DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Claims 6-9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 09/15/26.
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, 4, 5, 11, 12, and 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being disclosed by Nienaber et al. (2019/0344402).
Nienaber et al. discloses the invention/method including:
Claim 1; a diamond jig 12 providing a jig pocket 15 in which a diamond 14 is seated; a suction unit (vacuum source, see para 0019) configured to selectively apply suction force to the jig pocket; and a moving unit 12 that fixes the diamond seated in the jig pocket to a shank base 18.
Claim 4; jig groove portion 15, jig channel (inherently disclosed by the vacuum source).
Claim 5; wherein the jig pocket is provided in plurality, and the jig groove portion includes: a first symmetrical inclined surface extending in one direction from a lowermost end toward a surface of the diamond jig; and a second symmetrical inclined surface extending in another direction from the lowermost end of the jig groove portion toward the surface of the diamond jig to be symmetrical to the first symmetrical inclined surface with respect to an imaginary line extending in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the jig pocket (see Fig. 1C).
Claim 11; a jig preparation step of preparing a diamond jig 12 with a jig pocket 15; a diamond providing step of providing at least one diamond to a surface of the diamond jig; a jig fixing step of temporarily fixing the diamond in the jig pocket of the diamond jig (see Fig. 1A); a bonding layer forming step of forming a bonding layer (see para. 0023) on a surface of a shank base 18; a diamond fixing step of fixing the diamond to the bonding layer of the shank base (see Fig. 1B); and a jig separation step of separating the diamond from the diamond jig (see Fig. 1C).
Claim 12; wherein in the jig fixing step, suction force (vacuum source, see para 0019) is applied to the jig pocket to temporarily fix the diamond to the jig pocket.
Claims 16-17; A CMP conditioning disk is capable of being manufactured by the abrasive device because all the limitation are disclosed.
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) 2 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nienaber et al. (2019/0344402) in view of Kim et al. (2021/0016417).
Nienaber et al. discloses the invention/method substantially as claimed except for a vibration unit. However, Kim et al. teaches the use of a vibration unit (see Fig. 3) for the purpose of improving the placement of the diamond grit particles. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have modified the device of Nienaber et al. by providing the vibration unit as taught by Kim et al. in order to obtain a device that improves the placement of the diamond grit particles.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 10, 14, and 15 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR FLORES SANCHEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-4507. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Thursday8:00-4:00 pm.
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/OMAR FLORES SANCHEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3724
