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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 8/3/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed 8/03/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1, 3, and 5-22 remain pending.
Claims 2 and 4 are cancelled.
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, 3, 5-8, 10-12, 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sonntag (DE 102011054463A1-see previously attached PDF (mailed 10/30/2025) for English translation and paragraph numbering referenced below), in view of Honsha (US PGPUB 2017/0129634-previously cited), and in further view of Kicherer (DE 3924871 A1- see attached PDF for English translation and paragraph numbering referenced below-newly cited).
Regarding Claim 1, Sonntag discloses a hot air shrink tunnel (1; Figures 1-2) for a heat shrinking apparatus (Figures 1-2) for heat shrinking a shrink label to enclose a product (Para. 0001), wherein the hot air shrink tunnel (1) surrounds a conveying path (along belt 8) of the product, wherein the hot air shrink tunnel comprises:
- a moist air zone (2) and a dry air zone (6) arranged in this order in a conveying direction (shown in Figure 2) of the product through the hot air shrink tunnel (1; Para. 0025); wherein
- the moist air zone (2) includes a first heater (heating plate 13, distributor 12, throttle 11) configured to heat air flowing within the moist air zone (2; Para. 0026), and a water diffuser (steam line 15, steam supply unit 19, nozzles 21) configured to diffuse an amount of water in the air flowing within the moist air zone (2) to produce an air-steam mixture kept at normal pressure with the steam in a non-superheated state at or below its vaporization point (Para. 0027; note Para. 0013 outlines non-superheated steam use and while an overpressure of steam supplied may be preferred, the tunnel is clearly capable of maintaining a normal pressure), and
-the first heater (13) of the moist air zone (2) is configured to adjust a temperature of the air flowing in the moist air zone (2) to a given target temperature (Para. 0016, 0026), the water diffuser (15, 19, 21) is configured to adjust the amount of water (Para. 0016 outlines controlling/regulating steam quantity/flow), and
-the hot air shrink tunnel (1) further comprises a controller (associated with valves 17, 18 and steam supply 19) configured to control the absolute humidity of the air-steam mixture within the moist air zone (2) to adjust a mass concentration of water (“steam quantity and steam volume flow”; Para. 0016, 0027).
However, Sonntag fails to disclose the dry air zone includes a second heater configured to heat air flowing within the dry air zone, and is silent on the water diffuser is configured to adjust the amount of water depending on the given target temperature to such extent that a given absolute humidity of the air-steam mixture within the moist air zone is achieved, and a controller configured to control the absolute humidity of the air-steam mixture as a controlled variable within the moist air zone to adjust a mass concentration of water in dry air while keeping the temperature at the target temperature.
First, attention is brought to Honsha which teaches a hot air shrink tunnel (formed by chamber 2; Figures 1-2) for a heat shrinking apparatus (1) for heat shrinking a shrink label (“cylindrical label L”; Figures 6, 8, 9) to enclose a product (PC), wherein the hot air shrink tunnel (2) comprises a moist air zone (a heat-shrinking zone ZA) and a dry air zone (a drying zone ZB) arranged in this order in a conveying direction (of C) of the product (PC; Para. 0030); wherein the moist air zone (ZA) includes a first heater (superheater 22; Figure 6) configured to heat air flowing within the moist air zone (ZA; Para. 0050), and the dry air zone (ZB) includes a second heater (preheating unit 27 and heat exchanger 15) configured to heat air flowing within the dry air zone (ZB; Paras. 0048, 0050-0051).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized a separate heater for the dry air zone of Sonntag as taught by Honsha. By utilizing a separate heater, a predetermined temperature of the air for the dry zone can readily supplied as taught by Honsha (Para. 0048) which can be readily maintained at a different temperature than the air supplied to the moist air zone.
Second, attention is brought to the teachings of Kicherer which includes a hot air shrink tunnel (Figure 1) comprising a moist air zone (1) and a dry air zone (38), wherein the moist air zone (1) includes water diffuser (31) is configured to adjust the amount of water depending on a given target temperature to such extent that a given absolute humidity of the air-steam mixture within the moist air zone is achieved (see “desired humidity and/or temperature value”; Para. 0029 outlines setting such values and controlling the humidity and temperature to achieve such), and a controller (24) configured to control the absolute humidity (read by sensor 22) of the air-steam mixture as a controlled variable (Para. 0029 outlines measured sensor values and control loop based thereon) within the moist air zone (1) to adjust a mass concentration of water in dry air while keeping the temperature at the target temperature (as outlined in Para. 0029; see Paras. 0026-0032 which outlines a controller 24 for receiving measured values from sensors 22, 23, adjusting the humidity/moisture content based thereon per Para. 0027, 0030 to achieve a set temperature/heat content set per Para. 0029).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified the tunnel of Sonntag to include such humidity and temperature sensors and associated controls/controller that readily adjust humidity to maintain a set temperature as taught by Kicherer. By modifying Sonntag in this manner, optimal heat content can be readily achieved at reduced temperatures that do not risk damage to the film materials as taught by Kicherer (Para. 0006, 0031-0032).
Regarding Claim 3, Sonntag, as modified, discloses a detector (22 of Kircherer) configured to detect the absolute humidity of the air-steam mixture within the moist air zone (2 of Sonntag; see Para. 0026 of Kircherer).
Regarding Claim 5, Sonntag, as modified, discloses the first heater (11,12, 13) of the moist air zone (2) is configured to generate hot air controllably in terms of temperature and flow rate (note throttle 11 controls amount of air being supplied and the heating plate 13 controls the temperature; Para. 0026).
Regarding Claim 6, Sonntag, as modified, discloses the first heater (11, 12, 13) of the moist air zone includes a fan or blower (blower 9) configured to generate air flow circulation in a plane perpendicular (see arrows “14” in Figure 1) to said conveying direction (of 8; Para. 0026).
Regarding Claim 7, Sonntag, as modified, discloses the moist air zone includes at least a first moist air chamber (2a) and a second moist air chamber (2b) arranged in this order in a conveying direction (of 8) of a product (Para. 0029), which are defined by their respective moist air atmospheres individually controllable (i.e. via throttle 11, 11a-11c; Para. 0029) at least in terms of temperature, humidity and flow (see Para. 0016 which outlines “The continuous steam tunnel can have successive sections or chambers in the direction of flow of the product in the form of steam chambers or inlet or outlet chambers, in which operating and/or condition parameters, such as steam temperature, steam quantity and steam volume flow, can be set, controlled or regulated section by section”),
Regarding Claim 8, Sonntag, as modified, discloses the first moist air chamber (2a) and the second moist air chamber (2b) are separated from each other by a pass through (coupling portion of 2a and 2b) for the product to be conveyed from the first moist air chamber (2a) to the second moist air chamber (2b; Para. 0029).
Regarding Claim 10, Sonntag, as modified, discloses characterized in that the moist air zone (2) and the dry air zone (6) are separated from each other by a pass through (openings between 2 and 6) for the product to be conveyed from the moist air zone (2) to the dry air zone (6; Para. 0025).
Regarding Claim 11, Sonntag, as modified, discloses an infeed zone (4) arranged ahead of the moist air zone (2) in the conveying direction of the product and including a third heater (hot air supply line 10a) configured to heat the interior of the infeed zone (Para. 0029).
Regarding Claim 12, Sonntag, as modified, discloses the infeed zone (4) and the moist air zone (2) are separated from each other by a pass through (openings therebetween must be present for conveyor 8) for the product to be conveyed from the infeed zone (4) to the moist air zone (2; Para. 0025).
Regarding Claims 16 and 17, Sonntag, as modified, discloses the moist air zone includes at least a first moist air chamber (2a) and a second moist air chamber (2b) arranged in this order in the conveying direction of the product (as shown along 8), which are defined by their respective moist air atmospheres individually controllable at least in terms of temperature, humidity and flow (Para. 0016), and a recycling zone (zone at vent 29) arranged between the moist air zone (2) and the dry air zone (6) which is configured to recycle moist air leaving the moist air zone (2) to an infeed zone (via 30 to 9 and 10a,11a) arranged ahead of the moist air zone (2) in the conveying direction of the product, or to the first moist air chamber/moist air zone (2 via 30 to 9 and air supplies 10; Para. 0031).
Regarding Claim 18, Sonntag, as modified, discloses a method for heat shrinking a shrink label enclosing a product while said product is conveyed through a hot air shrink tunnel according to claim 1 (see rejection of Claim 1 as Sonntag, as modified, carries out such method), the method comprising:
- heating an air atmosphere within the moist air zone (2) to adjust its temperature to a given target temperature (Para. 0016, 0026 of Sonntag; note Para. 0029 of Kicherer outlines setting temperature value), and
-depending on the target temperature, adjusting the amount of water diffused in the moist air zone (2) so that by latent heat release due to condensation of water on a sleeve surface a desired sleeve surface temperature is achieved (see Para. 0027, 0030-0031 of Kicherer which outlines adjusting the moisture values supplied to obtain a heat content which can be set by temperature value as outlined in Para. 0029).
Regarding Claim 19, Sonntag, as modified, discloses a heat shrinking apparatus (Figure 1-2) for heat shrinking a shrink label enclosing a product (Para. 0001), said heat shrinking apparatus comprising a hot air shrink tunnel (1) in accordance with claim 1 (see rejection of Claim 1 above), and a conveyor (8) configured to convey a shrink label covered product through the hot air shrink tunnel (1; Para. 0025).
Claims 9 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sonntag (DE 102011054463A1), in view of Honsha (US PGPUB 2017/0129634), and Kicherer (DE 3924871 A1), as applied to Claim 1, and in further view of Choplin (US PGPUB 2019/0062016).
Regarding Claim 9, Sonntag, as modified, discloses several features of the claimed invention but does not readily disclose wherein the dry air zone (6) includes at least a first dry air chamber and a second dry air chamber arranged in this order in the conveying direction of the product, which are defined by their respective dry air atmospheres individually controllable at least in terms of temperature.
Attention is brought to Choplin which teaches another shrink tunnel (6; Figure 1) which includes a dry air zone (12) includes at least a first dry air chamber (12) and a second dry air chamber (12) arranged in this order in a conveying direction (of 9) of a product (bundles 4), which are defined by their respective dry air atmospheres individually controllable at least in terms of temperature (Para. 0033-0034).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized multiple dry air chambers that are individually controllable as taught by Choplin in the tunnel of Sonntag. By modifying Sonntag in this manner, the individual chambers can be individually controlled to optimize shaping of the bundle/product as taught by Choplin (Para. 0033) and thereby increasing flexibility of the shrink tunnel.
Regarding Claim 13, Honsha discloses several features of the claimed invention but does not readily disclose an outfeed zone arranged after the dry air zone in the conveying direction of the product and including a fourth heater configured to heat the interior of the outfeed zone.
Note that Choplin teaches the use of multiple dry air chambers (12; Figure 1) sequentially arranged in a shrink tunnel (6) and it is noted that the one chamber can be readily viewed as the claimed dry air zone while the other downstream chamber (12) can be readily viewed as an outfeed zone.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized an additional heated outfeed chamber/zone downstream of a dry air chamber/zone as taught by Choplin in the tunnel of Sonntag. By modifying Sonntag in this manner, the individual chambers can be individually controlled to optimize shaping of the bundle/product as taught by Choplin (Para. 0033) and thereby increasing flexibility of the shrink tunnel.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sonntag (DE 102011054463A1), in view of Honsha (US PGPUB 2017/0129634), Kicherer (DE 3924871 A1), and Choplin (US PGPUB 2019/0062016), as applied to Claim 13, and in further view of Schilling (US PGPUB 2013/0000256).
Regarding Claim 14, Sonntag, as modified, specifically Choplin discloses the dry air zone (upstream 12) and the outfeed zone (downstream 12) are separated from each other pass through (wall 13; Para. 0033, 0143) for the product (4) to be conveyed from the dry air zone (12) to the outfeed zone (12) but does not disclose the pass through being openable/closeable
Schilling teaches another air shrink tunnel (10; Figure 1) which includes several heated air zones (14) which are separated by pass throughs (lamellar curtains 16) that adapted to be closed and opened in the transition of the product from one zone to the next (the lamellar curtains 16 per Para. 0041 are readily configured to be contacted and opened by the product and when not in contact readily will remain “closed”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized such curtains that are openable/closeable between zones as taught by Schilling in the tunnel of Sonntag as such curtains allow for prevention of energy losses as taught by Schilling (Para. 0041).
Claims 15, 20 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sonntag (DE 102011054463A1), in view of Honsha (US PGPUB 2017/0129634), and Kicherer (DE 3924871 A1), as applied to Claims 8, 10 and 12, and in further view of Schilling (US PGPUB 2013/0000256).
Regarding Claims 15, 20 and 21, Sonntag, discloses several features of the claimed invention but does not disclose the pass through being adapted to be opened and closed.
Schilling teaches another air shrink tunnel (10; Figure 1) which includes several heated air zones (14) which are separated by pass throughs (lamellar curtains 16) that adapted to be closed and opened in the transition of the product from one zone to the next (the lamellar curtains 16 per Para. 0041 are readily configured to be contacted and opened by the product and when not in contact readily will remain “closed”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized such curtains that are openable/closeable between zones as taught by Schilling in the tunnel of Sonntag as such curtains allow for prevention of energy losses as taught by Schilling (Para. 0041).
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sonntag (DE 102011054463A1-see previously attached PDF (mailed 10/30/2025) for English translation and paragraph numbering referenced below), in view of Kicherer (DE 3924871 A1- see attached PDF for English translation and paragraph numbering referenced below).
Regarding Claim 22, Sonntag discloses a hot air shrink tunnel (1; Figures 1-2) for a heat shrinking apparatus (Figures 1-2) for heat shrinking a shrink label to enclose a product (Para. 0001), wherein the hot air shrink tunnel (1) surrounds a conveying path (along belt 8) of the product, wherein the hot air shrink tunnel comprises:
- a moist air zone (2) arranged in a conveying direction (shown in Figure 2) of the product through the hot air shrink tunnel (1; Para. 0025); wherein
- the moist air zone (2) includes a first heater (heating plate 13, distributor 12, throttle 11) configured to heat air flowing within the moist air zone (2; Para. 0026), and a water diffuser (steam line 15, steam supply unit 19, nozzles 21) configured to diffuse an amount of water in the air flowing within the moist air zone (2) to produce an air-steam mixture kept at normal pressure with the steam in a non-superheated state at or below its vaporization point (Para. 0027; note Para. 0013 outlines non-superheated steam use and while an overpressure of steam supplied may be preferred, the tunnel is clearly capable of maintaining a normal pressure), and
-the first heater (13) of the moist air zone (2) is configured to adjust a temperature of the air flowing in the moist air zone (2) to a given target temperature (Para. 0016, 0026),
the water diffuser (15, 19, 21) is configured to adjust the amount of water (Para. 0016 outlines controlling/regulating steam quantity/flow), and
-the hot air shrink tunnel (1) further comprises a controller (associated with valves 17, 18 and steam supply 19) configured to control the absolute humidity of the air-steam mixture within the moist air zone (2) to adjust a mass concentration of water (“team quantity and steam volume flow”; Para. 0016, 0027).
However, Sonntag fails to disclose the water diffuser is configured to adjust the amount of water depending on the given target temperature to such extent that a given absolute humidity of the air-steam mixture within the moist air zone is achieved, and a controller configured to control the absolute humidity of the air-steam mixture as a controlled variable within the moist air zone to adjust a mass concentration of water in dry air while keeping the temperature at the target temperature.
Attention is brought to the teachings of Kicherer which includes a hot air shrink tunnel (Figure 1) comprising a moist air zone (1) and a dry air zone (38), wherein the moist air zone (1) includes water diffuser (31) is configured to adjust the amount of water depending on a given target temperature to such extent that a given absolute humidity of the air-steam mixture within the moist air zone is achieved (see “desired humidity and/or temperature value”; Para. 0029 outlines setting such values and controlling the humidity and temperature to achieve such), and a controller (24) configured to control the absolute humidity (read by sensor 22) of the air-steam mixture as a controlled variable (Para. 0029 outlines measured sensor values and control loop based thereon) within the moist air zone (1) to adjust a mass concentration of water in dry air while keeping the temperature at the target temperature (as outlined in Para. 0029; see Paras. 0026-0032 which outlines a controller 24 for receiving measured values from sensors 22, 23, adjusting the humidity/moisture content based thereon per Para. 0027, 0030 to achieve a set temperature/heat content set per Para. 0029).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified the tunnel of Sonntag to include such humidity and temperature sensors and associated controls/controller that readily adjust humidity to maintain a set temperature as taught by Kicherer. By modifying Sonntag in this manner, optimal heat content can be readily achieved at reduced temperatures that do not risk damage to the film materials as taught by Kicherer (Para. 0006, 0031-0032).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. see “Notice of References Cited”.
-Uchida (US PGPUB 2019/0375532) discloses a recycling system for a hot air shrink tunnel.
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/JOSHUA G KOTIS/Examiner, Art Unit 3731 8/25/2026
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