DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
Claim(s) 10-14, 21-24 is/are pending.
Claim(s) 10-14, 21-24 is/are rejected.
Claim(s) 1-9, 15-20 is/are cancelled by Applicant.
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 .
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 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.
Response to Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II (claims 10-14) in the reply filed on 06/11/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim(s) 1-9, 15-20 is/are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/11/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 10-14, 21-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 10 is vague and indefinite because the term "low" in the phase “low melt polyester terephthalate fibers” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term "low melt" is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Claims 10, 12, 14, 22 are vague and indefinite because it is unclear which physical property is being specified by the term “low melt” -- e.g., low melt temperature? low melt index? low melt viscosity? etc.
Claims 10-11, 13-14, 21 are vague and indefinite because the phrase “polyester terephthalate” is unclear and confusing. Is the phrase “polyester terephthalate” intended to: (i) refer to some particular self-defined subclass of polyester (e.g., polyesters based on terephthalic acid, etc.); or (ii) a misspelling of “polyethylene terephthalate”?
Claim 10 is vague and indefinite because the phrase “wherein the nonwoven face layer has a weight of between about 150 and 1,500 g/m2” in the subparagraph describing the “sound absorbing non-woven layer” is inconsistent with the previously recited phrase “wherein the nonwoven face layer has a weight of between about 150 and 750 g/m2” in the subparagraph describing the “nonwoven face layer”.
Claim 14 is vague and indefinite because it is unclear whether the claim requires the presence of “first polyester terephthalate fibers” and “first low melt polyester fibers” in addition to the previously required “second polyester terephthalate fibers” and “second low melt polyester fibers” required in the “sound absorbing nonwoven layer.
Claim 22 is vague and indefinite because there is insufficient antecedent basis for the phrase “the first... low melt polyester adhesives”. Parent claim 10 only recites “first low melt polyester fibers”
Claims 12, 23-24 are dependent on one or more of the above claims and therefore incorporate the above-described indefinite subject matter.
Claim 14 may be subject to rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 after the outstanding rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, are resolved.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 (AIA )
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) 10-13, 21-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• SANDOE ET AL (US 2001/0036788),
in view of KIM ET AL (US 2020/0331412),
and in view of BLINKHORN ET AL (US 2008/0057283).
SANDOE ET AL ‘788 discloses nonwoven laminates comprising:
• a first outer stiffening layer (14) (corresponding to the recited “nonwoven face layer”) comprising:
• 20-50 wt% binder fibers (e.g., a blend of high and low melting point thermoplastic fibers; bicomponent fibers having a high melting point component and low melting point component; etc.);
• the remainder comprising other fibers with a denier of 0.8-200 (preferably 3-25);
wherein the first stiffening layer (14) has:
• a typical weight of 3-24 oz/yd2 (102-814 g/m2);
• a core layer (12) (corresponding to the recited “sound absorbing nonwoven layer”);
• 10-50 wt% binder fibers (e.g., a blend of high and low melting point thermoplastic fibers; bicomponent fibers having a high melting point component and low melting point component; etc.);
• the remainder comprising other fibers with a denier of 0.8-200 (preferably 0.8-15);
wherein the core layer (12) has:
• a typical thickness of 0.5-2.0 inch (preferably 0.5-1.0 inch);
• a typical weight of 6-24 oz/yd2 (203-814 g/m2);
• a second outer stiffening layer (16) (corresponding to the recited “polymer backing layer”) comprising:
• 20-50 wt% binder fibers (e.g., a blend of high and low melting point thermoplastic fibers; bicomponent fibers having a high melting point component and low melting point component; etc.);
• the remainder comprising other fibers with a denier of 0.8-200 (preferably 3-25);
wherein the first stiffening layer (14) has:
• a typical weight of 3-24 oz/yd2 (102-814 g/m2);
wherein the fibers in the core layer (12) and the first and second outer stiffening layers (14), (16) can be the same (e.g., thermoplastic polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET); etc.);
wherein adhesive layers (20) and (22) between the layers (14), (12), (16) are not required. (entire document, e.g., Figure 1, etc.; paragraph 0012-0014, 0018-0019, 0021, 0025-0031, 0035, 0038, etc.)
KIM ET AL ‘412 discloses that it is well known in the art to utilize a mixture of:
• first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers with a typical melting point of 240-270 °C;
• second low-melting-point PET fibers with a typical melting point of 105-180 °C;
to form non-woven layers for multilayer composites. (paragraph 0002, 0010, 0012, 0016-0017, 0020, 0038, etc.)
BLINKHORN ET AL ‘283 discloses that it is well known in the art to form acoustical non-woven composites comprising:
• a first outer non-woven layer (14) with a typical weight of about 100-200 g/m2;
• acoustic (i.e., sound absorbing) core layer (12) with a typical weight of about 400-2500 g/m2 (e.g., about 800-2000 g/m2);
• a second outer non-woven layer (16) with a typical weight of 100-200 g/m2.
in order to produce acoustical composites with effective sound insulation properties and desirable strength and/or structural characteristics. (paragraph 0002-0004, 0020, 0059, 0072-0073, 0082, etc.)
Regarding claims 10, 12-13, 21-22, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize a combination of known PET fibers with typical melting point of 240-270 °C and known low-melting-point PET fibers with a typical melting point of 105-180 °C (as suggested in KIM ET AL ‘412) to form the core layer (12) and the first and second outer stiffening layers (14), (16) in the nonwoven laminates of SANDOE ET AL ‘788 in order to form acoustical composites with useful structural and mechanical properties (e.g., stiffness, etc.).
Further regarding 10, one of ordinary skill in the art would have utilize polyester fibers to form the effective entirety (as presented by a polyester content of at least 95 wt%) of the nonwoven laminates of SANDOE ET AL ‘788 in order to facilitate recycling of the nonwoven laminate.
Regarding claim 11, one of ordinary skill in the art would have selected the relative amounts of low melting point thermoplastic fibers and high melting point thermoplastic fibers in the binder fibers (e.g., the low melting point thermoplastic fibers constituting less than 100 wt% or 90 wt% or 80 wt% or 70 wt% or 50 wt%, etc. of the binder fibers) in the first outer stiffening layer (14) (corresponding to the recited “nonwoven face layer”) in SANDOE ET AL ‘788 in order to obtain the specific combination of performance properties (e.g., stiffness, flexibility, For example, a first outer stiffening layer (14) (corresponding to the recited “nonwoven face layer”) containing 20 wt% binder fibers and 80 wt% high melting point fiber, wherein the binder fibers constitutes a mixture of 70 wt% low melting point thermoplastic fibers and 30 wt% of high point thermoplastic fibers, resulting in a first outer stiffening layer (14) (corresponding to the recited “nonwoven face layer”) containing 14 wt% low melting point fiber and 86 wt% high melting point fiber.
Regarding claim 23, one of ordinary skill in the art would have selected the thickness of a core layer (12) (corresponding to the recited “sound absorbing nonwoven layer”) in SANDOE ET AL ‘788 to be slightly less than 12.7 mm (e.g., 10 mm) if required for specific usage applications where laminate thinness and rigidity are primary considerations and sound absorption is a secondary consideration.
Regarding claim 24, one of ordinary skill in the art would have selected the density of the core layer (12) (corresponding to the recited “sound absorbing nonwoven layer”) to be relatively higher than the first outer stiffening layer (14) (corresponding to the recited “nonwoven face layer”) in SANDOE ET AL ‘788 (as suggested in BLINKHORN ET AL ’28) in order to enhance the sound absorption characteristics of the core layer (12) and overall acoustic performance of the nonwoven laminate for specific applications.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
SHEARD ET AL(US 4,195,112) disclose non-woven material made from a mixture of fibers containing potentially heat-adhesive fibers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Vivian Chen (Vivian.chen@uspto.gov) whose telephone number is (571) 272-1506. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 6 PM. The examiner can also be reached on alternate Fridays.
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August 22, 2026
/Vivian Chen/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
Prosecution Insights