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
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2016113420 see abstract and page 5 lines 8-21 and page 6 lines 27-40 in view of JP2005255550 see page 5 lines 22-29; pages 6 lines 36-45; page 7 lines 33-42; page 8 lines 31-46, page 9 line 15-25.
With regard to claim 1, directed to a manufacturing method of a recycled polyester fabric, comprising:
-providing a dope-dyed fabric, wherein the dope-dyed fabric comprises a pigment and a polyethylene terephthalate resin, and the first particle size of the pigment is less than 1 micrometer;
-performing a pre-depolymerization step on the dope-dyed fabric, wherein the pre-depolymerization step comprises:
-performing a first depolymerization procedure on the dope-dyed fabric to form an oligomer; adding the oligomer to an activated carbon to perform a mixing procedure, wherein a second particle size of the activated carbon is larger than the first particle size of the pigment; and
-performing a filtration procedure to separate the oligomer from the activated carbon and obtain a pre-depolymer; and performing a post-processing step on the pre-depolymer to obtain the recycled polyester fabric, wherein the post-processing step comprises a second depolymerization procedure, a monomer purification procedure, a polymerization procedure, or a combination thereof.
JP2016113420 discloses a method for recycling polyester material including PET fibers and films wherein the polyester material may also include colorants, pigments and dyes. The reference further discloses decomposing the polyester material to form an oligomer and processing the oligomer to recover material useful for making recycled polyester. See page 5 lines 8-21;page 5 lines 39-45; page 6 lines 27-40.
JP2016113420 does not disclose that the particle size of the activated carbon is larger than the particle size of the pigment.
JP2005255550 discloses purifying a polyester depolymerization solution containing pigment particles by treatment with activated carbon. The activated carbon adsorbs colorants such as pigments, and the reference teaches subsequently removing activated carbon particles having an average particle diameter of about 1-500µm by filtration. See page 8 lines 31-46; page 9 lines 15-25.
In view of the above, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of JP2016113420 by using the activated carbon purification treatment taught by JP2005255550 which includes selecting activated carbon particles larger than the pigment particles, to aid in the adsorption of the pigment and separation of the activated carbon and other impurities from the depolymerization product using filtration.
With regard to claim 2, directed to the manufacturing method of the recycled polyester fabric according to claim 1, wherein the second particle size of the activated carbon is greater than 1 micrometer and less than or equal to 100 micrometers, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention since JP2005255550 discloses activated carbon having an average particle diameter of about 1-500µm which overlaps the claimed range of greater than 1-100µm. See page 9 lines 23-25.
With regard to claim 3, directed to the manufacturing method of the recycled polyester fabric according to claim 1, wherein a weight percentage of the pigment in the dope-dyed fabric is between 1wt% and 10wt%, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select the amount of pigment based on the desired color of the polyester fabric since JP2016113420A discloses polyester material containing colorants such as pigments and dyes. See page 5 lines 16-21. Additionally, JP2005255550 discloses polyester material containing colorants such as pigments and dyes and the amount of pigment would have been selected based on the desired amount of color for the fabric. See page 5 lines 22-29.
With regard to claim 4, directed to the manufacturing method of the recycled polyester fabric according to claim 1, wherein a weight ratio of the activated carbon to the oligomer is between 0.005 and 0.3, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention since JP2005255550 teaches using activated carbon to remove pigment from the depolymerization solution, and the amount of activated carbon would have been adjusted to provide the desired amount of pigment to be removed. See page 9 lines 15-25.
With regard to claim 5, directed to the manufacturing method of the recycled polyester fabric according to claim 1, wherein an execution temperature of the mixing procedure is between 110°C and 190°C, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select the mixing temperature to have sufficient mixing contact between activated carbon and the depolymerization solution for removal of the pigment. Moreover, JP2005255550 discloses maintaining the depolymerization solution during activated carbon treatment at 50-100C. See page 9 lines 15-20.
With regard to claim 6, directed to the manufacturing method of the recycled polyester fabric according to claim 1, wherein an execution time of the mixing procedure is between 5 minutes and 90 minutes, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select the mixing time to provide sufficient contact between the activated carbon and the pigment from removal of the pigment. See JP2005255550A page 9 lines 15-22.
With regard to claim 7, directed to the manufacturing method of the recycled polyester fabric according to claim 1, wherein the first depolymerization procedure comprises using ethylene glycol and a catalyst, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention since JP2005255550A discloses depolymerizing polyester with ethylene glycol in the presence of a depolymerization catalyst. See page 6 lines 36-45, page 7 lines 33-42.
With regard to claim 8, directed to the manufacturing method of the recycled polyester fabric according to claim 7, wherein a weight ratio of the catalyst to the dope-dyed fabric is between 0.001 and 0.1, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select a catalyst weight ratio within the claimed range because JP2005255550A discloses using 0.5 to 0.50 wt% catalyst, preferably 0.15 to 0.40wt% based on the polyester which overlaps the claimed range. See page 7 lines 33-37.
With regard to claim 9, directed to the manufacturing method of the recycled polyester fabric according to claim 1, wherein an execution temperature of the first depolymerization procedure is between 180°C and 220°C, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention since JP2005255550A discloses a depolymerization temperature of 170 C to 230C which overlaps the claimed range. See page 7 lines 41-43.
With regard to claim 10, directed to the manufacturing method of the recycled polyester fabric according to claim 1, wherein an execution time of the first depolymerization procedure is between 5 minutes and 120 minutes, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention because JP2005255550A discloses a depolymerization reaction time of 0.5 to 7hrs which overlaps the claimed range. See page 7 lines 3-7.
In conclusion, in view of the above, there appears to be no significant difference between the reference(s) and that which is claimed by applicant(s). Any differences not specifically mentioned appear to be conventional. Consequently, the claimed invention cannot be deemed as unobvious and accordingly is unpatentable.
Information Disclosure Statement
Note that any future and/or present information disclosure statements must comply with 37 CFR § 1.98(b), which requires a list of the publications to include: the author (if any), title, relevant pages of the publication, date and place of publication to be submitted for consideration by the Office.
Improper Claim Dependency
Prior to allowance, any dependent claims should be rechecked for proper dependency if independent claims are cancelled.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERRESSA M BOYKIN whose telephone number is (571)272-1069. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-5:30.
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/Terressa Boykin/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1765
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