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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant submitted amendments to the claims on 05/15/2025 that are being examined in this office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-5, 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jo et al (US PUB. 20130004609, herein Jo) in view of Uchiyama et al (US PUB. 20090012656, herein Uchiyama) in further view of Watanabe et al (US PUB. 20180050478, herein Watanabe).
Regarding claim 1, Jo teaches An apparatus for taking out a molded product comprising:
a storage section operable to store an operation sequence that is pre-determined by teaching (0028, setting section 31)
an operation control section operable to control an operation to take out a molded product from an opened mold of a molding machine with a take-out head by moving the take-out head according to the operation sequence (0028) [to carry the taken out molded product to a pre-determined position and to release the molded product there];
and a display control section operable to cause the display section to display on the display screen data used at least when performing the teaching and changing set conditions for the operation sequence stored in the storage section (0028 “setting section 31 sets the mode of operation, such as an operation to take out a molded product, including conditions set for the plurality of air driven devices and the plurality of electric devices according to an input from a user”),
wherein: the display control section displays on the display screen at least identification indications for a plurality of set operations set in the operation sequence, set values for the plurality of set operations (0028).
Jo does not teach to carry the taken out molded product to a pre-determined position and to release the molded product there, an operation time counting section operable to count an actual operation time from a time when a plurality of set operations is started according the operation sequence till a time when the operations are completed; an operation time storing section operable to store, on a time series basis, the plurality of actual operation times counted by the operation time counting section; and at least one of the actual operations times stored in the operation time storing section in correspondence to the plurality of set operations and an increase or decrease amount in the actual operation time.
Uchiyama teaches an operation time counting section operable to count an actual operation time from a time when a plurality of set operations is started according the operation sequence till a time when the operations are completed (0011);
an operation time storing section operable to store, on a time series basis, the plurality of actual operation times counted by the operation time counting section (0012);
wherein: the display control section displays on the display screen at least identification indications for a plurality of set operations set in the operation sequence, set values for the plurality of set operations (taught by Jo) and the actual operations times stored in the operation time storing section in correspondence to the plurality of set operations and an increase or decrease amount in the actual operation time (0034 “The logic chart shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on a display screen of the display unit 13. Events at the start and end of a time measurement interval are set to boxes of measurement start and measurement end settings on the display screen, respectively. In this case, the list of events shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display screen in a window form, events are selected from the list of the events, and the selected events are set to the setting boxes”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to have modified the teachings of Jo with the teachings of Uchiyama since Uchiyama teaches a means for better considerations to be made through its data collection and displaying (0010 0011).
While Jo teaches picking up molds, Jo and Uchiyama do not explicitly teach to carry the taken out molded product to a pre-determined position and to release the molded product there.
Watanabe teaches to carry the taken out molded product to a pre-determined position and to release the molded product there (0030).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to have modified the teachings of Jo and the teachings of Uchiyama with the teachings of Watanabe since Watanabe teaches an improved means for taking out a molded product (0008).
Regarding claim 2, Jo, Uchiyama, and Watanabe teach The apparatus for taking out a molded product according to claim 1.
Jo and Watanabe teach further comprising a data computing section operable to compute an increase or decrease amount in the actual operation time from time series data stored in the operation time storing section (Watanabe 0048), wherein the display control section displays on the display screen an indication of a computed increase or decrease amount in the actual operation time together with the actual operation time (Jo 0028).
Regarding claim 4, Jo, Uchiyama, and Watanabe teach The apparatus for taking out a molded product according to claim 1.
Jo teaches wherein the identification indication for the set operation is at least one of an indication showing an operation and a symbol denoting an operation (0021, fig. 7)
Regarding claim 5, Jo, Uchiyama, and Watanabe teach The apparatus for taking out a molded product according to claim 1.
Jo teaches wherein the display control section is configured to allow set values for the plurality of set operations to be changed via the display screen or another display screen (0023 0028).
Regarding claim 9, Jo, Uchiyama, and Watanabe teach The apparatus for taking out a molded product according to claim 1, wherein the display control section displays the set operation currently in motion so as to be distinguishable from other set operations (0023 0028).
Regarding claim 10, Jo, Uchiyama, and Watanabe teach The apparatus for taking out a molded product according to claim 1.
Jo and Watanabe teach wherein the display control section displays on the display screen (Jo 0028) an increase or decrease amount of an actual cycle time of a current cycle and an actual cycle time of a preceding cycle each time one cycle is completed (Watanabe 0048).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jo et al (US PUB. 20130004609, herein Jo) in view of Uchiyama et al (US PUB. 20090012656, herein Uchiyama) in further view of Watanabe et al (US PUB. 20180050478, herein Watanabe) in further view of Shiozaki (US PUB. 20020051833, herein Shiozaki).
Regarding claim 3, Jo, Uchiyama, and Watanabe teach The apparatus for taking out a molded product according to claim 2.
Jo, Uchiyama, and Watanabe do not teach wherein the increase or decrease amount is equivalent to a difference between the actual operation time in a preceding cycle and the actual operation time in a following cycle.
Shiozaki teaches wherein the increase or decrease amount is equivalent to a difference between the actual operation time in a preceding cycle and the actual operation time in a following cycle (0071).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to have modified the teachings of Jo, the teachings of Uchiyama and the teachings of Watanabe with the teachings of Shiozaki since Shiozaki teaches a means for provide optimal timing of an ejection of molding product (abstract).
Claim(s) 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jo et al (US PUB. 20130004609, herein Jo) in view of Uchiyama et al (US PUB. 20090012656, herein Uchiyama) in further view of Watanabe et al (US PUB. 20180050478, herein Watanabe) in further view of Sasaki (US PUB. 20040148136, herein Sasaki).
Regarding claim 6, Jo, Uchiyama, and Watanabe teach The apparatus for taking out a molded product according to claim 1.
Jo, Uchiyama, and Watanabe do not teach wherein the set values for the plurality set operations are displayed in terms of percentage whereby a maximum value for a physical set value of a target set operation is defined as 100%.
Sasaki teaches wherein the set values for the plurality set operations are displayed in terms of percentage whereby a maximum value for a physical set value of a target set operation is defined as 100% (0090 0375).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to have modified the teachings of Jo, the teachings of Uchiyama and the teachings of Watanabe with the teachings of Sasaki since Sasaki teaches a means for easy glancing based checking which enables easy management of the operating state (0375).
Regarding claim 7, Jo, Uchiyama, Watanabe, and Sasaki teach The apparatus for taking out a molded product according to claim 6.
Watanabe teaches wherein the target set operation includes at least one of a speed of the set operation, an acceleration speed and a deceleration speed of the set operation, take-out position information, and a timer limit of a timer (0048 0055, timer limit of a timer).
Regarding claim 8, Jo, Uchiyama, Watanabe, and Sasaki teach The apparatus for taking out a molded product according to claim 7.
Watanabe teaches wherein the set values of the plurality of set operations can be set independently from each other (0015).
Response to Arguments
The arguments submitted on 05/15/2025 and 06/26/2025 are being considered in this office action.
Applicant's arguments filed 05/15/2025 in response to the art rejection have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues on page 12 that Jo does not disclose provide an apparatus for taking out a molded product capable of displaying information for facilitating adjustment on a display screen when performing adjustment to shorten a take-out time and a cycle time since as applicant argues Jo is focused on informing a user of air consumption and power consumption of taking out a molded product.
Examiner notes that the cited portion of the instant application is from the instant specification and is not recited in the claims. The arguments are not directed towards features claimed but rather to the intended use of the claimed invention without differentiating the structure of the reference from the instant specification. In response to applicant's argument that Jo is focused on informing a user of air consumption and power consumption of taking out a molded product while the instant application is for facilitating adjustment on a display screen when performing adjustment to shorten a take-out time and a cycle time, a recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim.
Applicant makes similar arguments for claim 2 which are similarly refuted.
Applicant’s arguments, filed 06/26/2025, with respect to 35 USC 112(a) and 35 USC 112(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of claims 1-10 has been withdrawn.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/TAMEEM D SIDDIQUEE/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2116