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 .
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim 8 be found allowable, claim 9 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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) 1-3, 8, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bolton (US Patent No 7,849,616).
Referring to claim 1: Bolton teaches a system for removably affixing a sheet of insulative material (item 12, col 2, line 38 teaches foam board which is insulative) to a surface, the system comprising: a plurality of pieces of a first type of hook/loop material (item 16) affixed to one side of the sheet of the insulative material; a plurality of heat barriers (item 18) affixed to the surface, each of the plurality of heat barriers having a second type of the hook/loop material (item 18b) affixed to a planar surface that faces away from the surface. Bolton does not specifically teach whereas when the first type of the hook/loop material interfaces with the second type of the hook/loop material, the sheet of the insulative material is removably attached to cover at least a portion of the surface. However, one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing would recognize that this is how a hook and loop fastening system would function when implemented on the panel system taught by Bolton.
Referring to claims 2 and 3: Bolton teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as noted above. Bolton does not specifically teach the first type of the hook/loop material is hook material and the second type of the hook/loop material is loop material or wherein the first type of the hook/loop material is loop material and the second type of the hook/loop material is hook material. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to choose either a hook or loop material to be either of the first or second materials as they are interchangeable for installation on either side of a joint as is known in the art.
Referring to claims 8 and 9: Bolton teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as noted above. Bolton does not specifically teach wherein each of the plurality of heat barriers is a 2” by 2” sheet of plastic having a thickness ranging from 1/16 of an inch to 1/4 of an inch. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to create the device taught by Bolton and choose any size heat barrier that fits in a specific location that does not block a view or leave a large patch of a different material on a surface. Choosing a specific thickness material balances between rigidity and weight.
Claim(s) 4-7, 10-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bolton in view of Holvoet et al. (US Patent No 9,010,687) (“Holvoet”).
Referring to claims 4 and 5: Bolton teaches all the limitations of claims 2 and 3 as noted above. Bolton does not specifically teach wherein the hook or the loop material is affixed to the one side of the sheet of the insulative material by stitching. However, Holvoet teaches attaching hook and loop fasteners with stitching (col 4, lines 58-60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to create the device taught by Bolton with attaching the hook and loop fasteners with stitching as taught by Holvoet in order to provide a secure attachment to the panel. Stitching is well known to provide a secure attachment with distribution all the way around the perimeter of a hook or loop strip and potentially diagonally across as is commonly attached.
Referring to claims 6 and 7: Bolton teaches all the limitations of claims 2 and 3 as noted above. Bolton does not specifically teach wherein the hook or the loop material is affixed to the one side of the sheet of the insulative material by double sided tape. However, Holvoet teaches attaching hook and loop fasteners with bonding (col 4, lines 58-60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to create the device taught by Bolton with the attachment taught by Holvoet in order to provide a strong connection. It is well known in the art to attach strips fasteners such as hook and loop with double sided tape to provide a distributed connection.
Referring to claims 10 and 11: Bolton teaches all the limitations of claims 2 and 3 as noted above. Bolton does not specifically teach wherein the loop material or the hook material is affixed to the planar surface of each of the plurality of heat barriers by double-sided tape. However, Holvoet teaches attaching hook and loop fasteners with bonding (col 4, lines 58-60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to create the device taught by Bolton with the attachment taught by Holvoet in order to provide a strong connection. It is well known in the art to attach strips fasteners such as hook and loop with double sided tape to provide a distributed connection.
Referring to claim 12: Bolton teaches an apparatus for removably applying a sheet of insulative material to a surface, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of pieces of a first type of hook/loop material (item 16) affixed to one side of the sheet of the insulative material (item 12); a plurality of heat barriers (item 18), each of the plurality of heat barriers is affixed to the surface and each of the plurality of heat barriers has a second type of the hook/loop material (item 18b) affixed to a planar surface that faces away from the surface; and whereas when the first type of the hook/loop material interfaces with the second type of the hook/loop material, the sheet of insulative material is removably attached to cover at least a portion of the surface (figure 1). Bolton does not teach the first type of material is attached to the sheet of insulative material by stitching. However, Holvoet teaches attaching hook and loop fasteners with stitching (col 4, lines 58-60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to create the device taught by Bolton with attaching the hook and loop fasteners with stitching as taught by Holvoet in order to provide a secure attachment to the panel. Stitching is well known to provide a secure attachment with distribution all the way around the perimeter of a hook or loop strip and potentially diagonally across as is commonly attached.
Referring to claims 13 and 14: Bolton and Holvoet teach all the limitations of claim 12 as noted above. They do not specifically teach the first type of the hook/loop material is hook material and the second type of the hook/loop material is loop material or wherein the first type of the hook/loop material is loop material and the second type of the hook/loop material is hook material. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to choose either a hook or loop material to be either of the first or second materials as they are interchangeable for installation on either side of a joint as is known in the art.
Referring to claim 15: Bolton and Holvoet teach all the limitations of claim 12 as noted above. They do not teach wherein the second type of the hook/loop material is affixed to the planar surface of each of the plurality of heat barriers by double-sided tape. However, Holvoet teaches attaching hook and loop fasteners with bonding (col 4, lines 58-60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to create the device taught by Bolton with the attachment taught by Holvoet in order to provide a strong connection. It is well known in the art to attach strips fasteners such as hook and loop with double sided tape to provide a distributed connection.
Referring to claim 16: Bolton teaches a method of insulating a surface, the method comprising: attaching a plurality of sections of a first type of hook/loop material (item 16) to a sheet of insulative material (item 12); installing a plurality of heat barriers (item 18) on the surface, each of the plurality of heat barriers having a second type of the hook/loop material (item 18b) affixed to a planar surface that faces away from the surface. Bolton does not specifically teach the sections of material with stitching and removably affixing the sheet of the insulative material to the surface by aligning each of the first type of the hook/loop material with the second type of the hook/loop material and applying pressure on the sheet of the insulative material, thereby engaging hooks/loops of the first type of the hook/loop material with the hooks/loops of the second type of the hook/loop material, thereby removably holding the sheet of insulative material to the surface. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to install the device using the instant steps as it is well known that this is how to attach elements using hook and loop fasteners. Holvoet teaches stitching the hook and loop fasteners to a surface (col 4, lines 58-60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to create the device using the method taught by Bolton with attaching the hook and loop fasteners with stitching as taught by Holvoet in order to provide a secure attachment to the panel. Stitching is well known to provide a secure attachment with distribution all the way around the perimeter of a hook or loop strip and potentially diagonally across as is commonly attached.
Referring to claim 17: Bolton and Holvoet teach all the limitations of claim 16 as noted above. They do not specifically teach the surface is a corrugated overhead door. However, it has been held that the recitation with respect to the matter in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus satisfying the claimed structural limitations. Ex part Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (1987). It would have been obvious to place the device on any specific surface that insulation would be desired.
Referring to claim 18: Bolton and Holvoet teach all the limitations of claim 16 as noted above. They do not specifically teach wherein each of the plurality of the heat barriers has the second type of the hook/loop material affixed to the planar surface using double-sided tape. However, Holvoet teaches attaching hook and loop fasteners with bonding (col 4, lines 58-60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to create the device taught by Bolton with the attachment taught by Holvoet in order to provide a strong connection. It is well known in the art to attach strips fasteners such as hook and loop with double sided tape to provide a distributed connection.
Referring to claim 19: Bolton and Holvoet teach all the limitations of claim 16 as noted above. They do not specifically teach the first type of the hook/loop material is hook material and the second type of the hook/loop material is loop material. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to choose either a hook or loop material to be either of the first or second materials as they are interchangeable for installation on either side of a joint as is known in the art.
Referring to claim 20: Bolton an Holvoet teach all the limitations of claim 16 as noted above. They do not teach pulling each of the first type of the hook/loop material away from a corresponding one of each of the second type of the hook/loop material for removing the sheet of insulative material from the surface. However, the Examiner gives Official Notice that it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to recognize that this is how a detachable hook and loop connection is removed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PATRICK J MAESTRI whose telephone number is (571)270-7859. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7-3.
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/PATRICK J MAESTRI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3635