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 . 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 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 07/17/2023, 04/02/2025, 07/01/2025 and 02/27/2026 have been considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 26-35 and 43-53 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group I, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 02/16/2026.
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 36-42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schroder (U.S. Patent No. 2020/0368914) in view of Gass (US 2015/0273725).
Regarding claim 36 Schroder teaches a circular saw (1)(Paragraph 0334, Figure 1) comprising:
a support surface (2) for a workpiece (1000), the support surface having a saw blade slot (Figures 1-2 noting the sawblade extending through the support surface thereby occupying the saw blade slot);
a main drive motor arranged below the support surface for driving a saw blade in rotational movement (Paragraphs 0044-0045);
a saw blade holder connected to the main drive motor for the purpose of transmitting the rotational movement and comprising a saw blade bearing unit and a saw blade flange which is mounted so that the saw blade flange can be rotated about a saw blade axis by the saw blade bearing unit and is adapted to be connected to the saw blade so that the saw blade is fixed in torsion (Figures 1-2); and
a protection apparatus for quickly lowering the saw blade in a dangerous situation (Paragraphs, 0284-0286, 0291, 0343), the protection apparatus comprising a monitoring apparatus (170) for detecting a dangerous situation and;
wherein the monitoring apparatus comprises an image capture apparatus and an image evaluation device (Paragraph 0337)
Schroder provides it is known to lower the saw blade but appears silent as to the structure. As such, Schroder does not provide and the image evaluation device is in signal communication with the height actuator to activate the height actuator when a dangerous situation is identified for quickly lowering the saw blade holder or
Gass teaches it is known in the art of saw devices to provide detection for dangerous situations and retraction devices for saw blades (Abstract; Paragraph 0138, 0146); and a height-adjustment apparatus, with a height actuator and a transmission element coupled to the saw blade holder, which is adapted to lower the saw blade holder when a dangerous situation is identified by the monitoring apparatus (Figures 3-4; Paragraphs 0157-0158 and 0164-0168).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the device of Schroder to incorporate the teachings of Gass to provide the structural components to lower the saw when a dangerous situation is detected. Doing so provides a safer working environment for the user.
Thus, Shroder in view of Gass provides a protection apparatus for quickly lowering the saw blade in a dangerous situation having a monitoring apparatus for detecting the dangerous situation; wherein the protection apparatus is in signal communication with the monitoring apparatus and the height actuator and is adapted to activate the height actuator for quickly lowering the saw blade holder when the dangerous situation is detected by the monitoring apparatus (Shroder Paragraphs 0337 and Gass Paragraphs 0157-0158 and 0164-0168) .
Regarding claim 37, the modified device of Shroder provides the circular saw according to claim 36, and wherein the image capture device comprises a first camera and a second camera (Paragraphs 0110, 0198) and the image evaluation device comprises a first and a second image evaluation unit (Paragraphs 0110, 0198); and
the first camera and the second camera are arranged at a spacing from each other above a support surface and each of the first camera and the second camera have a recording direction which is oriented in the direction of the support surface;
wherein: the first camera is in signal communication with the first image evaluation unit, which is adapted to receive image data from the first camera and process the data by a first piece of evaluation software to identify whether a dangerous situation exists; and the second camera is in signal communication with the second image evaluation unit which is adapted to receive image data from the second camera and process the data by a second piece of evaluation software to identify whether a dangerous situation exists; and wherein the first piece of evaluation software is different from the second piece of evaluation software and/or the first image evaluation unit is different from the second image evaluation unit (Paragraph 0314).
Regarding claim 38, the modified device of Shroder the circular saw according to claim 37, wherein: the first piece of evaluation software has a first operating system running on the first image evaluation unit and a first image evaluation algorithm running on the first image evaluation unit; the second piece of evaluation software has a second operating system running on the second image evaluation unit and a second image evaluation algorithm running on the second image evaluation unit; and wherein: the first and the second image evaluation unit are different from each other; the first and the second operating system are the same each other and the first and the second image evaluation algorithm are different from each other; the first and the second operating system are different from each other and the first and the second image evaluation algorithm are the same as each other; or the first and the second operating system are different from each other and the first and the second image evaluation algorithm are different from each other (Paragraph 0314).
Regarding claim 39, the modified device of Shroder he circular saw according to claim 37, wherein the image evaluation device is adapted to evaluate image data from a monitoring area (200)(Figure 8; Paragraph 0355) and image data from a danger area, wherein the danger area is arranged inside the monitoring area and comprises a danger point at which a user could be injured on the saw blade, and wherein a surface unit in the danger area is captured by the first or second camera with more pixels than a surface unit of the same size in the monitoring area (Figures 1 and 8; Paragraph 0128).
Regarding claim 40, the modified device of Shroder the circular saw according to claim 37, wherein the image evaluation device is adapted to receive operating parameters of the circular saw and to alter the size of the danger area depending on the operating parameters of the circular saw (Paragraphs 0279-0295).
Regarding claim 41, the modified device of Shroder the circular saw according to claim 40, wherein the operating parameters include a diameter of the saw blade and a saw blade projection of the saw blade above the support surface; and wherein the image evaluation device is adapted to specify, from the saw blade diameter and the saw blade projection, an entry point and/or an exit point of the saw teeth arranged at the circumference of the saw blade into or from the workpiece support surface as danger points and to place the danger area around one or both danger points as a predetermined geometry (Paragraphs 0037-0049).
Regarding claim 42, the modified device of Shroder he circular saw according to claim 40, wherein the operating parameters include a diameter of the saw blade and a saw blade projection of the saw blade above the support surface and the image evaluation device is adapted to: define the danger area as larger in the case of a large saw blade diameter than in the case of a small saw blade diameter; define the danger area as larger in the case of a large saw blade projection than in the case of a small saw blade projection Paragraphs 0037-0049).; and/or specify, from the saw blade diameter and the saw blade projection, a tangential angle between the tangent at the circumference of the saw blade in the support surface to the support surface and to define the danger area as larger in the case of a large tangential angle than in the case of a small tangential angle.
Related Prior Art
Below is an analysis of the relevance of references cited but not used
- "892 cited references C-M on page 1 establish the state of the art with a variety of saw safety mechanisms.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICHARD D CROSBY JR whose telephone number is (571)272-8034. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-4:00.
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/RICHARD D CROSBY JR/ 05/26/2026Examiner, Art Unit 3724
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