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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 5, 11 – 14 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 Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 2, 6 – 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MARKETSMUELLER et al. US 2018/0114368 (hereinafter MARKETSMUELLER) in view of Zhang et al. CN 109203462 (hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claim 1, MARKETSMUELLER teaches: a method for improving the fineness of a specified region on the surface of a light-curable 3D printed model, comprising the following steps:
loading and opening a 3D model (Fig. 4, [0087] - - load a 3D model);
turning on an anti-aliasing or image edge blurring function for the 3D model ([0077] - - user apply a blur e.g. Gaussian blur to the model)
delimiting a first region on the surface of the 3D model according to specific features of the 3D model, and turning on an image sharpening/turning off an anti-aliasing function/turning off an image edge blurring function for the first region ([0077] - - use may select an area and apply a filter such as blur or sharpen to the area, the area applied sharpen filter is a first region),
the first region comprising the specific features ([0077] - - the feature in the user selected area is a specific feature); and
slicing the 3D model and importing slicing data of the 3D model, which is generated after slicing, into a light- curable printer for light-curable printing.
But MARKETSMUELLER does not explicitly teach:
slicing the 3D model and importing slicing data of the 3D model, which is generated after slicing, into a light- curable printer for light-curable printing.
However, Zhang teaches:
slicing the 3D model and importing slicing data of the 3D model, which is generated after slicing, into a light- curable printer for light-curable printing ([0033] - - generating slicing file; exposes 3D printer).
MARKETSMUELLER and Zhang are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor. They all relate to 3D printing system.
Therefore before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above method, as taught by MARKETSMUELLER, and incorporating slicing and 3D printing, as taught by Zhang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this modification in order to improve 3D printing efficiency, as suggested by Zhang ([0006]).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of MARKETSMUELLER and Zhang teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Zhang further teaches: the respective steps are accomplished in 3D printing slicing software ([0033] - - the software generating slicing files is slicing software).
MARKETSMUELLER and Zhang are combinable for the same rationale as set forth.
Regarding claim 6, MARKETSMUELLER teaches: a method for improving the fineness of a specified region on the surface of a light-curable 3D printed model, comprising the following steps:
loading and opening a 3D model (Fig. 4, [0087] - - load a 3D model);
selecting a first region and a second region on the surface of the 3D model according to specific features of the 3D model, the first region comprising the specific features ([0077] - - use may select an area and apply a filter; the feature in the user selected area is a specific feature);
turning on an anti-aliasing or image edge blurring function for the second region ([0077] - - use may select an area and apply a filter such as blur to the area);
But MARKETSMUELLER does not explicitly teach: slicing the 3D model, and importing slicing data of the 3D model, which is generated after slicing, into a light-curable printer for light-curable printing.
However, Zhang teaches:
slicing the 3D model, and importing slicing data of the 3D model, which is generated after slicing, into a light-curable printer for light-curable printing ([0033] - - generating slicing file; exposes 3D printer).
MARKETSMUELLER and Zhang are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor. They all relate to 3D printing system.
Therefore before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above method, as taught by MARKETSMUELLER, and incorporating slicing and 3D printing, as taught by Zhang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this modification in order to improve 3D printing efficiency, as suggested by Zhang ([0006]).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of MARKETSMUELLER and Zhang teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Zhang further teaches: the respective steps are accomplished in 3D printing slicing software ([0033] - - the software generating slicing files is slicing software).
MARKETSMUELLER and Zhang are combinable for the same rationale as set forth.
Regarding claim 8, the combination of MARKETSMUELLER and Zhang teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
MARKETSMUELLER further teaches: delimiting a first region on the surface of the 3D model; and inversely selecting the second region on the surface of the 3D model with the first region as a reference ([0033], [0075] - - applying selection mask to exclude areas).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of MARKETSMUELLER and Zhang teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
MARKETSMUELLER further teaches: delimiting the first region and the second region on the surface of the 3D model in a parallel selection mode according to the specific features of the 3D model ([0076] - - the user may select two or more 3D workspaces for editing).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of MARKETSMUELLER and Zhang teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
MARKETSMUELLER further teaches: turning on an image sharpening function for the first region ([0077] - - user may select an area and apply a sharpen filter to the model).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YUHUI R PAN whose telephone number is (571)272-9872. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM EST.
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/YUHUI R PAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2116