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 .
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 110072628A in view of JP 201955747 A.
Regarding claim 1, CN’628 discloses (see Figs 1B, 2B and 5) a coating device configured to coat a coating region of a to-be-coated object having a convex curved surface (see Fig 1B), the coating device comprising: a head (nozzle applicator 2, 14, 15) comprising a nozzle surface; an arm (see Fig 5) configured to hold the head (nozzle applicator 2, 14, 15); and a controller (control device 18) configured to control movement of the head via the arm (see Fig 1), wherein the controller (control device 18) is configured to move the head (nozzle applicator 2, 14, 15) in a first direction along an end portion of the coating region in a posture in which a gap (d) between the nozzle surface and the to-be-coated object at an end portion side of the coating region is capable of being smaller than a gap between the nozzle surface and the to-be-coated object at a center side of the coating region (see Fig 1B, for the tilted applicator having a portion 5 wherein that distance d is greater in the middle than at the end portion of member 4), move the head with a plurality of discharge holes opening at the nozzle surface partially overlapping each other in a plan view (overlapping area at the start and end of the coating path, see English translation on page 7 paragraph starting with “on the other hand,…). CN’628 lacks teaching the controller configured to control discharge of a coating material from the nozzle surface in such a manner that a discharge density of the coating material in an overlapping portion of the plurality of discharge holes is smaller than the discharge density of the coating material in a portion of the plurality of discharge holes other than the overlapping portion. However, JP’747 teaches (see English Translation on pages 13-14 and Fig 4-6) an ink jet recording device having a controller (control unit 50) configured to control discharge of a coating material from the nozzle surface in such a manner that a discharge density of the coating material in an overlapping portion of the plurality of discharge holes is smaller than the discharge density of the coating material in a portion of the plurality of discharge holes other than the overlapping portion (see Fig 6 and English translation on pages 8 and 14, for the density of the first density pattern P1 is a density D2 smaller (lighter) than the reference density D). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the controller to control discharge of a coating material from the nozzle surface in such a manner that a discharge density of the coating material in an overlapping portion of the plurality of discharge holes is smaller than the discharge density of the coating material in a portion of the plurality of discharge holes other than the overlapping portion in CN’628 to prevent color or density unevenness of the printed material on the substrate or component as taught by JP’747 (see English Translation on page 5).
As to claim 2, CN’628 teaches (see Fig 3) the plurality of discharge holes includes: first discharge holes (nozzles 8) located at an end portion on a first side of the head, and second discharge holes located at an end portion on a second side of the head, the first side being opposite to the second side in a moving direction of the head, and some of the first discharge holes overlap some of the second discharge holes in the plan view to define the overlapping portion of the plurality of discharge holes (see the example, in the operating mode, the plurality of nozzles 8 including first discharge holes at different portion of the head, overlapping area of the adjacent coating path or at the start or end of the coating path, see Fig 3A& 3B and English Translation on page 7).
Regarding claim 3, CN’628 lacks specifically teaching discharge density difference of the discharge holes, wherein the discharge density of the coating material in the some of the first discharge holes is same as the discharge density of the coating material in the some of the second discharge holes. However, JP’747 teaches the discharge density of the coating material in the some of the first discharge holes is same as the discharge density of the coating material in the some of the second discharge holes (see Fig 4B & 7A and English Translation on page 7 for the area of the portion where the ink IA and the ink IB overlap in the first density pattern P1 of FIG. 4B is substantially equal to the area of the portion where the ink IB and the ink IC overlap in the second density pattern P2… As shown in FIG. 7A, the first density pattern P1 and the second density pattern P2 have the same density). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the discharge density of the coating material in the some of the first discharge holes is same as the discharge density of the coating material in the some of the second discharge holes in order the density patterns applied through the first and second discharge holes or nozzles have the same thickness as taught by JP’747 (see English Translation on page 7).
As to claim 4, CN’628 lacks specifically teaching a discharge density difference of the end and center portions although overlapping portions of nozzles of nozzle applicator. JP’747 teaches (see Fig 6B) a discharge density of the coating material located in the end portion of the coating region is larger than a discharge density of the coating material located in a center portion of the coating region. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a discharge density of the coating material located in the end portion of the coating region is larger than a discharge density of the coating material located in a center portion of the coating region to satisfactorily coat all areas of the substrate and prevent unevenness (see English Translation on page 5of JP’747), such as -when the substrate have complex shape of the surface of the substrate (see English translation on page 2 of CN’628).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 110072628A in view of JP 201955747 A as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Beier et al (US 9,266,353 B2).
CN’628 lacks teaching the applicator/head having a resolution of 150 dpi or more. However, in coating a vehicle body, a head having a resolution of the head is 150 dpi or more is well known in the art; for instance - as taught by Bejer et al (see column 11, lines 40-50). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a head or an applicator having a resolution of 150 dpi or more as desired because of the need for high productivity without compromising image quality.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEWEBDAR T TADESSE whose telephone number is (571)272-1238. The examiner can normally be reached 7.00-3:30 PM.
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YEWEBDAR T. TADESSE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1717
/YEWEBDAR T TADESSE/
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