CTNF 18/951,926 CTNF 96205 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Priority 02-26 AIA Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/19/2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. 07-30-03-h AIA Claim Interpretation The Examiner wishes to point out the application claims are directed towards an apparatus and as such will be examined under such conditions. The material worked upon or the process of using the apparatus is viewed as recitation of intended use and is given patentable weight only to the extent that structure is added to the claimed apparatus (Please see MPEP 2112.01 and 2114-2115 for further details). The Examiner wishes to point out the application claims recites “controller performs…” has been interpreted as controller executes a program or instructions using a processor to perform a function (which is in line with [0036] of the instant application). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA 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. 07-34-01 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. 07-34-05 AIA Claim 4 recites the limitation " the process of transmitting " in line 4 . There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. 07-20-02-aia AIA This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US2021/0331367 (Enari) in view of US2021/0031422 (Yamashita) and US2003/0064124 (Comb) . Regarding Claim 1 , Enari teaches a three-dimensionally shaping apparatus (abstract and Figure 1) comprising: a plasticizer (Figure 1, plasticizing section 120) that includes a screw (Figure 1, flat screw 130) and a motor (Figure 1, drive motor 124) that rotates the screw ([0082], the flat screw 130 is rotated around the rotational axis RA by a torque generated by the drive motor 124) and plasticizes a material to produce a plasticized material (abstract and [0006]-[0016]); a nozzle (Figure 1, nozzle 170) that has a nozzle opening (Figure 1, nozzle hole 174) and discharges the plasticized material ([0097]); and a controller ([0012]) that controls the plasticizer ([0012]-[0016]), wherein the controller performs (claim interpretation, the controller is capable of performing the recited functions without additional modification) at least one of a first operation ([0013]-[0015],a first process for rotating the screw at a first rotation speed by controlling the drive motor and a second process for rotating the screw at a second rotation speed higher than the first rotation speed by controlling the drive motor), the first operation adjusting a rotational speed of the screw from a first speed to a second speed greater than the first speed ([0013]-[0015]). Enari further teaches the control unit adjust and control the rotation speed of the flat screw based on the shaping data, thereby plasticizing a material and forming a molten material ([0102]-[0106]). Enari fails to teach wherein the controller performs a second operation, the first operation adjusting the rotational speed of the screw to a third speed greater than the first speed but smaller than the second speed in order to adjust a discharge quantity of the plasticized material discharged from the nozzle from a first discharge quantity to a second discharge quantity greater than the first discharge quantity, the second operation adjusting the rotational speed of the screw from a fourth speed to a fifth speed smaller than the fourth speed and then adjusting the rotational speed of the screw to a sixth speed greater than the fifth speed but smaller than the fourth speed in order to adjust the discharge quantity of the plasticized material discharged from the nozzle from a third discharge quantity to a fourth discharge quantity smaller than the third discharge quantity. However, Yamashita teaches the control unit may adjust the rotation speed of the screw by controlling the drive motor according to a value of the flow rate measured by the flow rate sensor ([0039]). Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize to adjust rotation speed of the screw to achieve desired flow rate. Comb teaches the controller performs at least one of a first operation and a second operation (see annotated Figure 7b), the first operation adjusting a rotational speed of the screw from a first speed to a second speed greater than the first speed (see annotated Figure 7b) and then adjusting the rotational speed of the screw to a third speed greater than the first speed but smaller than the second speed (see annotated Figure 7b) in order to adjust a discharge quantity of the plasticized material discharged from the nozzle from a first discharge quantity to a second discharge quantity greater than the first discharge quantity ([0051], as the flow rate is adjusted, the discharge quantity is also adjusted), the second operation adjusting the rotational speed of the screw from a fourth speed to a fifth speed smaller than the fourth speed (see annotated Figure 7b) and then adjusting the rotational speed of the screw to a sixth speed greater than the fifth speed but smaller than the fourth speed (see annotated Figure 7b) in order to adjust the discharge quantity of the plasticized material discharged from the nozzle from a third discharge quantity to a fourth discharge quantity smaller than the third discharge quantity ([0051], PNG media_image1.png 374 1062 media_image1.png Greyscale as the flow rate is adjusted, the discharge quantity is also adjusted). Enari, Yamashita, and Comb are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of extrusion based manufacturing with a control unit that adjust the discharge quantity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modified the apparatus as taught by Enari such that it teaches all of the above mentioned limitations as taught by Yamashita in view of Comb to achieve desired output flow rate of the material and to achieve the desired extrusion profile (Comb, [0052]). Regarding Claim 2, the modified Enari teaches the three-dimensionally shaping apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the first operation, the controller adjusts the rotational speed of the screw to the second speed (Comb, see annotated Figure 7b and [0051]), then adjusts the rotational speed to a seventh speed smaller than the second speed but greater than the third speed (see annotated Figure 7b), and then adjusts the rotational speed from the seventh speed to the third speed (see annotated Figure 7b). Regarding Claim 3, the modified Enari teaches the three-dimensionally shaping apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a channel (Enari, Figure 1, flow channel 172) through which the plasticized material flows and which communicates with the nozzle opening ([0088]); and a suction/delivery section (Figure 13, injection mechanism 910) including a branch channel (Figure 13, injection cylinder 912) coupled to the channel (Figure 1 and 13, injection cylinder 912 is coupled to the flow channel 172) and a plunger (Figure 13, plunger 914) disposed in the branch channel (Figure 13) and configured to suction the plasticized material in the channel into the branch channel and deliver the plasticized material in the branch channel to the channel by changing a position of the plunger ([0161]), wherein the controller performs at least one of the operation of performing the first operation ([0013]-[0015],a first process for rotating the screw at a first rotation speed by controlling the drive motor, a second process for rotating the screw at a second rotation speed higher than the first rotation speed by controlling the drive motor) and the operation of performing the second operation (the limitation “controller preforms at least one of…” is interpreted as the controller can performs either first operation, second operation, or both. Thu, the second operation is optional limitation), the first operation performed in an acceleration segment in which a relative movement speed of the nozzle is accelerated from a first movement speed to a second movement speed greater than the first movement speed ([0100] and [0103]-[0104], the control unit performs a process for acquiring shaping data for shaping the three-dimensional shaped article. The shaping data are data that represent information about the movement path of the nozzle with respect to the shaping face of the stage, the amount of the molten material to be ejected from the nozzle, and the rotation speed of the flat screw. As the rotation of the flat screw increases, the amount of material supplied to the central portion of the groove also increase, so does the flow rate/discharge quantity of the material by the nozzle. Thus, the control unit performs a process for ejecting the molten material to the shaping face from the nozzle while changing the relative position of the nozzle to the shaping face by controlling the moving mechanism based on the acquired rotational shaping data. Therefore, as the rotational speed accelerated (from first speed to second speed, [0013]-[0015]), the relative movement speed of nozzle also accelerated), the second operation performed in a deceleration segment in which the relative movement speed of the nozzle is decelerated from the second movement speed to the first movement speed (optional limitation based on the limitation “controller preforms at least one of…”) and the controller moves the plunger in the branch channel ([0161]). Enari fails to teach the controller moves the plunger to perform the operation of delivering the plasticized material from the branch channel to the channel in the acceleration segment and the operation of suctioning the plasticized material from the channel to the branch channel in the deceleration segment to match an amount of movement of the plunger in the acceleration segment with an amount of movement of the plunger in the deceleration segment. However, Comb teaches the controller moves the plunger to perform the operation of delivering the plasticized material from the branch channel to the channel ([0025], material are advanced to the nozzle from a liquefier pump) in the acceleration segment (Figure 7b and [0050]-[0051], when the pump is turned on at first speed, the flowrate accelerated) and the operation of suctioning the plasticized material from the channel to the branch channel in the deceleration segment (Figure 7b and [0050]-[0051], when the pump is turned off at fourth speed, the flowrate decelerated) to match an amount of movement of the plunger in the acceleration segment with an amount of movement of the plunger in the deceleration segment ([0051], the amount of excess flow when the pump is turned on equals the shortage in flow when the pump is turned off). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modified the apparatus as taught by the modified Enari such that it teaches all of the above mentioned limitations as taught by Comb to achieve desired output flow rate of the material and constant bead width (Comb, [0051]). Regarding Claim 4 , the modified Enari teaches the three-dimensionally shaping apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the controller performs at least one of the process of transmitting to the suction/delivery section an operation instruction to move the plunger before a timing at which the rotational speed of the screw reaches the second speed when the first operation is performed in the acceleration segment (Comb, [0050]-[0051],Figures 7a-7b, the liquefier pump turn on before reaching the second speed), and the process of transmitting to the suction/delivery section the operation instruction to move the plunger before a timing at which the rotational speed of the screw reaches the fifth speed when the second operation is performed in the deceleration segment (optional limitation based on the limitation “controller preforms at least one of…”). Regarding Claim 5 , Enari teaches the three-dimensionally shaping apparatus according to claim 3. Enari teaches [0100] and [0103]-[0104], the control unit performs a process for acquiring shaping data for shaping the three-dimensional shaped article. The shaping data are data that represent information about the movement path of the nozzle with respect to the shaping face of the stage, and the rotation speed of the flat screw. As the rotation of the flat screw increases, the amount of material supplied to the central portion of the groove also increase, so does the flow rate/discharge quantity of the material by the nozzle. Thus, the control unit performs a process for ejecting the molten material to the shaping face from the nozzle while changing the relative position of the nozzle to the shaping face by controlling the moving mechanism based on the acquired rotational shaping data. Comb teaches wherein the controller accelerates the relative movement speed of the nozzle from the first movement speed to the second movement speed (see annotated Figure 7b), then further accelerates the relative movement speed to a third movement speed greater than the second movement speed (see annotated Figure 7b), and to decelerate the movement speed from the third movement speed to the first movement speed (see annotated Figure 7b, the movement speed decreases from third speed to sixth speed, where the sixth speed is the same as first speed), the controller temporarily decelerates the movement speed from the third movement speed to the second movement speed (see annotated Figure 7b, the movement speed decreases from third speed to fifth speed), and then decelerates the movement speed from the second movement speed to the first movement speed (see annotated Figure 7b, the movement speed decreases from fifth speed to sixth speed). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the flowrate changed in accordance with the relative moving speed of the nozzle, since the modified Enari in view of Comb discloses the controller adjust the movement of the nozzle based on the rotation speed of the flat screw, thus, the flow rate of the nozzle as taught by Comb, to controls the discharge quantity. "A person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known option within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely the product not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense." KSR int'l Co. V. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727,82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XINWEN (Cindy) YE whose telephone number is (571)272-3010. 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XINWEN (CINDY) YE Examiner Art Unit 1754 /LARRY W THROWER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 2 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 3 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 4 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 5 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 6 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 7 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 8 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 9 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 10 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 11 Art Unit: 1754 Application/Control Number: 18/951,926 Page 12 Art Unit: 1754
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