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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I, claims 1, 3-4, 6-13, 15, 17 and 19-20, in the reply filed on August 24, 2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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 and 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cox (US 3,898,776) in view of Lee (WO 2018/230855; paragraph references to attached English language translation) and Niederberger (US 2018/0093373).
Claim 1: Cox discloses a method for manufacturing a module of a building (col. 3, ll. 10-16, 53-59); The module includes a concrete slab (col. 3, ll. 10-16, 53-64), and at least one concrete cavity wall attached to the concrete slab (col. 3, ll. 10-16), wherein the module further includes at least one concrete beam fixed to the concrete slab (col. 3, ll. 53-59; figs. 4-5), arranging a reinforcing wire mesh for the concrete slab (col. 3, ll. 53-64; figs. 4-5), and an elongated reinforcement wire basket for the beam on the substrate (preassembled cage includes longitudinal beam reinforcement and transverse reinforcing members; col. 3, ll. 53-59; figs. 4-5), pouring concrete into the space within the formwork (col. 3, ll. 53-59). Lee discloses two spaced leaves (¶ 51), in which the leaves are manufactured by 3D concrete printing (¶¶ 50-51, 99), 3D concrete printing on a substrate (¶¶ 50, 95, 99), and of the lower layers of the leaves to be made (¶¶ 50-51, 133, 139), 3D concrete printing of the remaining layers of the leaves (¶¶ 50-51, 99, 139-143), pouring concrete into the space within the formwork (¶ 128), during or after printing of the remaining layers of the leaves of the cavity wall (¶¶ 58, 128, 139-143). Niederberger discloses 3D concrete printing of a formwork on a substrate (¶¶ 40, 44), for the concrete slab to be made and for the concrete beam to be made (¶¶ 40, 44), on the substrate before or after printing the formwork within the formwork or within the circumference of the formwork to be printed (¶ 44), pouring concrete into the space within the formwork (¶¶ 40, 44), during or after printing of the remaining layers (¶¶ 44, 86).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have replaced Cox’s separate forms with Lee’s paired printed concrete leaves and Niederberger’s printed boundaries around pre-positioned reinforcement to eliminate separate perimeter shuttering, and on Cox’s shaped bed, to have completed and hardened the walls before filling only the slab and beam volumes, preserving the usable room. Success would reasonably have been expected because the bed supports the reinforcement and the cured leaves retain the poured concrete.
Claim 3: Lee and Niderberger together disclose the printing of the formwork for the concrete slab and of the lower layers of the cavity wall is carried out in a continuous 3D concrete printing process (Lee, ¶¶ 50-51, 95, 99; Niderberger, ¶¶ 16, 40, 44).
Claim 4: Lee and Niderberger together disclose wherein the formwork for the concrete slab and the lower layers of the cavity wall are printed in such a way that the lower layers of one of the leaves of the cavity wall is part of the formwork of the concrete slab (Lee, ¶¶ 50, 51, 95, 99, 128; Niderberger, ¶ 40).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-13, 15, 17 and 19-20 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 closest prior art, CN 111379360 and CN 103741818, separately disclose inserting column reinforcement after wall printing and connecting beam reinforcement to a steel column through a plate assembly, but the art does not explain why a person having ordinary skill would have integrated those teachings to obtain the arrangement and sequence recited in claims 6-7. CN 111379360 teaches an opening for welding a column cage to slab reinforcement, and CN 103741818 teaches a beam-to-column plate joint, but the combination does disclose the further modification of placing the claimed wall recesses at those beam reinforcement connections as recited in claims 8-9. The prior art of record does not disclose or render obvious the additional steps recited claim 10. Claims 11-13, 15, 17 and 19-20 depend directly or indirectly from claim 10.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LARRY THROWER whose telephone number is (571)270-5517. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm MT M-F.
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/LARRY W THROWER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754
