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 § 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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 6, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hoffmann et al. (US 4,776,449).
Hoffmann et al. show a construction apparatus 1 having a first unit 20 which executes a first process on processing an object, a second unit 3 which abuts an installation surface and it executes a second process on an object. A first portion of unit 3 includes a number of degrees of freedom at feed end 4 which differs from degrees of freedom at end 1.
Re claim 2, three degrees of freedom are at end 4 relative to only one degree of freedom at end 1.
Re claim 3, shown is engagement at two locations 5.
Re claim 5, shown is a spherical bearing in Figure 3.
Re claim 6, unit 3 is designed to be a stand along unit.
Re claim 11, the unit is fully capable of being kept in a certain state.
Re claim 13, units 14 act as a stand.
Re claim 15, the stand is installed with respect to the ground and the bearing allows for inclination adjustment.
Re claim 17, a spherical bearing is used.
Re claim 18 engagement at two locations is shown in Figure 1.
Re claim 20, the spherical bearing determines the number of degrees of freedom.
Re claim 21, the unit may self-stand if so desired.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 7-10, 14, 16 and 19 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R BIDWELL whose telephone number is (571)272-6910. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 to 4.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gene Crawford, can be reached at telephone number (571)272-6911. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES R BIDWELL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651 01/22/2026