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 .
The amendment filed February 2, 2026 has been entered.
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 8, 11-12 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dugan (US 9,486,962) in view of Iskra (US 2004/0004303).
Claim 8: Dugan discloses an additive fabrication device configured to produce three-dimensional objects by sintering a source material within a fabrication bed (abstract). The device includes a fabrication bed (14; fig. 1; col. 4, lines 40-45); an assembly configured to move laterally across a surface of the fabrication bed (figs. 1-2; col. 4, lines 40-65); a material deposition mechanism (16) coupled to the assembly and configured to deposit source material onto the fabrication bed as the assembly moves laterally across the surface of the fabrication bed (figs. 1-2; col. 4, lines 40-60); a levelling mechanism coupled to the assembly and configured to follow the material deposition mechanism and contact the source material deposited by the material deposition mechanism as the assembly moves laterally across the surface of the fabrication bed, wherein the levelling mechanism includes a roller (col. 4, lines 40-67; figs. 1-2).
Dugan is silent as to at least one heating element configured to heat the roller, wherein the roller is configured to heat the deposited source material at least in part via conductive heating. However, Iskra, in the same field of endeavor including powder-layer three-dimensional printing employing a powder-spreading roller, teaches that a heat source may be placed inside the roller, that the roller may be hollow with an electrical resistive heater located in its interior, whereby the heated roller contacts and warms the powder it spreads at least in part via conductive heating (¶¶ 273-275; a roller temperature of approximately 35C). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided the levelling roller of Dugan with a heating element configured to heat the roller, as taught by Iskra, such that the roller heats the deposited source material via conductive heating in order to control the temperature and condition of the powder during spreading, as taught by Iskra.
Claim 11: The heating element of Iskra is capable of heating to the roller to a temperature greater than a temperature of the fabrication bed, otherwise no net conductive heating into the powder would occur.
Claim 12: Iska discloses the leveling mechanism being a roller (col. 4, lines 40-67; figs. 1-2).
Claims 14-15: Dugan discloses sintering three-dimensional printers (col. 1, lines 20-27).
Claims 9-10 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dugan (US 9,486,962) in view of Iskra (US 2004/0004303), as applied to claim 8 above, further in view of Liu (WO 2017/143145).
Claims 9-10: Dugan is silent as to including multiple leveling mechanisms. However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu discloses multiple leveling mechanisms including a soft blade spreading powder and then a hard blade sweeping over that same powder “to further compress the powder” in the same pass (¶ 32). As taught by Lui, further compressing powder allows for a better surface finish to be formed on the specific portion (¶ 32). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have included multiple levelling mechanisms in the device of Dugan in order to provide a better surface finish for each layer, as taught by Lui.
Claim 13: Lui discloses the levelling mechanism including a wiper (¶ 32).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LARRY THROWER whose telephone number is (571)270-5517. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm MT M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Susan Leong can be reached at 571-270-1487. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LARRY W THROWER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754
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