Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/18/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
3. Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by German Publication No. 477935 (a reference of record).
Regarding claim 18, Figs. 1-2 disclose a method of using a card hopper (Fig. 1), the method comprising:
pushing a card lifter assembly (including 8-11) towards a gate (bottom of element 2 on righthand side that is lifted up in Fig. 2) of the card hopper (Fig. 1), the card lifter assembly (including 8-11) including a ramp (8 in Fig. 1); and
lifting, by a card retainer (including 4) of a lifter mechanism (including 4-7) situated on the ramp (8) and as the card lifter assembly (including 8-11) is pushed in a card feeder direction towards the gate (bottom of element 2 on righthand side that is lifted up in Fig. 2) and ascends the ramp (8), cards of a stack of cards (stack of cards below element 4 in Fig. 2) away from the card lifter assembly (including 8-11).
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant’s arguments, see pages 6-9 of the response, filed 6/18/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-6, 8-15 and 17-18 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made of claim 18 in view of German Publication No. 477935 (“DE’935”) (a reference of record).
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 1-17 are allowed. Claims 19-20 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Independent claim 1 of the 6/18/2026 amendment is patentable over the prior art of record, because the teachings of the references taken as a whole do not show or render obvious the combination, including sidewalls extending from a base, and a card lifter assembly mechanically coupled to the base and configured to move toward a gate in a side wall of the sidewalls.
Independent claim 12 of the 6/18/2026 amendment is patentable over the prior art of record, because the teachings of the references taken as a whole do not show or render obvious the combination, including mechanically coupling a card lifter assembly to a base of a card hopper, a sidewall extending from the base, and the sidewall including a gate.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS A MORRISON whose telephone number is (571)272-7221. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 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, Mike McCullough can be reached at 571-272-7805. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THOMAS A MORRISON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653
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