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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 11-13 and 16 are the subject of this NON-FINAL Office Action. This is the first action on the merits.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group IV (claims 11-20) the strip pattern species of claim 16 in the reply filed on 01/05/2026 is acknowledged.
Priority
Claim 11 and its dependents receive a priority date of 12/10/2015 because the priority document filed on that date (PCT/US2015/065003) is the first priority document to disclose sacrificial raft with first layer with an adjacent pair of plurality of stripes separated by a gap.
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) A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(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; or
(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 11-13 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by VARANKA (US 20100021638).
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As to claim 11, VARANKA teaches a method for printing an article upon a sacrificial raft, the method comprising: printing a first layer of a plurality of stripes of the sacrificial raft upon a base, wherein one of the plurality of stripes has a first width across the first layer, and wherein an adjacent pair of the plurality of stripes are separated by a gap having a second width across the first layer (sacrificial raft strips 16 separated by gaps 28; Fig. 4c); printing a second layer of the plurality of stripes of the sacrificial raft above the first layer of the plurality of stripes of the sacrificial raft (additional raft strips printed over first raft strip layer; Fig. 4c; para. 0020- “drops 16D of sacrificial mold material 16 onto a previously existing layer 12”); and printing a first layer of the article above the second layer of the plurality of stripes of the sacrificial raft (article 22; Fig. 4c). The lattice/grid raft structure in VARANKA is the same as that shown in the instant figures.
As to claim 12, VARANKA teaches separating the sacrificial raft from the base; and separating the article from the sacrificial raft (paras. 0069-72).
As to claim 13, VARANKA teaches the separating the sacrificial raft from the base is performed before the separating the article from the sacrificial raft (sacrificial material removed from final product before final product removed from base/platform; paras. 0069-72).
As to claim 16, VARANKA teaches a height of the first layer of the plurality of stripes is different than a height of the first layer of the article (paras. 0044 & 0062-64).
Prior Art
Numerous other prior art also teaches adjacent pair of the plurality of stripes are separated by a gap, or grid or lattice sacrificial layers: US 9440397; US20160039152; US 20160263822; US 20150266244; US 20160263839.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
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/YUNG-SHENG M TSUI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1743