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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is responsive to communication filed on 10/24/2023.
Claims 1-10 are presented for examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TSUNOYA (US20220203622A1) in view of GHABCHI (US20190160589A1) (hereinafter – “TSUNOYA-GHABCHI”).
Regarding claim 1
TSUNOYA teaches a three-dimensional shaping device that stacks a plurality of slice layers as a three-dimensional shaped object having a predetermined shape, the three-dimensional shaping device comprising:
a stage ([0005]: apparatus includes a stage);
an ejection portion configured to [0005]: apparatus includes an ejection section that ejects a molten material toward the stage; [0092]-[0093]: any one or a combination of two or more of the following thermoplastic resin materials can be used, including a polyacetal resin (POM, i.e., material containing a crystalline resin) and/or an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin (ABS, i.e., material containing an amorphous resin));
a moving portion configured to relatively move the stage and the ejection portion ([0005]: apparatus includes a position changing section that changes a relative position of the stage and the ejection section); and
a control unit configured to control the ejection portion and the moving portion ([0005]: apparatus includes a control unit that controls the ejection section and the position changing section).
TSUNOYA is not relied on for an ejection portion configured to selectively eject, as a shaping material, a first material
However, GHABCHI in analogous art discloses a three-dimensional shaping device, comprising:
an ejection portion configured to selectively, as a shaping material, a first material [0031]: additive manufacturing involves depositing layers of one or more multiple materials together to form a desired integral object according to a 3D data model; [0042]: additional layers can be formed from the same material or different materials from prior layers);
a control unit configured to control the ejection portion and the moving portion ([0031]: additive manufacturing […] to form a desired integral object according to a 3D data model, layered additive manufacturing implies movement of either an extruder or a nozzle in order to deposit layers according to 3D model), wherein
the control unit executes first stacking processing when the plurality of slice layers are stacked as the three-dimensional shaping object using the first material as the shaping material without using the second material, and executes second stacking processing when the plurality of slice layers are stacked as the three-dimensional shaped object using the second material as the shaping material without using the first material ([0042]: “method 100 involves generating a second layer coupled to the first layer of the integral object. The integral object can correspond to a structure with one or more interconnected components formed as a single-piece. In order to produce the integral object, additional layers are deposited until the integral object is completely formed. The additional layers can be formed from the same material or different material(s) from prior layers”; GHABCHI discloses depositing a second layer of a second material (i.e., second stacking processing) on a first layer of a first material (i.e., first stacking processing)),
the first stacking processing includes
first slice layer forming processing of controlling the ejection portion and the moving portion and stacking an (n-1)-th slice layer among the plurality of slice layers to the upper side of the stage ([0030]: “method 100 involves generating a first layer of an integral object”)
first ejection stop processing of causing the ejection portion to stop ejection of the shaping material after the first slice layer forming processing is completed ([0031]: additive manufacturing to form a desired integral object according to a 3D data model, i.e., material is deposited until layer is formed according to model; [0054]: after depositing first layer, the first layer is allowed to cool),
first temperature detection processing of causing a temperature detection portion to detect a temperature of a measurement region of the (n-1)-th slice layer after the first ejection stop processing is completed ([0039]: temperature sensor can indicate when the layer cooled off enough), and
second slice layer forming processing of controlling the ejection portion and the moving portion and stacking an n-th slice layer among the plurality of slice layers to the upper side of the stage when the temperature detected by the temperature detection portion in the first temperature detection processing is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold ([0039]: temperature sensor can indicate when the layer cooled off enough, i.e., inherent to “cooled off enough” is that the layer has cooled off to a certain point, i.e., a threshold; [0042]: method involves generating a second layer coupled to the first layer and can be formed from the same material),
the second stacking processing includes
third slice layer forming processing of controlling the ejection portion and the moving portion and stacking the (n-1)-th slice layer to upper side of the stage ([0030]: “method 100 involves generating a first layer of an integral object”, for n = 2 then (n-1)-th layer is first layer),
second ejection stop processing of causing the ejection portion to stop ejection of the shaping material after the third slice layer forming processing is completed ([0031]: additive manufacturing to form a desired integral object according to a 3D data model, i.e., material is deposited until layer is formed according to model; [0054]: after depositing first layer, the first layer is allowed to cool),
first determination processing of determining whether a predetermined standby time is elapsed from a first timing corresponding to a stop of the ejection of the shaping material from the ejection portion by the second ejection stop processing ([0039]: “process can involve allowing the layer to cool off for a threshold duration that depends on the type of material”), and
fourth slice layer forming processing of controlling the ejection portion and the moving portion and stacking the n-th slice layer to the upper side of the stage when it is determined in the first determination processing that the standby time is elapsed from the first timing ([0042]: method involves generating a second layer coupled to the first layer and can be formed from the same material, i.e., once the previous layer has sat for the predetermined threshold duration, determined by the type of material, a second layer of the same material is deposited), and
n is an integer of 2 or more ([0002]: “additive manufacturing builds shapes through precisely adding and consolidating layers of material according to a three-dimensional (3D) digital model”).
TSUNOYA and GHABCHI are analogous art to the claimed invention because they are from the same field of additive manufacturing. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to apply the teachings of GHABCHI to the teachings of TSUNOYA such that GHABCHI’s method of additive manufacturing could be implemented as a functional unit with TSUNOYA’s additive manufacturing control unit. Based on the above, this is an example of “combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.” MPEP 2143.
Regarding claim 10
TSUNOYA-GHABCHI teaches the elements of claim 1 as outlined above.
GHABCHI also teaches wherein the second stacking processing includes standby time specifying processing of specifying a time corresponding to a shape of the (n-1)-th slice layer as the standby time ([0063]: waiting duration threshold).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TSUNOYA-GHABCHI in view of SPARKS (“Polymer Crystallinity”, published 10/6/2020, retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANBM4eNshBQ&t=147s, accessed on 1/23/2026)1.
Regarding claim 2
TSUNOYA-GHABCHI teaches the elements of claim 1 as outlined above.
TSUNOYA-GHABCHI is not relied on for the remaining limitation of the claim.
However, SPARKS teaches wherein when a shape of the three-dimensional shaped object is a first shape, a time from the stop of the ejection of the shaping material from the ejection portion by the second ejection stop processing to a start of the fourth slice layer forming processing is shorter than a time from a stop of the ejection of the shaping material from the ejection portion by the first ejection stop processing to a start of the second slice layer forming processing (Sparks teaches crystalline regions typically have higher densities than amorphous regions. Sparks also teaches that slowing cooling through the melting point of a crystalline material used in 3d printing allows for better packing and promotes crystallinity).
SPARKS is analogous art to the claimed invention because the subject matter of polymer crystallinity would be reasonably pertinent to the claimed invention because a person of ordinary skill in the art would have consulted it and applied its teaching to the field of additive manufacturing. TSUNOYA-GHABCHI teach a three-dimensional shaping device wherein the materials used in the three-dimensional shaping process are a material containing an amorphous resin and another material containing a crystalline resin. SPARKS teaches that the materials have different densities. SPARKS also teaches that slower cooling is desirable for higher crystallinity. By definition, amorphous materials lack the ordered lattice structure that is desired from cooling a crystalline material slowly. As such, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the time required to cool the material containing the amorphous resin would be less than the time required to cool the material containing the crystalline resin. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art to apply the teachings of SPARKS to the teachings of the TSUNOYA-GHABCHI combination with a reasonable expectation of success, as motivated by the prior art outlined above.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TSUNOYA-GHABCHI in view of BURRIS (US20140265049A1).
Regarding claim 3
TSUNOYA-GHABCHI teaches the elements of claim 1 as outlined above.
TSUNOYA-GHABCHI are not relied on for the remaining limitations of the claim.
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BURRIS, FIG. 3 – shows an 3d shaping device comprising reservoirs (200)
However, BURRIS in an analogous art teaches a three-dimensional shaping device comprising:
a material reservoir configured to store the shaping material in a solid state and having identification information for identifying the shaping material ([0021]: “additive manufacturing apparatus 100 also includes a powder system that receives one or more cartridges containing powdered material”, i.e., device includes at least one reservoir (i.e., cartridge) configured to store the shaping material in a solid state (i.e., cartridges contain powdered material)); [0049]: “cartridge 200 also contains or stores an identifier linked to data specific to the cartridge 200 and powdered material contained therein”), wherein
the control unit reads the identification information provided in the material reservoir and determines whether the shaping material identified by the read information contains [0049]: “additive manufacturing apparatus 100 (i.e., the reader) can read the identifier 240 from the cartridge 200”; [0051]: cartridges contain a powdered plastic).
BURRIS is analogous art to the claimed invention because it is from the same field of additive manufacturing to shape three-dimensional objects. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to apply the teachings of BURRIS to the teachings of the TSUNOYA-GHABCHI combination such that BURRIS’s reservoirs and method of identification could be used with TSUNOYA-GHABCHI’s three-dimensional shaping device for the purposes of the providing the device with crystalline resin containing shaping material so an object could be shaped.
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TSUNOYA-GHABCHI in view of QUEROL (US20180207876A1) (hereinafter – “TSUNOYA-GHABCHI-QUEROL”).
Regarding claim 4
TSUNOYA-GHABCHI teaches the elements of claim 1 as outlined above.
TSUNOYA-GHABCHI are not relied on for the remaining limitations of the claim.
However, QUEROL in analogous art teaches a method for cooling a build volume, wherein
the threshold is a temperature equal to or lower than a melting point of the first material and equal to or higher than a recrystallization temperature of the first material ([0051]: “a temperature state may be maintained by providing heat within a temperature range that satisfies a threshold temperature […] Example temperature ranges include at or above a crystallization point of a build material to a fusing point or melting point of the build material”).
QUEROL is analogous art to the claimed invention because it is from the same field of three-dimensional shaping devices. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the teachings of QUEROL to the teachings of the TSUNOYA-GHABCHI combination such that QUEROL’s method of determining a range could be implemented in the control unit of TSUNOYA-GHABCHI for the purposes ensuring the deposited materials are cooling according to their chemical properties.
Regarding claim 5
TSUNOYA-GHABCHI-QUEROL teaches the elements of claim 4 as outlined above.
QUEROL also teaches wherein the threshold is a temperature closer to the melting point of the first material than the recrystallization temperature of the first material ([0028]: “Post-print heating at a temperature closer to the melt temperature may reduce the structural enhancement duration in comparison to post-print heating performed at a lower temperature in a range that is closer to the crystallization temperature”).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TSUNOYA-GHABCHI in view of ARAO (US20200262153A1).
Regarding claim 8
TSUNOYA-GHABCHI teaches the elements of claim 1 as outlined above.
BURRIS in analogous art teaches three-dimensional shaping device wherein each of the plurality of slice layers includes one or both of a shaped region included in a shaped body and a support region included in a support body ([0061: “The number of discharge nozzle 34 may be one, or two or more. When two discharge nozzles 34 are provided, the first nozzle may be a nozzle to discharge a filament of a model material constituting a fabrication object and the second nozzle may be a nozzle to discharge a filament of a support material that supports the model material”, i.e., 3d printed objects contain the desired shaped structure and a support structure), and
the control unit executes the first stacking processing when the plurality of slice layers are stacked as the three-dimensional shaped object using the first material as the shaping material ejected to the shaped region and using the second material as the shaping material ejected to the support region ([0061]: “model material and the support material are usually different materials”).
ARAO is analogous art to the claimed invention because they are from the same field of additive manufacturing. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the teachings of ARAO to the teachings of the TSUNOYA-GHABCHI combination such that ARAO’s method of 3d printing a support structure could be used with TSUNOYA-GHABCHI’s 3d printing device for the purposes of easily removing the support structure after the object is shaped.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7 and 9 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Roberts et al. (US20190293049A1) teaches a cooling threshold for an additive manufacturing device configured to deposit a material on a different material.
Atwood et al. (US20210394448A1) teaches an additive manufacturing device comprising a cooling unit configured to cool deposited material to a threshold.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael V Farina whose telephone number is (571)272-4982. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 8:00-6:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamini Shah can be reached at (571) 272-2279. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/M.V.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2115
/KAMINI S SHAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2115
1 SPARKS NPL video is less than 5 minutes long, as such no timestamps are provided.