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 Objections
Claims 1-6 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Re. claim 1: The phrase “to perform the attachment operation a predetermined count number” as recited in lines 7-8 appears to be --to perform the attachment operation of a predetermined count number--.
Re. claim 4: The phrase “performs the attachment operation the predetermined count number” as recited in lines 5-6 appears to be --performs the attachment operation of the predetermined count number--.
Re. claim 5: The phrase “an acquiring section configured to acquire data” as recited in line 5 appears to be --to calculate a standard deviation of a data--.
The phrase “to calculate a standard deviation of data” as recited in line 6 appears to be --to calculate a standard deviation of a data--.
Re. claim 6: The phrase “the attachment operation a predetermined count number” as recited in lines 7-8 appears to be --the attachment operation of a predetermined count number--.
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.
Claims 1, 2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawaguchi (PGPub 2018/0049355 A1) in view of Sato (PGPub 2020/0066455 A1).
Kawaguchi teaches a component mounting machine (as per claim 1) and a component mounting process (as per claim 6) for executing an attachment operation for attaching a component to a board, comprising: a suction tool (28, a suction nozzle, paragraph [0042]) configured to pick up the component (P) at a pickup height distant from a reference height by a distance indicated by an offset amount; a moving mechanism (22, a mounting head, Fig. 1) configured to move the suction tool to the pickup height (see also S100, Fig. 4); an attempt section (or an attempt process) configured to perform the attachment operation a predetermined count number (see also S240-S260, Fig. 4); and an updating section (or an updating process) configured to update the offset amount within a predetermined range (such as a component thickness) by adding or subtracting a predetermined distance to or from the offset amount when the suction rate is less than a determination value, and further repeat the attempt section and the first calculation section as shown in Figs. 5 and 9 (see also paragraphs [0050]-[0055] and [0060]-[0063]).
However, Kawaguchi silent a first calculation section (or a calculation process) configured to calculate a suction rate indicating a ratio of successfully picking up the component by the suction tool during the attachment operation of the predetermined count number. Sato teaches a component mounting device including a suction rate indicating a ratio of successfully picking up a component by a suction tool during an attachment operation of the predetermined count number as shown in Table 1 (see also paragraphs [0172] and [0177]-[0178]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify a component mounting machine of Kawaguchi by a suction rate indicating a ratio of successfully picking up the component by the suction tool as taught by Sato in order to define an optimal handleability at the time of the mounting.
Re. claim 2: Kawaguchi also teach that a first continuation section is configured to fix the pickup height to a height distant from the reference height by a distance indicated by the offset amount and continue the attachment operation when the suction rate is larger than the determination value (see Fig. 4 and paragraphs [0060]-[0062]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 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.
The Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. KAMIYA et al. (PGPub 2023/0084116 A1), IISAKA et al. (PGPub 2018/0153061), and Suzuki (US PAT. 10,973,159) are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to a component mounting machine and a component mounting process.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL D KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-4565. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 6:00 AM-2:00 PM.
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/PAUL D KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729