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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 & 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (KR 10-2276686) (English translation included with copy of reference) in view of Rice (US 10,359,743).
With respect to claims 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 & 14, Kim discloses a device comprising:
an automatic bobbin handling device 300 which is configured to supply a bobbin changing device 200 with a bobbin 10, and
a winding machine capable of winding a bobbin 10, e.g. a production machine.
Kim does not disclose a pair of bobbin changing devices 115/115, 116/116 and a bobbin handling device 117 arranged in a common air-conditioning chamber 114c.
Rice discloses-
an article changing device and an article handling device are arranged in a common air-conditioning chamber, and wherein
a carrier purge chambers 154, 154, e.g. lock chambers, is provided which is configured such that an article can be conveyed therethrough into an air-conditioning chamber 114c.
Rice discloses that chamber 114c has conditioned air insomuch as the chamber includes filter 152 which "may be a moisture absorbent filter, which may include multiple layers of absorbent materials. However, other mechanisms or devices for reducing moisture content, such as condensers or other moisture removing devices may be used. In some embodiments, the inert gas may also be cooled." (See also discussion of the conditioning of chamber 114c starting at column 4, line 66.)
Kim teaches controlled transfer locks for protecting sensitive internal processes. Kim also teaches an automated system for supplying and exchanging bobbins/rolls in a production line, including mechanisms for transporting bobbins from an external staging area to an internal processing station. However, Kim does not specify any particular structure for isolating the internal process environment during roll introduction. Rice teaches a fluidically isolatable transfer lock with separate external and internal doors, designed to prevent disturbance of internal process conditions—whether those conditions relate to pressure, humidity, contamination, or other sensitive parameters. Rice further discloses that isolatable transfer chambers are a well known, predictable solution for minimizing environmental disturbance during material transfer. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim with a controlled transfer lock, as taught by Rice, because, under the teachings of KSR both references address the same underlying engineering problem which is preventing disruption of internal process conditions when introducing new rolls/bobbins into a processing system.
With respect to claims 9 & 13, Kim does not disclose several conveying paths. Rice discloses several conveying paths insomuch as an article retrieved from lock 115 (left most in FIG. 1) may be transferred to either of chambers 112a or 112b. Subsequently, articles placed at lock 115 (right-most in FIG. 1) may be transferred to either of chambers 112a or 112b. In other words, under these scenarios Rice discloses four total paths, some of which may be parallel, for an article to be transferred along based on availability of chamber 112a and 112b. Following similar obviousness reasoning of claim 1 Rice teaches a fluidically isolatable transfer lock with separate external and internal doors, designed to prevent disturbance of internal process conditions—whether those conditions relate to pressure, humidity, contamination, or other sensitive parameters. Rice further discloses that isolatable transfer chambers are a well known, predictable solution for minimizing environmental disturbance during material transfer. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim with several conveying paths, as taught by Rice, because, under the teachings of KSR both references address the same underlying engineering problem which is preventing disruption of internal process conditions when introducing new rolls/bobbins into a processing system.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY W ADAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-8101. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri, 8am-5pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Saul Rodriguez can be reached at (571)272-7097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GREGORY W ADAMS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3652
Prosecution Insights