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 .
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.
Claim 19 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 19 recites the limitation "the portion of the tube liner" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable by Slawomir (DK 201870118).
Slawomir teaches a device for curing a tube liner comprising:
a curing assembly (Fig. 3) configured to cure at least a portion of the tube liner, and
an optical heater configured to heat the portion of the tube liner at least before and/or after curing,
wherein the curing assembly comprises at least a first LED configured to emit electromagnetic radiation of a first wavelength,
wherein the optical heater comprises at least a second LED configured to emit electromagnetic radiation of a second wavelength (paragraphs 0056-0057, and 0062),
wherein the first wavelength is adjustably different from the second wavelength and may be in a range from 315 nm to 520 nm (paragraphs 0005 and 00112), and
wherein the second wavelength is within a spectrum of yellow, orange, or red light (paragraph 0005).
Claims 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable by Slawomir (DK 201870118).
Slawomir teaches a method for curing a tube liner with the device according to claim 1, the method comprising the steps of:
curing a portion of the tube liner (paragraph 0005), and
heating the portion of the tube liner to a preheating temperature before curing or to a post- curing temperature after curing (paragraph 00109).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-18 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 does not teach nor suggest:
a distance between the curing assembly and the optical heater is selected based on at least one of a diameter of a pipe to be repaired, the first wavelength, and/or the second wavelength, so that a preheating temperature caused by the optical heater is maintained until curing is continued or triggered by the curing assembly.
an optical heater is arranged in front of or after the curing assembly in a guide movement direction.
a housing to protect the first LED and the second LED from the ingress of dust and/or water, wherein the curing assembly and the optical heater are arranged in the housing.
a guiding device having a guiding engine including one or more electric motors, and a guiding line configured to cause, upon activation of the guiding engine, a guide movement of the optical heater and the curing assembly relative to the tube liner in a translational direction and/or to cause or allow a guide movement of the optical heater and the curing assembly relative to the tube liner in a rotational direction around the translational direction.
a feedback temperature controller configured to control a temperature of the portion of the tube liner, so that a reference temperature, in particular including a predefined preheating temperature, post-curing temperature, and/or curing temperature, is reached.
a feedback speed controller configured to control a speed of the optical heater relative to the tube liner of the optical heater and the curing assembly relative to the tube liner along a guide movement direction.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SONYA M SENGUPTA whose telephone number is (571)272-6019. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:30am-5:00pm.
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/SONYA M SENGUPTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1745