DETAILED ACTION
Examiner has received and accepted the amended claims and remarks filed on 23 April 2026. These amended claims and remarks are the claims and remarks being referred to in the instant Office Action. Examiner acknowledges Claim 40 has been cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claims 38, 39, and 41 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 112(b) Rejection of Claims 38, 39, and 41 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the prior art rejection Claim(s) 38, 39, and 41 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.
Claim Objections
Claim 38 objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding Claim 38, “the drive” in the “one or more sensors” clause should read “the drive motor”
Appropriate correction is required.
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) 38, 39, and 41 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Komatsu et al. (US 2011/0048649), in view of Shah et al. (US 2021/0094089).
Regarding Claim 38, Komatsu discloses an instrumented tool for performing tire servicing operations on components of a tire wheel assembly of a vehicle (Figure 28) while the tire wheel assembly is mounted in-situ on the vehicle (Figure 28), the instrumented tool being one or more of engageable with an end effector (644) of a robotic system (612) and mountable to a frame of the robotic system (frame of 612), in at least Figures 28 – 31, the instrumented tool comprising: at least one actuator (drive shaft) [0272]; a carriage (carriage of 662 on 660), the at least one carriage being mechanically coupled to a portion of the actuator [0272] and being moveable thereon between at least a first position and a second position [0272]; a drive motor (motor), the drive motor being mechanically engaged with the at least one actuator [0272] and effecting the movement of the carriage between the first position and the second position [0272]; tooling mounted to the carriage (650); wherein the tooling is one of a tire bead breaker tool, a tire alignment tool, a wheel weight dispenser, a wheel weight gripper, a valve core installation tool, a valve core removal tool, a wheel cleaning tool, a valve stem tool, a valve stem cap removal tool, a tire deflation tool, a tire mount/dismount tool, a lubrication tool, an inflation tool, a gripper system, a bead tool, a tire balancer, a tire balancing bead dispenser, a lug wrench and a wheel assembly grip [0272].
Komatsu fails to expressly disclose one or more sensors, the one or more sensors being mounted to one or more of the at least one actuator, the drive motor, the carriage and the tooling.
Shah teaches a carriage (Figure 8, 9) including one or more sensors (172), the sensor being mounted to the carriage (Figure 8, 9).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s invention to modify Komatsu to include one or more sensors being mounted to one or more of the at least one actuator, the drive motor, the carriage and the tooling for the benefit of receiving feedback from the tool to be provided to a controller, as taught by Shah [0029]
Regarding Claim 39, Komatsu discloses the actuator is a linear actuator [0272].
Regarding Claim 41, Shah teaches at least one of the one or more sensors is one of a distance sensor [0056].
The combination would have been obvious for the same reason regarding the rejection of Claim 38 above.
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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ALEXANDER A. MERCADO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2855
/ALEXANDER A MERCADO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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