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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-2 in the reply filed on 04/10/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 3-6 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group of the invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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 1-2 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.
Claim 1 recites “bands, wires or dots” in 2nd page, lines 2-3, which renders the claim vague and indefinite because prior to the cited limitation, claim 1 already recites “bands, wires or dots” in 1st page, line 13, and it is not clear if the latter citation in lines 2-3 of page 2 refers to a new limitation or refers to the previously cited limitation of the same in line 13 of page 1. Clarification is required.
Claim 1 recites the term “such that said wide bands correspond to faster build rate than the wires” which renders the claim vague and indefinite because the scope of the phrase “said wide bands correspond to faster build rate than the wires” is not clear that in which aspect of the build rate, do “wide bands” correspond to? Clarification is requested.
Claim 1 recites “tangential directions of the selected surfaces of said three-dimensional article” in 2nd page, line 7, which renders the claim vague and indefinite because prior to the cited limitation, claim 1 already recites “tangential directions of the selected surfaces of said three-dimensional article” in 1st page, line 10, and it is not clear if the latter citation in line 7 of page 2 refers to a new limitation or refers to the previously cited limitation of the same in line 10 of page 1. Clarification is required.
Claim 1 recites the phrase “-like shapes” in page 2, line 11, renders the claim(s) indefinite because the claim(s) include(s) elements not actually disclosed (those encompassed by "or the like"), thereby rendering the scope of the claim(s) unascertainable. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claim 1 recites the term “to increase overall speed of building said three-dimensional article”, in page 2, line 11, wherein the term “increase” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “increase” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Claim 2 recites the term “thick layers in a layer by layer sequence” in 3rd, 5th, 6th lines, wherein the term “thick” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “thick” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Claim 2 recites the term “a hot scraping” in 4th – 5th lines, wherein the term “thick” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “thick” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
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 non-obviousness.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng (US 6,030,199).
As to claim 1, Tseng (US ‘199) discloses a process for making a three-dimensional article by dispensing a solidifiable materials (building and support materials 40, 42; col. 4, lines 33-35) in a fluid state from dispensing heads (two cylindrically-shaped containers 12 and 14 for holding the building material 40 (col. 4, lines 47-48) comprising an adjustable planar nozzle 51 including two cooperating position controllable plates, top and bottom plates 52 and 60, respectively, which are movable with respect to each other in a longitudinal direction, col. 5, lines 38-41), respectively, onto a base member (a position controllable substrate 50; col. 4, lines 35-37) at predetermined ambient conditions to build up the solidifiable material in solidified form according to a predetermined relative movement sequence between said dispensing heads (two cylindrically-shaped containers 12 and 14 for holding the building material 40; col. 4, lines 47-48) and said base member (a position [AltContent: textbox (Dispensing heads (12, 14))][AltContent: textbox (Solidifiable materials (40, 42))]controllable substrate 50; col. 4, lines 35-37), the process comprises:
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[AltContent: textbox (A grid structure (38))][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Band elements (44))][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (A base member (50))]
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- determining the predetermined relative movement sequence from a process plan (col. 10, lines 1-17), wherein the process plan decomposes a set of geometric data representing the three-dimensional article into a number of component geometric elements (col. 10, lines 23-28) including band elements (continuous variable size planar jets or sheets 44; col. 5, lines 13-15), wire elements or dot elements, wherein the band elements and the wire elements being arranged according to a grid structure (the workpiece 38; col. 4, lines 37-39) distributed along tangential directions of selected surfaces of the set of geometric data (col. 10, lines 23-28), the band elements (continuous variable size planar jets or sheets 44; col. 5, lines 13-15), wire elements or dot elements corresponding to volumes of the dispensed solidifiable material in shapes of bands (continuous variable size planar jets or sheets 44; col. 5, lines 13-15), wires or dots respectively when the three-dimensional article (formed layers 36) [AltContent: textbox (A short edge )]is fabricated;
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (A wide long edge)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Exit opening (56, 64))]
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- wherein the dispensing heads (two cylindrically-shaped containers 12 and 14 for holding the building material 40; col. 4, lines 47-48) include an elongated exit opening (an adjustable planar nozzle 51 including two cooperating position controllable plates, top and bottom plates 52 and 60, respectively, including an upper nozzle slit 56 (col. 5, line 48) and a lower nozzle slit 64 (col. 6, line 7) which are movable with respect to each other in a longitudinal direction, col. 5, lines 38-41) comprising a short edge and a wide long edge, said solidifiable material being dispensed out the elongated exit opening (an upper nozzle slit 56 and a lower nozzle slit 64, col. 5, line 48 and col. 6, line 7);
- wherein the dispensing of the solidifiable material comprises: a process of changing cross-sectional dimensions of said solidifiable material while the material is being dispensed and solidifying by adjusting dimensions of the elongated exit opening and correspondingly adjusting a dispensing flow rate of the solidifiable material in order to create solidified material in shapes (col. 6, lines 17-39) including bands, wires or dots in correspondence to the component geometric elements generated from the process plan (col. 6, lines 17-39), the bands (continuous variable size planar jets or sheets 44; col. 5, lines 13-15) including wide bands (Fig. 15: larger section of simply-connected layer 512 positioned in right side) having cross-sectional dimensions larger than cross-sectional dimensions of the wires (Fig. 15: narrower section of simply-connected layer 512 positioned in left side) such that the wide bands correspond to faster build rate than the wires (col. 5, lines 34-37: the adjustable planar nozzle 51, when assembled, allows for efficient, high-speed planar deposition of forming materials using a minimal number of deposition [AltContent: textbox (A wide band)][AltContent: textbox (A wire)]"scans" or "passes”); and
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- a process of dispensing the solidifiable material along tangential directions of the selected surfaces of the three-dimensional article (formed layers 36) according to the grid structure (the workpiece 38; col. 4, lines 37-39) while keeping the wide long edge perpendicular to a direction of movement of the dispensing heads (two cylindrically-shaped containers 12 and 14 for holding the building material 40; col. 4, lines 47-48) with respect to the base member (a position controllable substrate 50; col. 4, lines 35-37) to make surfaces without layered stairs-like shapes and to increase overall speed (col. 5, lines 34-37: the adjustable planar nozzle 51, when assembled, allows for efficient, high-speed planar deposition of forming materials using a minimal number of deposition "scans" or "passes”) of building the three-dimensional article.
Tseng (US ‘199) discloses the bands (continuous variable size planar jets or sheets 44; col. 5, lines 13-15) including wide bands (Fig. 15: larger section of simply-connected layer 512 positioned in right side) having cross-sectional dimensions larger than cross-sectional dimensions of the wires (Fig. 15: narrower section of simply-connected layer 512 positioned in left side) however, Tseng (US ‘199) is silent on disclosing the wide bands have cross-sectional dimensions 10 times larger than cross-sectional dimensions of the wires, as claimed in claim 1.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the time of Applicant’s invention, to modify cross-sectional dimensions of the wide of the bands, as taught by Tseng (US ‘199) so to be 10 time larger than cross-sectional dimensions of the wires in order to improve a building speed of forming overhangs or cavities. Further, such a modification would involve only a mere change in size of a component. Scaling up or down of an element which merely requires a change in size is generally considered as being within the ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.04, section (IV, A).
As to claim 2, Tseng (US ‘199) teaches the process plan partitions the set of geometric data into a number of thick layers, the dispensing of the solidifiable material (building and support materials 40, 42; col. 4, lines 33-35) being applied to build the thick layers in a layer by layer sequence (layers 36 of the workpiece 38; col. 5, lines 13-16), the process further including a hot scraping process that applies a heated scraping tool to reshape the thick layers (layers 36 of the workpiece 38; col. 5, lines 13-16) of dispensed solidifiable material (building and support materials 40, 42; col. 4, lines 33-35), the hot scraping process being conducted right after each one layer in the thick layers is dispensed and added to the dispensed layers (layers 36 of the workpiece 38; col. 5, lines 13-16).
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Page (US 2015/0367375) disclose a system for fabricating an object, the system comprising: an extruder for one or more deposition materials, the extruder comprising at least one nozzle and a movable support for the nozzle, wherein the nozzle has a nozzle axis and is rotatably attached to the movable support via a connector that is actuatable relative to the movable support to change an angular orientation of the nozzle axis relative to the movable support so as to vary an angle between the nozzle axis and a deposition surface during deposition of a deposition material. Claim 1, 1st paragraph.
Gardiner (US 2017/0066186) disclose a method for fabricating a composite construction element using a computer-controlled additive manufacturing apparatus configured to fabricate a first building material, the method involving the steps of: receiving, by the apparatus, computer instructions relating to a core geometry; moving and selectively operating the apparatus to selectively fabricate a core comprised of the first building material in one or more specific locations, corresponding with the core geometry; moving the core to dip at least a portion thereof in a settable second building material contained in a reservoir, thereby forming a skin of settable second building material thereon; and at least partially curing the skin to form a shell at least partially enclosing the core, thereby forming the composite construction element.
Correspondence Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEYED MASOUD MALEKZADEH whose telephone number is (571)272-6215. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30AM-5:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SUSAN D. LEONG can be reached at (571)270-1487. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SEYED MASOUD MALEKZADEH/Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1754
06/25/2026
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