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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I (claims 1-12) in the reply filed on 03/19/2026, while cancelling all non-elected claims (claims 13-19) is acknowledged.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 17/413,307, filed on 06/11/2021.
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) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mierzejewski et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2011/0295409) in view of Ramezani (U.S. Pub. No. 2017/0305676).
Regarding claim 1: Mierzejewski discloses a method for operating a packaging material provision apparatus, in which packaging material is provided by manipulating a fiber starting material, the method comprising:
detecting a position of a rotor of an electric motor of the packaging material provision apparatus (Fig. 13; via sensor 112 and/or paragraph 0064, “a multi-position switch or dial to control the speed of motor M1”), wherein the packaging material provision apparatus further includes at least one working device drivable by the electric motor (Fig. 1; via feeding device 36/46 and/or compression device 52a/52b).
Mierzejewski does not disclose the electric motor including a stationary stator and the rotor that is movable supported with respect thereto nor operating at least one coil of a coil arrangement, based on the detected position of the rotor, with an excitation current to move the rotor to a new position. However, Ramezani discloses similar motor mechanism with the use stator and rotor, along with coil arrangement to move the rotor to a new position, see for example (Figs. 4-7; via motor 30, stator 42, controller 41, sensor 56; paragraph 0043; “position sensor…calculating an initial position of the motor” & paragraph 0060; “The motor stator may be…coiled”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention, to have modified Mierzejewski’s motor mechanism, by another having a stator and coiled arrangement, as suggested by Ramezani, in order to come up with more advanced, efficient, and convenient use of a motor (paragraph 0003).
Regarding claim 2: Mierzejewski discloses a step of detecting the position of the rotor comprises:
measuring a signal induced by a rotary motion of the rotor (paragraph 0104; “control unit 16, to measure the amount of electricity drawn by motor M1”);
calculating the rotor position based on the signal, (Fig. 13; via communicate signal 114 & paragraph 0104);
storing the position of the rotor (paragraph 0058; “electronic controller…, which stores pre-programmed operating codes”); and
calculating an angle covered by the rotor over a period of time (via the use of PLC and/or PAC; Fig. 13; via controller 16 to control the speed of motors).
Regarding claim 3: Mierzejewski further comprising:
controlling and/or regulating the electric motor (via “a control unit for controlling at least one of the first and second speeds to produce a desired degree of overlap”), using a motor controller (Fig. 13; via controller 16); and
exchanging data between the motor controller and a higher-level controller via a communication link, see for example (Fig. 13; via communicating signal 114).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-12 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.
Regarding claim 4; the prior art of record fails to disclose the combination of the claimed method for operating a packaging material provision apparatus with the step of “manipulating the fiber starting material in an output area of the packaging material provision apparatus”, while having the “manipulating” step specifically suggested, described, and supported by the filed specification.
The filed specification supports the term “manipulating” as “the manipulating comprises separating a paper cushioning product, particularly of predetermined length, from a paper cushioning strand, the manipulating further preferably comprising deforming a single-ply or multi-ply paper web into the paper cushioning strand preceding the separating. Alternatively, the manipulating comprises separating a corrugated board web section, particularly of predetermined length, from a corrugated board web, the manipulating further preferably comprising conveying the corrugated board web section from the corrugated board web preceding the separating.”.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMEH TAWFIK whose telephone number is (571)272-4470. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shelle Self can be reached at 571-272-4524. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAMEH TAWFIK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3731
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