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 without traverse of Group I: claims 1-6 and 8-11 in the reply filed on 1/23/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
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) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rodriguez (US2021/0268416 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Rodriguez discloses a method of fabricating a porous structure [0027] based on extrusion-based additive manufacturing [0028] using at least one processor [0010], the method comprising: controlling a print head of an extruder [0066] to move along a print path for extruding a material along the print path on a print bed for fabricating the porous structure [0027];
and controlling an extrusion flow rate of the extruder [0073], while the print head is being controlled to move along the print path for extruding the material [0027], for forming a plurality of pores of the porous structure, wherein for each pore of the plurality of pores, said controlling the extrusion flow rate comprises adjusting the extrusion flow rate with respect to a first section of the print path to form a first extruded material portion along the first section of the print path [0073, block 608 and block 610)] and adjusting the extrusion flow rate with respect to a second section of the print path to form a second extruded material portion along the second section of the print path [0073 (block 608)],
Rodriguez does not explicitly disclose the second extruded material portion formed being adjacent to and opposing the first extruded material portion formed, such that a space is formed therebetween constituting the pore. However Rodriguez discloses adjusting the speed or path of the print head in order to create the desired pore size and also discloses the filter can be made from left to right or bottom to top [0073]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the second extruded material portion formed being adjacent to and opposing the first extruded material portion formed since changing orientation (adjacent or opposite) is within the skillset of one ordinary skilled in the art. "A person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known option within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely the product not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense." KSR int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727,82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Regarding claim 2, Rodriguez does not explicitly disclose wherein said adjusting the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path comprises decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path, and said adjusting the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path comprises decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path. However, Rodriguez discloses adjusting the speed or flow rate of the plastic in order to create the desired pore minimum dimension [0073]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adjust the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path comprises decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path, and said adjusting the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path comprises decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path in order to create the desired pore minimum dimension.
Regarding claim 3, Rodriguez does not explicitly disclose wherein said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path forms the first extruded material portion along the first section of the print path having a thickness less than an extruded material portion formed along the print path immediately prior to and/or after the first extruded material portion, and said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path forms the second extruded material portion along the second section of the print path having a thickness less than an extruded material portion formed along the print path immediately prior to and/or after the second extruded material portion. However, Rodriguez discloses varying the height of the layer as it is printed to create certain areas thicker than others in order to create a smaller pore size [0032]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated wherein said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path forms the first extruded material portion along the first section of the print path having a thickness less than an extruded material portion formed along the print path immediately prior to and/or after the first extruded material portion, and said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path forms the second extruded material portion along the second section of the print path having a thickness less than an extruded material portion formed along the print path immediately prior to and/or after the second extruded material portion in order to create a smaller pore size.
Claim(s) 4-5 and 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rodriguez (US2021/0268416 A1) and in view of Chang (US2018/0186089 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Rodriguez does not explicitly disclose wherein said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path and said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path are each performed based on a function having an output corresponding the extrusion flow rate. However, analogous additive manufacturing art, Chang discloses using controllers to discharge the flow rate using a function which adjusts the flow rate based on the output in order to ensure the required thickness is achieved [0031-0032]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path and said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path are each performed based on a function having an output corresponding the extrusion flow rate as taught by Chang into the method taught by Rodriguez in order to ensure the desired thickness of the layers are achieved.
Regarding claim 5, Rodriguez does not explicitly disclose wherein said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path comprises setting the extrusion flow rate with respect to a first plurality of positions along the first section of the print path based on a first plurality of outputs of the function with respect to the first plurality of positions, respectively, and said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path comprises setting the extrusion flow rate with respect to a second plurality of positions along the second section of the print path based on a second plurality of outputs of the function with respect to the second plurality of positions, respectively. However analogous manufacturing art, Chang discloses adjusting the discharge volume (extrusion flow rate) based on heights (thickness) based on various positions [0031-0032; see figures 5A-5B). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first section of the print path comprises setting the extrusion flow rate with respect to a first plurality of positions along the first section of the print path based on a first plurality of outputs of the function with respect to the first plurality of positions, respectively, and said decreasing the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second section of the print path comprises setting the extrusion flow rate with respect to a second plurality of positions along the second section of the print path based on a second plurality of outputs of the function with respect to the second plurality of positions, respectively as taught by Chang, into the method taught by Rodriguez so the ink discharge volume sprayed from by the inkjet head is adaptively adjusted according to the layer thickness of the layer object, such that the ink of the ink layer can ideally applied to the entire layer object. In this way, the phenomenon that the layer object is unevenly dyed can be improved, so as to effectively enhance quality of color 3-D printing [0008].
Regarding claim 6, Chang discloses wherein the function is a polynomial function, and the method further comprises controlling a profile shape of the pore formed based on a first input parameter for configuring a degree of the polynomial function [0031].
Regarding claim 8, Chang teaches further comprising configuring the polynomial function based on a second input parameter for setting a maximum extrusion flow rate and a third input parameter for setting a minimum extrusion flow rate (see formula 1 and 2; variables C’, a, hp, c ).
Regarding claim 9, Rodriguez discloses wherein said controlling the extrusion flow rate of the extruder comprises controlling a feed rate of the extruder for feeding a filament of the material to the print head [0073], but does not explicitly disclose said setting the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first plurality of positions comprises setting the feed rate with respect to the first plurality of positions along the first section of the print path based on the first plurality of outputs of the function with respect to the first plurality of positions, respectively, and said setting the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second plurality of positions comprises setting the feed rate with respect to the second plurality of positions along the second section of the print path based on the second plurality of outputs of the function with respect to the second plurality of positions, respectively. However analogous manufacturing art, Chang discloses adjusting the discharge volume based on heights (thickness) of various positions constructed on the outputs of the function [0031-0032; see figures 5A-5B). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated controlling the extrusion flow rate of the extruder comprises controlling a feed rate of the extruder for feeding a filament of the material to the print head, and said setting the extrusion flow rate with respect to the first plurality of positions comprises setting the feed rate with respect to the first plurality of positions along the first section of the print path based on the first plurality of outputs of the function with respect to the first plurality of positions, respectively, and said setting the extrusion flow rate with respect to the second plurality of positions comprises setting the feed rate with respect to the second plurality of positions along the second section of the print path based on the second plurality of outputs of the function with respect to the second plurality of positions, respectively as taught by the combination of Rodriguez and Chang for the benefit of enhancing quality of color 3-D printing [0008].
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rodriguez (US2021/0268416 A1) and in view of Chang (US2018/0186089 A1) as applied to claim 9, and further in view of JP3879056B2, herein referred to as ‘056.
Regarding claim 10, Rodriguez does not explicitly discloses for each of the first plurality of positions along the first section of the print path, controlling a print speed of the print head with respect to the position so as to have an inverse relationship to the feed rate set with respect to the position; and for each of the second plurality of positions along the second section of the print path, controlling the print speed of the print head with respect to the position so as to have the inverse relationship to the feed rate set with respect to the position. Analogous controller art, 056, discloses feed rate determined by the feed rate determining means to the feed speed of the feed rate or inverse time feed per minute feed the machine coordinate system and a numerically controlled curved surface processing apparatus including means for transmitting NC data interpolated by the NURBS curve to the numerical control apparatus [0019]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated discloses for each of the first plurality of positions along the first section of the print path, controlling a print speed of the print head with respect to the position so as to have an inverse relationship to the feed rate set with respect to the position; and for each of the second plurality of positions along the second section of the print path, controlling the print speed of the print head with respect to the position so as to have the inverse relationship to the feed rate set with respect to the position, as taught by ‘056 into the method taught by the combination of Rodriguez and Chang for the benefit of optimizing feed speed [0018].
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rodriguez (US2021/0268416 A1) and in view of Chang (US2018/0186089 A1) further in view of JP3879056B2, herein referred to as ‘056, as applied to claim 10, and further in view of NPL, The Effects of Combined Infill Patterns on Mechanical Properties in FDM Process.
Regarding claim 11, Rodriguez does not explicitly disclose wherein the plurality of pores is arranged to form one or more mechanical property varied portions of the porous structure, each mechanical property varied portion being configured to facilitate bending or fracturing thereat. However, NPL, discloses studies showed how it was possible to maximize the strength of 3D printed samples without sacrificing mechanical properties by associating layers with different features (pg. 5 paragraph 2). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated wherein the plurality of pores is arranged to form one or more mechanical property varied portions of the porous structure, each mechanical property varied portion being configured to facilitate bending or fracturing thereat, as taught by NPL, into the method taught by Rodriguez to ensure maximum printer strength of the product.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARAH N TAUFIQ whose telephone number is (571)272-6765. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 8:00 am-4:30 pm.
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/FARAH TAUFIQ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754