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 .
Applicant’s reply to the rule 105 requirement is acknowledged.
Claim 1 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 1 is indefinite regarding the “the roof weighting step distance historically collected” because it is not clear how this relates to the previously measured roof weighting step distance—is the “historically collected” distance limited to the distance measured in the “measuring” step? Similarly, claim 1 is indefinite regarding the limitation “the weighting cycle, the weighting step distance and a periodic weighting peak during historical stoping” because it is not clear how the historical stoping is related to the real-time measurements.
Claim 1 is indefinite regarding the “selecting a coalface on one side of an advancing stress concentration zone during the weighting cycle” because it is not clear if this “weighting cycle” refers to the predicted cycle or some other cycle.
Claim 1 is indefinite regarding “advancing the drilling to reach an initial slitting position” because this implies more drilling even though the previous step called for replacing the drill with a slitting device. It is not clear if the claim requires deeper drilling using the slitting device.
Claims 2 and 4 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. These claims are indefinite by dependency from claim 1.
Claims 1, 2, and 4 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Janine M KRECK whose telephone number is (571)272-7042. The examiner can normally be reached telework: M-F 0600-1530 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicole Coy can be reached at 5712725405. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Janine M Kreck/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3672
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