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 .
This office action is a response to the restriction requirement filed on 9/12/2025.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, Species A, Sub-species AA for claims 1-6, in the reply filed on 9/12/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 7-22 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 9/12/2025.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: --COMPONENT PLACEMENT SYSTEM--.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities:
The phrase “a plurality of the placement heads” as recited in line 2 appears to be --a plurality of placement heads--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yazawa et al. (US PAT. 6,948,232).
Yazawa et al. teach a component placement system including a placement head (770, Fig. 5) including a plurality of pipettes(775-780), wherein each of the plurality of pipettes is configured to pick and place components, wherein the placement head includes a plurality of controllers (772-774), and wherein each of the plurality of controllers is configured to control a respective one of the plurality of pipettes as shown in Fig. 5 (see also col. 2, lines 41-53).
Re. claim 3: The plurality of pipettes is arranged in the placement head in at least one of an array configuration as shown in Fig. 5.
Re. claim 4: The placement head includes a plurality of control modules (such as a plurality of motors), wherein each of the plurality of control modules includes a respective one of the plurality of controllers as shown in Fig. 5.
Re. claim 5: A placement head controller controls motion trajectories (such as a vertical movement) for the each of the plurality of pipettes via communication with the respective one of the plurality of control modules.
Re. claim 6: Each of the plurality of control modules controls z-axis motor current control (a vertical movement).
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.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yazawa et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Onishi et al. (PGPub 2019/0029150 A1).
Yazawa et al. teach all limitations as set forth above, but silent a plurality of placement heads such that each placement head has at least 3 of the pipettes. Onishi et al. teach a component mounting system including a plurality of placement heads (4) for picking and placing components, wherein each placement head includes at least 3 of pipettes (40 and 43, Fig. 3, paragraphs [0025]-[0027]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify a component mounting system of Yazawa et al. by a plurality of placement heads, each placement head having at least 3 of the pipettes as taught by Onishi et al. in order to intermittently rotates the plurality of adsorption pipettes in a constant direction by one pitch, to thereby cause each adsorption pipette to be sequentially positioned at a desired working position.
The Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Endo (PGPub 2020/0396875 A1), Ricketson (PGPub 2007/0119143 A1), and Shimizu et al. (PGPub 2020/0401122 A1) are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to a component mounting system.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL D KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-4565. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 6:00 AM-2:00 PM.
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/PAUL D KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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