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 with traverse of Species I, claims 1-7 in the reply filed on 06/01/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the search of Species I, II, and III jointly would not impose a serious burden because the Inventions share one or more common features. This is not found persuasive because different search strategies, search terms, and search queries will be required to search for the different species. For example, the term “flush” or “align$4” is required to search for Species I but not any of the other species, the term “inward$4”, “below”, or “beneath” is required to search for Species II but not any of the other species, and the term “fold$4”, “above”, or “over” is required to search for Species III but not any of the other species.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 8-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 06/01/2026.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“closure to” in line 6 should read “closure towards” (because the transfer dial assembly 111 does not directly transport the container closure 204 to the container body 202 according to the specification of the instant application).
“configured to” in line 8 should read “the closure assembly being configured to:”.
“the at least one container body” in line 9 should read “the container body”.
“the at least one container body and” in lines 10-11 should read “the container body, and”.
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informality: “the at least one container body” in line 2 should read “the container body”.
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informality: “comprise each comprise” in line 2 should read “each comprise”.
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“and chuck” in line 1 should read “and the chuck”.
“the at least one container body” in line 2 should read “the container body”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 1 recites the limitation “An assembly module…comprising: a continuously rotating rotary turret…; a continuously rotating transfer dial assembly…; and a closure assembly comprising an expanding collet and a chuck” in lines 1-8. However, this is not disclosed in any part of the instant application. Instead, it is clear from Paragraph 0091 and Figure 7 of the Patent Application Publication of the instant application that the assembly module 200 only comprises a chuck 220 and an expanding collet 210. Thus, the limitation is not properly described in the specification. The examiner suggests changing “assembly module” to “system” in all instances the phrase appears in claims 1-7 in order to overcome this rejection.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 5 recites the limitation “wherein the continuously rotating rotary turret comprises a plurality of pocketed turrets configured to transport the container bodies” in lines 1-3. However, this is not disclosed in any part of the instant application. Instead, it is clear from Paragraph 0088 and Figure 4 of the Patent Application Publication of the instant application that the continuously rotating rotary turret 54 only comprises a plurality of pockets configured to transport the container closures 204. Furthermore, it is clear from Paragraph 0075 and Figure 4 of the Patent Application Publication of the instant application that rotary turntable 32 comprises a plurality of pockets configured to transport the container bodies 202. Thus, the limitation is not properly described in the specification. The examiner suggests amending claim 5 to read as follows in order to overcome this rejection:
“The system of claim 1, further comprising a rotary turntable comprising a plurality of pockets configured to transport the container bodies.”
Please note that if this amendment is made, “pocketed turrets” in line 1 of claim 6 must be changed to “pockets”.
Claims 2-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) because they depend from claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-7 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding independent claim 1, the prior art taken alone or in combination fails to disclose or render obvious the following limitations of claim 1 in combination with all the other limitations of claim 1:
“a closure assembly comprising an expanding collet and a chuck, configured to recess the container closure entirely into the at least one container body such that a peripheral edge of the container closure is flush with an edge of the at least one container body and form a seal between the container body and the container closure”.
The prior art reference considered by the examiner to come closest to teaching the limitations of claim 1 is Jeong (KR 101425310 B1), hereinafter Jeong.
Jeong discloses an assembly module (10 in Figures 1 and 2) for applying container closures (30 in Figures 1, 2, 7, and 8) to container bodies (20 in Figures 1, 3, 7, and 8), the assembly module (10) comprising:
a continuously rotating rotary turret (200 in Figures 1-5) configured to receive and transport at least one container closure (30) (it is apparent when Figures 1 and 2 is viewed in relation to Figure 7 that rotary turret 200 receives container closures 30 on top of container bodies 20 and transports the container closures 30 together with the container bodies 20, Paragraphs 0030, 0042, and 0043 of Machine Translation of KR 101425310 B1);
a continuously rotating transfer dial assembly (500 in Figures 1, 2, and 6) configured to separate a container closure (30) from a stacked closure supply (400 in Figures 1, 2, and 7) (apparent from Figure 7, Paragraphs 0063-0066 of Machine Translation of KR 101425310 B1), and transport the container closure (30) to a container body (20) (apparent from Figure 7, Paragraphs 0063-0066 and 0070 of Machine Translation of KR 101425310 B1).
However, Jeong, taken alone or in combination with the prior art as a whole and legal precedence, fails to teach or render obvious the combination of limitations shown in quotation marks above.
Regarding claims 2-7, they are indicated as being allowable solely because they depend from claim 1 which is allowable as explained above.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Langwieser et al. (US 2019/0071197) also teaches an assembly module (shown in Figure 1A) comprising a continuously rotating rotary turret (30 in Figures 1A and 2) as recited in claim 1 (Paragraph 0047) and a continuously rotating transfer dial assembly (10 in Figures 2 and 1A) as recited in claim 1 (Paragraph 0047), but fails to teach a closure assembly as recited in claim 1.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TANZIM IMAM whose telephone number is (571)272-2216. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon - Fri 8:00AM - 4:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shelley Self can be reached on 571-272-4524. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TANZIM IMAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3731
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