Ex Parte Meier et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Aug 8, 2016

12055913 (P.T.A.B. Aug. 8, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
12/055,913 03/26/2008
93288 7590 08/09/2016
HID Global c/o Westman Champlin & Koehler, P.A
900 Second A venue South, Suite 1400
Minneapolis, MN 55402
James R. Meier
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www .uspto.gov
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
Fl2.12-0184 8636
EXAMINER
BLADES, JOHN A
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
1746
MAILDATE DELIVERY MODE
08/09/2016 PAPER
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE
THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Exparte JAMES R. MEIER, 1
Greg E. Gindele, and Anthony L. Lokken
Appeal2014-005100
Application 12/055,913
Technology Center 1700
Before PETER F. KRATZ, MARK NAGUMO, and
KAREN M. HASTINGS, Administrative Patent Judges.
NAGUMO, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
James R. Meier, Greg E. Gindele, and Anthony L. Lokken ("Meier")
timely appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Final Rejection2 of
claims 1---6, 8-15, and 17-20, which are all of the pending claims. We have
jurisdiction. 35 U.S.C. § 6. We reverse.
1 The real party in interest is listed as HID GLOBAL Corporation. (Appeal
Brief, filed 29 August 2013 ("Br."), 3.)
2 Office action mailed 22 May 2013 ("Final Rejection").
Appeal2014-005100
Application 12/055,913
A. Introduction 3
OPfNION
The subject matter on appeal relates to a laminating apparatus that is
said to provide "improved alignment accuracy between an overlaminate
patch and the substrate to which it is to be laminated." (Spec. 1, 11. 8-9.)
As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 (reproduced, with added annotations, on the
following page), the laminating apparatuses of interest comprise
cartridges 134 4 which include a supply spool 136 and a take-up spool 138,
on which [laminating] ribbon 132 is wound. (Id. at 6, 11. 11-13.) The
Specification explains that "[t]he cartridges 134 simplify the loading of the
ribbon 132 into the laminator 100." (Id. at 11. 14--15.) Substrates to be
laminated, such as identification cards or driver's licenses (id. at 1, 1. 13), are
transported by substrate transport mechanism 113 to the nip between
laminating rollers 160, where laminating ribbons 132 are laminated to the
substrates.
Inaccuracies in the laminating process, such as variation in the
overlaminating ribbon, are said to require making the overlaminating patch
slightly smaller than the surface of the substrate to avoid overhanging the
edges of the substrate. (Id. at 2, 11. 3-7.) The inventors seek patent
protecting for a laminating apparatus that provides a "ribbon cartridge
3 Application 12/055,913, Credential substrate laminator having a
cartridge position adjustment mechanism, filed 26 March 2008, claiming the
benefit of a provisional application filed 27 March 2007. We refer to the
"'913 Specification," which we cite as "Spec."
4 Throughout this Opinion, for clarity, labels to elements are presented in
bold font, regardless of their presentation in the original document.
2
Appeal2014-005100
Application 12/055,913
adjustable in a widthwise direction relative to the processing path."
(Id. at 11. 12-13.) In the words of the Specification, "[t]he improved
accuracy allows the patch 122 to be formed longer and wider than
patches 122 used in conventional laminators resulting in improved substrate
surface protection." (Id. at 9, 11. 3-5.)
{Fig 1, annotated, is shown below}
:: ' -~ .. , ... : i ~i
_, L ..... -..... --~ .. ··: "".. .. 14S't' :::
n-"·L~~-~-~-~--~~---",~ ~ ·: 1:
FIG. 1
{Fig. 1 shows a laminator in perspective}
{Fig. 2, annotated, is shown below}
_/;:,:~~~c~::'I:;~:-~::::::~-'-'----_-_-_-_:;·_-_._-_·_;;~;~~~::::::~T~1~~"'\,\~ / 100
FIG. 2
{Fig. 2 shows a laminator in cross section along line 2-2 in Fig. 1}
3
Appeal2014-005100
Application 12/055,913
Details of an embodiment by which stop cams 210 on the cartridge
receiver 140 are biased against stop surfaces 220 on cartridge 134, under the
control of adjustor knob 232, allowing movement of cartridge 134 along
widthwise axis 166, are provided in the Specification at pages 10-15, and in
Figs. 7-12, not reproduced here.
Claim 1 is representative of the dispositive issues and reads:
A credential substrate laminator comprising:
a housing including a cartridge receiver;
a laminating roller;
a substrate transport mechanism configured to feed
substrates along a processing path in a lengthwise
direction;
a cartridge received in the cartridge receiver and including
a ribbon supply that extends between the laminating roller
and the processing path;
a cartridge position adjustment mechanism configured to
adjust a position of the cartridge in a widthwise
direction that is transverse to the lengthwise direction
relative to the substrate processing path.
(Claims App., Br. 25; indentation, paragraphing, and emphasis added.)
Remaining independent claim 9 contains the same critical limitation
of a cartridge position adjustment mechanism, with further recitations of
cam surfaces involved in moving the cartridge.
4
Appeal2014-005100
Application 12/055,913
The Examiner maintains the following grounds of rejection5 :
A. Claims 1, 8, and 17 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
in view of the combined teachings of Singer6 and Maynard. 7
Al. Claims 2---6, 9-15, and 20 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a) in view of the combined teachings of
Singer Maynard, and Leopold. 8
A2. Claims 1---6, 8-15, 17, and 20 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a) in view of the combined teachings of
Maynard, and Shinno. 9
B. Discussion
Findings of fact throughout this Opinion are supported by a
preponderance of the evidence of record.
As Meier urges (Br. 9), a central difficulty with the appealed
rejections is the absence of a teaching or suggestion based on the cited prior
art to provide a mechanism to adjust the lateral position of the cartridges
described by Maynard. The Examiner finds, and Meier does not dispute,
that both Singer and Shinno describe ways of adjusting the lateral position of
a spool holding the ribbon to be laminated to substrates relative to the
substrates. But the Examiner has not shown, for example, that the
5 Examiner's Answer mailed 25 November 2013 ("Ans.").
6 Karl Singer, Double sided lamination machine, U.S. Patent No. 5,139,600
(1992).
7 Raymond Maynard and Christian S. Rothwell, Card laminating apparatus,
U.S. Patent No. 6,244,319 Bl (2001).
8 Edmund A. Leopold, Method of making a spacer frame assembly, U.S.
Patent No. 5,361,476 (1994).
9 Nobuo Shinno and Yasuhiro Onishi, Apparatus for automatically bonding
tape, JP 01-247146 (1989) (Patent Abstracts of Japan, abstract only).
5
Appeal2014-005100
Application 12/055,913
differences between the positions of the components of the prior art
apparatus, before and after lateral adjustment of the spool, would have been
such as to suggest that a corresponding lateral shift of the cartridges in the
apparatus described by Maynard would have been feasible or obvious. Put
another way, absent some teaching in the prior art indicating, e.g.,
recognition of a problem of lateral misalignment in the cartridges described
by Maynard, and a further recognition that that problem could be solved by
moving the cartridge laterally, the weight of the evidence presented by the
Examiner indicates, as Meier urges, "the combination proposed by the
Examiner would only result in the spool adjustment mechanism of Singer
being used to adjust a lateral position of a spool within the cartridge of
Maynard." (Br. 9, 11. 8-10.)
The Examiner makes no findings regarding Leonard that cure this
deficiency.
The only teachings in the present record relating to moving the
cartridge laterally are found in the '913 Specification.
Accordingly, the appealed rejections are reversed.
C. Order
It is ORDERED that the rejection of claims 1-6, 8-15, and 17-20 is
reversed.
REVERSED
6