DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al (KR2013-0034292).
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses a position roller (42) for meander control comprising:
a roller having a rotational axis;
a first ball joint (42a) supporting a distal end the roller along the rotational axis, the first ball joint configured to permit pivotal movement of the roller;
an XZ driver (44 or 45) configured to drive two-dimensional motion of a proximal end of the roller, the two-dimensional motion being in a plane transverse to the rotational axis of the roller; and
a base (e.g. unnumbered bottom support) supporting the first ball joint and the XZ driver (best shown in figure 5),
the first ball joint is slidably coupled to a Y-axis rail (shown in figure 2) mounted on the base.
Regarding claim 2, Kim discloses the first ball joint supports the distal end of the roller so that the distal end of the roller can pivot in any direction relative to the base.
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) 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al further in view of Shuhong et al (CN112141784).
Regarding claim 4, Kim discloses a second ball joint coupled to the proximal end of the roller along the rotational axis, a Z-axis frame having a Z-axis rail (44b) to which the second ball joint is slidably coupled for linear movement; a Z-axis driver (44) to provide power for linear movement of the second ball joint along the Z- axis rail;
It is noted that Kim fails to explicitly disclose the claimed X rail system. However, Shuhong discloses an XZ driver for a roller (5) including roller bearings (3, 10) having an X-axis frame having an X-axis rail; and an X-axis driver (11) to provide power for linear movement along the X-axis rail (see below).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kim with the teachings of the driver taught by Shuhong with the predictable result of having a steady, and well controlled movement of the roller.
Regarding claim 5, Kim discloses the second ball joint supports the proximal end of the roller for pivoting of the proximal end of the roller in any direction relative to the base.
Regarding claim 6, Kim discloses the first ball joint is configured to passively move forward and backward along the Y-axis rail in response to linear movement of the second ball joint and Z-axis frame driven by the XZ driver (as required by any static structure).
Claim(s) 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al further in view of Fuwa (US Pat No 8,038,148).
Regarding claim 7, Kim discloses first and second position rollers each being the position roller according to claim 1. It is noted that Kim is silent to the claimed detection and control of the rollers. However, Fuwa discloses a first edge position sensor (EPS, 221) disposed upstream of the first position roller and configured to detect meander traveling information of the first position roller; a second EPS (223) disposed downstream of the second position roller and configured to detect meander travel information of the second position roller; a first idle roller (15) disposed between the first EPS and the first position roller for meander control; a second idle roller (16) downstream of the second position roller; and a control part (230) that is configured to control an XZ (215) driver of each of the first and second position rollers to provide meander control based on meander traveling information detected by the first EPS (shown in figure 5).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the device of Kim with the teachings of Fuwa to achieve the predictable result of controlling the meandering of the sheet and ensuring the correction takes effect. It is further noted that the second EPS is not downstream of the second idle roller. However, the position of the second EPS is not disclosed to be downstream of the second idle roller for any critical reasoning, therefore the position of the second EPS would be obvious as long as the second EPS is downstream of the second positioning roller.
Regarding claim 8, Fuwa discloses the control part performs is configured to perform feedback control using the meander traveling information detected by the second EPS as a feedback value (shown in figure 5).
Regarding claim 9, the combination discloses the control part is configured to independently control the XZ driver of each of the first and second position rollers (e.g. since the applicant’s claim requires the XZ driver of claim 1, the driver 45 can be interpreted for this aspect).
Regarding claim 10, the combination discloses the control part is configured to control the XZ driver of the first position roller to control an angle of incidence of the traveling web, and the control part is configured to control the XZ driver of the second position roller to control an angle of exit of the traveling web (e.g. since each is independently adjustable), the angle of incidence being an angle between a plane of the traveling web entering the first position roller relative to a plane of the traveling web exiting the first position roller, and the angle of exit being an angle between a plane of the traveling web exiting the second position roller relative to a plane of the traveling web entering the second position roller.
Regarding claim 11, the combination discloses the control part is configured to control an X-axis driver of the XZ driver of each of the first and second position rollers for meander control to control the angle of incidence and the angle of exit of the traveling web, while controlling a Z-axis driver of each of the first and second position rollers for meander control to control the slip of the traveling web (since the control and structure of the claimed apparatus are substantially taught).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/10/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to the applicant’s argument that Kim fails to disclose the XZ driver configured to drive two-dimensional motion of a proximal end of the roller; the applicant’s claim as it read requires the roller end to have two-dimensional motion. Even with the applicant’s proposed interpretation of the Kim reference, the end of the roller would still be required to move in two dimensions (i.e. there is a distance between the pivot points and either end of the roller itself and therefore, even with one ball joint being stationary as proposed, the end of the roller would still move).
In response to the applicant’s argument that Kim fails to disclose the claimed first ball joint slidably coupled to a Y-axis rail mounted on the base; the applicant’s claim fails to define any axis of movement, and merely claims a y-axis without designating a relation to the claimed elements. While it is noted from the applicant’s response the intention for the y-axis is the longitudinal direction of the roller, the claim is silent as to that requirement, or any other axis for that matter. To read the y-axis to be explicitly the axis of the roller would read limitations from the specification improperly into the claimed invention. Thus, the broadest reasonable interpretation of y-axis, is any axis provided as that applicant fails to define the axis in the claims.
Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/Patrick Cicchino/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619