Detailed Office Action
The communication dated 6/21/2024 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 1-5 are pending.
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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
As for claim 1, the applicant claims that the humidification mechanism includes a nozzle that is downstream of the fiber pilling-up unit. However, the belt is part of the fiber piling up unit and therefore a humidification unit acting on the belt cannot be downstream of the fiber pilling-up unit. The humidification unit must be downstream of the case of the fiber piling up unit.
Claims 2-5 depend from claim 1 and are similarly rejected.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. 2020/0173105 HIGUCHI, hereinafter HIGUCHI.
As for claims 1 and 2, HIGUCHI discloses a sheet manufacturing apparatus [Figure 1], comprising: a defibrating unit (13) that defibrates a material to turn the material into fibers;
a fiber piling-up unit (18) that piles up the fibers to form a web (M8); a pressing unit (201) that presses the web (M8) to turn the web into a sheet; and a humidifying mechanism (236) that supplies humidified air to the fiber piling-up unit (the humidifying mechanism supplies humidified air to the belt 191 being part of the fiber piling-up unit 18, thus, supplying humidified air to the fiber piling up unit as required by the wording of instant claim 1, wherein the fiber piling-up unit (18) includes a rotating portion (6) that stirs the fibers supplied from the defibrating unit (13), a case (3) in which the rotating portion (6) is housed, and a transportation belt (191) that is provided under the case (3) and transports the web in a transportation direction (as pointed by arrow "X" in figures 2 and 3), the web (M8) is formed on the transportation belt (191) by piling up the fibers on the transportation belt (191), and the humidifying mechanism includes a nozzle (implicitly present outlet of the humidifying mechanism 236) [Figure 1 and 0036] that is provided downstream of the case (3) of the fiber piling-up unit (18) in the transportation direction [rightwards in Figure 1] and supplies the humidified air to the fiber piling-up unit (the belt (19)1 being a part of the fiber piling-up unit).
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. 11,111,613 HIGUCHI, hereinafter HIGUCHI II.
As for claim 1 and 2, As for claims 1 and 2, HIGUCHI discloses a sheet manufacturing apparatus [Figure 1], comprising: a defibrating unit (20) that defibrates a material to turn the material into fibers; a fiber piling-up unit (60/70) that piles up the fibers to form a web (W); a pressing unit (80) that presses the web (W) to turn the web into a sheet; and a humidifying mechanism (78) that supplies humidified air to the fiber piling-up unit [Figure 1 and 3] (the humidifying mechanism supplies humidified air to the belt (72) being part of the fiber piling-up unit (60/70), thus, supplying humidified air to the fiber piling up unit as required by the wording of instant claim 1, wherein the fiber piling-up unit (60/70) includes a rotating portion (61) that stirs the fibers supplied from the defibrating unit (20), a case (63) in which the rotating portion (61) is housed, and a transportation belt (72) that is provided under the case 3(3) and transports the web in a transportation direction (towards the right in Figure 1 and 3), the web (W) is formed on the transportation belt (72) by piling up the fibers on the transportation belt (72), and the humidifying mechanism (78) includes a nozzle (172) [Figure 1 and 3] that is provided downstream of the case (63) of the fiber piling-up unit (60/70) in the transportation direction [rightwards in Figure 1 and 3] and supplies the humidified air to the fiber piling-up unit (the belt (72) being a part of the fiber piling-up unit).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. 2020/0173105 HIGUCHI et al., hereinafter HIGUCHI.
As for claim 3, HIGUCHI does not disclose the shape of the nozzle of the humidification unit (236) [Figure 1, 0064]. At the time of the invention it would be obvious to have a nozzle of a rectangular shape such that the humification air humidified the full length of the web on the belt. It is prima facie obvious to change shape absent evidence of unexpected results [see e.g. MEP 2144.04 (IV)(B)].
Claims 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. 11,111,613 HIGUCHI, hereinafter HIGUCHI II.
As for claim 3, HIGUCHI II does not disclose the shape of the nozzle (172) of the humidification unit (78) [Figure 3]. At the time of the invention it would be obvious to have a nozzle of a rectangular shape such that the humification air humidified the full length of the web on the belt. It is prima facie obvious to change shape absent evidence of unexpected results [see e.g. MEP 2144.04 (IV)(B)].
As for claim 4, a seal roller (64b) is adjacent to the sidewall of the case () in the transportation direction (towards the right ) [Figure 1 and 3]. The opening portion of nozzle (172) is right next to the seal roller (64b) [Figure 3].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY J CALANDRA whose telephone number is (571)270-5124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:45 AM -4:15 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abbas Rashid can be reached at (571)270-7457. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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ANTHONY J. CALANDRA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1748
/Anthony Calandra/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748