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
Claims 1-4 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 6/15/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claims 5-15 in the reply filed on 6/15/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
(a)(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.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Vianello [WO2025/052204].
Vianello discloses a device for assembling a triple insulating glass pane containing two outer glasses and a thin glass between them, comprising: an application station (14) which is configured for applying a flexible spacer strand along an edge of an upstanding outer glass (Figure 3; paragraphs 0026, 0033); a first pressing station (22) arranged downstream of the application station and having a horizontal conveyor and two parallel pressing plates, the distance between which can be varied while maintaining their parallelism and of which a first pressing plate forms an upstanding supporting wall for a glass sheet transported upstandingly on the horizontal conveyor (Figure 3; 0032, 0034); a turning station (26) arranged downstream of the first pressing station and having two parallel supporting walls and a horizontal conveyor which is assigned to both supporting walls and is rotatable together with the supporting walls about an upstanding axis of rotation which, viewed along the conveying direction, is arranged centrally with respect to the horizontal conveyor (Figure 3; paragraph 0030, 0035); a second pressing station (24) arranged downstream of the turning station and having a horizontal conveyor and two parallel pressing plates, the distance between which can be varied while maintaining their parallelism and of which a first pressing plate forms an upstanding supporting wall for a glass sheet transported upstandingly on the horizontal conveyor (Figure 3; paragraphs 0037).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schuler [DE102019123696, machine translation provided].
Schuler discloses a device for assembling a triple insulating glass pane containing two outer glasses and a thin glass between them, comprising: an application station (50) which is configured for applying a flexible spacer strand along an edge of an upstanding outer glass (Figure 1); a first pressing station (90) arranged downstream of the application station and having a horizontal conveyor and two parallel pressing plates, the distance between which can be varied while maintaining their parallelism and of which a first pressing plate forms an upstanding supporting wall for a glass sheet transported upstandingly on the horizontal conveyor (Figure 1). Schuler discloses the in the last paragraph of the description before the claims, producing a triple insulating glass panel by supplementing the device with additional stations after the pressing station (90) including: a turning station (additional rotation station) arranged downstream of the first pressing station (90) and having two parallel supporting walls and a horizontal conveyor which is assigned to both supporting walls and is rotatable together with the supporting walls about an upstanding axis of rotation which, viewed along the conveying direction, is arranged centrally with respect to the horizontal conveyor; a second pressing station (additional pressing station) arranged downstream of the turning station and having a horizontal conveyor and two parallel pressing plates, the distance between which can be varied while maintaining their parallelism and of which a first pressing plate forms an upstanding supporting wall for a glass sheet transported upstandingly on the horizontal conveyor (last paragraph of the description before the claims).
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.
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over either one of Vianello or Schuler, in view of Lenhardt [US2015/0007433].
Vianello and Schuler each disclose a device, and applicant is referred to paragraphs 5 and 6 respectively for a detailed discussion of Vianello and Schuler. Vianello and Schuler fail to disclose a visual inspection station.
Lenhardt discloses a device including a visual inspection station (32) with a horizontal conveyor and several supporting beams for supporting a glass sheet standing on the horizontal conveyor, wherein the supporting beams extend horizontally and are displaceable upwards and downwards while being equidistant relative to one another (Figures 12, 13, 17, 18; paragraphs 0041, 0047).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the device of either one of Vianello or Schuler to including a visual inspection station as taught by Lenhardt in order to provide quality assurance and improve the quality of the final product made by the device.
With respect to claim 7, Vianello and Schuler each disclose a turning station but do not disclose the specifics required by the claim. Lenhardt discloses a rotating frame (53a, 53b) is mounted to a base frame (50) standing stationary on the floor; the rotating frame is rotatable relative to the base frame about a vertical axis of rotation via a swivel joint (Figures 1-2; paragraphs 0043); a tilting frame (tilted at an angle of 6°) is mounted to the rotating frame and is tiltable about a horizontal tilting axis relative to the rotating frame via a tilting joint; the supporting walls and the horizontal conveyor are fixed to the tilting frame (paragraph 0043).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the device of either one of Vianello and Schuler to include the rotating frame and tilting frame of Lenhardt in order to improve the handling of the glass sheets and to prevent damage to the glass.
Claims 8-10, and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over either one of Vianello or Schuler, in view of Queck et al. [US2016/0298376].
Vianello and Schuler each disclose a device, and applicant is referred to paragraphs 5 and 6 respectively for a detailed discussion of Vianello and Schuler.
With respect to claim 8, Vianello and Schuler fail to disclose at least one station has an air cushion supporting wall. Queck discloses a device with a processing station having a platen (54) with a plurality of air ports (84) creating an air cushion supporting wall with a planar supporting surface, wherein a plurality of air ducts (84) open into the supporting surface, and wherein an air flow emerges obliquely to the supporting surface from the air ducts when subjected to positive pressure (paragraph 0053). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the device of either one of Vianello or Schuler to include an air cushion supporting wall as taught by Queck in order to improve the ease of moving glass panels and reduce the risk of damage during conveying the glass panels.
With respect to claim 9, Queck discloses the supporting surface comprises a first supporting region and a second supporting region, wherein an air duct density in the first supporting region is greater than in the second supporting region, and wherein the air duct density is defined as the number of air ducts per square meter of supporting surface (Figure 7 shows a higher density of ports 84 in the lower supporting region compared to the upper region).
With respect to claim 10, Vianello and Schuler fail to disclose air ducts form suction devices. Queck discloses a platen (54) with ports (80) wherein the air ducts form suction devices when subjected to negative pressure (paragraphs 0050-53). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the device of either one of Vianello and Schuler to include suction ports as taught by Queck in order to secure the material worked upon to prevent misalignment or movement prior to bonding.
With respect to claim 14, Queck discloses the supporting surface has a first supporting region and a second supporting region, wherein a suctioned area fraction in the first supporting region is greater than in the second supporting region, and wherein the suctioned area fraction is defined as the quotient of the area subjected to negative pressure by the air ducts and the total area of the respective supporting region (Figure 7).
With respect to claim 15, Queck discloses air ducts, and it is noted the air ducts of Queck would be capable of being subject to positive or negative pressure.
Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over either one of Vianello or Schuler, in view of Queck, and further in view of Schuler [US20140096912, “Schuler ‘912”].
Either one of Vianello or Schuler as modified discloses a device, and applicant is referred to 9 for a detailed discussion of either one of Vianello or Schuler as modified. Queck discloses the pressing plate includes an air duct but does not disclose a depression or groove.
Schuler ‘912 discloses a device including a pressure plate (4) having a supporting surface with at least one depression (18) which is connected to an end duct section of the air duct (19) (Figure 2); the supporting surface of the pressing plate has at least one groove (21) which is connected to an end duct section of the air duct (Figure 1, 2); the groove (21) contains at least two groove sections extending at an angle to one another (Figure 1 and 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to further modify the device of either one of Vianello or Schuler to include the depression and groove structure in the pressure plate support surface as taught by Schuler ‘912 in order to increase the effect of the suction thereby improving the handling of the material worked upon.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL MCNALLY whose telephone number is (571)272-2685. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/DANIEL MCNALLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1746
DPM
September 6, 2026
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