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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on January 9, 2026 has been entered.
Withdrawn Rejections
Any rejections and or objections, made in the previous Office Action, and not repeated below, are hereby withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendments and/or arguments in the response dated January 9, 2026. However, new rejections may have been made using the same prior art if still applicable to the newly presented amendments and/or arguments.
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.
Claims 1, 3 – 6, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (CN 110844323 A) in view of Huang et al. (USPGPub 2021/0300649 A1).
A machine-generated translations of CN 110844323 A accompanied a previous action. In reciting this rejection, the examiner will cite this translation.
Liu discloses a plastic packaging film for agricultural harvesting machinery (Page 1, Abstract) comprising a plurality of packaging film pieces connected end to end and rolled into a roll (Page 2, lines 3 – 18), and characterized in that a non-adhesive zone, a low-viscosity adhesive zone and a high-viscosity adhesive zone are successively arranged on the packaging film piece, the high-viscosity adhesive zone is arranged at the tail of the packaging film piece (Abstract; Figure 1; Page 2, lines 10 – 17; Page 3, line 46 to Page 4, 9) as in claim 1. With respect to claim 4, the edge closing zones are arranged at both ends of the packaging film piece, and are arranged in a wide to narrow shape from the center of the packaging film piece to the end (Figure 1). Regarding claim 5, the edge wrapping zones are arranged on both sides of the packaging film piece, the edge wrapping zones on both sides are oppositely arranged and covered on the side edges of the non-adhesive zone, the low-viscosity adhesive zone and the high-viscosity adhesive zone (Figure 1). However, Liu fails to disclose a traction detachment film is arranged at one end of the non-adhesive zone away from the low-viscosity adhesive zone; the high-viscosity adhesive zone of the previous packaging film piece is connected with the non-adhesive zone of the next packaging film piece through the traction detachment film; the traction detachment film is connected with the non-adhesive zone of the next packaging film piece through an easy-to-tear line or an adhesive, the traction detachment film comprises a fold-back layer, a release film is arranged between the fold-back layer and the high-viscosity adhesive zone of the previous packaging film piece, the fold-back layer and the release film are connected through an adhesive zone, and the release film is connected with the high-viscosity adhesive zone, the traction detachment film also comprises a traction detachment film block, one end of the traction detachment film block is connected with the non-adhesive zone of the next packaging film piece through adhesive, and the other end is integrated with the fold-back layer, the packaging film piece is provided with a stop tag, wherein the stop tag is used to trigger a separation action of an automatic harvesting equipment, which is arranged in the low-viscosity adhesive zone and located at one end close to the high-viscosity adhesive zone, easy-to-tear line is arranged at the connection between the previous packaging film piece and the next packaging film piece, and the area of the non-adhesive zone is greater than that of the low-viscosity adhesive zone, and the area of the low-viscosity adhesive zone is greater than that of the high-viscosity adhesive zone.
Huang et al. teach a plastic packaging film for agricultural harvesting machinery (Abstract; Figures) comprising a plurality of packaging film pieces connected end to end and rolled into a roll (Figures), and characterized in that a non-adhesive zone and adhesive zones are arranged on the packaging film piece (Figures 2, #52 and the areas not covered by the adhesive), an adhesive zone is arranged at the tail of the packaging film piece (Figure 2, #52), a traction detachment film is arranged at one end of the non-adhesive zone away from the adhesive zone (Figure 2, #51; Paragraph 0073); the traction detachment film is connected with the non-adhesive zone of the next packaging film piece through an adhesive (Figure 2, #51; Paragraph 0073); the adhesive zone of the previous packaging film piece is connected with the non-adhesive zone of the next packaging film piece through the traction detachment film (Figure 2; Paragraph 0073), the traction detachment film comprises a fold-back layer (Figure 2, #51), a release film is arranged between a side of the fold-back layer that faces away from the traction detachment film that is not folded back and the adhesive zone of the previous packaging film piece (Figure 2, #51, wherein one side of the film is coated with release material, Paragraphs 0027, 0058, 0073), the fold-back layer and the release film are connected through an adhesive zone (Figure 2, #52), and the release film is connected with the adhesive zone (Figure 2, #51, wherein one side of the film is coated with release material, Paragraphs 0027, 0058, 0073), the traction detachment film also comprises a traction detachment film block (Figure 2, #51; Paragraphs 0027, 0058, 0073), one end of the traction detachment film block is connected with the non-adhesive zone of the next packaging film piece through adhesive (Figure 2, #51; Paragraphs 0027, 0058, 0073), and the other end is integrated with the fold-back layer (Figure 2, #51; Paragraphs 0027, 0058, 0073), the packaging film piece is provided with a stop tag (Figure 2, #70), wherein the stop tag is used to trigger a separation action of an automatic harvesting equipment (Paragraph 0088; Figure 2, #6), which is arranged in the adhesive zone and located at one end close to the adhesive zone (Paragraph 0088; Figure 2, #6), and easy-to-tear line is arranged at the connection between the previous packaging film piece and the next packaging film piece (Figure 2, #6) for the purpose of packaging cotton with automation (Abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the connection between the individual films and tags in Liu in order to package cotton with automation as taught by Huang et al.
With regard to the limitation of “the area of the non-adhesive zone is greater than that of the low-viscosity adhesive zone, and the area of the low-viscosity adhesive zone is greater than that of the high-viscosity adhesive zone”, it is well settled that a particular shape of a prior invention carries no patentable weight unless the applicant can demonstrate that the new shape provides significant unforeseen improvements to the invention. In the instant case, the application does not indicate any new, significant attributes of the invention due to its shape which would have been unforeseen to one of ordinary skill in the art. A change in size or shape is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art, absent unexpected results. MPEP 2144.04 (I) and (IV).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (CN 110844323 A) in view of Huang et al. (USPGPub 2021/0300649 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ou (CN 112793924 A).
A machine-generated translations of CN 112793924 A accompanied a previous action. In reciting this rejection, the examiner will cite this translation.
Liu, as modified with Huang et al., discloses the claimed invention except for one or more RFID traceable tags are arranged on the non-adhesive zone.
Ou teaches a plastic packaging film for agricultural harvesting machinery (Page 1, Abstract; Figures) comprising a plurality of packaging film pieces connected end to end and rolled into a roll (Figures 4 – 6), and characterized in that a non-adhesive zone, a low-viscosity adhesive zone and a high-viscosity adhesive zone are arranged on the packaging film piece (Figures 2 and 3, #40, 50, 60 and 30), the high-viscosity adhesive zone is arranged at the tail of the packaging film piece (Figure 2, #40), a traction detachment film is arranged at one end of the non-adhesive zone away from the low-viscosity adhesive zone (Figure 4, #30) one or more RFID traceable tags are arranged on the non-adhesive zone (Figure 2, #70) for the purpose of packaging cotton with automation (Page 1, Abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the connection between the individual films and tags in the modified Liu in order to package cotton with automation as taught by Ou.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 3 – 9 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Please see the newly presented rejection above in view of Huang et al.
Conclusion
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/Patricia L. Nordmeyer/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1788
/pln/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788 February 3, 2026