DETAILED ACTION
In response to remarks filed on 7 August 2026
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7 August 2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Claims 1 and 3-6 are pending;
Claim 1 is currently amended;
Claims 3-6 were previously presented;
Claims 2 and 7 cancelled;
Claims 1 and 3-6 are rejected herein.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 7 August 2026 have been fully considered and they are moot since a new secondary reference is being used to reject the claims.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the connection point of the third mooring line and how it is changed to change the lengths of the first and second areas of the third mooring line must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 and 3-6 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.
As to Claim 1, the claim recites “and a connection point of the third mooring line” and “coupled to a selected connection point among the third mooring line”. It is unclear if these connection points are the same. For purposes of examination, it will be assumed that they are the same. Appropriate correction is required.
The dependent claims are also rejected for depending on a rejected independent claim.
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 1 and 3-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Loeken et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0119081) in view of Skaare (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0257075) and Hovde et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0380203).
As to Claim 1, Loeken discloses a floating-type offshore wind power mooring system capable of reducing a yaw motion, the floating-type offshore wind power mooring system comprising:
A floating body (100) having buoyancy at sea; and
A wind power generation unit (200) fixed to the floating body (100),
Wherein the floating body (100) includes three columns (101, 102, 103) disposed at vertex locations of a triangle, respectively, and three pontoon units (104, 105, 106) disposed in a triangular shape to connect the plurality of columns (101, 102, 103),
The wind power generation unit (200) is disposed on any one of the three columns (101), and includes a mooring unit (300a-i) connecting the column to a seabed.
However, Loeken is silent about the mooring unit includes a first mooring line, a second mooring line, a third mooring line, and a connection portion, the first mooring line has one end connected to any one of the three columns, the second mooring line has one end connected to another of the three columns, the third mooring line has one end connected to the seabed, the connection portion connects the other end of the first mooring line, the other end of the second mooring line, and a connection point of the third mooring line, and when viewed from above, the first mooring line, the second mooring line, and the third mooring line are disposed in a Y shape, wherein the third mooring line is formed in a chain shape. Skaare discloses a mooring unit including a first mooring line (Annotated figure A, “first mooring line”), a second mooring line (Annotated figure A, “second mooring line”), a third mooring line (Annotated figure A, “third mooring line”), and a connection portion (Annotated figure A, “connection portion”), the first mooring line (Annotated figure A, “first mooring line”) has one end connected to any one of the three columns (Annotated figure A, “first column”), the second mooring line (Annotated figure A, “second mooring line”) has one end connected to another of the three columns (Annotated figure A, “second column”), the third mooring line has one end connected to the seabed (Paragraph 0011: “For example, an end of each mooring line furthest from the floating wind turbine installation may be connected or anchored to a seabed”), the connection portion (Annotated figure A, “connection portion”) connects the other end of the first mooring line (Annotated figure A, “first mooring line”), the other end of the second mooring line (Annotated figure A, “second mooring line”), and a connection point of the third mooring line (Annotated figure A, “third mooring line”), and when viewed from above, the first mooring line, the second mooring line, and the third mooring line are disposed in a Y shape (Figure 2), wherein the third mooring line is formed in a chain shape (Paragraph 0042: “The bridle and mooring lines may be made of various materials including mooring chain, wire rope, polyester rope, etc. The bridle and mooring lines may be made of the same materials or different materials”). Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to make the mooring unit include a first mooring line, a second mooring line, a third mooring line, and a connection portion, the first mooring line has one end connected to any one of the three columns, the second mooring line has one end connected to another of the three columns, the third mooring line has one end connected to the seabed, the connection portion connects the other end of the first mooring line, the other end of the second mooring line, and a connection point of the third mooring line, and when viewed from above, the first mooring line, the second mooring line, and the third mooring line are disposed in a Y shape, wherein the third mooring line is formed in a chain shape. The motivation would have been to increase the yaw stiffness, and therefore reduce yawing, of the system (Paragraph 0006).
Lastly, Loeken as modified (See above paragraph) is silent about wherein, with respect to a connection point connected to the connection portion, the third mooring line is partitioned into a first area from the seabed to the connection point, and a second area from the connection point to an end of the third mooring line, wherein the connection portion is coupled to a selected connection point among the third mooring line, wherein the selected connection point is changeable along a longitudinal direction of the third mooring line, and wherein, as a length of the first area and a length of the second area are changed by changing the selected connection point such that tension of the mooring unit is adjustable. Hovde discloses a mooring line (7, 11) formed in a chain shape (Figure 8b) wherein, with respect to a connection point (Point of chain engaged by 15) connected to a connection portion (2), the mooring line is partitioned into a first area (7) from the seabed to the connection point (Point of chain engaged by 15), and a second area (11) from the connection point (Point of chain engaged by 15) to an end of the mooring line, wherein the connection portion (2) is coupled to (via 15) a selected connection point (Point of chain engaged by 15) among the mooring line, wherein the selected connection point (Point of chain engaged by 15) is changeable along a longitudinal direction of the mooring line (7, 11), and wherein, as a length of the first area and a length of the second area are changed by changing the selected connection point (Point of chain engaged by 15) such that tension of the mooring unit is adjustable. Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have with respect to a connection point connected to the connection portion, the third mooring line partitioned into a first area from the seabed to the connection point, and a second area from the connection point to an end of the third mooring line, wherein the connection portion is coupled to a selected connection point among the third mooring line, wherein the selected connection point is changeable along a longitudinal direction of the third mooring line, and wherein, as a length of the first area and a length of the second area are changed by changing the selected connection point such that tension of the mooring unit is adjustable. The motivation would have been to adjust the tension of the mooring line.
As to Claim 3, Loeken as modified teaches the invention of Claim 1 (Refer to Claim 1 discussion). Loeken as modified also teaches wherein a shape of the first mooring line and a shape of the second mooring line each differ from a shape of the third mooring line (The first and second mooring lines have a longitudinal cross-section of a shorter shape as compared to the longer shape of the longitudinal cross-section of the third mooring line as seen in annotated Figure A).
As to Claim 4, Loeken as modified teaches the invention of Claim 3 (Refer to Claim 3 discussion). Loeken as modified also teaches wherein a length of the first mooring line and a length of the second mooring line are the same (The first and second mooring lines have the same length as seen in annotated Figure A).
As to Claim 5, Loeken as modified teaches the invention of Claim 1 (Refer to Claim 1 discussion). Loeken as modified also teaches wherein the mooring unit is disposed to correspond to each of the three pontoon units (Skaare: Figure 2).
As to Claim 6, Loeken as modified teaches the invention of Claim 1 (Refer to Claim 1 discussion). Loeken as modified also teaches wherein a cross section of the column is polygonal (Loeken: Figure 3a-3b).
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Figure A. Mooring lines (Skaare)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWIN J TOLEDO-DURAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7501. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday: 10:00AM to 6:00PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, AMBER ANDERSON can be reached at (571) 270-5281. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EDWIN J TOLEDO-DURAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3678
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