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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-9 in the reply filed on 23 July 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 10-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 23 July 2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because numeral “530” in the figures is not described in the originally-filed specification. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Numeral “321” in the originally-filed specification is not shown in any of the figures.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6, 7 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang (U.S. Patent No. 6,129,872 A).
Regarding claim 1, Jang (see the entire document, in particular, col. 3, lines 5-17 and 45-47; col. 7, lines 17-19 and 58-61; col. 8, line 24; col. 10, lines 18-26; col. 11, lines 22-28; Figures 1 and 2) teaches a process (see col. 3, lines 5-17 and 45-47 (process for producing a 3D object by fused deposition modeling) of Jang), including (a) a 3D printing stage including layer-wise depositing 3D printable material, to provide a 3D item including 3D printed material on a receiver item, wherein the 3D item includes a plurality of layers of 3D printed material (see Figures 1 and 2; col. 7, lines 17-19 (making a three-dimensional object on a layer-by-layer basis) and col. 8, line 24 (object supporting platform (i.e., receiver item)) of Jang); wherein (a)(1) the printable material includes a semi-crystalline polymer (see col. 11, lines 26-28 (examples of semi-crystalline polymers are polyamide (or nylon), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP)) of Jang); (a)(2) the 3D printable material has (i) a melting temperature range, ranging from a first melting temperature TM1 to a second melting temperature TM2, wherein TM2>TM1, and (ii) a crystallization temperature range, ranging from a second crystallization temperature TC2 to a first crystallization temperature TC1, wherein TC2>TC1 (see col. 11, lines 26-28 (polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate and polypropylene are semi-crystalline polymers and thus, these polymers have a range of melting temperatures and a range of crystallization temperatures) of Jang); (b) the 3D printing stage includes guiding the 3D printing material through a printer nozzle at a nozzle temperature TN (see Figure 2; col. 7, lines 58-61 (heating means (e.g., heating tape or sleeve 52) is positioned around lower portion 46A of nozzle 24 for converting a leading portion 20A of filament material into a flowable fluid state (i.e., melting the filament material)) of Jang); (c) depositing 3D printable material on the receiver item having a first receiver item temperature TB1, to provide n1 layers on the receiver item (see Figure 2; col. 10, lines 18-26 (fluidized material goes through nozzle exiting from an orifice to deposit on either surface 27 of platform 26 or a previously formed layer of object 110 on platform 26; heating and cooling provisions may be provided to the platform region to control solidification of the material) of Jang); (d) cooling n12 layers of the n1 layer and selecting a second receiver item temperature TB2 of the receiver item (see Figure 2; col. 10, lines 18-26 (fluidized material goes through nozzle exiting from an orifice to deposit on either surface 27 of platform 26 or a previously formed layer of object 110 on platform 26; heating and cooling provisions may be provided to the platform region to control solidification of the material) and col. 11, lines 22-26 (the platform and the previous layers must be maintained at a temperature lower than the melting temperature; the portion of a previous layer must be solidified before contact with new material) of Jang); (d)(i) selecting a second receiver item temperature (see col. 11, lines 22-26 (the platform and the previous layers must be maintained at a temperature lower than the melting temperature; the portion of a previous layer must be solidified before contact with new material) of Jang); and (e) depositing 3D printable material on the previously deposited n1 first layers to provide n2 second layers thereon (see col. 10, lines 18-26 (fluidized material is deposited on previously formed layers of object 110) of Jang). Jang does not teach (1) the temperature inequalities TN>TM2, TB1≥TM2, TB2≤TB1, TB2<TM2 or TB2≥TM2. However, the temperature inequalities would have been obvious to, and readily determined by, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention in the process of Jang because Jang teaches the semi-crystalline polymers (i.e., polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene) disclosed and claimed, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have knowledge of the properties (e.g., crystallization temperature range, melting point range) of the semi-crystalline polymers.
Regarding claims 2 and 3, the temperature inequalities would have been obvious to, and readily determined by, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention in the process of Jang because Jang teaches the semi-crystalline polymers (i.e., polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene) disclosed and claimed, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have knowledge of the properties (e.g., crystallization temperature range, melting point range) of the semi-crystalline polymers.
Regarding claims 6 and 7, Jang is not limited to using one single semi-crystalline polymer; the temperature inequalities would have been obvious to, and readily determined by, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention in the process of Jang because Jang teaches the semi-crystalline polymers (i.e., polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene) disclosed and claimed, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have knowledge of the properties (e.g., crystallization temperature range, melting point range) of the semi-crystalline polymers.
Regarding claim 9, see col. 11, lines 26-28 (examples of semi-crystalline polymers are polyamide (or nylon), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP)) of Jang.
Claim(s) 4 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang (U.S. Patent No. 6,129,872 A) as applied to claims 1-3, 6, 7 and 9 above, and further in view of Leyden et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2001/0003004 A1).
Regarding claims 4 and 5, Jang teaches providing cooling (see col. 10, lines 18-26 of Jang), but Jang does not teach (1) directing a flow of cooling gas. Leyden et al (see the entire document, in particular, paragraphs [0002] and [0080]) teaches a process (see paragraph [0002] (forming three-dimensional objects by fused deposition modeling) of Leyden et al), including directing a flow of cooling gas (see paragraph [0080] (directing temperature moderating gas (i.e., a cooling gas) at the upper surface of the partially formed object) of Leyden et al), and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to direct a flow of cooling gas in the process of Jang in view of Leyden et al in order to maintain an appropriate temperature (see paragraph [0080] of Leyden et al). The temperature inequalities would have been obvious to, and readily determined by, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention in the process of Jang because Jang teaches the semi-crystalline polymers (i.e., polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene) disclosed and claimed, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have knowledge of the properties (e.g., crystallization temperature range, melting point range) of the semi-crystalline polymers.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang (U.S. Patent No. 6,129,872 A) as applied to claims 1-3, 6, 7 and 9 above, and further in view of Korten et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2022/0203616 A1) and Hikmet et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2021/0231301 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Jang teaches providing an appropriate receiver item temperature (see col. 10, lines 18-26 (heating and cooling provisions may be provided to the platform region to control solidification of the material) of Jang), but Jang does not teach (1) a receiver item having a surface roughness of from 1-100 µm, or (2) layers having a height of 0.5-6 mm. Korten et al (see the entire document, in particular, paragraphs [0001] and [0063]) teaches a process (see paragraph [0001] (method of making articles by additive manufacturing) of Korten et al), including a receiver item having a surface roughness of from 1-100 µm (see paragraph [0063] (each surface section (of the build platform) has a surface roughness of Ra between 0.5-1.25 µm or Rz between 10-20 µm) of Korten et al), and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a receiver item having a surface roughness of from 1-100 µm in the process of Jang in view of Korten et al in order to provide for sufficient retention between and article and a build surface. Hikmet et al (see the entire document, in particular, paragraphs [0001], [0006], [0008] and [0023]) teaches a process (see paragraphs [0001] (method for manufacturing a 3D item by fused deposition modeling) and [0023] (the 3D printable material can be a semi-crystalline polymer) of Hikmet et al), including layers having a height of 0.5-6 mm (see paragraph [0008] (having layer heights (H) of a maximum of 1 mm) of Hikmet et al), and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide layers having a height of 0.5-6 mm in the process of Jang in view of Hikmet et al in order to provide 3D printed items having good thermal conductivity for lighting applications (see paragraph [0006] of Hikmet et al).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEO B. TENTONI whose telephone number is (571)272-1209. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30-4:00 ET M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christina A. Johnson can be reached at (571)272-1176. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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LEO B. TENTONI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1742
/LEO B TENTONI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1742
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