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 § 103
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) 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR101666609 to Moon in view of Ma (US20110002775).
With respect to claim 1 Moon discloses a device for processing a dental prosthesis, comprising:
One or more spindles (see 212 and 222) that are rotationally driven by one or more motors (213,223);
Machining tools that are mounted on axis ends of the spindles to rotate together with the spindles (see 211 and 221);
A spindle mounting part that is driven in up and down and left-right directions, and on which the motors and the spindles are mounted (see description of the function of the servo motors); and
A workpiece mounting part (see 110) on which a workpiece is fixedly mounted, and driven in a front-back direction (by means of a first servomotor),
Wherein the spindle mounting part includes a spindle mounting housing (shown but unnumbered) in which the motors and spindles are mounted in its internal space (while the motors are not expressly disclosed as being within the housing such an arrangement would have been an obvious matter to one of ordinary skill, being at most a rearrangement of the parts. It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.), and one or more bearings that are mounted inside the spindle mounting housing to rotatable support the spindles (see firgue6, bearings can be seen but are unnumbered. The use of bearings for such rotational elements is well known in the art and would have been expected by one of ordinary skill in the art to allow for free rotation).
Moon does not expressly disclose a roughened portion that diffusely reflects noise generated by rotation of the motors and spindles is formed inside the spindle mounting housing.
Ma discloses the use of a roughened portion inside of a housing of a rotational motor and device driven thereby (see element 18 in figure 5 and see also figure 1a).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing to combine the teachings of Ma to use a roughened surface for diffuse sound reduction within a housing with the housing of Moon. The motivation for doing so would be to provide a simple and effective means of reducing the noise from the motor, the spindle and the cutting tools of the dev ide of Moon.
With respect to claim 2 Moon as modified by Ma further discloses wherein the roughened portion is selected form the group consisting of a groove, a screw thread (the shape of the groove and ridge structure can further be considered to be a screw thread as seen in figure 5 of Ma) and a knurl.
With respect to claim 3 Moon as modified by Ma further discloses wherein there is taught a height (see height h0 in figure 3 of Ma) and there is a pitch (see the angled arrangement as shown in figure 5 of Ma). The selection of the specific height and pitch of the threaded member would have been an obvious matter to one of ordinary skill in the art so as to optimize the sound reduction. It has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
With respect to claim 4 Moon as modified by Ma further discloses wherein one end of the spindle housing is further equipped with a motor bracket for fixing the motors (see Moon figures 1,2,6), a bearing housing for accommodating the bearings (see figures 5 and 6 of Moon) and a bearing spacer fitted between the bearings to maintain a gap between the bearings (see again Moon figure 6).
Regarding the formation of the roughened portion on one of the selected surfaces, it would have been an obvious matter to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing to so place and form the roughened portions. This would constitute only the application of the taught roughened portion to a different surface. This would be only a rearrangement of parts and thus obvious to one of ordinary skill. It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
With respect to claim 5 Moon as modified discloses the invention as claimed except expressly wherein the spindle mounting part has a dual spindle structure in which two motors and spindles are mounted on one spindle mounting part. Such spindle structures are known in the art and would constitute only the use of one type of spindle motor arrangement for processing in place of another.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Chen (US20160193669) discloses a dual spindle arrangement; Kyon (US20240189077) and (US20240066650) disclose a dental prosthetic manufacturing device; Ito (US20220168080) discloses a dental apparatus manufacturing device with housing; KR101274015) discloses a machine spindle with knurled portion; and Yoshida (US4249243) discloses an automated machining device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FORREST M PHILLIPS whose telephone number is (571)272-9020. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 9:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dedei Hammond can be reached at (571) 272-3985. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FORREST M PHILLIPS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
