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 .
Applicant’s election without traverse of the invention of Group II, claims 6-13, drawn to a method of loading a tray with fresh meat articles, in the reply filed on 12/16/25 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-5 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/16/25.
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) 6-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Whitehouse (4,776,146). Whitehouse discloses most of the features of the claims including:
the propelling step of claim 1 (with reference to Whitehouse Figs 2 and 3, the first conveyor line can be conveyor 22 in Figs 2 and 3; the second conveyor line can be conveyor 32 with tray 90 thereon);
the detecting step of claim 1 (see sensors 94 and 96 and their functions, as disclosed in Whitesouse);
the determining step of claim 1 (see, for example, column 7 fourth full paragraph and column 10 line 15+);
and the moving step of claim 1 (see, for example, column 6 lines 20-30 and column 7 lines 20-24).
Therefore, what Whitehouse is missing is a pluraity of cells for the Whitehouse tray. On the other hand, providing a meat tray with cells is conventional, as shown by the prior art of record including Childress and Maynard. Thus, in Whitehouse, it would have been obvious to perform the propelling step with a tray having cells therein, for the purpose of packaging the meats in a more attractive manner.
Other features of the claims not specifically disclosed in Whitehouse, such as fresh meat articles connected by links, and vacuum sealing the tray without freezing the meat articles are notorious in the relevant art. Therefore, it would also have been obvious to provide these features in the practice of the Whitehouse invention, for the purpose of more conveniently and/or attractively packaging specific types of meats.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACOB K ACKUN whose telephone number is (571)272-4418. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 11am-7pm.
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, Orlando E. Aviles can be reached at (571) 270-5531. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JACOB K ACKUN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3736