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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The rejection of claims 4 and 5 under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) is withdrawn in light of their cancellation in the amendment filed 20 February 2026.
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(s) 1, 2, and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Speeter (US 5,237,879) in view of Bagheri et al. (US 2019/0286263 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Speeter discloses a system (fig. 2) for detecting the presence of or information about objects (the tactile sensor array detects the presence of and/or movement of force against the sensor array such as to the end effector of a robot arm; c. 1, ll. 31-34 and c. 3, ll. 8-11) comprising: a mat (mat including tactile sensor array on conductive material; c. 3, ll. 8-11) having a detection surface for the placement of objects (a surface of the tactile sensor array has a detection surface to receive force from objects); sensor hardware consisting of a first set of parallel conductors (12) disposed along a first axis (axis of rows) of said detection surface and a second set of parallel conductors (14) disposed along a second axis (axis of columns) of said detection surface, said second axis (axis of columns) being at an angle crossing said first axis (sensing elements 11 along rows 12 and columns 14 cross each other; fig. 2); and powering and detection hardware (41; fig. 5) configured to power said first set of conductors (12) and detect signals at nodes formed by the intersection with said second set of conductors (row address and resolution control circuitry 41 powers a first set of sensing elements of row 12, such as in sensing boxes 13 or 15 and detects signals at intersections with columns 14; c. 2, ll. 51-66 and c. 3, ll. 3-6), said powering and detection hardware (41) being configured to power a first subset (of selected rows 12; fig. 1) of said first set of conductors (12) and to detect signals from a second subset (of selected columns 14; c. 3, ll. 40-42 and 48-55) of said second set of conductors (14); wherein said first subset of said first set of conductors (12) and said second subset of said second set of conductors (14) are chosen such that each of the first subset and the second subset form an intersecting node pattern that spans said detection surface along both axes with a substantially lower density than that formed by intersections of all conductors of the first and second sets (row address and resolution control circuitry 41 selects a number of rows and columns that from an intersecting node pattern that spans the detection surface with a lower resolution, or density, than that formed by intersections of all rows and all columns; c. 4, l. 59-68); and said first set of parallel conductors (12; fig. 1) and a second set of parallel conductors (14) provide a grid of intersecting conductors (12, 14) in a force sensitive resistor array (c. 2, ll. 40-45).
Regarding claim 2, Speeter discloses a system (fig. 2) for detecting the presence of or information about objects (the tactile sensor array detects the presence of and/or movement of force against the sensor array such as to the end effector of a robot arm; c. 1, ll. 31-34 and c. 3, ll. 8-11) comprising: a mat (mat including tactile sensor array on conductive material; c. 3, ll. 8-11) having a detection surface for the placement of objects (a surface of the tactile sensor array has a detection surface to receive force from an external object); sensor hardware consisting of a grid of item detection sensors (11), said grid having first and second axes (12, 14); and detection hardware (41; fig. 5) configured to detect signals from a first subset of said item detection sensors (12) at a first time and detect signals from a second subset of said item detection sensors at a second time (row address and resolution control circuitry 41 allows selection of subsets of sensing elements 11 at different times; c. 2, ll. 51-66 and c. 3, ll. 3-6); wherein said first subset of said item detection sensors (11) and said second subset of said item detection sensors (11) are chosen such that each of the first subset and the second subset form an intersecting node pattern that spans said detection surface along both axes with a substantially lower density than that formed by all of said item detection sensors (row address and resolution control circuitry 41 selects a number of rows and columns that form an intersecting node pattern of sensing elements 11 that spans the detection surface with a lower resolution, or density, than that formed by all sensing elements 11; c. 3, ll. 3-6 and c. 4, l. 59-68); and said grid of item detection sensors (11) consists of a grid of intersecting conductors (12, 14) in a force sensitive resistor array (c. 2, ll. 40-45).
Regarding claim 6, Speeter discloses a method for detecting the presence of or information about objects (the tactile sensor array detects the presence of and/or movement of force against the sensor array such as to the end effector of a robot arm; c. 1, ll. 31-34 and c. 3, ll. 8-11) comprising: providing a mat (mat including tactile sensor array on conductive material; c. 3, ll. 8-11) having a detection surface for the placement of objects (a surface of the tactile sensor array has a detection surface to receive force from an external object) and a plurality of sensor nodes (11; fig. 1); selecting and scanning a first subset of sensor nodes (row address and resolution control circuitry 41 allows selection of subsets of sensing elements 11; c. 2, ll. 51-66 and c. 3, ll. 3-6); selecting and scanning a second subset of sensor nodes (row address and resolution control circuitry 41 allows selection of a different subset of sensing elements 11; c. 2, ll. 51-66 and c. 3, ll. 3-6); determining whether the steps of selecting and scanning said first and second subsets of sensor nodes (11) has resulted in all of said sensor nodes (11) being scanned (row address and resolution control circuitry 41 allows selection of subsets of sensing elements 11 until all desired sensing elements 11 have been scanned; c. 5, ll. 21-31); and continuing to select and scan additional subsets of said sensor nodes (11) until all of said sensor nodes (11) have been scanned (c. 5, ll. 29-31), wherein said sensor nodes comprise a grid of intersecting conductors (12, 14) in a force sensitive resistor array (c. 2, ll. 40-45).
Speeter is silent on how the first and second sets of conductors are coupled.
Bagheri et al. teaches a system for detecting the presence of or information about objects (fig. 2) comprising: sensor hardware (22) consisting of a first set of parallel conductors (27) disposed along a first axis of a detection surface (upper surface of touch sensor 23) and a second set of parallel conductors (7) disposed along a second axis of said detection surface (fig. 5), said second axis being at an angle crossing said first axis (parallel electrodes 7 and parallel electrodes 27 may be disposed along different axes; fig. 5); said first set of parallel conductors (27) and a second set of parallel conductors (7) provide a grid of intersecting conductors in a force sensitive resistor array (23; fig. 7) having a first substrate layer (upper layer 28) comprising the first set of parallel conductors (first dielectric layer 28 including parallel conductors 27; fig. 2), and a second substrate layer (lower layer 28) comprising the second set of parallel conductors and coupled to the first substrate layer (second dielectric layer 28 including parallel conductors 7) via an adhesive (dielectric layers 28 are made of pressure sensitive adhesive PSA materials; ¶ [0106]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the apparatus of Speeter with the substrate layers and adhesive as taught in Bagheri et al. to ensure proper positioning and attachment of the conductors with respect to each other for effective sensing.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to independent claims 1, 2, and 6 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
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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Erika J. Villaluna whose telephone number is (571)272-8348. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00 am - 5:30 pm.
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/ERIKA J. VILLALUNA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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