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 .
This application is a continuation of application 18/511,601, now Patent Number 12,256,748.
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.
Claim(s) 23-26, 31, 32, 36-38 and 41 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meyn B.V. (EPO Patent 0 459 558 A1).
Meyn B.V. (EPO Patent 0 459 558 A1), hereby known as Meyn. Meyn teaches an apparatus for processing flatfish which is structurally similar to the Applicant’s claimed method of processing fish.
Regarding claims 23, 31 and 37 Meyn teaches measuring (registration means 6) a distance across the fish, see column 2, last two paragraphs, and column 3, paragraph 1 and 2. The apparatus allows for the method step of severing a portion of the fish with a blade or nozzles 17 and 18 of cutting means 10. See column 3, paragraphs 3-5. The cutting device is moved in irregular intervals in accordance with the measured distance. The cutting step occurs after a sensor 23 determines the moment on which the fish 7 to be processed passes. See also, column 4, lines 3-18, the reference to Meyn teaches the cutting device “is not exactly predictable”, thus moving the blade in irregular intervals in accordance with the measured distance. Meyn does not teach the use of a blade, but mentions in column 3, paragraph 4, that different cutting means can be used. As such, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to use a different cutting means instead of the nozzle of Meyn, in a blade is considered to be structurally equivalent to perform the step of cutting a fish.
Regarding claim 24, Meyn teaches in column 2, lines 29-45, transporting the fish with a first conveyor 1 through a measurement location at registration means 6 and cutting at location cutting device 5.
Regarding claim 25, Meyn teaches slides 15 and 16 move cutting device 17 and 18 in communication with the measurement sensor 23, see figure 1.
As for claim 26, Meyn teaches the cutting devices 17 and 18 can move as a result of slides 15 and 16 that move the blade in accordance with the measured distance, see column 3, paragraphs 3-5.
Regarding claims 36, Meyn teaches slides 15 and 16 that allows for the head,fish sides and tail to be removed about one location but does not teach adjusting the fish position towards an additional fish processing subsystem. However, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to separate the single cutting location into a series of locations or additional fish processing subsystem, in that both types of cutting locations are deemed to be equivalent.
Regarding claim 38, Meyn teaches a registration device 6 which means the total fish area including the length and width.
Regarding claim 41, Meyn teaches adjusting via slides 15 and 16 act like cylinders as they move over the guides 11 and 12 to position of the fish during additional cutting steps to remove the sides and tail of the fish. See column 3, paragraph 4.
Regarding claims 35 and 42, Meyn does not mention a thirty percent cut or moving the blade that is less than half of the measured dimension of the fish, the control unit 9 is connected to the cutting device 17 and 18, and it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to program the control unit of Meyn to perform a variety of cuts, including the cuts claimed and as such, are considered to be obvious matters of choice in design and method.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 27-30, 33, 34, 35, 39, 40 and 42 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art cited therewith are additional examples of devices for processing fish.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICHARD T. PRICE JR whose telephone number is (571)272-6892. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7AM-3:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter M. Poon can be reached at 571-272-6891. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RICHARD T PRICE JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3643
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