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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed June 11, 2024 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered. The document JP S5036499 U was not properly submitted and Applicant filed a different document with publication number JP S5036499 A which is not related to the IDS.
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 - 4, 7 - 11 and 14 - 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Veneziani et al (US 2020/0039677) in view of Ranzato et al (WO 2021/181252) .
With regards to claims 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15 and 19, Veneziani teaches an apparatus for removing a defective label from a label support tape (Abstract) comprising:
A first return roller of a label support tape, arranged and configured so as to receive a label support tape coming from a printing station of information on the labels present on the support tape and from a checking and control station of the compliance of the information printed on the labels (Figure 1 item 25)
At least a second return roller of the support tape arranged downstream with respect to the first return roller so as to receive the support tape coming from the first return roller and arranged and configured so as to direct the support tape towards advancement rollers of the support tape to a label application station (Figure 1 item 28)
At least a return member of the support tape arranged between the first return roller and the second return roller, where the at least a return member is conformed in such a way as to comprise a main body and a contact portion, borne by the main body, for contact with the support tape in such a way that the support tape winds about the contact portion and has a predetermined unwinding path (Figure 1 item 26)
Characterized in that the main body of the at least return member is activatable in rotation about a respective rotation axis about a respective rotation axis and in that the contact portion of the at least a return member is shaped (Figure 1 item 26) in such a way as:
To comprise a first contact part, which is conformed as a portion of cylinder having a portion of cylindrical surface, for contact and winding of the support tape, where the portion of cylindrical surface is conformed in such a way that the labels present on the support tape remain on the support tape when the support tape winds about a part of the portion of cylindrical surface (Figure 1 item 26)
And comprise a second contact part, arranged on the opposite side to the first contact part with respect to the rotation axis of the main body, which is conformed in such a way as to comprise two surfaces converging with respect to one another in such a way as to form a cusp, for the contact and winding of the support tape, where the cusp is conformed in such a way that the labels present on the support tape detach from the support tape when the support tape winds on the two converging surfaces (Figure 1 item 27)
Where the main body is activatable in rotation about the respective rotation axis in a first rotation direction in order to arrange a part of the portion of cylindrical surface of the first contact part in contact with the support tape so as to leave on the support tape the labels recognized as compliant by the checking and control station and where the main body is instead activatable in rotation about the respective rotation axis in a second rotation direction so as to arrange the two converging surfaces of the cusp of the second contact part in contact with the support tape so as to detach a label from the support tape which label has been recognized as non-compliant in the passage thereof from the checking and control station (as seen in Figure 1)
With the first contact part and the second contact part of the contact portion being configured and conformed in such a way that, both when the main body is rotated about the respective rotation axis in order to arrange a part of the portion of cylindrical surface of the first contact part in contact with the support tape and when the main body is rotated about the respective rotation axis so as to arrange the two surfaces that are convergent to one another to form the cusp of the second contact part in contact with the support tape and when the main body is rotated about the respective rotation axis so as to arrange the two surface that are convergent to one another to form the cusp of the second contact part in contact with the support tape, the support tape winds about a part of the portion of cylindrical surface of the first contact part of the contact portion or on the two converging surfaces of the cusp of the second contact part always between a first con tact point and a second contact point in such a way that the support tape maintains unaltered its predetermined unwinding path between the printing station and the advancement rollers of the support tape towards the label application station (as seen in Figure 1 items 26 and 27)
Guide means for guiding the non-compliant label detached from the support tape when the main body of the return member is activated in rotation about the respective rotation axis so as to arrange the two converging surface of the cusp of the second contact part in contact with the support tape, towards an accumulation and rejection station (Figure 1 item 20)
A detection and control unit of the position of the labels on the support tape arranged between the checking and control station and the first return roller (Figure 1 items 32 and 33)
At least a second return member between the first return roller and the second return roller for defining the predetermined unwinding path of the support tape (as seen in Figure 1 between items 26 and 28)
Veneziani fails to explicitly disclose that the first contact part is arranged eccentric with respect to the rotation axis of the main body.
Ranzato discloses an apparatus for removing a defective label (Abstract), in the same field of endeavor as Veneziani, where Ranzato discloses a return member that comprises a main body that comprises a first contact part which is arranged eccentric with respect to the rotation axis of the main body ((Figure 1 item 14).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the first contact part of the return member be arranged eccentric with respect to the rotation axis of the main body, as suggested by Ranzato, in Veneziani’s apparatus. The rationale being that one of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate that the eccentric arrangement is an alternative that would produce the same result of removing a defective label.
With regards to claim 2, the teachings of Veneziani and Ranzato are presented above. Additionally, Veneziani teaches that the second contact part of the contact portion is conformed in such a way as to comprise two flat surfaces which are convergent to one another in such a way as to form the cusp (as seen in Figure 1 item 27).
With regards to claims 3, 11 and 18, the teachings of Veneziani and Ranzato are presented above. Additionally, Ranzato teaches that the second contact part of the contact portion is conformed in such a way as to form a triangular prism connected to the portion of cylindrical surface of the first contact part of the contact portion (Figure 1 item 14).
With regards to claims 9 and 16, the teachings of Veneziani and Ranzato are presented above. Additionally, Veneziani teaches that the at least second return member is arranged between the first return member and the second return roller or between the first return roller and the first return member (as seen in Figure 1 between items 26 and 28).
Claim Objections
Claims 5, 6, 12, 13 and 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHEL RIVERA whose telephone number is (571)270-7655. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 12pm - 8pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Orlando can be reached at (571) 270-5038. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSHEL RIVERA/Examiner, Art Unit 1746
/MICHAEL N ORLANDO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1746