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 without traverse of Invention I, claims 1-13 and new claims 21-23, in the reply filed on 06-28-2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 14-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06-28-2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. (***It is noted that Fig. 3 includes only a single reference number, and Figs. 4-5 do not include any reference numbers, even though the descriptions of the figures in the specification do mention reference numbers. Thus, it is not fully clear if any of the below-referenced limitations are shown in these figures.) Therefore:
rollers disposed above and below a pressing bar, as recited in claim 1 (Fig. 4 is described in ¶ [0061] as disposing rollers below one pressing bar and above another pressing bar, but there is not shown a pressing bar with rollers disposed both above and below)
heat insulation plywood respectively disposed between the preheating section and the heating section and between the heating section and the annealing section, and a cross-sectional area of the heat insulation plywood being adjustable, as recited in claim 3
a heat preservation layer and a refractory fiber adiabatic layer disposed outside the preheating heating annealing furnace body, as recited in claim 4
a temperature-measuring thermocouple disposed in a grid-like manner above a preheating section, a heating section, and an annealing section, as recited in claim 6
a cutting knife, a cutting knife drive, and a cutting and dust removal device, as recited in claim 12
the edge clamping system connected to an edge cooling device, as recited in claim 13
the pressing bar support of the first clamping device and the pressing bar support of the second clamping device being disposed to act as a furnace plug, as recited in claim 21
an edge cooling device disposed at the pressing bar of the edge clamping system, as recited in claim 22
must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Interpretation
The term “preheating heating annealing furnace body” in the claims is interpreted to mean a furnace body capable of performing preheating, heating, and annealing.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claims 1-13 and 21-23 are 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.
The term “ultra-thin” in claim 1 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “ultra-thin” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is unclear what thicknesses are included in “ultra-thin”. The specification at ¶ [0091] states, “In some embodiments, the thickness of the ultra-thin flexible glass product may be within a range of 20 µm-90µm with a tolerance of ±2 µm.” This is not clearly a definition, as it appears to only apply to some embodiments. Likewise, claim 23 newly recites the same range as stated in ¶ [0091], which appears to imply that claim 1 encompasses a broader range. Claims 1-13 and 21-22 are rejected by their dependence on claim 1. Claim 23 is not rejected as including a relative term because it clearly defines a thickness.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "both sides" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. A furnace body may have more than two sides, and thus it is unclear which two sides are considered to be “both sides”.
Claim 1 recites “the drawing system is successively connected with a laminating system, a winding system, and a cutting system”. It is unclear if the claimed device includes “a laminating system, a winding system, and a cutting system”, or if the drawing system (which is clearly recites as part of the claimed device) must just be configured to be or capable of being successively connected with a laminating system, a winding system, and a cutting system.
Where applicant acts as his or her own lexicographer to specifically define a term of a claim contrary to its ordinary meaning, the written description must clearly redefine the claim term and set forth the uncommon definition so as to put one reasonably skilled in the art on notice that the applicant intended to so redefine that claim term. Process Control Corp. v. HydReclaim Corp., 190 F.3d 1350, 1357, 52 USPQ2d 1029, 1033 (Fed. Cir. 1999). The term “plywood” in claim 3 is used by the claim to mean “heat insulation material such as fiberglass, vacuum board, etc.,” (specification at ¶ [0048]) while the accepted meaning is a material consisting of thin layers of wood glued together with grains at crossing angles in adjacent layers. The term is indefinite because the specification does not clearly redefine the term.
Conclusion
There are currently no prior art rejections.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 1,586,618; US 1,793,783; US 5,928,398, CN 114956523 A, WO 2015/050843 A1 - teach various pressing roller construction for use with glass sheets
CN 116217056 A – teaches rollers above and below a glass sheet in a horizontal drawing furnace (Fig. 4, showing section 4 from Fig. 1)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Erin Snelting whose telephone number is (571)272-7169. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 5:00.
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/ERIN SNELTING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741
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