DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, “the spring comprises the cable loops” (claim 10) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, because the specification, while being enabling for the cable comprising cable loops, does not reasonably provide enablement for the spring comprises cable loops. The specification does not enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the invention commensurate in scope with these claims.
Regarding claim 10, this claim claims “the spring comprises the cable loops”. The specification is not enabling because the specification enables the cable comprising cable loops, but does not enable the spring comprises cable loops. See figures 2 and 4.
Regarding the In re Wands Factor of “Amount of direction provided”, no direction is provided by the inventor to provide the spring comprises cable loops, as the inventor only appears to provide direction of the cable comprising cable loops. What direction has Inventor/Applicant provided for the spring comprises cable loops?
Regarding the Wands Factor of “Existence of Working Examples”, this claim claims “the spring comprises the cable loops”. However, the disclosure only appears to disclose the cable comprising cable loops. The cable comprising cable loops is the only working example provided in the disclosure. No working example is disclosed for the claimed limitation (of the claim invention) of the spring comprises the cable loops. Thus, a single working example for the claimed invention is not disclosed. Where in the specification is a working example of “the spring comprises the cable loops” disclosed?
Regarding the Wands Factor of “Quantity of experimentation needed”, this claim claims “the spring comprises the cable loops”. However, the disclosure only appears to disclose the cable comprising cable loops. Because of the significant difference between the disclosure and the above limitation, the disclosure does not provide a reasonable amount of direction or guidance for experimentation. How would one of ordinary skill in the art with the disclosure arrive at the claimed invention without unreasonable experimentation?
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 10 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 10, the limitation of “the spring comprises the cable loops” renders the claim indefinite because the claim is unclear as to how a spring comprises cable loops. Thus, the scope of the claim is unclear. Did Applicant mean to claim -the spring comprises spring loops-? Did the Applicant mean to claim -the composite cable comprises cable loops-? For this office action, this claim will be interpreted as claiming the cable comprises the cable loops.
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 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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuker (US Patent 8,727,084 B1) in view Guerster et al. (US Publication 4,010,913), and in further view of Tepe (US Patent 3,144,218).
Regarding claim 1, Kuker discloses a take-up reel assembly (see figures 1-4B) comprising:
A cable reel (see figures 1-4B and see below) comprising:
a spindle (30, see figures 2B and 3B), a drum (considered the sidewalls of 41 and 42 inside of the partition, see figures 2B and 3B) rotatably disposed axially about the spindle, an outer spool (considered the sidewalls of 41 and 42 outside of the partition, see figures 2B and 3B) disposed coaxially about the drum, a radial partition (considered the radial partition between middle portion of cable 53 and distal portion 54), a composite cable (50 and 80) deployably disposed about the spool such that axial rotation of the spool alternatively deploys and coils the cable, slack cable loops (53, see figures 2B and 3B) in the drum about the axial tube such that when cable is coiled on the spool the loops are relaxed (see column 9 lines 3-48, and figure 3B) and when cable is deployed from the reel the coils tensionally assume the rotation and contract around the axial tube (see column 9 lines 3-48 and figure 2B), and capture of a segment of the cable within the axial tube such that it does not rotate with respect to the reel (see column 9 lines 3-48 and figure 2B).
Kuker does not explicitly disclose 1) an annulus in the partition through which the cable passes into the drum and 2) a rigid axial tube.
Guerster et al. (from here on just referred to as Guerster) discloses a retriever reel (see figures 1-5) and teaches of providing an annulus (60, see figure 3) of a partition (48, see figure 3) to provide a smooth passage for a line extending between an internal core and external compartment (see column 3 lines 1-19).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker by providing an annulus of the partition as an alternative passage for the cable, to provide a smooth passage for a line extending between an internal core and external compartment as taught by Guerster, and/or to increase the amount of cable of the distal cable portion.
Tepe discloses a transmission cable storing and positioning mechanism (see figure 1) and teaches that a rod (or spindle) may be tubular and a portion of a cable may be inserted into the tubular rod and brought out through one end (see column 2 lines 60-65).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified by Guerster by substituting a tubular rod for the spindle, to provide a tubular rod as an alternative means of introducing a cable into the take-up reel assembly as taught by Tepe, and/or to increase the amount of cable of the distal cable portion.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuker (US Patent 8,727,084 B1) in view Guerster et al. (US Publication 4,010,913), and in view of Tepe (US Patent 3,144,218) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Warren et al. (US Publication 2020/0012182 A1).
Regarding claim 2, None of Kuker, Guerster, nor Tepe explicitly disclose wherein the composite cable comprises a data wire and a power wire.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
Warren et al. (from here on just referred to as Warren) discloses a multi-dielectric coaxial push-cable and associated apparatus (see figures 1 and 4A) comprising a composite cable (one of 110 or 410) further comprising a data wire (considered a part of the cable that carries control signals such as inspection data signals, see paragraph 0068 or 0081) and a power wire (considered a part of the cable that provides electrical power to a camera head, see paragraphs 0068 and 0081).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of Warren for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claims 3-5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuker (US Patent 8,727,084 B1) in view Guerster et al. (US Publication 4,010,913), and in view of Tepe (US Patent 3,144,218) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of McCullough et al. (US Publication 2012/0168199 A1).
Regarding claim 3, None of Kuker, Guerster, nor Tepe explicitly disclose wherein the composite cable comprises a cable conduit sheath, an electrically conductive wire and a fluid tube.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
McCullough et al. (from here on just referred to as McCullough) discloses a submersible composite cable and methods (see figures 6A-6C) comprising a composite cable (30) further comprising a cable conduit sheath (26, and paragraph 0099), an electrically conductive wire (see an electrically conductive core cable in paragraph 0099, or see fiber optic cable in paragraph 0099) and a fluid tube (see fluid carrying element of tube in paragraph 0099).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of McCullough for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 4, None of Kuker, Guerster, nor Tepe explicitly disclose wherein the composite cable comprises a fiber optic waveguide and an electric wire.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
McCullough et al. (from here on just referred to as McCullough) discloses a submersible composite cable and methods (see figures 6A-6C) comprising a composite cable (30) further comprising a fiber optic waveguide (see fiber optic cable in paragraph 0099) and an electric wire (see an electrically conductive core cable in paragraph 0099).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of McCullough for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 5, None of Kuker, Guerster, nor Tepe explicitly disclose wherein the composite cable comprises a fiber optic waveguide and a fluid tube.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
McCullough et al. (from here on just referred to as McCullough) discloses a submersible composite cable and methods (see figures 6A-6C) comprising a composite cable (30) further comprising a fiber optic waveguide (see fiber optic cable in paragraph 0099) and a fluid tube (see fluid carrying element or tube in paragraph 0099).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of McCullough for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 7, None of Kuker, Guerster, nor Tepe explicitly disclose wherein the electrically conductive wire comprises a data wire.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
McCullough et al. (from here on just referred to as McCullough) discloses a submersible composite cable and methods (see figures 6A-6C) comprising a composite cable (30) further comprising wherein the electrically conductive wire comprises a data wire (see fiber optic cable in paragraph 0099).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of McCullough for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuker (US Patent 8,727,084 B1) in view Guerster et al. (US Publication 4,010,913), and in view of Tepe (US Patent 3,144,218) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Soerensen (US Publication 2022/0003336 A1)
Regarding claim 6, None of Kuker, Guerster, nor Tepe explicitly disclose wherein the composite cable comprises an electric wire and a solid conveyance tube.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
Soerensen discloses a method of installing a gas transportation arrangement (see figures 1 and/or 23) comprising a composite cable (9 and 10) further comprising an electric wire (see an electrical power cable in paragraph 0072) and a solid conveyance tube (see tube at least partly filled with a solid medium in paragraph 0072).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of Chrow for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuker (US Patent 8,727,084 B1) in view Guerster et al. (US Publication 4,010,913), and view of Tepe (US Patent 3,144,218), and in further view of Morey (US Patent 3,061,234).
Regarding claims 8-9, Kuker discloses a take-up reel assembly (see figures 1-4B) comprising:
A cable reel (see figures 1-4B and see below) comprising:
a spindle (30, see figures 2B and 3B), a drum (considered the sidewalls of 41 and 42 inside of the partition, see figures 2B and 3B) rotatably disposed axially about the spindle, an outer spool (considered the sidewalls of 41 and 42 outside of the partition, see figures 2B and 3B) disposed coaxially about the drum, a radial partition (considered the radial partition between middle portion of cable 53 and distal portion 54), a composite cable (50 and 80) deployably disposed about the spool such that axial rotation of the spool alternatively deploys and coils the cable, cable loops (53, see figures 2B and 3B) in the drum about the axial tube such that when cable is coiled on the spool the loops are relaxed (see column 9 lines 3-48, and figure 3B) and when cable is deployed from the reel the coils tensionally assume the rotation and contract around the axial tube (see column 9 lines 3-48 and figure 2B), and capture of a segment of the cable within the axial tube such that it does not rotate with respect to the reel (see column 9 lines 3-48 and figure 2B).
Kuker does not explicitly disclose 1) an annulus in the partition through which the cable passes into the drum, 2) a rigid axial tube, and 3) a spring disposed between the axial tube and the drum.
Guerster et al. (from here on just referred to as Guerster) discloses a retriever reel (see figures 1-5) and teaches of providing an annulus (60, see figure 3) of a partition (48, see figure 3) to provide a smooth passage for a line extending between an internal core and external compartment (see column 3 lines 1-19).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker by providing an annulus of the partition as an alternative passage for the cable, to provide a smooth passage for a line extending between an internal core and external compartment as taught by Guerster, and/or to increase the amount of cable of the distal cable portion.
Tepe discloses a transmission cable storing and positioning mechanism (see figure 1) and teaches that a rod (or spindle) may be tubular and a portion of a cable may be inserted into the tubular rod and brought out through one end (see column 2 lines 60-65).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified by Guerster by substituting a tubular rod for the spindle, to provide a tubular rod as an alternative means of introducing a cable into the take-up reel assembly as taught by Tepe, and/or to increase the amount of cable of the distal cable portion.
Morey discloses a retractable conductor cord reel assembly (see figures 1-7, especially figure 3) and teaches of providing a spiral (or clock) spring (60, see figures 1, 3, and 7) and teaches of connecting one end (60a) of the spring to a spindle (18) and a second end (60b) to a reel member (2a), to wind a cable. See column 4 lines 29-44.
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified by Guerster by attaching one end of the spring of (37) of Kuker to the axial tube and another end of the spring to the spool (40) to provide an alternative means for winding the cable, to connect one end of a cable to a central support member and another end to a reel/spool as taught by Morey.
With the modification above, the spring disposed between an axial tube and the drum.
Further, with the modification above, the spring is a clock spring disposed about the axial tube
having a first end affixed to the tube and a second end affixed to the spool, regarding claim 9.
Regarding claim 10, Kuker further shows the composite cable (50 and 80) comprises the cable loops (see figures 2B and 3B).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuker (US Patent 8,727,084 B1) in view Guerster et al. (US Publication 4,010,913), and view of Tepe (US Patent 3,144,218), and in view of Morey (US Patent 3,061,234) as applied to claims 8-10 above, and further in view of Soerensen (US Publication 2022/0003336 A1).
Regarding claim 11, None of Kuker, Guerster, Tepe nor Morey explicitly disclose wherein the composite cable comprises an electrically conductive sub-cable larger than 4 AWG, a fluid tube and a solid conveyance tube.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
Soerensen discloses a method of installing a gas transportation arrangement (see figures 1 and/or 23) comprising a composite cable (9 and 10) further comprising an electrically conductive sub-cable (see an electrical power cable in paragraph 0072), a fluid tube (see tube at least partly filled with liquid in paragraph 0072), and a solid conveyance tube (see tube at least partly filled with a solid medium in paragraph 0072).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of Chrow for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Kuker as modified above discloses the claimed invention except for the cable larger than 4 AWG. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the cable larger than 4 AWG, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
The cable larger than 4 AWG is a result-effective range because the recognized result would be to provide enough power along the cable to compensate for voltage or amp losses that occur along long cable lengths. Further, the result expected by one of ordinary skill in the art would be to provide a cable to carry more current with less resistance.
The difference between the claimed invention of dependent claim 11 and the prior art of Kuker as modified above is cable larger than 4 AWG. The discovering of an optimum range of a result effective range would be within the skill of one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claims 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuker (US Patent 8,727,084 B1) in view Guerster et al. (US Publication 4,010,913), and view of Tepe (US Patent 3,144,218), and in view of Morey (US Patent 3,061,234) as applied to claims 8-10 above, and further in view of McCullough et al. (US Publication 2012/0168199 A1).
Regarding claim 12, None of Kuker, Guerster, Tepe nor Morey explicitly disclose wherein the composite cable further comprises a cable conduit sheath.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
McCullough et al. (from here on just referred to as McCullough) discloses a submersible composite cable and methods (see figures 6A-6C) comprising a composite cable (30) further comprising a cable conduit sheath (26, and paragraph 0099), an electrically conductive wire (see an electrically conductive core cable in paragraph 0099, or see fiber optic cable in paragraph 0099) and a fluid tube (see fluid carrying element of tube in paragraph 0099).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of McCullough for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 13, None of Kuker, Guerster, Tepe nor Morey explicitly disclose wherein the composite cable comprises a fiber optic waveguide and an electrically conductive wire.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
McCullough et al. (from here on just referred to as McCullough) discloses a submersible composite cable and methods (see figures 6A-6C) comprising a composite cable (30) further comprising a fiber optic waveguide (see fiber optic cable in paragraph 0099) and an electrically conductive wire (see an electrically conductive core cable in paragraph 0099).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of McCullough for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claims 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuker (US Patent 8,727,084 B1) in view Guerster et al. (US Publication 4,010,913), and view of Tepe (US Patent 3,144,218), and in view of Morey (US Patent 3,061,234) as applied to claims 8-10 above, and further in view of McCullough et al. (US Publication 2012/0168199 A1), and in further view of Richards et al. (US Patent 2,803,692).
Regarding claim 14, None of Kuker, Guerster, Tepe, nor Morey explicitly disclose wherein the composite cable comprises a plurality of data wires, a power wire and a metallic cable conduit sheath.
Kuker teaches that the reel is for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member (see column 1 lines 5-10). Kuker further teaches that reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art (see column 1 lines 11-23) and that a FEM is made of one or more of any of the following: electrical cables having any electrical cables having any number of conductors, pneumatic hoses, hydraulic hoses, other types of fluid hoses, optical fibers or cables, ropes, cords, wires, cables, or any other flexible element having a length much longer than its width and thickness (see column 2 lines 28-33).
McCullough et al. (from here on just referred to as McCullough) discloses a submersible composite cable and methods (see figures 6A-6C) comprising a composite cable (30) further comprising a plurality of data wires (see fiber optic cable in paragraph 0099, and as each of figures 6A to 6C shows multiple wires), a power wire (see electrically conductive cable core cable in paragraph 0099) and a cable conduit sheath (26).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by substituting the composite cable of McCullough for the composite cable of Kuker, to use the reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member as taught by Kuker, as reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art as taught by Kuker, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
None of Kuker, Guerster, Tepe, Morey nor McCullough explicitly disclose the cable conduit sheave is a metallic cable conduit sheath.
Richards et al. (from here on just referred to as Richards) discloses a fluid filled electric cable (see figure 2) comprising a composite cable (1, 2, 3, and 4, see figure 2) and teaches that the composite cable comprises a metal (or metallic) sheath (4, see figure 2, and see column 1 lines 54-64).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the take-up reel assembly of Kuker as modified above by providing a metallic sheath around the composite cable of Kuker, to provide a metallic sheath around a composite cable as taught by Richards, to provide a sheath around the composite cable for the benefit of protecting the composite cable from outside elements, to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, and/or as known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
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/JJC/
/ROBERT W HODGE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3654