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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to Applicant’s initial application filed 8 August 2023.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, lines 2-3, the phrase “setting up the tool driving device to a workpiece” should be changed to “setting up the tool driving device to operate on a workpiece, or something similar.
In claim 1, lines 8-9, the phrase “for positioning the tool driving device to the workpiece” should be changed to “for positioning the tool driving device on the workpiece”.
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 of this title, 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. detect
Claims 1-2 and 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoshima et al. (US 4,473,329) in view of Saito et al. (US 9,517,513).
Regarding claim 1, Aoshima et al. discloses a tool driving device for hole processing, the tool driving device comprising: a spindle 4 having a holder 6 for holding a tool 1 for the hole processing, the holder being disposed at a distal portion of the spindle (see figure 4A); an electric motor 26 for rotating the spindle; a guide 2; an electric actuator 21/22/23/64/68 (quill feed means) for advancing and retreating the spindle relatively to the guide in a rotation axis direction of the spindle; a sensor 191 for measuring cutting resistance transmitted from the tool to the spindle; and a controller (drive control unit) configured to control the electric motor and the electric actuator based on the cutting resistance measured by the sensor so that a rotating speed and a feeding speed of the spindle become a rotating speed and a feeding speed according to the cutting resistance (see column 5, line 42 to column 6, line 4, and column 14, lines 9-18).
Regarding the intended use limitation “a user using the tool driving device by carrying the tool driving device by hand and setting up the tool driving device to operate on a workpiece” in the preamble of the claim, it is noted that the prior art used in the rejection is capable of being used for this function. During examination, statements in the preamble reciting the purpose or intended use of the claimed invention must be evaluated to determine whether the recited purpose or intended use results in a structural difference (or, in the case of process claims, manipulative difference) between the claimed invention and the prior art. If so, the recitation serves to limit the claim. See, e.g., In re Otto, 312 F.2d 937, 938, 136 USPQ 458, 459 (CCPA 1963); In re Sinex, 309 F.2d 488, 492, 135 USPQ 302, 305 (CCPA 1962). If a prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use as recited in the preamble, then it meets the claim. See, e.g., In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473, 1477, 44 USPQ2d 1429, 1431 (Fed. Cir. 1997). See also MPEP § 2112 - § 2112.02.
Aoshima et al. does not disclose “a guide having a positioning member for positioning the tool driving device to the workpiece, the positioning member including at least one of a positioning bush, a concentric collet and a fixing tool”. Saito et al. teaches the use of a tool driving device 1 that comprises a guide 2 having a positioning member 4 that is used for the purpose of positioning the tool driving device on a workpiece W. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have combined the drilling device of Aoshima et al. with the guide of Saito et al. in order to be able to fixedly attach the tool driving device to a workpiece so that the position of a tool relative to the workpiece may be precisely controlled.
Regarding claim 2, the modified invention of Aoshima et al. discloses wherein the sensor 191 includes a load cell 23 for measuring the cutting resistance, in the rotation axis direction of the spindle 4, transmitted from the spindle, the load cell being coupled to a proximal portion of the spindle (see figure 4B).
Regarding claim 5, the modified invention of Aoshima et al. discloses a method of producing a hole processed product comprising: producing the hole processed product by the hole processing of the workpiece using the tool driving device according to claim 1.
Regarding claim 6, the modified invention of Aoshima et al. discloses a method of producing a hole processed product comprising: producing the hole processed product by the hole processing of the workpiece using the tool driving device according to claim 2.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 and 7-8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC ANDREW GATES whose telephone number is (571)272-5498. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th 9-6, Alt Fr 9-5.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sunil Singh, can be reached on 571-272-3460. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERIC A. GATES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3722 8 April 2026
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