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 § 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 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chao et al. (US 2014/0061428 A1) in view of Liu (CN 107781350 B).
Re claim 20, Chao et al. teach a vibration isolator for supporting a payload and isolating the payload from vibrations, comprising: - a pressurized gas compartment (18) supporting a contact member configured to support the payload,- a control valve (10) configured to control a pressure supplied by an outlet of the control valve to the gas compartment based on a control signal, - a damping chamber arranged such that the outlet of the control valve is connected to the gas compartment via the damping chamber (68), a sensor ([0031]) and a control unit (80) configured to generate a control signal.
Chao et al. do not teach a position sensor configured to measure a position of the contact member over time and a control unit configured to generate the control signal based on a measured position of the contact member. Liu teaches vibration isolator (200) for supporting a payload comprising a position sensor configured to measure a position of the contact member over time and a control unit configured to generate the control signal based on a measured position of the contact member. See machine translation page 5, 3rd paragraph. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the position sensor as taught Liu by in the device of Chao et al. to compensate for motion of the platform caused by changes in center of gravity.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4, 6-8 and 10-19 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments 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.
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/MELANIE TORRES WILLIAMS/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3616
MTWNovember 24, 2025