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 .
The amendment filed October 6, 2025 has been entered.
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.
Claim 12 is 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.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "the at least one second load transfer element." There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
The term “deeper building material” in claim 12 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term 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. It is unclear what the building material layer is deeper relative to.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 5, 7-8 and 10-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mayer (WO 2019/092178; paragraph references to corresponding US 2020/0269463).
Claim 1: Mayer discloses a method of additively manufacturing a component from a building material, according to which a material output unit deposits the building material in layers along a defined print pathway (abstract). The method includes extending at least one first load transfer element (4) into the print pathway in advance of building material deposition (fig. 1; ¶¶ 19-20); and the material output unit depositing the building material onto the at least one first load transfer element located in the print pathway (¶ 19; fig. 1), and concurrently temporarily displacing a second load transfer element located in a movement pathway of the material output unit (¶ 27).
Claim 2: Mayer discloses the print pathway extends at least sectionally along a reinforcement, starting from which the at least one first load transfer element extends into the print pathway (fig. 1).
Claim 5: Mayer discloses using concrete as the building material (¶ 17).
Claim 7: Mayer discloses the reinforcement being a rod (fig. 1; ¶ 24).
Claim 8: Mayer discloses the load transfer element resting on a holder (the base; fig. 1).
Claim 10: Mayer discloses the at least one first load transfer element extends beyond the print pathway in order to protrude laterally from the component after the building material has been deposited (fig. 1).
Claim 11: Mayer discloses the at least one first load transfer element includes multiple ones of the first transfer element (fig. 1), the method includes arranging the multiple ones of the first load transfer elements distributed along the print pathway (fig. 1), and arranging multiple ones of the first and second load transfer elements distributed over multiple of the layers to be deposited (fig. 1).
Claim 12: Mayer discloses a method of additively manufacturing a component from a building material, according to which a material output unit deposits the building material in layers along a defined print pathway (abstract). The method includes extending at least one first load transfer element (4) into the print pathway in advance of building material deposition (fig. 1; ¶¶ 19-20); and the material output unit depositing the building material onto the at least one first load transfer element located in the print pathway (¶ 19; fig. 1), and concurrently temporarily displacing a second load transfer element located in a movement pathway of the material output unit (¶ 27), wherein the second load transfer element pushed out of the print pathway is a load transfer element of a building material layer to be subsequently deposited which is pushed out of the print pathway by the material output unit, while the material output unit deposits the building material along the defined print pathway of a deeper building material layer (¶ 27; fig. 1).
Claim 13: Mayer discloses forming the at least one first load transfer element elastically at least sectionally in a direction of the print pathway (¶ 27; fig. 1).
Claim 14: Mayer discloses the elastic portion of the second load transfer element being designed to enable a displaceability of the section of the second load transfer element extending into the print pathway through the material output unit (¶ 27, fig. 1).
Claim 15: Mayer discloses the sectionally elastic section of the second load transfer element is designed to enable an automatic return of the section of the second load transfer element displaced out of the print pathway by the material output unit (¶ 27; fig. 1).
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 3-4, 6, 9 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mayer (WO 2019/092178; paragraph references to corresponding US 2020/0269463) in view of Khoshnevis (EP2610417), as applied to claim 1 above.
Claim 18: Mayer discloses a method of additively manufacturing a component from a building material, according to which a material output unit deposits the building material in layers along a defined print pathway (abstract). The method includes extending at least one first load transfer element (4) into the print pathway in advance of building material deposition (fig. 1; ¶¶ 19-20); and the material output unit depositing the building material onto the at least one first load transfer element located in the print pathway (¶ 19; fig. 1), and concurrently temporarily displacing a second load transfer element located in a movement pathway of the material output unit (¶ 27), and the material output unit on an end effector of an actuator device and moving the material output unit by the actuator device along the print pathway (¶¶ 4, 17). Mayer is silent as to the material output unit being fastened to an end effector. However, Khoshnevis discloses a method of additively manufacturing a component from a building material, according to which a material output unit deposits the building material in layers along a defined print pathway and the material output unit is fastened to an end effector of an actuator device and moving the material output unit by the actuator device along the print pathway (fig. 25; ¶ 134). As taught by Khoshnevis, fastening the nozzle to the end effector of the robotic arm 2520 allows the nozzle to “reach from the ground level all the way to the top of a wall.” It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have fastened the material output unit to the gantry of Mayer in order to allow printing along the entire height of the wall.
Claim 19: Khoshnevis discloses orienting the material output unit vertically to a base on which the component is erected, while the material output unit is moved along the print pathway and deposits the building material (fig. 25).
Claim 20: Khoshnevis discloses orienting the material output unit obliquely to a base on which the component is erected, while the material output unit is moved along the print pathway and deposits the building material (fig. 6).
Claim 3: Khoshnevis discloses producing two formwork components extending parallel to one another for forming a formwork (fig. 31).
Claim 4: Khoshnevis discloses filling the formwork with an additional building material (fig. 31).
Claim 6: Khoshnevis discloses the print pathway extends at least sectionally parallel to a course of the reinforcement on a base, and is spaced apart from the reinforcement (fig. 31).
Claim 9: Khoshnevis discloses a reinforcement being arranged between two parallel print paths (figs. 34a-d), and Mayer discloses providing separate one of the first load transfer elements on each side of the reinforcement and extending each of the first load transfer elements into an associated one of the first and second print pathways (fig. 1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LARRY THROWER whose telephone number is (571)270-5517. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm MT M-F.
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/LARRY W THROWER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754