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 .
Priority
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Albright (US 2018/0095640) in view of Knoener (US 2017/0165775) and Sammons (US 2014/0061169).
With respect to the limitations of claim 1, Albright teaches a welding-type system (Fig 1, abstract) comprising: a welding-type power supply (Fig 1, power supply 120, 0039); a graphical user interface (GUI) that includes a graphical interface (Fig 1, user interfaces 114, 118, 122, 0041, 0042) representing a welding parameter (0041); and a control circuitry (control pendant 116, 0038) configured to: receive data corresponding to a range of command values for the welding parameter, the range of command values having an upper limit or a lower limit (Figs 4-8 shows that in each mode selection comes with selections of ranges and parameters; 0046); generate a graphical band (modes selection as shown in fig.4-5 such as 5, 18, 21 and 22) representing the range of command values for the welding parameter (0047, 0051), the range of command values bounded by the upper limit and the lower limit (once selection of certain mode, it will bring the correspondent welding parameter upper and lower limit as shown in fig.5), display the graphical band on the GUI (user interfaces 114, 118, 122); and control the welding-type power supply (120) to maintain a command value within the range of command values when in a mode (Fig 5, mode selections 5, 18, 21).
Albright discloses the claimed invention except for a size of the graphical band is based on the upper limit and the lower limit; and maintaining a command value in a lock mode.
However, Knoener discloses a size of the graphical band is based on the upper limit and the lower limit (Fig 2, graphical range indicators 60, 62, 0045, graphical range indicators 60 and 62 depict…whether the welding voltage and/or wire feed speed parameters are in the acceptable ranges of values, where the acceptable ranges are interpreted to include an upper and lower limit) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the welding-type system of Albright displaying a graphical band on the GUI silent to a size of the graphical band with a size of the graphical band is based on the upper limit and the lower limit of Knoener for the purpose of providing a known graphical band display configuration that allows a user to quickly determine the acceptable ranges of an adjustable welding parameter, thereby improving the overall convenience of the device.
Additionally, Sammons discloses maintaining a command value in a lock mode (0044, 0085, 0086) is known in the art. It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in art before effective filling date to modify the control system of Albright in view of Knoener to include a lock mode as disclosed by Sammons in order to limit access by selected users and so that access to adjust machine management selections is permitted only for authorized users (0119).
With respect to the limitations of claims 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, Albright teaches a user interface (114) to set, activate or deactivate the upper limit or the lower limit value associated with the graphical band of the welding parameter (0053);
the control circuitry (116) further configured to: receive one or more particular welding parameters; and calculate an upper limit or a lower limit value of the welding parameter based on one of the particular welding parameters (0046, 0051, 0052);
the control circuitry (116) is further configured to display values corresponding to the upper limit or the lower limit of the range of command values for the welding parameter (0042);
the control circuitry (116) is further configured to generate an alert when the command value comes within a threshold level of the upper limit or the lower limit for the welding parameter (0051);
a user interface (114, 116 or 122) to adjust the range of command values for the welding parameter (abstract, lines 1-5);
a user interface (114, 116 or 122) comprising a selector knob or a touch screen (0042);
a user interface (114, 116 or 122) to set, activate or deactivate the upper limit or the lower limit associated with the range of command values of the welding parameter (0051, 0053).
With respect to the limitations of claim 3 and 4, Albright in view of Knoener and Sammons discloses further comprising a user interface to set, activate or deactivate the lock mode (Sammons, 0044, 0085, 0086) for the welding parameter (Albright, 0053);
the lock (Sammons, 0044, 0085, 0086) mode (Albright, Fig 5, mode selections 5, 18, 21) corresponds to the upper limit or the lower limit for the range of command values corresponding to the welding parameter (Albright, 0056), each respective upper limit and lower limit values are configured to be activated or deactivated independently (Albright, 0051, 0053).
With respect to the limitations of claim 11, Albright teaches a welding-type system (Fig 1, abstract) comprising: a welding-type power supply (Fig 1, power supply 120, 0039); a graphical user interface that includes a first graphical interface (Fig 1, user interfaces 114, 118 or 122, 0041, 0042) representing a first welding parameter (0041, 0046; where figures 4-8 shows that in each selection comes with selections of ranges and parameters such as voltage, current, WFS), and a second graphical interface representing a second welding parameter (Figures 4-8, shows that second selection correspond to one of ranges and parameters such as voltage, current, WFS; 0051); and a control circuitry (control pendant 116, 0038) configured to: receive data corresponding to an upper command value limit or a lower command value limit associated with the first welding parameter or the second welding parameter (0047, 0051); receive, via a user interface, a command to activate or deactivate a lock mode for the upper command value limit or the lower command value limit for the first or second welding parameter (0051, 0053); generate a first graphical band representing a range of command values for the first welding parameter between the corresponding upper and lower command value limits (0051, 0056); generate a second graphical band representing a range of command values for the second welding parameter between the corresponding upper and lower command value limits; and control the welding-type power supply to maintain the first command value or the second command value within the respective range of command values when in the mode (Fig 5, mode selections 5, 18, 21, 0046, 0051, 0052).
Albright discloses the claimed invention except for a first shape of the first graphical band is based on the corresponding upper limit and the lower limit; and maintaining a command value in a lock mode.
However, Knoener discloses a first shape of the first of the graphical band is based on the corresponding upper limit and the lower limit (Fig 2, graphical range indicators 60, 62, 0045, graphical range indicators 60 and 62 depict…whether the welding voltage and/or wire feed speed parameters are in the acceptable ranges of values, where the acceptable ranges are interpreted to include an upper and lower limit) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the welding-type system of Albright displaying a first graphical band on the GUI silent to a first shape of the first graphical band is based on the corresponding upper limit and the lower limit of Knoener for the purpose of providing a known graphical band display configuration that allows a user to quickly determine the acceptable ranges of an adjustable welding parameter, thereby improving the overall convenience of the device.
Additionally, Sammons discloses maintaining a command value in a lock mode (0044, 0085, 0086) is known in the art. It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in art before effective filling date to modify the control system of Albright in view of Knoener to include a lock mode as disclosed by Sammons in order to limit access by selected users and so that access to adjust machine management selections is permitted only for authorized users (0119).
With respect to the limitations of claims 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, Albright teaches the control circuitry (116) is further configured to: receive data from one or more sensors corresponding to first and second command values for each of the first and second welding parameters, respectively (0040); display a first marker on the first graphical interface representing the first command value; and display a second marker on the second graphical interface representing the second command value (0043);
each graphical interface further comprises a numerical value corresponding to the first and second command values (Figs 4-8, 0042, 0043);
the first welding parameter is one or more of a voltage or arc length (Figs 4-8, 0046);
the second welding parameter is one or more of a wire feed speed or amperage (Figs 4-8, 0046);
the control circuitry is further configured to display a first characteristic on the first or second graphical band (Figs 4-8, 0046);
portions of each graphical interface displays a graphical operating range corresponding to the operating range of the respective welding parameter, portions of the graphical operating range outside the respective graphical band is displayed with a second characteristic (Figs 4-8, 0051);
the first or second characteristic comprises one of a color, an intensity, a shape, a size, or a pattern (0054);
the first characteristic is a first color and the second characteristic is a second color (0051).
With respect to the limitations of claim 20, Albright teaches a welding-type system (Fig 1, Abstract) comprising: a welding-type power supply (Fig 1, power supply 120, 0039); a graphical user interface (Fig 1, user interfaces 114, 118 or 122, 0041, 0042) that includes a first graphical interface representing a first welding parameter (0041, 0046; where figures 4-8 shows that in each selection comes with selections of ranges and parameters such as voltage, current, WFS), and a second graphical interface representing a second welding parameter (Figures 4-8, shows that second selection correspond to one of ranges and parameters such as voltage, current, WFS; 0051); and a control circuitry (control pendant 116, 0038) configured to: receive, via a menu driven selection device, data corresponding to an upper command value limit or a lower command value limit associated with the first welding parameter or the second welding parameter; receive, via the menu driven selection device (0051), a command to activate or deactivate a mode for the upper command value limit or the lower command value limit for the first or second welding parameter (0051, 0053); generate a first graphical band representing a range of command values for the first welding parameter between the corresponding upper and lower command value limits (0051, 0056); generate a second graphical band representing a range of command values for the second welding parameter between the corresponding upper and lower command value limits (0051, 0056); and control the welding-type power supply to maintain the first command value or the second command value within the respective range of command values when in the mode (Fig 5, mode selections 5, 18, 21, 0046, 0051, 0052).
Albright discloses the claimed invention except for a first shape of the first graphical band is based on the corresponding upper limit and the lower limit; and maintaining a command value in a lock mode.
However, Knoener discloses a first shape of the first of the graphical band is based on the corresponding upper limit and the lower limit (Fig 2, graphical range indicators 60, 62, 0045, graphical range indicators 60 and 62 depict…whether the welding voltage and/or wire feed speed parameters are in the acceptable ranges of values, where the acceptable ranges are interpreted to include an upper and lower limit) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the welding-type system of Albright displaying a first graphical band on the GUI silent to a first shape of the first graphical band is based on the corresponding upper limit and the lower limit of Knoener for the purpose of providing a known graphical band display configuration that allows a user to quickly determine the acceptable ranges of an adjustable welding parameter, thereby improving the overall convenience of the device.
Additionally, Sammons discloses maintaining a command value in a lock mode (0044, 0085, 0086) is known in the art. It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in art before effective filling date to modify the control system of Albright in view of Knoener to include a lock mode as disclosed by Sammons in order to limit access by selected users and so that access to adjust machine management selections is permitted only for authorized users (0119).
Response to Amendments
Claims 1, 11 and 20 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 3/28/2024 with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THIEN S TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7745. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday [8:00-4:00].
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/THIEN S TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 7/29/2025