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 .
Claims 1-12 are pending in the application.
Claims 11-12 are elected.
Claims 1-10 are withdrawn from consideration.
Examiner’s Note: The examiner has cited particular passages including column and line numbers, paragraphs as designated numerically and/or figures as designated numerically in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claims, other passages, paragraphs and figures of any and all cited prior art references may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing an eventual response, to fully consider the context of the passages, paragraphs and figures as taught by the prior art and/or cited by the examiner while including in such consideration the cited prior art references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention. MPEP 2141.02 VI: “PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS."
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group II claims 11-12 in the reply filed on 11/07/2025 is acknowledged.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/17/2022, 12/19/2023, 05/16/2024 was filed after the mailing date of the first office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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) 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuchiya US Pub. No. 2022/0334549 in view of Shamoto Eiji et al. JP 2018008323 A (“Eiji”).
Regarding claim 11, Tsuchiya teaches a machining method comprising:
a machining path setting step of setting a machining path based on a three-dimensional shape of a measured target component [SEE 39 and 41 of fig. 1]; and
[0055] The NC program is set by a CAM 39 based on CAD data 37 of the workpiece 5. The machining path 41 when moving the tool 3 relative to the workpiece 5, and three-dimensional coordinates of the machining path 41 are set in the NC program. The NC program set by the CAM 39 is transmitted to a computer 33.
a movement control step of moving an end mill [end mill 3] along the machining path,
[0054] The control unit 13 controls the movement of the table 21 to which the workpiece is fixed, and the movement of the spindle 29 to which the tool 3 is fixed, based on an NC program. In addition, the control unit 13 controls the rotation of the tool 3. The control unit 13 may be configured as an integrated computer including a central processing unit (CPU), and storage means such as a RAM, a ROM, and a hard disk, for example.
wherein the movement control step includes
a feed direction control step of moving the end mill in a feed direction in which the end mill is moved along the machining path [SEE fig. 2 and 5],
[0082] This process is performed by the calculation unit 33a of the computer 33 (refer to FIG. 1), for example. The three-dimensional coordinates of the machining point T1 can be acquired from the NC program, or by actually moving an ideal tool (ball end mill) according to the machining path when this ideal tool is mounted.
[0083] Further, when the workpiece 5 is machined by the tool 3, the tool 3 moves in at least one of the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions with respect to the workpiece 5. That is, the three-dimensional position of the machining point T1 changes as the machining proceeds.
an orthogonal direction control step of moving the end mill in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to the feed direction.
[0071] The positional correction of the tool 3 is made based on a unit normal vector V1 at a machining point T1 (refer to FIG. 2, details of which will be described later) machined by the tool 3, and a contour error of the tool 3. Thus, the three-dimensional position of the tool 3 can be corrected in at least one of the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction, and the Z-axis direction. The directions of the X, Y, and Z axes are determined according to the unit normal vector V1.
[0089] To be more specific, the three-dimensional coordinates at the machining point f51 illustrated in FIG. 6 are X=−1.60657, Y=−0.42583, and Z=−1.09809, for example. On the other hand, the coordinates when the actual contour line P3 is deviated from the ideal contour line P1 are corrected to the machining point f61 illustrated in FIG. 7. The machining points f51 and f61 have an angle of 64 degrees using the tool 3 illustrated in FIG. 4. Accordingly, the correction value stored as the reference sign #564 is read from the memory 14, and the correction value is decomposed into each direction of the X-axis, the Y-axis, and the Z-axis based on the unit normal vector described above, thereby calculating the correction value in each axial direction.
[0096] For this reason, the lower end of the tool 3 having the contour error is corrected so as to be in contact with the machining point as illustrated in FIG. 8B. As a result, the tool 3 comes into contact at the contact point Tt2 on the slope of the workpiece 5, and the bite 45 occurs. When the machining of the workpiece 5 is performed in this state, the workpiece 5 is excessively cut.
[In other words, the correcting the NC program’s X, Y, Z-axis coordinates using the positional deviation correction unit 331, resulting in tool movement in directions orthogonal to the primary feed motion as needed to maintain accurate machining]
Tsuchiya does not teach a tilt control step of controlling a tilt angle of the end mill about an axis of the feed direction.
Eiji teaches a processing devices, a cutting tool, a processing support device, and a processing method capable of high efficiency processing by improving the roughness of a processing surface formed of a curved surface shape. Specifically, Eiji teaches a tilt control step of controlling a tilt angle of the end mill about an axis of the feed direction.
The Y-axis angle motor 54D described above incorporates an angle sensor (not shown) that detects its rotational position. The NC control device 4 controls the operation of the Y axis rotation angle motor 54D based on the detection value by the angle sensor, and rotates the spindle support portion 56 around the Y axis with respect to the column 51. The Y-axis rotation angle motor 54D controls to change the posture in the feed direction, and the X-axis rotation angle motor 54F controls to change the posture in the pick feed direction. Further, instead of rotating the spindle support portion 56, the workpiece 6 may be rotated. [See page 4; READ further fig. 3 from page 6]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of cited references since they both directed to the same field – multi-axis end-mill machining along a pre-computed toolpath. Eiji’s teaching of a tilt control step of controlling a tilt angle of the end mill about an axis of the feed direction would improve cutting efficiency, and surface quality as suggested on page 11.
Regarding claim 12, it is directed to a non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium storing a program to implement the method of steps as set forth in claim 11. Therefore, they are rejected on the same basis as set forth hereinabove.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
JP 2011083842 A to TAKAHASHI TORU et al. teach the work piece is mounted on the rotary spindle provided on the head stock, and the end mill tool is mounted on the rotary tool shaft disposed on the tool base on the same axis as the rotation axis of the work piece. Moves in the X-axis direction orthogonal to the Z-axis direction parallel to the rotation axis of the workpiece, moves the end mill tool to a machining position on the end surface radius of the workpiece, and rotates the end mill tool around the rotation axis. The workpiece is rotated by a predetermined angle at a predetermined feed speed while making a cut by moving the tool table in the Z-axis direction to process an arc-shaped groove on the end surface of the workpiece. Thus, as shown in FIG. 5, the rotation axis D of the rotary tool shaft 4 is adjusted with respect to the rotation axis O of the workpiece W by the vertical turning adjustment of the turning member 15 of the tilt angle adjusting mechanism 12. It is possible to adjust the tilt angle θ for tilting in the forward and downward direction of the rotation direction, and as shown in FIG. 5, the X axis of the rotary tool shaft 4 is adjusted by adjusting the vertical movement of the adjustment member 14 of the height adjustment mechanism 13.
US Pub. No. 2023/0056743 to Kock et al. teach When machining a workpiece, the tool used is guided along a machining path. The machining path is calculated by a computer relative to the workpiece. Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems are used for this purpose, which may generate a machining path from computer-aided drawing (CAD) data, i.e. a three-dimensional model of the object to be manufactured, using different strategies for path calculation.
US Pub. No. 2012/0197424 to Kimura et al. teach a work having a non-circular cross-section is machined by relative movement between the work and a tool, as the relative position and angle between the work and tool are changed at least within a plane including the cross-section of the work. In machining along a preset tool path, the difference between the relative angle at a point on the preset tool path which machining is started and that point on the preset tool path at which machining is finished is calculated. Time needed in machining along the preset tool path is equally divided by a preset number at equal time divisions, and positions on the tool path corresponding to equal time divisions are set as tool path points. When the tool moves through each point, the relative angle is continuously changed an angle corresponding to division of the difference of the relative angles by the preset number of equal time divisions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VINCENT HUY TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7210. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7:00-4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas C Lee can be reached on 571-272-3667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VINCENT H TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115