DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Preliminary Amendment
2. The preliminary amendment filed on May 6, 2024, has been entered in the above-identified application. Claims 1-17 are amended. New claim 18 is added. Claims 1-18 are pending and under consideration.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
3. Claims 1, 2, and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng et al. (US 2019/0152212 A1) in view of Lee et al. (US 2015/0218371 A1).
Tseng et al. disclose a thermoplastic continuous-discontinuous fiber composite sheet (equivalent to the composite plate of the claimed invention) comprising at least one thermoplastic discontinuous fiber aggregate layer (equivalent to the first layer of thermoplastic material of the claimed invention) and at least one thermoplastic continuous fiber layer (equivalent to the second layer of the claimed invention and meeting the limitation that said second layer has fibers bound together mechanically or by a physico-chemical processes and the limitations of claim 2). The continuous fiber in the thermoplastic composite can be carbon fiber, glass fiber, basalt fiber, metal fiber, ceramic fiber, or chemical fiber and the first thermoplastic resin in the thermoplastic composite can be polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), polysulfone (PS), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin (ABS), polyethylene (PE), thermoplastic epoxy resin, polyurethane resin, polyurea resin, or a combination thereof. The second thermoplastic resin includes polycarbonate, polypropylene, polysulfone, thermoplastic polyurethane, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin, polyethylene, thermoplastic epoxy resin, polyurethane resin, polyurea resin, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the length of the discontinuous fiber is 3 mm to 20 mm and in another embodiment, the length of the discontinuous fiber is 20 mm to 50 mm. Referring to FIG. 1, a thermoplastic continuous-discontinuous fiber composite sheet 100, includes a thermoplastic discontinuous fiber aggregate layer 102 (meeting the limitation that the thermoplastic and the fibers/particles are present in the form of clusters or bundles) and a thermoplastic continuous fiber layer 104 that are alternately stacked. The thermoplastic discontinuous fiber aggregate layer 102 includes a discontinuous fiber and a first thermoplastic resin. In an embodiment, the discontinuous fiber in the thermoplastic discontinuous fiber aggregate layer 102 is, for instance, carbon fiber, glass fiber (equivalent to the non-vegetal fibers of the claimed invention and meeting the limitations of claim 15), basalt fiber, metal fiber, ceramic fiber, or chemical fiber; the first thermoplastic resin in the thermoplastic discontinuous fiber aggregate layer 102 is, for instance, polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP) (meeting the limitations of claim 15), polysulfone (PS), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin (ABS), polyethylene (PE), thermoplastic epoxy resin, polyurethane resin, polyurea resin, or a combination thereof (see Abstract and paragraphs 0011-0017, 0021-0030, and 0045-0053).
Tseng et al. fails to teach that the fibers or particles have an aspect ratio of greater than 9 or in the case of needle-shaped fibers an aspect ratio of 40-70.
However, Lee et al. disclose a resin composition which has low warpage property and excellent flowability and appearance properties, and exhibits more improved toughness. The composition includes 35 to 60% by weight of a polycarbonate resin; 30 to 55% by weight of a glass fiber having a square or oval cross-sectional shape in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, in which its aspect ratio is 50 to 200. The glass fiber is a component which is included in the resin composition in order to improve tensile/flexural strength, tensile/flexural modulus, heat resistance, or the like, and the flat glass fiber to be used may be in a cocoon- or flat-type. Specifically, this glass fiber maintains a strong binding ability between polymers, and thus space between the polymer and the glass fiber is created to absorb external impacts. Consequently, stiffness is more improved and surface smoothness is enhanced, and excellent toughness can be also achieved at the same time. If the aspect ratio of the glass fiber is too low, it is not preferred because the resin composition and the molded article of one embodiment may become brittle. If the aspect ratio is too high, the possibility of surface protrusion of the glass fiber increases to deteriorate surface smoothness and appearance of the product, and toughness, impact strength or the like of the molded article can be also deteriorated. (see Abstract and paragraphs 0001, 0031-0033).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to use a needle-shaped fibers having an aspect ratio of 40-70 in the thermoplastic discontinuous fiber aggregate layer disclosed by Tseng et al. given that Lee et al. specifically teach that the use of a glass fiber having an aspect ratio of 50-200 improves tensile/flexural strength, tensile/flexural modulus, heat resistance, or the like, and the glass fiber maintains a strong binding ability between polymers, and thus space between the polymer and the glass fiber is created to absorb external impacts.
Allowable Subject Matter
4. Claims 3-14 and 18 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.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEEBA AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-1504. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CALLIE SHOSHO can be reached at 571-272-1123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHEEBA AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
/CALLIE E SHOSHO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1787