PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15917957
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-03
Publication Date: 2019-04
Patent Classification: ["473", "604000"]

Abstract:
A sports ball including a plurality of specifically-configured panels bonded together along their abutting edges, and bonded with a carcass on the inner surface of the panels by an adhesive. The carcass surrounds the entire surface of a hanging or suspended elastic bladder that is not fixedly attached to the carcass. The panels include a casing that forms an exterior surface of the ball, and at least one lining layer to give structure, strength and softness to the ball.

Claim (Index 19):
A method of manufacturing a sports ball comprising:\n forming a plurality of panels, wherein each panel is formed by:\n attaching a casing layer to a first lining layer, the first lining layer comprising:\n a plurality of perforations forming a perforated perimeter line at a position between from approximately 2 to approximately 4 mm inside from and parallel to a perimeter edge of the first lining layer; \n \n attaching the first lining layer to a second lining layer, the second lining layer comprising:\n a plurality of perforations forming a perforated perimeter line at a position between from approximately 2 to approximately 4 mm inside from and parallel to a perimeter edge of the second lining layer; and \n a plurality of apertures therethrough; \n wherein any one of the plurality of apertures is positioned between from approximately 15 to approximately 25 mm from a respective vertex or corner; \n \n applying adhesive to peripheral edges of the casing layer; \n turning the peripheral edges of the casing layer inwardly toward the edges of the first and second lining layer; and \n attaching the peripheral edges of the casing to respective abutting edges of the first lining layer; \n attaching the panels to one another along edges of the panels so an outer surface of the casing layers forms an outer shell of the sports ball; providing a fabric carcass that surrounds a hanging or suspended inflatable bladder; attaching a double-lock valve to the hanging or suspended inflatable bladder and the carcass; attaching an outer surface of the carcass to an inner surface of the panels; and molding the outer shell of the formed sports ball; wherein each panel comprises the casing layer of greater surface area than the first lining layer, and the first lining layer of greater surface area than the second lining layer; wherein the inflatable bladder is not fixedly attached to the carcass; and wherein the double-lock valve provides two distinct locations of sealing between the inflatable bladder and an exterior surface of the sports ball, and comprises an aperture at a bottom of a valve heart of the valve and an aperture at a bottom of a U-shaped structure of the valve, wherein the double-lock valve is configured to accept a nozzle inserted therein for pressurizing the sports ball, and wherein when the nozzle is thereafter removed, the apertures serve as the double locks for the pressurized air, and do not allow the air to come out from the inflatable bladder through the valve.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 5.0
- Percentile: 90.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.57407
- Patent Class: 473.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: True
- Related Applications: ['12070557', '11637378', '12924609', '15537875', '15410190']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.6430382757542684
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4957711527340728
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6283115634522488
- Mean Citation Score: 241.680696
- Max Citation Score: 249.9126
- Similarity Product: 178.41934552241565

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 0
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test