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 .
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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (claims 1-7) in the reply filed on March 6, 2026 is acknowledged. The amendments made to the claims of Group II (Claims 8 and 10-11) has rendered the combination/subcombination restriction of the previous office action moot. Therefore, only the restriction of Group III is maintained.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoshino et al. (US 20130059125) in view of Proulx et al. (US 20040200771) and Kim et al. (US 20220080695).
As to claim 1, Hoshino discloses a manufacturing apparatus comprising of an applicator (Abstract; Fig. 1 below) Hoshino discloses that the apparatus comprises of a heater tube 207 for heating a film stock; a leading roller 213, 214 downstream of the heater tube with a leading relief channel; a lagging rollers upstream of the heater with a lagging relief channel (Fig. 1, Fig. 4).
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Hoshino fails to specifically teach or disclose whether the heating tube may be substituted with a heating roll/roller. Proulx discloses that it is known and conventional in the art to use heated rolls, convection or radiant oven or tunnel for heating a film stock (¶34). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to substitute the heating tunnel of Hoshino with a heating roll/roller because Proulx teaches that they are known functional equivalents for heating a film stock.
Proulx fails to specifically teach or disclose the heating structure of the heating roll/roller. Kim discloses that it is known and conventional in the art to place thermally controlled tubes circumferentially spaced from one another along an outer periphery of a roller so as to create a heated roller (Fig. 2 below). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use the heating roll of Kim in the apparatus taught by the above references as combined because one of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out such a substitution to achieve the predictable result of providing a known conventional and successful heating roller for providing desired heating. “The combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results.” KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
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Expressions relating the apparatus to contents thereof during an intended operation are of no significance in determining patentability of the apparatus claim. Ex parte Thibault, 164 USPQ 666, 667 (Bd. App. 1969).
A claim containing a “recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus” if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987). Here, the apparatus of the above references as combined contains all of the structural limitations of claim 1.
As to claim 2, the apparatus of claim 1 is taught as seen above. Hoshino discloses that the leading rollers are capable of holding a material out to be applied to a desired substrate (Fig. 1).
As to claim 3, the apparatus of claim 1 is taught as seen above. It is the position of the Examiner that using end plates to contain/hold a roller on a desired rotational axis is known and conventional in the art and would have been obvious for one of ordinary art to use in the apparatus of the above references as combined. It also would have been obvious to modify said end plates to allow for the thermal fluid transfer to the roller of Kim.
As to claim 4, the apparatus of claim 1 is taught as seen above. Hoshino discloses that the leading rollers are connected by a leading shaft and define the leading relief channel therebetween and the lagging rollers are connected by a lagging shaft and define the lagging relief channel therebetween (Fig. 4).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoshino et al. (US 20130059125), Proulx et al. (US 20040200771) and Kim et al. (US 20220080695) as applied to claims 1-4 above, and further in view of Fujino (US 20050230053).
As to claim 5, the apparatus of claim 4 is taught as seen above. The above references as combined fail to teach or disclose that the leading rollers have a tapered portion that tapers from the rim to the shaft. Fujino discloses that it is known and conventional in the art to put a taper on a pair of guide rollers that a material passes between so that there is a taper from the rim to the shaft (Fig. 7a, 7b). One of ordinary skill upon reading Fujino would recognize that such a taper on guide rolls enhances of the straight run stability of the material guided by the roller. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use the tapered rollers of Fujino in the apparatus taught by the above references as combined because one of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out such a substitution to achieve the predictable result of providing a known successful and conventional guide roller means for guiding a material in a desired direction in a machine. “The combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results.” KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7 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.
Claim 8 and 10-11 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 6 recites that the end effector is arranged on a distal end of a swing arm of the applicator, and wherein an actuator is coupled with the swing arm, the actuator being arranged to control a compressive force that the thermally-controlled tubes apply to the adhesive substrate as the plurality of thermally-controlled tubes apply the adhesive substrate to the part. The closest prior art of Hoshino et al. (US 2013059125) as modified by Proulx et al. (US 20040200771) and Kim et al. (US 20220080695) fails to teach or disclose the recited structure comprising of a swing arm for controlling the compressive force applied by the heating means.
Claim 7 recites that wherein the roller wheel is received between a first end plate and a second end plate, and wherein the end effector further comprises: a pair of leading arms coupling the leading rollers to the first and second end plates, respectively; an adjustment screw extending through the first end plate and engaging a first leading arm of the pair of leading arms, the adjustment screw is adjustable so as to adjust a position of the leading rollers; and a leading spring coupled with the first leading arm and biasing the pair of leading arms against the adjustment screw. The closest prior art of Hoshino et al. (US 20130059125) as modified by Proulx et al. (US 20040200771) and Kim et al. (US 20220080695) fails to teach or disclose the recited structure for holding a heating wheel/roller.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claim 8 recites an applicator system comprising: a hand-off assembly having a pincher; a carriage movable along a first direction so as to be selectively extended toward the hand-off assembly and selectively retracted away from the hand-off assembly, and wherein the carriage comprises: a backing clamp arranged to selectively clamp a backing so as to couple the backing with an adhesive substrate or to allow the backing to peel away from the adhesive substrate; a cutter assembly arranged to receive the adhesive substrate and to be movable between a cut position and a collapsed position, wherein when in the collapsed position, the cutter assembly exposes a portion of the adhesive substrate to allow the pincher of the hand- off assembly to pinch and selectively hold the adhesive substrate, and when in the cut position, a cutter of the cutter assembly is arranged to selectively cut the adhesive substrate; and an applicator having a swing arm and an end effector arranged on the swing arm, the applicator is movable to an engaged position in which the end effector applies the adhesive substrate to a part; wherein the end effector comprises: a roller wheel having a wheel rotatable about an axis of rotation and a plurality of thermally-controlled tubes circumferentially spaced from one another along an outer periphery of the wheel, the plurality of thermally-controlled tubes each define a chamber arranged to receive a heated working fluid; leading rollers that lead the roller wheel, the leading rollers define a leading relief channel; and lagging rollers that lag the roller wheel, the lagging rollers define a lagging relief channel, and wherein the leading rollers and the lagging rollers are arranged to receive an adhesive substrate within the leading relief channel and the lagging relief channel, respectively, so as to tension and align the adhesive substrate with a part to which the plurality of thermally- controlled tubes apply the adhesive substrate. The closest prior art of Hoshino et al. (US 20130059125) as modified by Proulx et al. (US 20040200771) and Kim et al. (US 20220080695) fails to teach or disclose that the apparatus has a swing arm with the end effector arranged on said swing arm, the applicator is movable to an engaged position in which the end effector applies the adhesive substrate to a part as currently claimed.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER C CAILLOUET whose telephone number is (571)270-3968. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, PHILLIP TUCKER can be reached at (571)272-1095. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER C CAILLOUET/Examiner, Art Unit 1745
/GEORGE R KOCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1745
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