PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16059275
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-08
Publication Date: 2018-12
Patent Classification: ["425", "375000"]

Abstract:
An apparatus and method for the automated manufacturing of three-dimensional ( 3 D) composite-based objects is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a material feeder, a printer, a powder system, a transfer system, and optionally a fuser. The method comprises inserting a stack of substrate sheets into a material feeder, transferring a sheet of the stack from the material feeder to a printer, depositing fluid on the single sheet while the sheet rests on a printer platen, transferring the sheet from the printer to a powder system, depositing powder onto the single sheet such that the powder adheres to the areas of the sheet onto which the printer has deposited fluid, removing any powder that did not adhere to the sheet, optionally melting the powder on the substrate, and repeating the steps for as many additional sheets as required for making a specified  3 D object.

Claim (Index 45):
The method of  claim 14 , wherein a method of transferring the sheet to the printer comprises the steps of\n sending a signal to a stepper motor causing the gripper to move upward a pre-defined distance; confirming that the gripper is holding a sheet; sending a signal, by a controller, to a manifold to turn off air to hold-down prongs of the material feeder; sending a signal, by the controller, to a stepper motor to rotate the hold-down prongs off a second sheet; sending a signal, by the controller, to an positioner to cause the gripper to move towards the printer platen; sending signals, by the controller when the gripper reaches a pre-defined position over the platen, to the stepper motors and manifold so that the substrate sheet is lowered and placed on the platen; releasing the sheet, by the gripper; and sending a signal, by the controller, to the positioner causing the gripper to return to an initial position above the material feeder.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 20.0
- Percentile: 96.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.27143
- Patent Class: 425.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: none
- Component Type: 0
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15611320', '15922469', '10782323', '15803199', '15722653']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.6777888281264615
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5483151202385886
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6648414573376742
- Mean Citation Score: 186.4833852
- Max Citation Score: 395.5807
- Similarity Product: 261.84499768664244

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test