DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to communication received on 8/4/25.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The text of those sections of AIA 35 U.S.C. code not present in this action can be found in previous office actions dated 3/18/25, and 5/20/25.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The claim rejection(s) under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Karabin et al. US PGPub 2010/0243108 hereinafter KARABIN in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT on claims 1-6, 9, 10, 12, and 15 are withdrawn because the independent claim 1 and 15 have been amended.
The claim rejection(s) under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Karabin et al. US PGPub 2010/0243108 hereinafter KARABIN in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Handa et al. US PGPub 4,965,068 hereinafter HANDA on claims 7 and 8 are withdrawn because the independent claim 1 and 15 have been amended.
The claim rejection(s) under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Karabin et al. US PGPub 2010/0243108 hereinafter KARABIN in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Handa et al. US PGPub 4,965,068 hereinafter HANDA and Syron US PGPub 2003/0155067 hereinafter SYRON on claim 11 is withdrawn because the independent claim 1 and 15 have been amended.
The claim rejection(s) under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Karabin et al. US PGPub 2010/0243108 hereinafter KARABIN in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT as applied to claim 1 and 10 and claim 15 above, and further in view of Smith US Patent Number 4,498,776 hereinafter SMITH on claim 13, 14 and 18 is withdrawn because the independent claim 1 and 15 have been amended.
The claim rejection(s) under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Karabin et al. US PGPub 2010/0243108 hereinafter KARABIN in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Furukawa et al. US PGPub 2008/0003446 hereinafter FURUKAWA on claim 17are withdrawn because the independent claim 1 and 15 have been amended.
Claim(s) 1, 9-10, 12, 15-17 and 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Warta et al. US PGPub 2013/0224497 hereinafter WARTA in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT.
As for claim 1, WARTA teaches “A method for applying a multicolored paint system to a substrate” (abstract, lines 1-2) and “Substrates contemplated include more particularly bodies and bodywork parts of motor vehicles” (paragraph 9, lines 3-4), i.e. A method for providing a vehicle with a multi-tone paint scheme.
WARTA Teaches “A method for applying a multicolored paint system to a substrate includes (1) applying a first pigmented coating material to the substrate, (2) drying and/or curing the first pigmented coating material at a selected drying and/or curing temperature, and (3) applying a second pigmented coating material to the substrate, with partial recoating of the first pigmented coating material, wherein the second pigmented coating material is applied using a laminate including a carrier on which there is a layer of the second pigmented coating material, the layer being already cured” (abstract), i.e. applying a first paint of a first color to a body of the vehicle with a panel of the vehicle detached from the body of the vehicle; applying a film onto the panel.
WARTA teaches “The second pigmented coating material differs in color from the first pigmented coating material, serving, for example, to provide the aforementioned decorative strips and/or areas marked out by different color” (paragraph 13, lines 3-7), i.e. the film including a second paint of a second color that is different from the first color… and the first paint and the second paint form the multi-tone paint scheme.
WARTA teaches “The thermoforming operation on the laminate may take place optionally before final curing of the pigmented coating material present on the carrier” (paragraph 37, lines 1-3).
WARTA is specifically silent on wherein applying the film onto the panel includes applying the film by a thermal vacuum forming process.
SHORT teaches "The use of preformed laminates eliminates the need to apply a wide range of different colored paints to an unfinished substrate such as the unfinished, exposed surface of a vehicle body panel or part" (column 6, lines 49-53) and "Yet another feature of our invention is to provide a thermoformable laminate having a color pattern on one layer of the laminate which has its gloss selectively controlled by initially varying the thickness of a clearcoat prior to molding to produce a resultant molded surface appearance of desired hue differences based upon the color hue of the color coat of the laminate" (column 2, lines 50-57).
SHORT further teaches “Typical thermoforming apparatus 26 for heating the laminated material is shown in FIGS. 5-7. It includes radiant heaters 28 arranged in a suitable array for raising the temperature of a laminate to a point that it can be 15 molded against a substrate. The illustrative apparatus 26 has a vacuum buck 30 and a support frame 32 for the laminate. A gasket 34 is provided on the frame 32 for sealing the periphery 36 of the buck 30 on a vacuum form table 38. While a vacuum forming system is illustrated, it should be understood that any differential forming system is suitable to mold such laminates” (column 4, lines 11-21), i.e. wherein applying the film onto the panel includes applying the film by a thermal vacuum forming process.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include wherein applying the film onto the panel includes applying the film by a thermal vacuum forming process in the process of WARTA because SHORT teaches that vacuum forming system was a known thermoforming method for applying laminated materials to vehicle bodies.
WARTA and SHORT are silent on mounting the panel to the body of the vehicle. However, Examiner notes that it is well within the skill of the ordinary artisan to mount a vehicle panel onto a vehicle frame to form a vehicle.
As for claim 9, WARTA Teaches “Preferably, the laminate employed in our method may comprise an adhesion-promoting layer, which more particularly is disposed on the second pigmented coating layer. Preferably, therefore, the second pigmented coating layer is disposed between the adhesion-promoting layer and the carrier. On application, the laminate is then pressed, with the adhesion-promoting layer leading, onto the substrate” (paragraph 20), i.e. the film includes an adhesive; and applying the film onto the panel further includes placing the film on a support fixture with the adhesive facing outward, placing the panel on the support fixture such that the film adheres to the panel by way of the adhesive, and wrapping the film around the panel.
As for claim 10, WARTA teaches “This is made possible by the fact that the laminate used can be brought into the particular desired shape by appropriate trimming even before being applied to the substrate. Even complex color patterns and color geometries can readily be applied to the substrate in this way” (paragraph 23, lines 8-13) and “It is of course also possible for the substrate to be recoated with one or more further pigmented coating materials. This can be done sequentially or else simultaneously with the application of the second pigmented coating material” (paragraph 25, lines 3-6), i.e. wherein the film further includes a third paint of a third color that is different from the second color.
As for claim 12, WARTA teaches “This is made possible by the fact that the laminate used can be brought into the particular desired shape by appropriate trimming even before being applied to the substrate. Even complex color patterns and color geometries can readily be applied to the substrate in this way” (paragraph 23, lines 8-13) and “It is of course also possible for the substrate to be recoated with one or more further pigmented coating materials. This can be done sequentially or else simultaneously with the application of the second pigmented coating material” (paragraph 25, lines 3-6), i.e. further comprising forming the film by applying the second paint and the third paint onto the film.
As for claim 15, WARTA teaches “A method for applying a multicolored paint system to a substrate” (abstract, lines 1-2) and “Substrates contemplated include more particularly bodies and bodywork parts of motor vehicles” (paragraph 9, lines 3-4), i.e. A method for providing a vehicle with a multi-tone paint scheme.
WARTA Teaches “A method for applying a multicolored paint system to a substrate includes (1) applying a first pigmented coating material to the substrate, (2) drying and/or curing the first pigmented coating material at a selected drying and/or curing temperature, and (3) applying a second pigmented coating material to the substrate, with partial recoating of the first pigmented coating material, wherein the second pigmented coating material is applied using a laminate including a carrier on which there is a layer of the second pigmented coating material, the layer being already cured” (abstract), i.e. applying a first paint of a first color to a body of the vehicle with a panel of the vehicle detached from the body of the vehicle… applying the paint film onto the panel of the vehicle.
WARTA teaches “The second pigmented coating material differs in color from the first pigmented coating material, serving, for example, to provide the aforementioned decorative strips and/or areas marked out by different color” (paragraph 13, lines 3-7), “This is made possible by the fact that the laminate used can be brought into the particular desired shape by appropriate trimming even before being applied to the substrate. Even complex color patterns and color geometries can readily be applied to the substrate in this way” (paragraph 23, lines 8-13) and “It is of course also possible for the substrate to be recoated with one or more further pigmented coating materials. This can be done sequentially or else simultaneously with the application of the second pigmented coating material” (paragraph 25, lines 3-6), i.e. forming a paint film including a second paint of a second color and a third paint of a third color, the second color is different from the third color, wherein: the first paint, the second paint, and the third paint form the multi-tone paint scheme; and at least the second paint and the third paint are adjacent to each other
WARTA teaches “The thermoforming operation on the laminate may take place optionally before final curing of the pigmented coating material present on the carrier” (paragraph 37, lines 1-3).
WARTA is specifically silent on applying… by thermal vacuum forming.
SHORT teaches "The use of preformed laminates eliminates the need to apply a wide range of different colored paints to an unfinished substrate such as the unfinished, exposed surface of a vehicle body panel or part" (column 6, lines 49-53) and "Yet another feature of our invention is to provide a thermoformable laminate having a color pattern on one layer of the laminate which has its gloss selectively controlled by initially varying the thickness of a clearcoat prior to molding to produce a resultant molded surface appearance of desired hue differences based upon the color hue of the color coat of the laminate" (column 2, lines 50-57).
SHORT further teaches “Typical thermoforming apparatus 26 for heating the laminated material is shown in FIGS. 5-7. It includes radiant heaters 28 arranged in a suitable array for raising the temperature of a laminate to a point that it can be 15 molded against a substrate. The illustrative apparatus 26 has a vacuum buck 30 and a support frame 32 for the laminate. A gasket 34 is provided on the frame 32 for sealing the periphery 36 of the buck 30 on a vacuum form table 38. While a vacuum forming system is illustrated, it should be understood that any differential forming system is suitable to mold such laminates” (column 4, lines 11-21), i.e. applying… by thermal vacuum forming
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include applying… by thermal vacuum forming in the process of WARTA because SHORT teaches that vacuum forming system was a known thermoforming method for applying laminated materials to vehicle bodies.
WARTA and SHORT are silent on mounting the panel to the body of the vehicle. However, Examiner notes that it is well within the skill of the ordinary artisan to mount a vehicle panel onto a vehicle frame to form a vehicle.
As for claim 16, WARTA teaches ““This is made possible by the fact that the laminate used can be brought into the particular desired shape by appropriate trimming even before being applied to the substrate. Even complex color patterns and color geometries can readily be applied to the substrate in this way” (paragraph 23, lines 8-13) and “It is of course also possible for the substrate to be recoated with one or more further pigmented coating materials. This can be done sequentially or else simultaneously with the application of the second pigmented coating material” (paragraph 25, lines 3-6), i.e. wherein forming the paint film further includes: applying the second paint of the second color over an entire width of the paint film; curing the second paint; and applying the third paint of the third color on less than an entirety of the second paint.
As for claim 17, WARTA teaches ““This is made possible by the fact that the laminate used can be brought into the particular desired shape by appropriate trimming even before being applied to the substrate. Even complex color patterns and color geometries can readily be applied to the substrate in this way” (paragraph 23, lines 8-13) and “It is of course also possible for the substrate to be recoated with one or more further pigmented coating materials. This can be done sequentially or else simultaneously with the application of the second pigmented coating material” (paragraph 25, lines 3-6), i.e. wherein forming the paint film further includes simultaneously applying the second paint to a first area of the paint film and applying the third paint to a second area of the paint film that is different from the first area.
As for claim 21, WARTA teaches ““The second pigmented coating material differs in color from the first pigmented coating material, serving, for example, to provide the aforementioned decorative strips and/or areas marked out by different color” (paragraph 13, lines 3-7), “This is made possible by the fact that the laminate used can be brought into the particular desired shape by appropriate trimming even before being applied to the substrate. Even complex color patterns and color geometries can readily be applied to the substrate in this way” (paragraph 23, lines 8-13) and “It is of course also possible for the substrate to be recoated with one or more further pigmented coating materials. This can be done sequentially or else simultaneously with the application of the second pigmented coating material” (paragraph 25, lines 3-6), i.e. wherein the first paint and the second paint are adjacent to each other subsequent to the mounting of the panel to the body of the vehicle.
Claim(s) 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Warta et al. US PGPub 2013/0224497 hereinafter WARTA in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT as applied to claim 1 above, as evidenced by Karabin et al. US PGPub 2010/0243108 hereinafter KARABIN.
As for claim 2, WARTA teaches “Substrates contemplated include more particularly bodies and bodywork parts of motor vehicles” (paragraph 9, lines 3-4), but is silent on the specific bodywork parts of said motor vehicles.
KARABIN teaches “A coating layer is usually formed when a coating composition (e.g., a primer-surfacer, color imparting, and/or substantially clear coating composition; described further below) that is deposited onto the substrate is substantially cured or dried by methods known in the art ( e.g., by thermal heating)" (paragraph 26, lines 4-9).
KARABIN teaches "In some embodiments, the substrate may comprise a portion of a vehicle such as a vehicular body ( e.g., without limitation, door, body panel, trunk deck lid, roof panel, hood, roof and/or stringers, rivets, landing gear components, and/or skins used on an aircraft) and/or a vehicular frame. As used herein, "vehicle" or variations thereof includes, but is not limited to, civilian, commercial and military aircraft, and/or land vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, and/or trucks" (paragraph 25, lines 12-20), i.e. wherein the panel is a roof panel and a roof panel is known bodywork for a car.
It is the position of the Examiner that when WARTA references bodywork parts of motor vehicles, they are references all parts of the vehicle including a roof panel, as KARABIN demonstrates this.
As for claim 3, WARTA teaches “Substrates contemplated include more particularly bodies and bodywork parts of motor vehicles” (paragraph 9, lines 3-4), but is silent on the specific bodywork parts of said motor vehicles.
KARABIN teaches “A coating layer is usually formed when a coating composition (e.g., a primer-surfacer, color imparting, and/or substantially clear coating composition; described further below) that is deposited onto the substrate is substantially cured or dried by methods known in the art ( e.g., by thermal heating)" (paragraph 26, lines 4-9).
KARABIN teaches "In some embodiments, the substrate may comprise a portion of a vehicle such as a vehicular body ( e.g., without limitation, door, body panel, trunk deck lid, roof panel, hood, roof and/or stringers, rivets, landing gear components, and/or skins used on an aircraft) and/or a vehicular frame. As used herein, "vehicle" or variations thereof includes, but is not limited to, civilian, commercial and military aircraft, and/or land vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, and/or trucks" (paragraph 25, lines 12-20), i.e. wherein the panel is a door panel and a door panel is known bodywork for a car.
It is the position of the Examiner that when WARTA references bodywork parts of motor vehicles, they are references all parts of the vehicle including a door panel, as KARABIN demonstrates this.
Claim(s) 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Warta et al. US PGPub 2013/0224497 hereinafter WARTA in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Karabin et al. US PGPub 2010/0243108 hereinafter KARABIN.
As for claim 5, WARTA and SHORT are silent on further comprising, prior to applying the film onto the panel, pre-treating the panel by anodizing the panel.
KARABIN teaches a process to prepare a vehicle panel for coating in paragraphs (15-24) and specifically teaches "Alternatively, in some embodiments, in lieu of the application of the conversion coating described in the previous paragraph, the surface of the substrate can be anodized using techniques known in the art" (paragraph 20), i.e. further comprising, prior to applying the film onto the panel, pre-treating the panel by anodizing the panel.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have further comprising, prior to applying the film onto the panel, pre-treating the panel by anodizing the panel in the process of WARTA and SHORT because KARABIN teaches that such coating layers were known ways to pre-treat a panel for coating.
As for claim 6, , WARTA and SHORT are silent on further comprising, prior to applying the film onto the panel, pre-treating the panel with an electrocoating.
KARABIN teaches a process to prepare a vehicle panel for coating in paragraphs (15-24) and specifically teaches " After step (f), (g) an electrodepositable coating composition, which comprises a corrosion inhibitor, is deposited onto at least a portion of the substrate onto which the conversion coating was deposited using techniques known in the art such as aniodic or cathodic electrodeposition” (paragraph 22), i.e. further comprising, prior to applying the film onto the panel, pre-treating the panel with an electrocoating.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have further comprising, prior to applying the film onto the panel, pre-treating the panel with an electrocoating in the process of WARTA and SHORT because KARABIN teaches that such coating layers were known ways to pre-treat a panel for coating.
Claim(s) 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Warta et al. US PGPub 2013/0224497 hereinafter WARTA in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Handa et al. US PGPub 4,965,068 hereinafter HANDA.
As for claim 7, WARTA and SHORT is silent on applying the first paint to a first area and a second area of the panel prior to applying the film to the panel, masking the first area to cover the first paint, applying the film to the second area over the first paint by thermal vacuum forming, and demasking the first area.
HANDA teaches "The first paint film and the second paint film are formed adjacent to each other, in order to produce a two-tone paint film. "Adjacent" is a concept including a state that the ends of the two films contact each other 15 and a state that one paint film is overlaid on the other paint film surface. In the latter case, a clear paint film may be formed between the two films" (column 3, lines 11-18) and further teaches masking the layers to form the patterns (column 4, lines 42-65; specifically line 54-55), i.e. masking the first areas to cover the first paint, applying another layer, and demasking the first area.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the masking process of HANDA into the formation of the first paint layers of WARTA because HANOA teaches that "in the two-tone paint film of the present invention, the brightness of the first paint film and that of the 55 second paint film are reversed depending on view angles, and a novel and excellent design effect is attained" (HANDA: column 3, lines 54-57).
WARTA Teaches “A method for applying a multicolored paint system to a substrate includes (1) applying a first pigmented coating material to the substrate, (2) drying and/or curing the first pigmented coating material at a selected drying and/or curing temperature, and (3) applying a second pigmented coating material to the substrate, with partial recoating of the first pigmented coating material, wherein the second pigmented coating material is applied using a laminate including a carrier on which there is a layer of the second pigmented coating material, the layer being already cured” (abstract), i.e. applying the film to the second area over the first paint by thermal vacuum forming.
As for claim 8, WARTA and SHORT is silent on further comprising masking a first area of the panel prior to applying the film onto the panel.
HANDA teaches "The first paint film and the second paint film are formed adjacent to each other, in order to produce a two-tone paint film. "Adjacent" is a concept including a state that the ends of the two films contact each other 15 and a state that one paint film is overlaid on the other paint film surface. In the latter case, a clear paint film may be formed between the two films" (column 3, lines 11-18) and further teaches masking the layers to form the patterns (column 4, lines 42-65; specifically line 54-55), i.e. further comprising masking a first area of the panel prior to applying the film onto the panel.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the masking process of HANDA into the formation of the first paint layers of WARTA because HANOA teaches that "in the two-tone paint film of the present invention, the brightness of the first paint film and that of the 55 second paint film are reversed depending on view angles, and a novel and excellent design effect is attained" (HANDA: column 3, lines 54-57).
WARTA Teaches “A method for applying a multicolored paint system to a substrate includes (1) applying a first pigmented coating material to the substrate, (2) drying and/or curing the first pigmented coating material at a selected drying and/or curing temperature, and (3) applying a second pigmented coating material to the substrate, with partial recoating of the first pigmented coating material, wherein the second pigmented coating material is applied using a laminate including a carrier on which there is a layer of the second pigmented coating material, the layer being already cured” (abstract), and W “The second pigmented coating material differs in color from the first pigmented coating material, serving, for example, to provide the aforementioned decorative strips and/or areas marked out by different color” (paragraph 13, lines 3-7), i.e. applying the film by thermal vacuum forming to a second area of the panel that is different from the first area.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Warta et al. US PGPub 2013/0224497 hereinafter WARTA in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT as applied to claim 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Handa et al. US PGPub 4,965,068 hereinafter HANOA and Syron US PGPub 2003/0155067 hereinafter SYRON.
As for claim 11, WARTA and SHORT are silent on further comprising mounting a cover to the panel at a border area between the second paint and the third paint.
HANDA teaches "A two-tone paint film, formed by separately applying two different colors of paints on adjacent areas in view of design has been known as an automobile body paint 10 film. The two-tone paint film includes, for example, one which divides sides of an automobile body into upper and lower parts by two different colors, and one which adds marks or designs of different color on a paint film" (column 1, lines 8-15), i.e. wherein colors can be applied adjacent to each other and on top of one another to form a desired design.
HANDA further teaches masking the layers to form the patterns (column 4, lines 42-65; specifically line 54-55), but is silent on a covering specifically.
SYRON teaches "The present invention is a system and method for creating and applying a plurality of masking sections to portions of a vehicle to mask the same during painting of other and adjacent portions of the vehicle. Each of the plurality of individual sections being constructed of a plasticized material having a specified shape and thickness and including a backing surf ace. The backing surf ace is adherently applied to a specified location of the vehicle and in order to mask a surface of the vehicle at that location and during such as applying a single or two tone coat of paint" (abstract), i.e. further comprising mounting a cover to a panel at a desired area to form a desired pattern, at a border area between the second paint and the third paint.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include further comprising mounting a cover to the panel at a border area between the second paint and the third paint in the process of WARTA and SHORT because HANDA and SYRON teaches that such processes were known for forming the desired patterns out of paint onto panels.
Claim(s) 13, 14 and 18 /are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Warta et al. US PGPub 2013/0224497 hereinafter WARTA in view of Short US Patent Number 5,021,278 hereinafter SHORT as applied to claim 1, 10, and 15 above, and further in view of Smith US Patent Number 4,498,776 hereinafter SMITH.
As or claim 13, WARTA and SHORT are silent on the how the panels and tram e are assembled.
SMITH teaches "In the assembly of large structures, for example auto motive vehicle bodies, it is required for quality control purposes to gage the fit of adjacent parts such as the fit between two adjacent doors or being a door and a pillar or a rocker panel" (column 1, lines 12-16).
SMITH further describes a process of moving the panels into place, observing the movements with a camera and comparing distances in order to ensure proper alignment (column 1, lines 66- column 2 lines 33), i.e. further comprising aligning the panel on the vehicle by moving panel locating members of the panel into cooperation with vehicle locating members of the vehicle.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include further comprising aligning the panel on the vehicle by moving panel locating members of the panel into cooperation with vehicle locating members of the vehicle in the process of WARTA and SHORT because SMITH teaches that such a process allows for proper flushness of the assembled surfaces (column 1, lines 6-11).
As for claim 14, WARTA and SHORT are silent on the how the panels and frame are assembled.
SMITH teaches "In the assembly of large structures, for example auto motive vehicle bodies, it is required for quality control purposes to gage the fit of adjacent parts such as the fit between two adjacent doors or being a door and a pillar or a rocker panel" (column 1, lines 12-16).
SMITH further describes a process of moving the panels into place, observing the movements with a camera and comparing distances in order to ensure proper alignment (column 1, lines 66- column 2 lines 33), i.e. further comprising aligning the panel on the vehicle with a machine vision camera.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include further comprising aligning the panel on the vehicle with a machine vision camera the process of WARTA and SHORT because SMITH teaches that such a process allows for proper flushness of the assembled surfaces (column 1, lines 6-11).
As for claim 18, KARABIN and SHORT are silent on the how the panels and frame are assembled.
SMITH teaches "In the assembly of large structures, for example automotive vehicle bodies, it is required for quality control purposes to gage the fit of adjacent parts such as the fit between two adjacent doors or being a door and a pillar or a rocker panel" (column 1, lines 12-16).
SMITH further describes a process of moving the panels into place, observing the movements with a camera and comparing distances in order to ensure proper alignment (column 1, lines 66- column 2 lines 33), i.e. aligning the panel, the second color, and the third color with the vehicle by moving panel locating members of the panel into cooperation with vehicle locating members of the vehicle; and verifying alignment of the panel and all that is on the panel with a machine vision camera.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include aligning the panel, the second color, and the third color with the vehicle by moving panel locating members of the panel into cooperation with vehicle locating members of the vehicle; and verifying alignment of the panel, the second color, and the third color with a machine vision camera the process of WARTA and SHORT because SMITH teaches that such a process allows for proper flushness of the assembled surfaces (column 1, lines 6-11 ).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-3, 5-18 and 21 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/KRISTEN A DAGENAIS/Examiner, Art Unit 1717
/Dah-Wei D. Yuan/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1717
Prosecution Insights