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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 1-3, 5-11, and 13-14 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Waldock (WO 97/22459) in view of Wakaki (US 2009/0035585 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Waldock meets the claimed method for improving the dimensional stability of a biodegradable film, comprising providing a poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based (stereospecific polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), pg. 1, ln 6) blown polymer film to a nip roller, (nip of flattening rolls 18 and 20, Fig, 1, pg. 4, ln 5-10) feeding the poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based blown polymer film to an annealing roller, (fast roll 26 (also at 70°C), pg. 4, ln 10-11) and heating the blown film by contact with the annealing roller (Waldock teaches the film contacts roll 26 at 70°C).
Waldock does not explicitly teach at a temperature ranging from about 80 to about 150 °C.
Waldock teaches wherein the temperature of said first stretching is 5 °C to 20 °C below the melting point of the PHA, see claim 6. Examiner notes that Waldock does not teach the melting point of PHA, while the instant specification discloses it to be most preferably 130 to 160C, see [00051]. Therefore, the at least some embodiments of the method of Waldock meets the claimed range given the inherent melting point of PHA.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to vary the temperature of the annealing roller of Waldock to be from about 80 to about 150 °C in order to optimize the stretching while keeping the temperature below the melting point of the film.
Waldock is silent on a predetermined period of time ranging from about 1 second to about one minute.
Wakaki teaches biodegradable aliphatic polyesters is the field of films for packaging, agriculture, and foods and the like, [0003]. Wakaki teaches that if the heat treatment time is less than 1 second, the heat will not transfer through the stretch film and there is a possibility that the effects of heat treatment will not be seen. Furthermore, the preheating time will not cause a problem if too long, but a time no greater than 60 seconds is preferable for production. The biaxial stretching can be either synchronous biaxial stretching or successive biaxial stretching. [0101].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to vary the length of time for the stretching of Waldock to be 1 second to 60 seconds as taught by Wakaki because shorter times are not effective and longer and inefficient, see Wakaki [0101].
Regarding claim 2, Waldock does not explicitly teach the method of claim 1, wherein the blown film is heated to a temperature ranging from about 100 to about 120 °C.
Waldock teaches wherein the temperature of said first stretching is 5 °C to 20 °C below the melting point of the PHA, see claim 6. Examiner notes that Waldock does not teach the melting point of PHA, while the instant specification discloses it to be most preferably 130 to 160C, see [00051]. Therefore, the at least some embodiments of the method of Waldock meets the claimed range given the inherent melting point of PHA.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to vary the temperature of the annealing roller of Waldock to be from about 100 to about 120 °C in order to optimize the stretching while keeping the temperature below the melting point of the film.
Regarding claim 3, Waldock as modified meets the claimed method of claim 1, wherein the blown film has a thickness ranging from about 7 microns to about 250 microns. (resulting film was 15-20 μm thick, pg. 4, ln 19)
Regarding claim 5, Waldock as modified meets the claimed method of claim 1, wherein the poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based blown polymer film was stretched in the machine direction from about 0.3 times to about 10 times. (The main stretch in rolls 28, 30 was 300-400%, pg. 4, ln 19-20).
Regarding claim 6, Waldock as modified does not meet the claimed method of claim 1, wherein the poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based blown polymer film was stretched in the transverse direction from about 0.3 times to about 10 times.
Waldock teaches if desired a transverse stretch can be effected after rolls 32, 34 by a stenter (not shown), pg. 4, ln 11-12. The main stretch in rolls 28, 30 was 300-400%, pg. 4, ln 19-20)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to stretch the film of Waldock in the traverse direction 300-400% as taught in the main direction, because attractive properties can be made, see pg. 1, line 10-11.
Regarding claim 7, Waldock as modified meets the claimed poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based film made by the method of claim 1. (oriented shaped articles made of stereospecific polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), pg. 1, line 5-6, The articles to which the invention is especially applicable are those having relatively thin regions, for example 0.01 to 2, especially 0.1 to 1, mm thick, pg. 2, lines 20-21).
Regarding claim 8, Waldock as modified meets the claimed dimensionally-stable, biodegradable packaging film comprising the poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based film of claim 7. (oriented shaped articles made of stereospecific polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), pg. 1, line 5-6. The articles to which the invention is especially applicable are those having relatively thin regions, for example 0.01 to 2, especially 0.1 to 1, mm thick, pg. 2, lines 20-21).
Regarding claim 9, Waldock meets the claimed method for improving the dimensional stability of a biodegradable film, comprising providing a poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based (stereospecific polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), pg. 1, ln 6) feeding the bi-axially orientation film to an annealing roller, (fast roll 26 (also at 70°C), pg. 4, ln 10-11) and heating the bi-axially orientation film by contact with the annealing roller(Waldock teaches the film contacts roll 26 at 70°C).
Waldock does not explicitly teach at a temperature ranging from about 80 to about 150 °C.
Waldock teaches wherein the temperature of said first stretching is 5 °C to 20 °C below the melting point of the PHA, see claim 6. Examiner notes that Waldock does not teach the melting point of PHA, while the instant specification discloses it to be most preferably 130 to 160C, see [00051]. Therefore, the at least some embodiments of the method of Waldock meets the claimed range given the inherent melting point of PHA.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to vary the temperature of the annealing roller of Waldock to be from about 80 to about 150 °C in order to optimize the stretching while keeping the temperature below the melting point of the film.
Waldock does not explicitly teach bi-axially oriented polymer film with various machine direction orientation (MDO) and various transverse-direction orientation (TDO).
Wakaki teaches manufacturing method for a biaxially oriented film forming a sheet then performing successive biaxial stretching or simultaneous biaxial stretching to a factor of at least 2 at a stretching temperature between 50 and 80C, see [0106]. Wakaki defines MDO as the longitudinal stretching process, TDO as the lateral stretch process, see [0237].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to biaxial stretch the film of Waldock as a MDO and TDO orientation as disclosed by Wakaki because biaxial stretching improves thermal resistance, see Wakaki [0092].
Waldock is silent on a predetermined period of time ranging from about 1 second to about one minute.
Wakaki teaches biodegradable aliphatic polyesters is the field of films for packaging, agriculture, and foods and the like, [0003]. Wakaki teaches that if the heat treatment time is less than 1 second, the heat will not transfer through the stretch film and there is a possibility that the effects of heat treatment will not be seen. Furthermore, the preheating time will not cause a problem if too long, but a time no greater than 60 seconds is preferable for production. The biaxial stretching can be either synchronous biaxial stretching or successive biaxial stretching. [0101].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to vary the length of time for the stretching of Waldock to be 1 second to 60 seconds as taught by Wakaki because shorter times are not effective and longer and inefficient, see Wakaki [0101].
Regarding claim 10, Waldock does not explicitly teach the method of claim 9, wherein the blown film is heated to a temperature ranging from about 100 to about 120 °C.
Waldock teaches wherein the temperature of said first stretching is 5 °C to 20 °C below the melting point of the PHA, see claim 6. Examiner notes that Waldock does not teach the melting point of PHA, while the instant specification discloses it to be most preferably 130 to 160C, see [00051]. Therefore, the at least some embodiments of the method of Waldock meets the claimed range given the inherent melting point of PHA.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to vary the temperature of the annealing roller of Waldock to be from about 100 to about 120 °C in order to optimize the stretching while keeping the temperature below the melting point of the film.
Regarding claim 11, Waldock as modified meets the claimed method of claim 9, wherein the blown film has a thickness ranging from about 7 microns to about 250 microns. (resulting film was 15-20 μm thick, pg. 4, ln 19)
Regarding claim 13, Waldock as modified meets the claimed poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based film made by the method of claim 9. (oriented shaped articles made of stereospecific polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), pg. 1, line 5-6, The articles to which the invention is especially applicable are those having relatively thin regions, for example 0.01 to 2, especially 0.1 to 1, mm thick, pg. 2, lines 20-21).
Regarding claim 14, Waldock as modified meets the claimed dimensionally-stable, biodegradable packaging film comprising the poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based film of claim 13. (oriented shaped articles made of stereospecific polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), pg. 1, line 5-6. The articles to which the invention is especially applicable are those having relatively thin regions, for example 0.01 to 2, especially 0.1 to 1, mm thick, pg. 2, lines 20-21).
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Doul et al. (US 2010/0330382 A1) teaches [0020] Preferably, the laminate film is produced via coextrusion of the heat sealable layer, the blended core layer, and the metal-receiving PHA-containing skin layer through a compositing die whereupon the molten multilayer film structure is quenched upon a chilled casting roll system or casting roll and water bath system and subsequently oriented in the machine and/or transverse direction into an oriented multi-layer film. Machine direction orientation rate is typically 2.0-3.0.times. and transverse direction orientation--with the use of the ethylene-acrylate impact modifier process aid--is typically 8.0-11.0.times.. Otherwise, without the ethylene-acrylate impact modifier process aid, transverse direction orientation may be limited to a lower rate, typically 3.0-6.0.times.. Heat setting conditions in the TDO oven is also critical to minimize thermal shrinkage effects.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL M. ROBINSON whose telephone number is (571)270-0467. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30AM-6PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sam Zhao can be reached at (571)270-5343. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL M. ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1744
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