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 § 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.
Claims 1-13 and 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusano et al. (US 4,654,006) in view of Chiou et al. (US 2016/0008106O and further in view of Busin et al. (US2008/0206713).
Kusano discloses an apparatus and method that includes an upper denture mold (1) that comprises a heat moldable portion formed of a heat moldable material that is configured to be malleable when heated (column 3, lines 45-46); wherein teeth (4) are attached to the upper heat moldable portion (3); wherein the heat moldable material is polypropylene (column 3, line 22); wherein the moldable portion is capable of being reheated; a method of placing the mold in a heated environment that is hot water and removing. Kusano also teaches that the material can be heated at high temperatures, 70 degrees Celsius and above, but not exactly 160 degree F (which is 71.1 degree Celsius). Kusano fails to disclose a lower mold for the maxilla, wherein the moldable portions included a thermochromic material that changes to various colors and is located on various portions of the moldable portions; and wherein the thermochromic material reverts back to the first color when cooling.
Chiou et al. teaches creating a mold for a denture that includes both an upper set for the mandible and a lower portion for the maxilla (abstract, 0013). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Kusano to include both an upper and lower mold, as taught by Chiou, in order to provide a full denture set for the entire mouth.
Busin teaches thermochromic material for dental impressions that reversibly changes color dependent on temperature (abstract); wherein the color can change into various colors [0043]. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Kusano/Chiou to include a thermochromic material as taught by Busin, in order to provide the dentist with real time visual feedback of the material’s temperature, allowing the dentist to know the behaviour of the material (i.e. if its moldable). It would have been obvious to one having orindary skill in the art to modify, Kusano/Chiou/Busin, to include a moldable portion in the various colors before and after heating, since it is a matter of design choice that involves routine skill in the art. Furthermore, it would have been obvious to modify Kusano/Chiou/Busin to include the thermochromic material in the various claimed locations, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70. It would also have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have the mold material change color at 160 degree Fahrenheit, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. See In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215.
Claims 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusano et al. (US 4,654,006) in view of Chiou et al., Busin et al. and further in view of Nakashima et al. (US 5,558,699).
Kusano as modified fails to disclose wherein the thermochromic material remains the second color after cooling.
Nakashima teaches a thermochromic color that changes color and retains the second color after cooling of the material (column 1, lines 5-15). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include Nakshima’s thermochromic material to the modified Kusano invention, since such a material is well known and will allow the user to know once the material has been altered by temperature.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO – 892 Form.
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/SUNIL K SINGH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3722
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