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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 34 objected to because of the following informalities: at line 2, the recitation of “city” appears to be a “typo” and should be deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 29, 30, 33-35, 38-42, and 44 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yun et al (US 2006/0116040) in view of Maunder (US 5,632,071).
As to claim 29, Yun et al discloses a containment sheet comprising a flexible weave defined by a plurality of reinforcement strips 1 interwoven with each other in a warp and weft pattern;
wherein each reinforcement strip comprises:
- a polymeric coating capsule 110 surrounding a plurality of longitudinal channels extending parallel to a longitudinal extension direction of the reinforcement strip and arranged as aligned in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal extension direction,
- a plurality of longitudinal reinforcement fibers 100 arranged within the longitudinal channels.
Yun et al does not disclose containment sheet further comprising at least a connecting portion connected to the flexible weave and suitable for connecting the containment sheet to a further containment sheet and/or to an external structure;
wherein said connecting portion is defined by:
a peripheral joint strip obtained by welding free terminal ends of said reinforcement strips, or
free terminal ends of the reinforcement strips folded and fixed to the reinforcement strips themselves to form connecting through cavities.
Maunder discloses (see figure 4) a peripheral joint strip 10 obtained by welding free terminal ends of the reinforcement strips of a containment type sheet 6. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a peripheral joint strip to a containment type sheet as disclosed by Maunder, since doing so provides the expected benefit of connecting adjacent containment type sheets together.
As to claim 30, Maunder discloses wherein said peripheral joint strip 10 has a plurality of connecting holes 1.
As to claim 33, Yun discloses wherein the distance between two consecutive weft reinforcement strips 1 or two consecutive warp reinforcement strips 2 is between 0.1 mm and 200 mm.
As to claim 34, Yun discloses wherein said plurality of longitudinal reinforcement fibers are high tenacity city synthetic yarns.
As to claim 35, Yun discloses wherein said polymeric coating capsule is made of polyethylene.
As to claim 38, Yun discloses (see Table 1) wherein said reinforcement strips have a tensile strength between 1kN/m and 1000 kN/m.
As to claim 39, Yun discloses (see para [0032]) wherein said reinforcement strips have a width, measured between opposite side edges with respect to the longitudinal extension direction of between 10 mm and 200 mm, and wherein said reinforcement strips have a thickness, measured perpendicularly to the width, of between 0.1 mm and 50 mm.
As to claim 40, Yun discloses wherein said reinforcement strips extending in a warp direction of said flexible weave are slidable relative to said reinforcement strips extending in a weft direction of said flexible weave.
As to claim 41, Yun discloses containment structure comprising:
at least two containment sheets according to claim 29 (see above) and placed side by side.
Yun et al does not disclose the connectors configured to connect said at least two containment sheets at least at said connecting portions.
Maunder discloses (see figure 4) a peripheral joint strip 10 (i.e. connector) obtained by welding free terminal ends of the reinforcement strips of a containment type sheet 6. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a peripheral joint strip to a containment type sheet as disclosed by Maunder, since doing so provides the expected benefit of connecting adjacent containment type sheets together.
As to claim 42, Maunder discloses wherein the connecting portions are defined by peripheral joint strips 10 obtained by welding free terminal ends of said reinforcement strips, and wherein said connecting portions are at least partially overlapping with each other at overlapping areas, said connectors comprising fasteners engageable to said at least two containment sheets at such overlapping areas to connect them. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a peripheral joint strip to a containment type sheet as disclosed by Maunder, since doing so provides the expected benefit of connecting adjacent containment type sheets together.
As to claim 44, Maunder further discloses wherein said connectors further comprise connecting elements 5 at least partially insertable within respective flexible weaves straddling adjacent reinforcement strips. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide connecting elements as disclosed by Maunder, since doing so provides the expected benefit of connecting adjacent containment type sheets together.
Claim(s) 36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yun et al (US 2006/0116040) in view of Maunder (US 5,632,071) as applied to claim 29 above, and further in view of An (CN 113585299).
As to claim 36, Yun et al in view of Maunder discloses all that is claimed except further comprising a layer coupled at least partially to the flexible weave. An discloses a layer 2 coupled to a flexible weave 1. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a layer coupled to the flexible weave as disclosed by An, since doing so provides the expected benefit providing increased slope protection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 31, 32, 37, 43, and 45 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As to claim 31, the prior art of record fails to show or suggest further comprising at least one stiffening bar overlapping or overlapped to the peripheral joint strip and engageable by fasteners.
As to claim 32, the prior art of record fails to show or suggest wherein said free terminal ends of the reinforcement strips are fixed by welding to the reinforcement strips themselves.
As to claim 37, the prior art of record fails to show or suggest further comprising a waterproof membrane interposed between the layer and the flexible weave.
As to claim 43, the prior art of record fails to show or suggest wherein the connecting portions are defined by free terminal ends of the reinforcement strips folded and fixed to the reinforcement strips themselves to form connecting through cavities, and wherein said connectors comprise connecting elements insertable at least partially within the respective connecting through cavities to connect said at least two containment sheets.
As to claim 45, the prior art of record fails to show or suggest wherein the connecting portions are defined by free terminal ends of the reinforcement strips folded and welded to the reinforcement strips themselves to form connecting through cavities, and wherein said connectors comprise connecting elements insertable at least partially within the respective connecting through cavities to connect said at least two containment sheets.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FREDERICK L LAGMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7043. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday-Friday 8am-6:00pm.
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/FREDERICK L LAGMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3678
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