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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Toyoda (US 2022/0142757).
Toyoda shows a dental prosthesis base (Fig. 1A with tooth 31 attached) comprising an outer shell (exterior of base) and an internal structure (interior thereof), wherein the internal structure is determined by the method as claimed in claim 1 (this is considered product-by-process where only the resulting structure is at issue, where the method of claim 1 does not impart any resulting structure since the sub-volumes determined by claim 1 impart no structural distinction between the volumes).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-4, 8, 10-11, 13-15 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, and 101 set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of Toyoda similarly shows a denture base with multiple volumes having different properties, however they are not determined in the same manner as the present method, nor do they structurally match the result of the present method when different materials are incorporated. The present invention is specific to how the volumes are determined in relation to a reference point and gum ridge line.
Response to Arguments
The changes to the claims have overcome the 112 and 101 rejections. Claim 12 was incorrectly included in the indication of allowability of the previous action and therefore this response remains Non-Final due to this error. Claim 12 remains rejected under Toyoda.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW NELSON whose telephone number is (571)270-5898. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:30am-5:00pm EDT.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner’s supervisor, Eric Rosen, at (571) 270-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW M NELSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3772
