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 § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-9, 11, 13-15, 17-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rodeghero (US Patent No. 5,401,908).
Regarding claims 1, 3-4, 11, and 18, Rodeghero discloses an extruder die assembly for coating wires comprising providing: (a) a head (“apparatus 31”) comprising an axial opening (Fig. 2, the left and right sides are open) and an injection gate (39 or 43 marks an extruder which would have a “gate” at the end as configured) (4:64-;
(b) a wire guide (guide tip 61) positioned within said axial opening of said head (as shown in Fig. 2), wherein said wire guide comprises holes (57, 59) configured to receive wires (conductors 51, 53); and
(c) a die (49) positioned within said axial opening and configured to receive said wire guide (Fig. 2; 5:23-5:45),
wherein said wires draw (“drawing”) through and move axially through the axial opening (“exiting”) (left to right as in Fig. 2), wherein said injection gate injects a coating material (either or both of first/second insulating materials 41, 45) into said axial opening (into chamber 47) to coat the wires as they pass through the wire holes (57, 59) (5:42-5:60).
Rodeghero further discloses that there is a wire guide receiving area (as shown in Fig. 2) that is larger than the surface area of the wire guide (61) which forms a gap as to facilitate the flow of material (as shown in Fig. 2, the gap allows the material to flow to the wires), thus meeting claims 3-4 and 11.
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Rodeghero discloses the subject matter of claims 1 and 11, and further includes a tip (as shown) where the coated wires exit (see Fig. 2).
Regarding claims 6-7, 14-15, and 20, Rodeghero discloses the subject matter of claims 1, 11, and 18, and further discloses that the wire holes are arranged side-by-side (5:28-5:30) such that there can be contact between the two exterior surfaces of the finished wires (as explained in 5:23-5:60).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Rodeghero discloses the subject matter of claims 1 and 11, and further discloses a face plate (front of Fig. 2).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2, 10, 12, 16, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rodeghero (US Patent No. 5,401,908) in view of Anand (US Patent No. 5,108,683).
Regarding claims 2, 10, 12, 16, and 19, Rodeghero discloses the subject matter of claim 1, but does not appear to explicitly disclose alignment members configured to stabilize the die with respect to the head and wire guide or the thermal coupler fitting.
However, Anand discloses a similar apparatus to that of Rodeghero, and describes coating a wire (54) with an injected material. Anand (see Fig. 1) includes alignment members (as shown) and a thermal coupling (flow detector 2) (Anand, 5:13-5:45), demonstrating that such a configuration was known in the art and would have been applicable to the system/method of Rodeghero above, with predictable results.
Accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to have specified that there are alignment members as to have aligned the individual elements shown in Fig. 2 of Rodeghero above, and also a flow detector as to determine flow characteristics, as is claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW D GRAHAM whose telephone number is (469)295-9232. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30AM-4:00PM (CST).
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/ANDREW D GRAHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1742
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