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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because reference character 24 in fig. 1B, and reference character 60 in each of figs. 3A–3C, should be underlined. See 37 CFR 1.84(q).
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested:
Claim Objections
Claims 2, 6–11, and 13–20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Each of claims 2, 6, 7, 11, 13, and 17 should be amended to place a comma after the claim dependency number for stylistic conformity.
Claim 8, line 3, should be amended to replace “received” with “receive.”
Claims 9, 10, 14–16, and 18–20 are objected to due to dependency upon objected-to claims.
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.
Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang et al. (CN 115780825 A, cited by Applicant, translation provided by the Office).
Claim 1: Wang discloses a melted metal drop ejecting device (abstract, “a metal droplet additive manufacturing device”) configured to be incorporated in a hybrid manufacturing system comprising (such a functional limitation does not meaningfully limit the claim, as the device can be incorporated into any system that can mount and connect to it, including a hybrid manufacturing system):
a housing (e.g. 401, 411, 104; see figs. 1 and 2) mounted to the melted metal drop ejecting device; and
an input and output connector panel (203 and 402), the input and output connector panel having a plurality of connectors (201, 303, 304) configured to mate with supplies for materials (201) and electrical power (301) within the melted metal drop ejecting device and to provide signals to an external controller (thermocouple 304 would be configured to provide signals to an external controller via 303) for control of the melted metal drop ejecting device operation.
Claim 3: Wang discloses the input and output connector panel further comprising:
a first connector (201) configured to receive a feed of stock metal for melting within the melted metal drop ejecting device; and
a second connector (301) configured to receive electrical power having a voltage level and a current level sufficient to operate a heater (300, 302) to melt the received feed of stock metal within a vessel of the melted metal drop ejecting device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 4–11 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.
Claim 12 is allowed.
Claims 13–20 would the inherit the allowability of claim 12 if amended to overcome the objections set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Wang is the closest prior art of record, and seems to incidentally read on some of the broad claims even though an input and output connector panel is not what its disclosure has in mind.
Wei et al. (CN 115055699 A, cited by Applicant) is similar to Wang.
Regarding claim 2, nothing in Wang can fairly be considered a plate housing, as its only plate-like part 105 is hardly a housing, and its housing parts 104 and 401 are not at all plate-like.
Regarding claim 4, Wang ejects its melted metal drops using an induction heater external to the nozzle, and therefore would not have the claimed third connector.
Claims 5–11 each depend from claim 4.
Regarding claim 12, Wang (CN 103551572 A, “Wang ’572,” cited by the Office, see fig. 2) seems to disclose something like the claimed first input and output connector panel, but neither Wang ’572 nor Wang disclose or render obvious the remaining specifics of claim 12.
Claims 13–20 each depend from claim 12.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to John J. Norton whose telephone number is (571) 272-5174. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST.
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/JOHN J NORTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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