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
Figures 1-4 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. 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.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “direction in which”, “squeegee of a screen printer”, “longitudinal direction”, “front and rear sides”, “front and rear vertical surfaces 402”, “front and right surfaces”, “left right longitudinal directions”, and “square plate” of claim 1, the “fore end” and “same surface” of claim 3, and the “front and rear width of the cover holding member” of claim 4 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-8 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Where a claim sets forth a plurality of elements or steps, each element or step of the claim should be separated by a line indentation, 37 CFR 1.75(i). Note the examiner labeled the needed indentions an “[indent]” below.
Reference characters should be enclosed within parentheses so as to avoid confusion with other numbers or characters which may appear in the claims; MPEP 608.01.
There are numerous grammatically awkward phrases throughout the claims which are pointed out by underlining and/or within italicized brackets.
Note the suggested indents, noted as “[indent]”, and commas, noted as “[,]”, alleviate some 112 indefinites issues and will be assumed they will be made for the sake of brevity.
Appropriate correction is required.
1. A sealed squeegee for supplying a solder paste with a uniform density, the sealed squeegee comprising:
a chamber housing 100 that is formed long in a direction that intersects a direction in which a squeegee of a screen printer moves and is used to supply a solder paste to a mask with a uniform density.[replace “.” with “;”]
a solder mixer 200 including
[indent] a pressurization chamber 210 that is formed to pass through the chamber housing 100 and has a “V” shaped cross section to uniformly mix the solder paste through pressure application and pressure buffering to left and right sides of the cross section [it appears this should “the “V” shaped cross section”], and
[indent] a nozzle unit 220 that discharges the solder paste that is supplied and uniformly mixed into the pressurization chamber 210 to an outside and is formed to pass through a lower surface of the pressurization chamber 210, which are respectively formed on left and right sides of the cross section orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the chamber housing 100;
a squeegee blade holder 300 to which, a squeegee blade 310 coupled to front and rear sides of a lower side of the chamber housing 100 and provided to evenly spread the solder paste on the mask when the solder paste is supplied on the mask, is coupled;
a holding and placing unit 400 in which
[indent] the front and rear vertical surfaces 402 protrude above the chamber housing 100, and
[indent] a placing horizontal surface 404,
[indent] which includes at least one solder inlet 406, communicating with the pressurization chamber 210 and injects the solder past [should be “paste”] supplied from an outside into the pressurization chamber 210,
[indent] is formed on an upper surface of the holding and placing unit 400, and
[indent] which is formed a long way in left and right longitudinal directions;
a pumping coupler 500 in which
[indent] a pumping through hole 510 in communication with the pressurization chamber 210 is symmetrically formed on front and rear surfaces of the chamber housing 100 in a longitudinal direction,
[indent] a sealed coupling groove 520 is formed on front and rear surfaces of each part of the chamber housing 100 on an outside of an inner periphery of the pumping through hole 510, and
[indent] a hinge coupler 530 protrudes below the sealed coupling groove 520;
a chamber sealing cover 600 in which
[indent] the pumping coupler 500 is formed as a square plate with a length corresponding to left and right longitudinal directions of the chamber housing 100 to cover the pumping coupler 500 from the outside,
[indent] a hinge coupling piece 610 hinged to the hinge coupler 530 is formed below the square plate to cover the pumping coupler 500 through pivoting movement, and
[indent] a plurality of air injection holes 620 are formed on an outer surface to be symmetrical with each other in front and rear directions to supply and discharge compressed air toward the pumping through hole 510 of the pumping coupler 500;
a pumping pad 700 that
[indent] is airtightly coupled to [“in” seems to be more appropriate] the sealed coupling groove 520 while blocking the pumping through hole 510 formed in the pumping coupler 500 and [replace “and” with a “,”]
[indent] is maintained to be airtightly coupled with the pumping coupler 500 while the chamber sealing cover 600 is pivoted toward the holding and placing unit 400, and
[indent] repeatedly expands and contracts into the pressurization chamber 210 communicating with the pumping through hole 510 by compressed air supplied and discharged through a plurality of air injection holes [620] to perform pumping to uniformly mix the solder paste accommodated in the pressurization chamber;
a side cover 800 that
[indent] is coupled to seal the pressurization chamber 210[,] that is open on left and right sides of the chamber housing 100[,] and
[indent] in which an air vent 810 is formed to pass through the pressurization chamber 210 to discharge the air inside the pressurization chamber 210 of the chamber housing 100 and block inflow of external air; and
a cover holding member 900 that
[indent] is formed a long way in a left and right longitudinal direction and is coupled to the placing horizontal surface 404 to limit pivoting movement of the chamber sealing cover 600[,] that is pivoted toward the holding and placing unit 400[,] and
[indent] in which a supply through hole 902 that communicates with the solder inlet 406 formed in the placing horizontal surface 404 and supplying the solder paste is provided.
2. The sealed squeegee according to claim 1, wherein, when compressed air is supplied through an air injection hole 620 of the chamber sealing cover 600 formed on a left side in a cross section, the pumping pad 700 coupled to [“in” seems more appropriate] a sealed coupling groove 520 while blocking a pumping through hole 510 expands into the pressurization chamber 210 on a left side in a "V" shaped cross section to pressurize and mix the solder paste accommodated inside the pressurization chamber [210],
[indent] uniformly mixes the solder paste while being modified and buffered to an inner surface of the chamber sealed cover [should be “chamber sealing cover 600”] in the pumping through hole 510 through a pressure shock due to an expansion pressure of the pumping pad [700] being passed through the pressurization chamber 210 on a right side in a "V" shaped cross section during a pressurization process, buffers a pressure shock within the pressurization chamber 210 on a right when a left side of the pressurization chamber 210 is pressurized [in general this paragraph is very hard to understand], and
[indent] buffers an [a] pressure shock within the pressurization chamber 210 on the left when a right side is pressurized.
3. The sealed squeegee according to claim 1, wherein a closing surface 630 that is in contact with the vertical surface 402 of the holding and placing unit 400 and corresponds thereto is formed at a fore end to an opposite side to a side at which a hinge coupling piece 610 of the chamber sealing cover 600 is formed,
[indent] a holding surface 640 defining the same surface as the placing horizontal surface 404 is formed to be perpendicular to the closing surface 630, the holding surface 640 defines the same horizontal surface as the placing horizontal surface 404 while the closing surface 630 is in contact with the vertical surface 402 and then the cover holding member 900 is coupled to the placing horizontal surface 404, and
[indent] a lower surface of the cover holding member 900 is formed to control the pivoting movement for opening the chamber sealing cover 600 by pressing the holding surface 640.
4. The sealed squeegee according to claim 3, wherein a front and rear width of the cover holding member 900 is formed to be smaller or greater than a width of the placing horizontal surface 404 and a holding surface 640, which form the same plane due to the pivoting movement of the chamber sealing cover 600 to the holding and placing unit 400, and
[indent] is formed to be larger than a width of the placing horizontal surface 404.
5. The sealed squeegee according to claim 1, wherein the pumping pad 700 performs pumping while [“due to” seems more appropriate as “while” implies the expanding and contracting are not the pumping action] repeatedly expanding and contracting within the pressurization chamber 210 and the pumping through hole 510 by a pressure from compressed air supplied through the plurality of the [delete “the” in order to provide antecedent basis] air injection holes 620 formed in the chamber sealing cover 600 and
[indent] is formed with a length corresponding to a length for sealing the pumping through hole 510, and [delete the “and” as it is not needed]
includes a sealing unit 710 is airtightly coupled to [“in” seems to be more appropriate] the sealed coupling groove 520 formed around an inner periphery of the pumping through hole 510, and a pressurization buffer 720 that extends inside the sealing unit 710,
[indent] is recessed into the pressurization chamber 210 from the pumping through hole 510, and [delete the “and” as it is not needed]
[indent] expands toward the pressurization chamber 210 by compressed air supplied through the plurality of air injection holes 620 formed in the chamber sealing cover 600 or contracts[,] and
[indent] buffers a pressure shock inside the pressurization chamber 210 to uniformly mix the solder paste inside the pressurization chamber 210.
6. The sealed squeegee according to claim 5, wherein a buffer expansion and contraction unit 722 recessed toward the pumping through hole [510] in the pressurization chamber [210] is further formed a long way at a center of the pressurization buffer [720] to further expand into the pressurization chamber 210 and pressurize the solder paste via expansion of the pressurization buffer 720 and to buffer a pressure shock in the pressurization chamber [210] based on pressurization through rapid contraction, and
[indent] an entire cross section of the pressurization buffer [720] and the buffer expansion and contraction unit [722] is a "W" shape.
7. The sealed squeegee according to claim 6, wherein a sub pressurization buffer 724 is recessed toward the pressurization chamber 210 by a longitudinal-direction length of the pumping through hole 510 from a center of the buffer expansion and contraction unit 722 and
[indent] is further formed in a buffer expansion and contraction unit [722] to easily expand toward the pressurization chamber [210] by compressed air to form an entire cross section as a wrinkled shape.
8. The sealed squeegee according to claim 1, wherein the pumping pad 700 is formed of any one of rubber or [replace the “or” with “,”] synthetic rubber, elastic synthetic resin, or silicon, which contracts and expands and has elasticity for restoration.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “easily” in claim 7 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “easily” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Thus, the degree to which the sub pressurization buffer unit is to expand cannot be ascertained.
Claims 1-8 are rejected to because of the following informalities:
Note, the highlighted grey phrase is indefinite and the following italicized brackets are why the phrase is indefinite.
1. A sealed squeegee for supplying a solder paste with a uniform density, the sealed squeegee comprising:
a chamber housing 100 that is formed long in a direction [This is the first instance of the use of “direction” and there are many more throughout the claims. It is generally unclear if these directions are the same/different or sometimes the same/different as those later recited.] that intersects a direction in which a squeegee of a screen printer [It is unclear as to what these are since they are not in the figures and if this squeegee is the same as squeegee blade (310) below.] moves and is used to supply a solder paste to a mask with a uniform density;
a solder mixer 200 including
a pressurization chamber 210 that is formed to pass through the chamber housing 100 and has a “V” shaped cross section to uniformly mix the solder paste through pressure application and pressure buffering to left and right sides [This is the first instance of the use of “left and right X” and there are many more throughout the claims. It is generally unclear if this left and right are the same/different or sometimes the same/different as those later recited.] of the cross section, and
a nozzle unit 220 that discharges the solder paste that is supplied and uniformly mixed into the pressurization chamber 210 to an outside and is formed to pass through a lower surface of the pressurization chamber 210, which [It is unclear as to what “which” is referring to.] are respectively formed on left and right sides [see note above] the of the cross section orthogonal [lack of antecedent basis (LAB)] to a longitudinal direction of the chamber housing 100;
a squeegee blade holder 300 to which, a squeegee blade 310 coupled to front and rear sides [This is the first instance of the use of “front and rear X” and there are many more throughout the claims. It is generally unclear if this front and rear are the same/different or sometimes the same/different as those later recited.] of a lower side of the chamber housing 100 and provided to evenly spread the solder paste on the mask when the solder paste is supplied on the mask, is coupled [It is unclear what is coupled and what it coupled to.];
a holding and placing unit 400 in which
the front and rear vertical surfaces 402 [LAB] protrude above the chamber housing 100, and
a placing horizontal surface 404,
which includes at least one solder inlet 406 communicating with the pressurization chamber 210 and injects the solder past supplied from an outside into the pressurization chamber 210,
is formed on an upper surface of the holding and placing unit 400, and
which [It is unclear as to what “which” is referring to.] is formed a long way in left and right longitudinal directions [see note above about left and right and directions above];
a pumping coupler 500 in which
a pumping through hole 510 in communication with the pressurization chamber 210 is symmetrically formed on front and rear surfaces [see note about front and rear above] of the chamber housing 100 in a longitudinal direction [see note about directions above],
a sealed coupling groove 520 is formed on front and rear surfaces [see note about front and rear above] of each part [LAB] of the chamber housing 100 on an outside of an inner periphery of the pumping through hole 510, and
a hinge coupler 530 protrudes below the sealed coupling groove 520 [it is unclear how this can be so because one looking at figures 7 and 8 would note that if anything the coupler protrudes above];
a chamber sealing cover 600 in which
the pumping coupler 500 is formed as a square plate [It is unclear as to how the coupler can be a be plate or square when looking at the figures] with a length corresponding to left and right longitudinal directions [see notes about left and right and directions above] of the chamber housing 100 to cover the pumping coupler 500 from the outside [It is unclear how the coupler can cover itself.],
a hinge coupling piece 610 hinged to the hinge coupler 530 is formed below the square plate [It is unclear as to what is happening here since there is no square plate.] to cover the pumping coupler 500 through pivoting movement, and
a plurality of air injection holes 620 are formed on an outer surface to be symmetrical with each other in front and rear directions [see note about directions above] to supply and discharge compressed air toward the pumping through hole 510 of the pumping coupler 500;
a pumping pad 700 that
is airtightly coupled to the sealed coupling groove 520 while blocking the pumping through hole 510 formed in the pumping coupler 500, and
is maintained to be airtightly coupled with the pumping coupler 500 while the chamber sealing cover 600 is pivoted toward the holding and placing unit 400, and
repeatedly expands and contracts into the pressurization chamber 210 communicating with the pumping through hole 510 by compressed air supplied and discharged through a plurality of air injection holes [it is unclear if these holes are the same as those above] to perform pumping to uniformly mix the solder paste accommodated in the pressurization chamber;
a side cover 800 that
is coupled to seal the pressurization chamber 210, that is open on left and right sides [see note about left and right above] of the chamber housing 100, and
in which an air vent 810 is formed to pass through the pressurization chamber 210 to discharge the air [LAB] inside the pressurization chamber 210 of the chamber housing 100 and block inflow of external air [it is unclear if the side cover or air vent is blocking the air.]; and
a cover holding member 900 that
is formed a long way in a left and right longitudinal direction [see note above about left and right and directions] and is coupled to the placing horizontal surface 404 to limit pivoting movement of the chamber sealing cover 600 that is pivoted toward the holding and placing unit 400 and
in which a supply through hole 902 that communicates with the solder inlet 406 formed in the placing horizontal surface 404 and supplying the solder paste is provided [it is unclear if member (900) or hole (902) or inlet (406) is the one “supplying”].
2. The sealed squeegee according to claim 1, wherein, when compressed air [It is unclear if this “compressed air” is the same as that of claim 1] is supplied through an air injection hole 620 [It is unclear if this injection hole is one of the those in claim 1.] of the chamber sealing cover 600 formed on a left side [see note about left and right above] in a cross section [It is unclear if this “cross section” is referring to one of those in claim 1 or not.], the pumping pad 700 coupled to a sealed coupling groove 520 [It is unclear if this groove is the same as that in claim 1 or not.] while blocking a pumping through hole 510 [It is unclear if this hole is the same as that in claim 1 or not.] expands into the pressurization chamber 210 on a left side [see note about left and right above] in a "V" shaped cross section [It is unclear if this “”V” shaped cross section” is the same as that in claim 1 or not.] to pressurize and mix the solder paste accommodated inside the pressurization chamber,
uniformly mixes the solder paste while being modified and buffered to an inner surface of the chamber sealed cover in the pumping through hole 510 through a pressure shock due to an expansion pressure of the pumping pad being passed through the pressurization chamber 210 on a right side [see note about left and right above] in a "V" shaped cross section [It is unclear if this “”V” shaped cross section” is the same as that in claim 1 or not.] during a pressurization process, buffers a pressure shock [It is unclear if this pressure shock is the same as that above.] within the pressurization chamber 210 on a right when a left side [see note about left and right above] of the pressurization chamber 210 is pressurized [in general this paragraph is very unclear], and
buffers an pressure shock [It is unclear if this pressure shock is the same as that above or not.] within the pressurization chamber 210 on the left when a right side [see note about left and right above] is pressurized.
3. The sealed squeegee according to claim 1, wherein a closing surface 630 that is in contact with the vertical surface 402 [LAB] of the holding and placing unit 400 and corresponds thereto is formed at a fore end to an opposite side to a side at which a hinge coupling piece 610 [It is unclear if this coupling piece is the same as that in claim 1 or not.] of the chamber sealing cover 600 is formed,
a holding surface 640 defining the same surface [LAB] as the placing horizontal surface 404 is formed to be perpendicular to the closing surface 630, the holding surface 640 defines the same horizontal surface [LAB] as the placing horizontal surface 404 [This phrase is unclear since it is unclear as to how two surfaces can define the same surface, the examiner suggests reciting they are in the same plane, which appears to be mentioned in claim 4] while the closing surface 630 is in contact with the vertical surface 402 and then the cover holding member 900 is coupled to the placing horizontal surface 404, and
a lower surface of the cover holding member 900 is formed to control the pivoting movement for opening the chamber sealing cover 600 by pressing the holding surface 640.
4. The sealed squeegee according to claim 3, wherein a front and rear width [see note about front and rear above] of the cover holding member 900 is formed to be smaller or greater than a width [It is unclear if this width id one of surfaces (404) and (640), or of them combined.] of the placing horizontal surface 404 and a holding surface 640 [It is unclear if this holding surface is the same as that in claim 3 or not.], which form the same plane [LAB] due to the pivoting movement of the chamber sealing cover 600 to the holding and placing unit 400, and
is formed to be larger than a width of the placing horizontal surface 404 [This is indefinite since it appears to contradict the width requirement above.].
5. The sealed squeegee according to claim 1, wherein the pumping pad 700 performs pumping [It is unclear if this pumping is the same as that in claim 1 or not.] while repeatedly expanding and contracting within the pressurization chamber 210 and the pumping through hole 510 by a pressure from compressed air [It is unclear if this “compressed air” is the same as that in claim 1 or not.] supplied through the plurality of the air injection holes 620 formed in the chamber sealing cover 600 and
is formed with a length corresponding to a length for sealing the pumping through hole 510, and
includes a sealing unit 710 is airtightly coupled to the sealed coupling groove 520 formed around an inner periphery of the pumping through hole 510, and a pressurization buffer 720 that extends inside the sealing unit 710,
is recessed into the pressurization chamber 210 from the pumping through hole 510, and
expands toward the pressurization chamber 210 by compressed air [It is unclear if this “compressed air” is the same as that above or not.] supplied through the plurality of air injection holes 620 formed in the chamber sealing cover 600 or contracts, and
buffers a pressure shock inside the pressurization chamber 210 to uniformly mix the solder paste inside the pressurization chamber 210.
6. The sealed squeegee according to claim 5, wherein a buffer expansion and contraction unit 722 recessed toward the pumping through hole [510] in the pressurization chamber [210] is further formed a long way at a center of the pressurization buffer [720] to further expand into the pressurization chamber 210 and pressurize the solder paste via expansion of the pressurization buffer 720 and to buffer a pressure shock [It is unclear if this pressure shock is the same as that in claim 5.] in the pressurization chamber [210] based on pressurization through rapid contraction, and
an entire cross section of the pressurization buffer [720] and the buffer expansion and contraction unit [722] is a "W" shape.
7. The sealed squeegee according to claim 6, wherein a sub pressurization buffer 724 is recessed toward the pressurization chamber 210 by a longitudinal-direction [see note about direction above] length of the pumping through hole 510 from a center [It is unclear if this “center” is the same as that in claim 6 or not.] of the buffer expansion and contraction unit 722 and
is further formed in a buffer expansion and contraction unit [It is unclear if this the same as buffer expansion and contraction unit above.] to easily expand toward the pressurization chamber by compressed air [It is unclear if this “compressed air” is the same as that in claim 5 or not.] to form an entire cross section [It is unclear if this “entire cross section” is the same as that in claim 6 or not.] as a wrinkled shape.
8. The sealed squeegee according to claim 1, wherein the pumping pad 700 is formed of any one of rubber or synthetic rubber, elastic synthetic resin, or silicon, which contracts and expands and has elasticity for restoration [It is unclear if it is the materials or the pad that contracts and expands.].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure; see PTO 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLOS J GAMINO whose telephone number is (571)270-5826. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-6.
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, Keith Walker can be reached at 5712723458. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CARLOS J GAMINO/Examiner, Art Unit 1735
/KEITH WALKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1735