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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-8, 12-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 12 recite, “a step of determining”, “a step of calculating”, “a step of controlling”. It is not clear if applicant is intending to limit each step to the language of the claim, or if the claim is describing what would happen in the claim and more limitations are intended to be read into the claim.
It is suggested to remove “a step of”.
Claims 2-8 and 13-17 are rejected due to their dependency on an indefinite claim.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inventor Unknown - (KR 200300236), as cited by applicant with references made to applicant provided machine translation (Foreign Reference, 7/24/2025, having 16 pages).
KR200300236 discloses, regarding claim 1, A portable welding robot control method using a welding system including a portable welding robot that has a guide rail (Fig 2 shows a portable welding robot on carriage 6, with a welding robot having a guide rail 7 or 8( set with respect to a workpiece having a corner portion and that moves on the guide rail to perform arc welding (plasma arc welding , See Abstract) to the workpiece, and a welding control device that controls the portable welding robot (controller, See Paragraph [0036] controls the welding operation), the portable welding robot including a welding torch and a movable portion that moves the welding torch in a welding direction (the welding torch 2 is shown as being movable with the sliders 7 and 8, and rotation mechanism 9 which would move the torch in a welding direction), the welding control device including a torch position determination unit that determines a torch position on the workpiece and a torch angle calculation unit that calculates a torch angle at the torch position, the portable welding robot control method comprising (the torch position and torch angle are determined by the controller, however, the individual devices are not disclosed)
a step of determining the torch position on the workpiece by the torch position determination unit; (the position of the torch is determined based on the X and Y position and the displacement sensor 10, See Paragraphs 16, 22)
a step of calculating the torch angle at the torch position by the torch angle calculation unit (the angle of the torch is calculated by the controller See Paragraph 36); and
a step of controlling the torch angle by the movable portion based on the calculated torch angle. (the torch angle is controlled by the rotation mechanism and the X-Y location of the torch. See Paragraph 16, 19, 20)
KR200300236 fails to specifically disclose the torch determination unit and angle calculation unit as separate units. However, the controller in KR200300236 performs all these functions and would contain elements for determining position and angle of the torch as these characteristics are determined. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill of the art, before the date of the invention to provide the torch determination unit and angle calculation since is has been held the integration, or separation of two parts into one involves only routine skill in the art.
KR200300236 discloses, regarding claim 2, the LVDT sensor determines the position based on touch sensing. Regarding claim 3, the LVDT sensor provides workpiece information, the carriage positions are known and the position of the torch relative to the workpiece are all used to control the torch position and angle. (See Paragraphs 16, 19, 36)
Regarding claim 4 and 5, the welding condition is welding speed or the speed the welding robot with carriages 7 and 8 are moving (See Paragraph 36) and this is used in combination with the torch position and angle for controlling all three. KR200300236 fails to specifically disclose the welding condition calculation unit. However, the controller in KR200300236 performs all these functions and would contain elements for determining the welding speed of the welding device. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill of the art, before the date of the invention to provide the welding condition calculation unit and angle calculation since it has been held the integration, or separation of two parts into one involves only routine skill in the art.
Regarding claims 6 and 7, KR200300236 discloses the workpiece is corrugated and would have a straight line portion, as the torch is moving in a straight line and the curved portion being the arch of each corrugation. The entire purpose of changing the angle is to maintain a constant distance from the workpiece. The radius of curvature ‘R” is factored into the equations when determining torch movement. (See Paragraphs 22-34) Regarding claim 8, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention to provide a heat input at a boundary region between the corner portion and a straight line portion of the workpiece are each within +20% of a heat input at the straight line portion since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. The thickness of a workpiece generally changes at the corners, one would need to vary the heat input in order to maintain the desired weld characteristic.
KR200300236 discloses, regarding claim 9, A portable welding robot control system including a portable welding robot that has a guide rail (Fig 2 shows a portable welding robot on carriage 6, with a welding robot having a guide rail 7 or 8) set with respect to a workpiece having a corner portion and that moves on the guide rail to perform arc welding (the workpiece has corrugations which are equivalent to corners and plasma arc welding , See Abstract) to the workpiece, and a welding control device that controls the portable welding robot (controller, See Paragraph [0036] controls the welding operation), the portable welding robot including a welding torch and a movable portion that moves the welding torch in a welding direction (the welding torch 2 is shown as being movable with the sliders 7 and 8, and rotation mechanism 9 which would move the torch in a welding direction), the welding control device including a torch position determination unit that determines a torch position on the workpiece and a torch angle calculation unit that calculates a torch angle at the torch position, the portable welding robot control method comprising (the torch position and torch angle are determined by the controller, however, the individual devices are not disclosed) torch position determination unit; (the position of the torch is determined based on the X and Y position and the displacement sensor 10, See Paragraphs 16, 22)
the torch angle calculation unit (the angle of the torch is calculated by the controller See Paragraph 36); and the torch angle by the movable portion based on the calculated torch angle. (the torch angle is controlled by the rotation mechanism and the X-Y location of the torch. See Paragraph 16, 19, 20)
KR200300236 fails to specifically disclose the torch determination unit and angle calculation unit as separate units. However, the controller in KR200300236 performs all these functions and would contain elements for determining position and angle of the torch as these characteristics are determined. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill of the art, before the date of the invention to provide the torch determination unit and angle calculation since it has been held the integration, or separation of two parts into one involves only routine skill in the art.
Regarding claims 10 and 11, Figs 1-5 show a portable welding robot having a guide rail set. Fig 2 shows a portable welding robot on carriage 6, with a welding robot having a guide rail 7 or 8. Controller, See Paragraph [0036] controls the welding operation with a welding torch 2. The welding condition is welding speed or the speed the welding robot with carriages 7 and 8 are moving (See Paragraph 36) and this is used in combination with the torch position and angle for controlling all three. The torch is moved via the slider and driving rail in the welding direction. The position of the torch is determined based on the X and Y position and the displacement sensor 10, See Paragraphs 16, 22, and the angle of the torch is controlled by a combination of element 8 and the rotation mechanism 9.
Claim(s) 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inventor Unknown - (KR 200300236) in view of Baba et al. (JP06-155027) as cited by applicant with references made to applicant provided machine translation.
KR200300236 discloses, regarding claim 12, A portable welding robot control method using a welding system including a portable welding robot that has a guide rail (Fig 2 shows a portable welding robot on carriage 6, with a welding robot having a guide rail 7 or 8( set with respect to a workpiece having a corner portion and that moves on the guide rail to perform arc welding (plasma arc welding , See Abstract) to the workpiece, and a welding control device that controls the portable welding robot (controller, See Paragraph [0036] controls the welding operation), the portable welding robot including a welding torch and a movable portion that moves the welding torch in a welding direction (the welding torch 2 is shown as being movable with the sliders 7 and 8, and rotation mechanism 9 which would move the torch in a welding direction), the welding control device including a torch position determination unit that determines a torch position on the workpiece and a torch angle calculation unit that calculates a torch angle at the torch position, the portable welding robot control method comprising (the torch position and torch angle are determined by the controller, however, the individual devices are not disclosed)
a step of determining the torch position on the workpiece by the torch position determination unit; (the position of the torch is determined based on the X and Y position and the displacement sensor 10, See Paragraphs 16, 22)
a step of calculating the torch angle at the torch position by the torch angle calculation unit (the angle of the torch is calculated by the controller See Paragraph 36); and
a step of controlling the torch angle by the movable portion based on the calculated torch angle. (the torch angle is controlled by the rotation mechanism and the X-Y location of the torch. See Paragraph 16, 19, 20)
KR200300236 fails to specifically disclose the torch determination unit and angle calculation unit as separate units. However, the controller in KR200300236 performs all these functions and would contain elements for determining position and angle of the torch as these characteristics are determined. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill of the art, before the date of the invention to provide the torch determination unit and angle calculation since is has been held the integration, or separation of two parts into one involves only routine skill in the art.
KR200300236 may fail to disclose the polygonal box limitation however, the welding method is not specific to a polygonal box column. The manner or method in which a machine is to be utilized is not germane to issue of patentability of the machine itself. For example, the intended use of the device or method used on a polygonal box column is not given patentable weight. The prior art is capable of performing the three claimed steps in the method and it is considered to be obvious.
Also, structural limitations in method claims (i.e. polygonal box column) not disclosed by the references should not be given patentable weight. This argument is applicable to claims drawn to structure and not claims drawn to a method. To be entitled to such weight in method claims, the recited structural limitations therein must affect the method in a manipulative sense and not to amount to the mere claiming of a use of a particular structure.
However, Baba discloses a welding device being located on a guide rail as shown in Fig 1. Figs 5-9 show the corners of the polygonal box column being welded and the torch angle and position being taken into consideration when moving the torch. (See Constitution and Paragraphs [0008], [0021]) Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person have ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention to provide determining the torch position on a polygonal box column since the welding speed in the curved line part of the square steel pipes is controlled based on the welding speed of the straight line part and curvature of the rail of the curved line part and the weld line of the square steel pipes so that the bead thickness in the straight line part and the bead thickness in the curved line part are maintained constant.
KR200300236 discloses, regarding claim 13, the LVDT sensor determines the position based on touch sensing. The LVDT sensor provides workpiece information, the carriage positions are known and the position of the torch relative to the workpiece are all used to control the torch position and angle. (See Paragraphs 16, 19, 36)
Regarding claim 14, the welding condition is welding speed or the speed the welding robot with carriages 7 and 8 are moving (See Paragraph 36) and this is used in combination with the torch position and angle for controlling all three. KR200300236 fails to specifically disclose the welding condition calculation unit. However, the controller in KR200300236 performs all these functions and would contain elements for determining the welding speed of the welding device. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill of the art, before the date of the invention to provide the welding condition calculation unit and angle calculation since it has been held the integration, or separation of two parts into one involves only routine skill in the art.
Regarding claim 15, KR200300236 discloses the workpiece is corrugated and would have a straight line portion, as the torch is moving in a straight line and the curved portion being the arch of each corrugation. The entire purpose of changing the angle is to maintain a constant distance from the workpiece. The radius of curvature ‘R” is factored into the equations when determining torch movement. (See Paragraphs 22-34) Regarding claims 16, KR200300236 discloses the workpiece is corrugated and would have a straight line portion, as the torch is moving in a straight line and the curved portion being the arch of each corrugation. The entire purpose of changing the angle is to maintain a constant distance from the workpiece. The radius of curvature ‘R” is factored into the equations when determining torch movement. (See Paragraphs 22-34)
Regarding claim 17, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention to provide a heat input at a boundary region between the corner portion and a straight line portion of the workpiece are each within +20% of a heat input at the straight line portion since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. The thickness of a workpiece generally changes at the corners, one would need to vary the heat input in order to maintain the desired weld characteristic.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN W JENNISON whose telephone number is (571)270-5930. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9-5.
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/BRIAN W JENNISON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 11/20/2025