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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/17/2025 is acknowledged. The submission is in compliance with the provision of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 10-15 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.
Claim 10 recites “one side-edge portion thereof”. It is unclear which structure the Applicant wants to refer to by “thereof”.
Claim 15 recites “this order” in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is unclear which order the Applicant wants to refer to.
Any remaining claims are rejected as depending from a rejected base claim.
In the art rejections below the claims have been treated as best understood by the examiner.
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.
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.
Claims 1-10 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2018102711 (hereinafter JP’711) in view of Nabeshima (US 6276121).
Regarding claim 1, JP’711 teaches a fastener tape (fig. 3) comprising: a fastener tape having a side-edge portion (fig. 1, edge 5) to which fastener elements are to be attached; and a core portion (fig. 1, core portion 20) arranged in the side-edge portion, wherein the core portion includes at least one core thread (fig. 1, core 21) and a tubular portion (fig. 1, sheath 22) that encloses the at least one core thread.
JP’711 does not clearly teach the at least one core thread includes a crimpable thread that is crimped in accordance with a difference in thermal shrinkage ratio between different polymer materials.
However, in the same field of weaving with crimpable yarn, Nabeshima teaches the at least one core thread includes a crimpable thread that is crimped in accordance with a difference in thermal shrinkage ratio between different polymer materials (col. 1, lines 5-16).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the core thread of JP’711 with a crimpable thread as taught by Nabeshima for the benefit of providing a suitable stretching property capable of improving the sewability while enjoying puffiness and moderate stiffness (Nabeshima, column 1, lines 24-26).
Regarding claim 2, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the core portion includes total N (N indicates a natural number of 2 or more) core threads as said at least one core thread, and each of the total N core threads is the crimpable thread (Nabeshima, fig. 2a shows a multifilament yarn and fig. 2b shows a single filament with crimp developing ability that constitutes the multifilament yarn).
Regarding claim 3, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the crimpable thread is a composite thread of bonded filaments of at least two types of polymer materials having different thermal shrinkage ratios (Nabeshima, claim 1, the crimp-forming conjugate multi-filaments comprise at least two polyester polymer components having different heat shrinking properties, and said polyester polymer components are adhered in parallel with each other or in a core-sheath configuration).
Regarding claim 4, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the crimpable thread is a composite thread including at least two types of polymer materials spun together and having different thermal shrinkage ratios (Nabeshima, column 12, lines 34-41).
Regarding claim 5, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the crimpable thread is crimped like a helix and/or wave (Nabeshima, fig. 2A).
Regarding claim 6, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the core portion is a core yarn being woven in the fastener tape (JP’711, fig. 1).
Regarding claim 7, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the tubular portion includes a knitted structure of knitted plural skin threads (JP’711, machine translation, para. [0062]).
Regarding claim 8, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima does not clearly teach except for said at least one core thread, no crimpable thread is included which is crimped in accordance with a difference in thermal shrinkage ratio between different polymer materials.
However, it is obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima with the teaching that except for said at least one core thread, no crimpable thread is included which is crimped in accordance with a difference in thermal shrinkage ratio between different polymer materials for the benefit of providing stretchability at the fastener attaching portion at the side edge portion.
Regarding claim 9, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches a fastener stringer comprising the fastener tape of claim 1 and the fastener elements attached to the side-edge portion of the fastener tape (JP’711, fig. 3).
Regarding claim 10, JP’711 teaches a method for manufacturing a fastener tape comprising: configuring a fastener tape (fig. 3) provided with a core portion (fig. 1, core portion 20) arranged in one side-edge portion (fig. 1, edge 5) thereof, the core portion including at least one core thread (fig. 1, core 21) and a tubular portion (fig. 1, sheath 22) that encloses the at least one core thread.
JP’711 also teaches heating the fastener tape so that the core yarn is heat shrunk.
JP’711 does not teach the at least one core thread including a crimpable thread that is crimped in accordance with a difference in thermal shrinkage ratio between different polymer materials; and heating the fastener tape to allow the crimpable thread to crimp.
However, in the same field of weaving with crimpable yarn, Nabeshima teaches the at least one core thread includes a crimpable thread that is crimped in accordance with a difference in thermal shrinkage ratio between different polymer materials (col. 1, lines 5-16).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the core thread of JP’711 with a crimpable thread as taught by Nabeshima for the benefit of providing a suitable stretching property capable of improving the sewability while enjoying puffiness and moderate stiffness (Nabeshima, column 1, lines 24-26).
Regarding claim 15, the modified method JP’711-Nabeshima teaches after said heating the fastener tape, at least one process of lowing a degree of crimp of the crimpable thread and at least one process of increasing the degree of crimp of the crimpable thread are conducted simultaneously or in this order (Nabeshima, column 9, lines 12-34, a relaxation-heat treatment is performed to allow a relatively loose state to be formed; column 10, lines 12-15, the relaxation-heat treatment also creates half-developed crimp formation).
Regarding claim 16, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the core portion includes total N (N indicates a natural number of 2 or more) core threads as said at least one core thread, and each of the total N core threads is the crimpable thread (Nabeshima, fig. 2a shows a multifilament yarn and fig. 2b shows a single filament with crimp developing ability that constitutes the multifilament yarn), the crimpable thread being a composite thread of bonded filaments of at least two types of polymer materials having different thermal shrinkage ratios (Nabeshima, claim 1, the crimp-forming conjugate multi-filaments comprise at least two polyester polymer components having different heat shrinking properties, and said polyester polymer components are adhered in parallel with each other or in a core-sheath configuration).
Regarding claim 17, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the crimpable thread including at least two types of polymer materials spun together and having different thermal shrinkage ratios (Nabeshima, column 12, lines 34-41).
Regarding claim 18, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the crimpable thread is crimped like a helix and/or wave (Nabeshima, fig. 2A).
Regarding claim 19, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the core portion is a core yarn being woven in the fastener tape (JP’711, fig. 1).
Regarding claim 20, the modified structure JP’711-Nabeshima teaches the tubular portion includes a knitted structure of knitted plural skin threads (JP’711, machine translation, para. [0062]).
Claims 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2018102711 and Nabeshima (US 6276121), as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Terasawa (US 2006/0196608).
Regarding claim 11, the modified method JP’711-Nabeshima does not teach after said heating the fastener tape, stretching the fastener tape along its longitudinal direction so as to lower a degree of crimp of the crimpable thread.
However, Nabeshima teaches it is known in the art, an extended conjugate yarn consisting of two types of polymer materials is subjected to relaxation-heat treatment under very small tension to achieve crimping stably (column 2, lines 5-10).
Further, in the same field of endeavor, Terasawa teaches in manufacturing a fastener tape, stretching the fastener tape along its longitudinal direction (fig. 3, abstract). In combination, the modified method JP’711-Nabeshima-Terasawa teaches after heating the fastener tape, stretching the fastener tape along its longitudinal direction so as to lower a degree of crimp of the crimpable thread.
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the modified method JP’711-Nabeshima with the teaching that stretching the fastener tape along its longitudinal direction as taught by Terasawa so that the fastener tape is completely uniform in quality throughout an entire length in manufacturing a fastener tape (Terasawa, para. [0006]).
Regarding claim 12, the modified method JP’711-Nabeshima-Terasawa teaches the fastener tape runs in a passage defined by plural rollers while a tension is applied thereto in the longitudinal direction, and is thereby stretched (Terasawa, fig. 3, abstract).
Regarding claim 13, the modified method JP’711-Nabeshima-Terasawa teaches after said stretching the fastener tape, reheating the fastener tape so as to increase the degree of crimp of the crimpable thread (Nabeshima, column 9, lines 8-9, the crimped yarn is subject to relaxation-heat treatment).
Regarding claim 14, the modified method JP’711-Nabeshima-Terasawa teaches dyeing the fastener tape, said reheating the fastener tape is conducted by heating and drying the fastener tape (JP’711, machine translation, para. [0005], heat setting step, dyeing step and drying step are sequentially performed on the fastener tape; also Nabeshima teaches in column 9, lines 1-9, the crimped yarn is subject to relaxation-heat treatment again in a subsequent dyeing process).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See form PTO-892.
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/UYEN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3732
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