Detailed Office Action
The communication dated 5/15/2026 has been entered and fully considered. Claims 1-17 are pending
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (claims 1-12 and 16-17) in the reply filed on 5/15/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal arguments are persuasive. The Examiner withdraws the restriction requirement of 3/16/2026 and examines all the claims 1-17 in this office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the positive-locking and/or force-locking" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 and 5-17 are allowed.
Regarding independent claim 1, the closest prior arts were the combination of WEISS (DE-1803877-U; of record), WEISS, and HOFMANN (US-2013/0181386), hereinafter HOFMANN.
WEISS discloses A vacuum cylinder unit {[FIG 1] 2} for transferring labels in a vacuum-supported manner in a labeling apparatus for containers, having a stationary lower part {[FIG 1] 4}, a drive shaft surrounded in a ring by the lower part {[FIG 1] drive shaft 3 surrounded by ring 14/15}, and a vacuum cylinder which is coupled to the drive shaft in a centered and entrained manner by a zero-point clamping system {[FIG 1] cylinder 2 located centrally around shaft 3 and zero-point clamping system 9/10/37/24}, wherein the zero-point clamping system comprises a clamping pin integrated into the vacuum cylinder {[FIG 1] 9} and a clamping chuck rigidly connected to the drive shaft {[FIG 1] 23}.
WEIS, however, is silent on the clamping chuck having a pneumatically openable locking mechanism for securely clamping the clamping pin.
In the same filed of endeavor that is related to clamping mechanism, HOFMANN discloses clamping chuck having a pneumatically openable locking mechanism for securely clamping the clamping pin {[abstract], [0001], [0051]}.
At the effective filing date of the instant invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have incorporated the pneumatically operated clamping mechanism of HOFMANN in the vacuum cylinder unit of WEISS. As disclosed by HOFMANN, this mechanism facilitates fixing an element easily, quickly and with high reproducibility {[0008]}.
Combination of WEISS and HOGMANN, however, is silent on the last limitation of claim 1 reciting “and in that sealing rings, arranged in the lower part, can be inflated for sealing off an annular gap between the drive shaft and the lower part in order to form between the sealing rings a ring duct for supplying compressed air to the locking mechanism”.
Inflatable sealing rings create a temporary ring duct for air delivery, thus, enabling pneumatic opening without shaft-position dependence
There is no such annular gap in the combination device of WEISS and HOGMANN, and therefore there would have been no motivation to further modify this combination device according to the last limitation of claim 1. The air delivery of air in the combination above occurs through external air lines and through already existing channels 17 and 19 as disclosed by HOFMANN {[0043]}. As such claim 1 and its dependent claims 2-3 and 5-17 are allowed.
Claim 4 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to S. BEHROOZ GHORISHI whose telephone number is (571)272-1373. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-(alt Fri) 7:30-5:00.
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/S. BEHROOZ GHORISHI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748
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