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 .
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, 6-9, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DE 102009004998 A1 to Tschritter in view of CN 112208025 A to Guan.
In reference to independent claim 1, Tschritter discloses:
A method (see [0001]-[0002]) for removing adherent or immigrated olfactory substances from thermoplastic particles that are present as bulk material and that are acted on by dry, warm air in a treatment chamber of a warm air container during a time period t2 (see [0056]), the method comprising:
warming, before the treatment in the warm air container, the plastic particles in at least one infrared rotary tube, the infrared rotary tube having at least one infrared emitter that is arranged in a central region of the interior space thereof and directed toward an inner wall of the drum thereof (see [0060]-[0065]); and
rotating continuously the drum, during a time period t1, while the plastic particles are warmed (see [0060]-[0065]), and subsequently transferring the plastic particles in the warm state, with a maximum temperature loss of 20K, into the treatment chamber of the warm air container (8) (see [0065]), where the plastic particles continue to be acted on by warm air during the time period t2 (see [0056]).
However, Tschritter is silent regarding aftertreating over a third time period t3, after the treatment in the warm air container, the bulk material in a conveying device that extends from the bottom upwards; and discharging the bulk material.
Guan teaches a PET recrystallization drying method including a step of transferring PET material upward through a re-crystallizing pipeline component (3) of special PET recrystallization device (100), through which the PET material is heated and dried, the PET material being discharged through a cyclone separator (21) into a PET drying barrel (300) (see Fig. 2 and “As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, the embodiment of the invention claims a special PET recrystallization device 100, comprising a hot air conveying assembly 1; special receiving component 2 and re-crystallizing pipeline component 3, hot air conveying component 1 can be connected with the discharging port of the storage device 200, special receiving component 2 can be connected with the feeding port of the PET drying barrel 300; the inlet end and the outlet end of the re-crystallizing pipeline component 3 are respectively connected with the hot air conveying component 1 and the special receiving component 2; hot air conveying assembly 1 for generating high speed hot air flow and suction PET material from the discharge port, and capable of blowing the high speed hot air flow and PET material into the recrystallization pipeline assembly 3; recrystallization pipeline assembly 3 for wind conveying PET material, at the same time, the PET material in the process of conveying; special receiving component 2 can receive the PET material conveyed by the recrystallization pipeline assembly 3, and the PET material into the PET drying barrel 300.”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Tschritter to include the upward transfer of the bulk material as vertical displacement of the material can help save space while allowing for further drying of the bulk material, thus removing more olfactory substances.
In reference to independent claim 6, Tschritter and Guan are silent regarding the plastic particles in the infrared rotary tube and/or in the warm air container are warmed to a temperature that is 10K to 5K below the softening temperature. Tschritter discloses irradiating the granules uniformly so that “sticking of the bulk material when passing through the softening temperature is prevented”. Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Tschritter to specific temperature close to the softening temperature in order to ensure that the bulk material does not clump together as taught by Tschritter.
In reference to independent claim 7, Tschritter and Guan are silent regarding the bulk material being acted on by ozone during the transfer from the infrared rotary tube and/or in the warm air container. However, this is well-known in the art and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill.
In reference to independent claim 8, Tschritter and Guan are silent regarding the bulk material being made up of plastic particles composed of polystyrene, polyolefins, and/or thermoplastic elastomers. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied the above method to any of the above materials as they are different plastics.
In reference to dependent claim 9, Tschritter further discloses: a processing device to carry out the method according to claim 1 (see the rejection of claim 1 and the disclosures of Tschritter and Guan).
In reference to dependent claim 13, Tschritter further discloses: the inner wall of the drum (4) is provided with a web (still fixtures 4.2). Even though Tschritter is silent regarding the web being a worm gear web, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have substituted the still fixtures of Tschritter with a worm gear web as they are equivalents for dispersing the granules of the bulk material, ensuring that they are heated evenly.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 10-12 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ngoc T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)272-7176. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at (571) 272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NGOC T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
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