Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/857,244

PAPER WINDER AND PAPER WINDING METHOD

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Oct 16, 2024
Examiner
KIM, SANG K
Art Unit
3654
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
81%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 6m
To Grant
91%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 81% — above average
81%
Career Allow Rate
1419 granted / 1749 resolved
+29.1% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+10.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
46 currently pending
Career history
1795
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.3%
-39.7% vs TC avg
§103
33.2%
-6.8% vs TC avg
§102
30.2%
-9.8% vs TC avg
§112
28.6%
-11.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1749 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP H1035969, in view of JP 20017052571. Regarding claims 1 and 6, JP ‘969 discloses a paper winder 11 that winds a paper 12 (web like material, which includes paper), the paper winder comprising a first winding core 13a that is provided in a first arm (left side of 16a-b) turning centering on a rotation shaft 17a-b and on which the paper would be wound, a first motor (left side 19) that drives the first winding core 13a, a second winding core 13b that is provided in a second arm (right side of 16a-b) turning centering on the rotating shaft 17a-b and on which the paper should be wound next to the first winding core 13a, a second motor (right side 19) that drives the second winding core 13b, and a controller 46 (i.e., controls each motor with respect to the torque value, see figure 3) that performs rotation control for the first motor (left side 19) and the second motor (right side 19), wherein the controller 46 is configured to, in the rotation control, after completion of the winding of the paper by the first winding core 13a and after, according to the turning of the second arm (right side of 16a-b), a position where the paper should be wound, during an operation of cutting using a pressure contact unit 25 rather than a traverse cutter that cuts the paper near the second winding core 13b, when a torque value (TQ1, see figure 3) is equal to or larger than a torque reference value (48, 53), switch a control mode of the second motor from speed control to torque control and perform tension correction control for adjusting the torque value of the second motor (using 50) such that tension of the paper falls within a target range (using 46, see figure 3), see figures 1-5. JP ‘571 discloses a traverse cutter 61 that cuts the paper W near the second winding core, see figures 1-8. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the apparatus of JP ‘969 to include a traverse cutter as suggested by JP ‘571, in order to show another way of cutting the web material. Furthermore, since all of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. Regarding claims 2-5, as stated above, JP ‘969 discloses the torque reference value is a torque value (48) of the first motor (left side 19) and a torque value (53) of the second motor (right side 19) which each motor has control means (49, 50) to adjust a mechanical loss (i.e., speed control based on the value, claims 3-5) at a time when the tension (Te) of the paper at a time of the winding of the paper by the first winding core 13a immediately before the paper is wound by the second winding core 13b is within the target range, see figure 3. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANG K KIM whose telephone number is 571-272-6947. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday through Thursday from 10:30 A.M. to 9 P.M or Tuesday through Thursday from 10:30 A.M. to 7 P.M. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Robert Hodge, can be reached on (571) 272-2097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). SK 2/26/26 /SANG K KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654
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Prosecution Timeline

Oct 16, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 02, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
81%
Grant Probability
91%
With Interview (+10.3%)
2y 6m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1749 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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