DETAILED ACTION
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because they (Fig. 14) fail to show “a nest portion 75” (which is described in at least specification paragraph 0099 and recited in claims 1, 15 and 16).
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure (specification) is objected to because paragraphs [0093] and [0099] fail to correspond to the drawings. Going forward with examination, the paragraphs are interpreted to be (Note that in applicant’s response, where a change is requested in the specification, an entire paragraph of the specification containing the change will be needed):
--[0093] In this way, the PCBs 38, 40 can be compactly positioned within the housing cover 12 to form a stand-alone heat press 10 that includes all necessary temperature control and user display electronics within the heat press 10. At the same time, as noted above the PCBs 38, 40 and associated electronic components are housed in the housing cover 12 above the first insulation layer 32, the second insulation 34, and the insulation base portion 30 for protection from heat that is generated by the heat plate 16. Furthermore, in some configurations, the heat press 10 may include at least one motion detection sensor 59 (see, e.g., FIG. 9), such as, for example, one or more accelerometers, that may be communicatively-coupled with one or more components of the PCBs 38, 40, such as, for example, a timer or clock, both of which may be connected to a processor of one or more of the PCBs 38, 40. In some instances, when, for example, a certain amount of time lapses without the at least one motion detection sensor 59 detecting motion imparted to the heat press 10 by the user U, the processor may send a signal that powers-off the heating coil 42. In some instances, the processor may automatically power off the heating coil 42 after, for example, thirteen (13) minutes of non-use or lack of motion as detected by the motion detection sensor 59. Such implementations with an automatic shutoff feature that may include a motion detection sensor 59 may be advantageous in embodiments of the heat press 10 that may include, for example, one or more of the PCBs 38, 40 that do not include a timer or processor that is pre-programmed with a shutoff time period that would otherwise power off the heating coil 42. In other configurations, the heat press 10 may alternatively include or also include one or more tilt sensors that may power on or power off the heating coil 42 (e.g., when the heat press 10 is tilted horizontally, the heating coil 42 is powered on, and, when the heat press 10 is tilted vertically in an upright orientation, the heating coil 42 is powered off).--
--[0099] In some implementations, one or more legs 58 may extend from a lower surface 63 (see, e.g., FIGS. 14-15 and 19-21 where the one or more legs 58 extend from one or both of the peripheral body shell portions 60, 62) of the heat press docking station base 52; with reference to FIG. 21, functionally, the one or more legs 58 may separate a lower surface 65 of the perforated floor 54 from implement-contact heating surface 57 of the heat plate 16 at a distance (according to arrow Y at FIG. 21). The separation distance Y provided by the one or more legs 58 also promotes ambient airflow A1 (see, e.g., FIG. 19) through the perforated floor 54 for additional cooling of the heat plate 16. In some configurations, the one or more legs 58 are not axially aligned with the heat plate support protrusions 56 so that the heat plate support protrusions 56 are not disposed directly above the one or more legs 58 ; accordingly, any heat that is transferred from the heat plate 16 into heat plate support protrusions 56 does not transfer directly axially through the perforated floor and further axially downwardly into the one or more legs 58 and then further axially into the working surface 300 that supports the one or more legs 58. Rather, in such an non-axially-aligned configuration , any heat transferred from the heat plate 16 into heat plate support protrusions 56 is more likely to be radially transferred into the perforated floor 54 and then further radially into peripheral body shell portions 60, 62 before being axially exposed to the one or more legs 58, thus further dissipating heat before it can be thermally transferred toward the working surface 300 by way of the one or more legs 58.--
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 6, 11-12 and 15 are objected to because of apparent editorial errors. Going forward with examination, the claims are interpreted to be:
--6. The heat press docking station base of claim 2, wherein the peripheral body shell
an inner peripheral body shell portion; and
an outer peripheral body shell portion joined to the inner peripheral body shell portion.--
--11. The heat press docking station base of claim 2, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions are distributed around the peripheral
--12. The heat press docking station base of claim 11, wherein the one or more legs are distributed around the peripheral
--15. A heat press docking station base comprising:
a nest portion including a peripheral body shell and a perforated floor, the peripheral body shell extending upwardly from a peripheral edge of the perforated floor;
one or more legs extending downwardly from a lower surface of the nest portion; and
one or more heat plate support protrusions, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions are radially connected to the peripheral body shell
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-5 and 9-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Alipour (US 11,155,957 B2; Alipour is a reference listed in an IDS filed on 3/29/2024).
Alipour teaches:
1. A heat press docking station base (100) comprising (See figs. 1, 3, 13, reproduced and annotated below):
a nest portion (102) including a peripheral body shell (150) and a perforated floor (104), the peripheral body shell (150) extending upwardly from a peripheral edge of the perforated floor (104);
one or more legs (152) extending downwardly from a lower surface of the nest portion (102); and
one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103), wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are configured to engage and support a heat plate (201) of a heat press device (200; Fig. 19) at a distance away from the perforated floor 104 (Col. 4, line 60 – Col. 5, line 3; Col. 6, lines 4-16. In addition to figs. 1, 3 and 13, fig. 16 also shows the heat plate 201 at a distance away from the perforated floor 104).
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2. The heat press docking station base of claim 1, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) extend upwardly from the peripheral edge of the perforated floor 104 (as seen at least in figs. 1, 3, 13).
3. The heat press docking station base of claim 2, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are exclusively disposed about the periphery of the perforated floor 104 (as seen at least in figs. 1, 3, 13).
4. The heat press docking station base of claim 2, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are radially connected to the peripheral body shell 150 (as seen at least in figs. 1, 3, 13).
5. The heat press docking station base of claim 2, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are axially connected to the perforated floor (104) adjacent the peripheral edge of the perforated floor 104 (as seen at least in figs. 1, 3, 13).
9. The heat press docking station base of claim 2, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are made from at least one of a silicone material or a rubber material (Col. 8, lines 59-60: “Silicone rubber is an example of a material suitable for making any of the embodiments 100 disclosed herein”).
10. The heat press docking station base of claim 2, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are made from a resiliently flexible material (e.g., silicone rubber, as discussed above in claim 9).
11. The heat press docking station base of claim 2, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are distributed around the peripheral of the perforated floor 104 (as seen at least in figs. 1, 3, 13).
12. The heat press docking station base of claim 11, wherein the one or more legs (152) are distributed around the peripheral of the perforated floor 104 (as seen at least in figs. 1, 3, 13).
13. The heat press docking station base of claim 12, wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are not axially aligned with, and are thus axially offset from, the one or more legs 152 (as seen at least in fig. 13 above).
14. The heat press docking station base of claim 1, wherein an upper-most surface of the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) extend away from an upper surface of the perforated floor (104) at a first (longer) distance, wherein the one or more legs (152) extend away from a lower surface of the perforated floor (104) at a second (shorter) distance, and wherein the first (longer) distance, the second (shorter) distance and a thickness of the perforated floor (104) define a length of each perforated passage extending through the thickness of the perforated floor 104 (as is evident from at least figs. 1, 3, 13 and 16).
15 (essentially equivalent to claim 1).
A heat press docking station base (100) comprising (See figs. 1, 3, 13 above):
a nest portion (102) including a peripheral body shell (150) and a perforated floor (104), the peripheral body shell (150) extending upwardly from a peripheral edge of the perforated floor (104);
one or more legs (152) extending downwardly from a lower surface of the nest portion (102); and
one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103), wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are radially connected to the peripheral body shell (150) and extend upwardly from the peripheral edge of the perforated floor (104), wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are configured to engage and support a heat plate (201) of a heat press device (200) at a distance away from the perforated floor (104).
16 (essentially equivalent to claim 1).
A heat press docking station base (100) comprising (See figs. 1, 3, 13 above):
a nest portion (102) including a peripheral body shell (150) and a perforated floor (104), the peripheral body shell (150) extending upwardly from a peripheral edge of the perforated floor (104);
one or more legs (152) extending downwardly from a lower surface of the nest portion (102); and
one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103), wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are axially connected to the perforated floor (104) and extend upwardly from the peripheral edge of the perforated floor (104), wherein the one or more heat plate support protrusions (136/103) are configured to engage and support a heat plate (201) of a heat press device (200) at a distance away from the perforated floor (104).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 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 following would be a statement for indication of an allowable subject matter:
With respect to claim 6, prior art of record doesn’t teach, suggest, or render obvious the total combination of the recited features, including the following allowable subject matter: “…wherein the peripheral body shell (60, 62) comprises an inner peripheral body shell portion (60); and an outer peripheral body shell portion (62) joined to the inner peripheral body shell portion (60).”
(Claims 7-8 are dependent on claim 6.)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nguyen (Wyn) Q. Ha whose telephone number is (571) 272-2863, email: nguyenq.ha@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 am - 4:30 pm (Eastern Time).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephen Meier can be reached on (571) 272-2149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Nguyen Q. Ha/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
March 13, 2026