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.
Claim 2 is 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.
Claim 2 recites “wherein switching to the electrode-negative polarity is made at a start of the first arc period or at a delayed time from the start of the first arc period”. Base claim 1 recites “the first arc period is set to an electrode-negative polarity”. It is unclear how the first arc period can be set to an electrode-negative polarity as required by claim 1 and switching to the electrode-negative polarity occurs at a time delayed from the start of the first arc period. Clarification is required.
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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ide (US 2018/0264576) in view of Miyajima (US 2019/0381597).
Regarding claim 1, Ide discloses an arc welding control method (paragraph 4) comprising:
feeding a welding wire (Figure 1, 1); and
repeating a short-circuit period (Figure 2, short-circuit period is shown where Sd is set high, e.g. from 0 to t1, see paragraph 45) and an arc period (Figure 2, arc period is shown where Sd is set low, e.g. from t1 to t6), the arc period comprising a first arc period (Figure 2, t1 to t2) and a second arc period (Figure 2, t2 to t6) following the first arc period,
wherein a welding current is applied using constant current control during the first arc period (paragraph 46, Figure 2, t1 to t2),
the welding current is applied using constant voltage control during the second arc period (paragraph 69, Figure 2, t2 to t6).
Ide is silent on the first arc period is set to an electrode-negative polarity, and a period other than the first arc period is set to an electrode-positive polarity.
Miyajima teaches the first arc period is set to an electrode-negative polarity (Figure 4 shows the first arc period from t3 to where the line in (e) crosses over the 0 line has negative polarity), and a period other than the first arc period is set to an electrode-positive polarity (Figure 4 shows once the line in (e) crosses over the 0 line, i.e. after the first arc period, has a positive polarity).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ide’s invention to include the first arc period is set to an electrode-negative polarity, and a period other than the first arc period is set to an electrode-positive polarity in order to keep the surge voltage from exceeding an acceptable range as suggested and taught by Miyajima in paragraph 15.
Regarding claim 2, Ide in view of Miyajima teach the invention as claimed and described above. Miyajima further teaches wherein switching to the electrode-negative polarity is made at a start of the first arc period or at a delayed time from the start of the first arc period (See 112 above. Miyajima teaches a cycle, so the switch occurs at the tail end of the short circuit period t2 to t3, which is after the start of a previous first arc period).
Regarding claim 3, Ide in view of Miyajima teach the invention as claimed and described above. Miyajima further teaches wherein switching to the electrode-negative polarity is made at a time in the short-circuit period (paragraph 5 describes the polarity switching occurring during the short-circuit period).
Regarding claim 4, Ide in view of Miyajima teach the invention as claimed and described above. Miyajima further teaches wherein polarity switching is made while an absolute value of the welding current is equal to or smaller than a reference value (paragraph 3 describes using a polarity switching current value as a reference value for switching the polarity and figure 4 shows that the polarity switching is triggered by an absolute value of the reference value in (d)).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ide (US 2018/0264576) in view of Miyajima (US 2019/0381597), and further in view of Fujiwara et al. (US 2015/0096966).
Regarding claim 5, Ide in view of Miyajima teach all the essential features of the invention as claimed and described above except wherein the welding wire is fed backward during the short-circuit period and fed forward during the arc period.
Fujiwara teaches wherein the welding wire is fed backward during the short-circuit period (Figure 9 shows the wire is fed backward from P1 to P2, which is the short circuit period) and fed forward during the arc period (Figure 9 shows the wire is fed forward from P2 to P3, which is the arc period).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ide in view of Miyajima’s invention to include wherein the welding wire is fed backward during the short-circuit period and fed forward during the arc period in order to reduce the occurrence of a blowhole spatter as suggested and taught by Fujiwara in paragraph 80.
Conclusion
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/KATHERYN A MALATEK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3741