer vertical rib and a lower vertical rib are arranged so as to be substantially flush with respect to one another in the vertical direction, and/or in that an inner vertical rib and a lower vertical rib are connected by a support rib that extends obliquely downwards and outwards. With regards to claim 13, the prior art does not teach at least one fastening element for fastening a functional module to a profile element by engagement in at least one mounting hole, wherein the fastening element comprises at least one hook part having a reach-through portion and a hook portion, wherein the reach-through portion is intended to pass through the mounting hole, and is of a height that is smaller than a height of the mounting hole, wherein the hook portion is intended to engage behind the mounting hole, and is of a predetermined height, wherein a sum of the height of the reach-through portion and the height of the hook portion is greater than the height of the mounting hole, wherein the at least one hook part further comprises a contact surface which is intended to come into contact engagement with a first contact surface of the profile element, wherein the fastening element comprises at least one clamping part which interacts with the at least one hook part and is adjustable relative thereto, between a clamping position and a release position, and wherein the at least one clamping part is intended to come into contact engagement with a second contact surface of the profile element, in the clamping position, in such a way that the contact surface of the at least one hook part comes into contact engagement with the first contact surface of the profile element, and thus secures the engagement of the reach-through portion in the mounting hole and the engagement of the hook portion behind the mounting hole. Cited References PN 6,206,494 to Benner et al. shows a profile PN 7,726,097 to Ehrmann teaches a support PN 12,058,834 to Sy et al. teaches a support Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Amy J. Sterling at telephone number 571-272-6823 or to Supervisor Jonathan Liu at 571-272-8227 if the examiner cannot be reached. The examiner can normally be reached (Mon-Fri 8am-5:00pm). The fax machine number for the Technology center is 571-273-8300 (formal amendments), informal amendments or communications 571-273-6823. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application should be directed to the Technology Center receptionist at 571-272-3600. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /AMY J. STERLING/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3631 TIME \@ "M/d/yy" 4/1/26
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 20, 2023
Application Filed
Apr 01, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
76%
Grant Probability
87%
With Interview (+10.6%)
2y 3m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1691 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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