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 § 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.
Claims 1-15 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
For claim 1, the step of “a) dividing the boards in rows in which the cutouts are located into individual boards to create the cutouts in the at least one longitudinal layer” is indefinite as it is unclear what applicant is claiming. For instance, is the dividing step a cutting step or simply an arranging step. Additionally it is unclear if, in this step, applicant is cutting a cutout into boards, if the cutouts were already present in the boards or if the cutouts are formed form the combination of individual boards. If it is the former, it is also unclear if the cutouts are being formed in all of the individual boards, some of the individual boards or something else. For the purpose of examination it is assumed applicant is claiming cutting a cutout.
For claim 8, the phrase “a cut-off device configured to divide the boards in rows, in which cutouts are located, into individual boards to produce the cutouts in the at least one longitudinal layer” is indefinite as again it is unclear what this device is doing. Is it cutting boards to form rows or is it simply arranging the boards into rows or is it cutting into the boards to form cutouts? For the purpose of examination it is assumed applicant is claiming cutting a cutout.
Conclusion
The closest prior art is WO 2012/048793 which discloses arranging boards to form a layer with cutouts (23, 24) and also forming another layer which is rotated by 90 degrees relative to the first layer (¶21). The layers are glued together (¶23).
Other prior art cited on the PTO-892 discloses various methods and apparatus for forming laminated panels.
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/Matthew Katcoff/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3725 04/03/2026
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