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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
Claims 16-19 and 22-32 are pending and the subject of this FINAL Office Action.
New Grounds of Rejections - 35 USC § 112- Indefiniteness
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.
Claims 16-19 and 22-32 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The “deflection device” is so unclear that it is impossible to apply prior art. Specifically, claim 16 is amended to recite “a printing head comprising an extruder nozzle and a deflection device . . . wherein the deflection device is arranged upstream of the discharge opening and is designed for deflecting a flow of the building material from a non-horizontal direction in the direction of the discharge opening.” It is not clear where upstream is the “deflection device” located; and what structurally features are required of the “deflection device.” The specification fails to clarify these critical issues. Instead, the specification only states the following:
As a further addition or alternative, the printing head may comprise a deflection device or a deflection element. The deflection device may be arranged upstream of the discharge opening and may be designed for deflecting a flow of building material, in particular from a non-horizontal direction, more particularly a vertical direction, in particular from top to bottom, in the direction of the discharge opening, in particular in the discharge direction, in particular from back to front. This, in particular the deflection device, may allow the horizontal discharge
(para. 0027). Both the claims and specification describe the “deflection device” only in terms of its function, but never its structure or physical requirements. The specification never discloses any examples. The specification never explains where the “deflection device” is located (e.g. in a conduit in which build material flows, outside the nozzle, outside a conduit, etc.). Finally, the prior art teaches delta robots on booms in order to 3D print using extrusion (US 20190224846; US20200246967); however, it is unclear if any of the structures therein fall within the claimed “deflection device.” In light of this vague, purely functional language at the point of a potentially novel component, the claims are rejected as indefinite.
Prior Art
The following prior art teaches delta robots on a boom for 3D printing using extrusion: US 20190224846; US20200246967.
The following prior art teaches use of tachymeters/total stations with inertial (e.g. accelerometer and/or gyrometer) sensors in 3D printing or concrete extrusion: US 20210156115.
The following prior art teaches conventional multi-sensor time offsets, which are required in all multi-sensor contexts: Li et al, Time-Offset Estimation in Multisensor Tracking Systems, 22nd International Conference on Information Fusion, Ottawa, Canada - July 2-5, 2019.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/YUNG-SHENG M TSUI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1684
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