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 Office Action is in response to the applicant’s filing on 03/20/2025.
Claims 1-11 are pending and examined below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/20/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
“a coiling station configured to form a coil” as stated in claim 1, the structure disclosed as a wrapper roller (13) in paragraph 21 of the Specification;
“a transfer unit configured to transfer” as stated in claim 1, the structure disclosed as a horizontal slide (23) in paragraph 27 of the Specification;
“a transfer assembly configured to disengage” as stated in claim 1, the structure disclosed as a thrust component (73) as stated in paragraph 55 of the Specification;
“a joining device configured to connect” as stated in claim 1, the structure disclosed as a welding device as stated in paragraph 54 of the Specification;
“a first device to detect a position” as stated in claim 8, the structure disclosed as a sensor as stated in paragraph 59; and
“a second device to detect a consumption” as stated in claim 9, the structure disclosed as a sensor as stated in paragraph 58.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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 1-11 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the phrase “comprising, in turn” in line 10 and 18 of claim 1 renders claim 1 vague and indefinite because it is unclear how the listed features are considered “in turn”. The phrase “in turn” is understood to be event that occur in succession or one after the other. It is unclear how the packaging station comprises the listed features in succession. For examining purposes, prior art that discloses all the comprising features is interpreted to disclose them in turn.
Claims 2-11 are dependent of claim 1 and are further rejected for being dependent of a rejected claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-7 and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over reference Mazzoni et al. (6,546,852) in view of reference Prankl et al. (10,676,303).
Regarding claim 1, Mazzoni et al. disclose a wrapping machine for packaging flexible articles (33) with an elongated shape, the wrapper machine comprising:
a coiling station (12) configured to form a coil (3) of a flexible article (33) with an elongated shape;
a packaging station (9) configured to wrap a stretch film (col 5 ln 56) around the coil (3) of the flexible article (33);
a transfer unit (24) configured to transfer the coil (3) of the flexible article (33) from the coiling station (12) to the packaging station (9) in a feed direction (see figure 2 below) transverse to a longitudinal axis (3a) of the coil (3) of the flexible article (33),
wherein the packaging station comprises:
a wrapping assembly (32) rotatably mounted about a first rotation axis (see figure 3 below),
wherein the first rotation axis (see figure 3 below) is parallel to the feed direction (see figure 2 below), and
wherein the wrapping assembly (32) is configured to wrap the stretch film (col 5 ln 56) around the coil (3) of the flexible article (33);
a first support shaft (see figure 3 below) mounted on the wrapper assembly and configured to receive and hold a first roll of stretch film (col 5 ln 56); and
a rotary clamp (10) configured to rotate the coil (3) of the flexible article around a second rotation axis (3A),
wherein the second rotation axis (3a) is transfer to the to the first rotation axis (see figure 3 below).
(Figures 2-3 and Column 3 lines 30-38, 57-59, 62-67, Column 4 lines 22-28, Column 5 lines 53-62, Column 6 lines 33-44)
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In column 5 lines 53-58 of Mazzoni et al., the wrapper assembly (32) is disclosed to wrap the coil (3) with a “continuous strip of packaging material embodied in particular by a film”. In order for the wrapper assembly to be able to use a continuous strip of packaging material to wrap the coil, the wrapper assembly would have to be configured to receive and hold a first roll of film.
[AltContent: textbox (First Support Shaft)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (First Rotation Axis)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: connector][AltContent: textbox (Mazzoni et al.)]
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However, Mazzoni et al. do not disclose a roll-replacement unit.
Prankl et al. disclose an apparatus comprising:
packaging machine (14) for wrapping bundles; and
a roll-replacement unit (10),
wherein the packaging machine (14) includes a first support shaft (70) for receiving and holding a first roll (12), and
wherein the roll-replacement unit (10) comprises:
a store (16);
wherein the store (16) includes a second support shaft (32) for receiving and holding a second roll (12), and
wherein the store (16) is movable between a loading position (Figure 6A) for loading the second roll (12) onto the second support shaft (32) and a transfer position (Figure 9A) for transferring the second roll (12) from the second support (32) to the first support (70),
a transfer assembly (34, 84) configured to disengage an inner support cylinder of the first roll (12) from the first support (70) and transfer the second roll (12) from the second support shaft (32) to the first support shaft (70); and
a joining device (72) configured to connect a final flap of the first roll (12) to an initial flap of the second roll (12).
(Figures 2, 6A, 9A and Column 1 lines 37-43, Column 15 lines 24-31, 39-55, Column 17 lines 14-26)
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention, to have modified the wrapper machine of Mazzoni et al. by incorporating the roll-replacement unit as taught by Prankl et al., since column 2 lines 48-55 of Prankl et al. states such a modification would ensure smooth replacement of rolls.
Regarding claim 2, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose the transfer assembly (Prankl et al. – 34, 84) comprises: a first transfer device (Prankl et al. – 84) mounted on the wrapping assembly (Mazzoni et al. – 32) to disengage the inner support cylinder of the first roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56) from the first support shaft (Prankl et al. – 70); and a second transfer device (Prankl et al. – 34) mounted on the store (Prankl et al. – 16) to transfer the second roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56) from the second support shaft (Prankl et al. – 32) to the first support shaft (Prankl et al. – 70). (Prankl et al. – Figures 7B, 10A-10C and Column 15 lines 65-67, Column 27 lines 13-21, Column 29 lines 60-66)
Regarding claim 3, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose the claimed invention as stated above but do not disclose the joining device is mounted on the second transferring device.
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art to have the joining device on the second transferring device, since it has been held that rearranging the parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. [MPEP 2144.04 (VI-C)]
On page 8 paragraph 54 of the Specification, the slide (66) is disclosed to support a welding device (70) configured to connect the initial flap of the second roll and a final flap of the first roll. The Specification as originally filed does not disclose any criticality for the claimed feature. Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to modify Mazzoni et al. and Prankl et al. to obtain the invention as specified in claim 3 because the modification would have been considered a mere design consideration which fails to patentably distinguish over the prior art.
Regarding claim 4, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose the roll-replacement unit (Prankl et al. – 10) comprises: a first gripper (Prankl et al. – see figure 5 below) to hold the final flap of the first roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56); and a second gripper (Prankl et al. – 78) to hold the initial flap of the second roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56). (Prankl et al. – Figure 5 and Column 25 lines 12-18)
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Regarding claim 5, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose the first gripper (Prankl et al. – see figure 5 above) is mounted on the wrapper assembly (Mazzoni et al. – 32) and the second gripper (Prankl et al. – 78) is mounted on the second transferring device (Prankl et al. – 34). (Prankl et al. – Figure 5 and Column 25 lines 12-18)
Regarding claim 6, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose the second transferring device (Prankl et al. – 34) is movable parallel to a longitudinal axis of the second roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56) between a rest position and an operating position, in which the second roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56) is transferred from the second support shaft (Prankl et al. – 32) to the first support shaft (Prankl et al. – 70), and wherein the first gripper (Prankl et al. – see figure 5 above) and second gripper (Prankl et al. – 78) are positioned in a common containing plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the second roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56), thereby overlapping the final flap of the first roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56) and the initial flap of the second roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56). (Prankl et al. – Figure 5, 9A-9C and Column 25 lines 12-18)
Regarding claim 7, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose, upon movement of the second transfer device (Prankl et al. – 34) to the operating position, the joining device (Prankl et al. – 72) moves into the common containing plane to connect the final flap of the first roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56) and the initial flap of the second roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56). (Prankl et al. – Figure 5 and Column 22 lines 35-44)
Regarding claim 9, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose the roll-replacement unit (Prankl et al. – 10) comprises a second detection device (Prankl et al. – 74) configured to detect a consumption of the first roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56). (Column 22 lines 59-63)
Regarding claim 10, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose the store (Prankl et al. – 16) is movable to an intermediate position (Prankl et al. – Figure 10D) located between the loading position and the transfer position, and wherein the intermediate position (Prankl et al. – Figure 10D) is configured to receive the inner support cylinder of the first roll (Prankl et al. – 12) of stretch film (Mazzoni et al. – col 5 ln 56) after disengagement from the first support shaft (Prankl et al. – 70) by the transfer assembly (Prankl et al. – 34, 84). (Prankl et al. – Figures 10A-10E and Column 30 lines 5-11)
Regarding claim 11, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose the flexible article is a pipe. (Mazzoni et al. – Column 2 lines 41-45)
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over reference Mazzoni et al. (6,546,852) in view of reference Prankl et al. (10,676,303) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of reference Juwet (2024/0034500).
Regarding claim 8, Mazzoni et al. modified by Prankl et al. disclose the claimed invention as stated above but do not disclose a detection device configured to detect the position of the wrapper assembly.
Juwet discloses packaging station (23) comprising: a wrapper assembly (28) configured to rotate about a first rotation axis; and a first detection device (39) configured to detect the position of the wrapper assembly (28) around the first rotation axis. (Figure 1 and Page 6 paragraph 94, Page 11 paragraph 141)
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention, to have modified Mazzoni et al. by incorporating the first detection device as taught by Juwet, since page 2 paragraph 16 of Juwet states such a modification would allow the actuator moving the wrapper assembly to adjust its speed based on the position data.
Conclusion
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/PATRICK B FRY/Examiner, Art Unit 3731 January 7, 2026
/SHELLEY M SELF/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3731