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 .
Drawings
Figure 1 should be designated by a legend such as -- PRIOR ART -- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g).
Further, the drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character not mentioned in the description: 211 (see Figure 3). Likely, this reference character should be amended to 210 (cell support).
Lastly, the drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: 211 (rack gear) and 212 (connection part).
Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled "Replacement Sheet" in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c) ) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 1-3 and 6-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borcea et al (U.S Patent 4,874,194) (“Borcea”) in view of CN 108942983A (“Shenzhen”), and further in view of KR 101486232 (“Lee Dae Won”).
Regarding Claim 1, Borcea discloses a gripper #10 (Abstract [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses a gripper device) comprising:
a housing (Col 2, lines 33-50, housing #10A); and
a grip assembly mounted in the housing (Col 1, lines 39-50 and lines 53-67 [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses a gripper assembly),
a pair of pinion gears provided on opposing exterior side surfaces of the cell support (Abstract; Col 1, lines 53-67; [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses a pair of spur gears that are disposed in meshing relationship on opposite sides of a rack carriage), respectively, and configured to convert a vertical linear movement of the cell support into a rotational movement of the pair of pinion gears (Abstract [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses wherein the spur gears are arranged to counter-rotate relative to each other).
Borcea, however, fails to expressly disclose a cell gripper,
wherein the grip assembly comprises a cell support defining a cell seating groove having an upper portion into which a cell is configured to be seated;
a pair of gear frames coupled to the pair of pinion gears, respectively, and configured to transmit the rotational movement of the pair of pinion gears; and
a pair of cell fixing members provided on end portions of the pair of gear frames, respectively, and configured to press and fix the cell seated in the cell seating groove from both sides.
Shenzhen teaches the gripper above comprising a pair of gear frames coupled to the pair of pinion gears (Fig 3, #1 fixed frame and #24 buffer frame [Wingdings font/0xE0] Shenzhen teaches wherein the fixing frame is movably inserted with a moving rod and the size of the moving rod is fixedly connected with a straight rack), respectively, and configured to transmit the rotational movement of the pair of pinion gears, and a pair of cell fixing members provided on end portions of the pair of gear frames, respectively, and configured to press and fix the cell seated in the cell seating groove from both sides (Figure 3, #13 first fixing plate, #14 first gear, #19 second fixing plate, #22 second gear) for the purpose of allowing movement of the gear frames in order to provide a high-efficiency clamping function (Abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Borcea to include a pair of gear frames and a pair of cell fixing members, as taught by Shenzhen, because doing so would allow movement of the gear frames in order to provide a high-efficiency clamping function.
Lee Dae teaches expressly a cell gripper (paragraph [0001] [Wingdings font/0xE0] Lee Dae teaches a cell transfer device comprising gripping portions, wherein the gripping portion is a cell gripper), wherein the grip assembly comprises a cell support defining a cell seating groove having an upper portion into which a cell is configured to be seated (Abstract; paragraphs [0001] and [0073] [Wingdings font/0xE0] Lee Dae teaches wherein the cell gripper #410 of the gripping portion #400 holds and fixes/supports the main body of the cell #100) for the purpose of mounting the cell gripper onto the main body in order to provide support for a cell transfer device (Abstract; paragraph [0001]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Borcea to include expressly a cell gripper comprising a cell support, as taught by Lee Dae, because doing so would help to mount the cell gripper onto the main body in order to provide support for a cell transfer device.
Regarding Claim 2, Borcea in view of Shenzhen teach the cell gripper of claim 1, wherein, in the grip assembly (Borcea: Col 1, lines 39-50 and lines 53-67 [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses a gripper assembly), the pair of pinion gears rotate by a descent of the cell support (Shenzhen: Fig 3, #1 fixed frame and #24 buffer frame [Wingdings font/0xE0] Shenzhen teaches wherein the fixing frame is movably inserted with a moving rod and the size of the moving rod is fixedly connected with a straight rack), and the pair of gear frames and the pair of cell fixing members move by the rotation of the pair of pinion gears in a direction of the cell seating groove, so as to press and fix the cell (Shenzhen: Figure 3, #13 first fixing plate, #14 first gear, #19 second fixing plate, #22 second gear).
Regarding Claim 3, Borcea discloses the cell gripper of claim 1, wherein the grip assembly further comprises an elastic member provided below the cell support and configured to provide an elastic force in a vertical direction of the cell support (Col 3, lines 47-67 [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses wherein the grip assembly comprises a gripper force that is maintained which allows the gripper to handle higher loads/forces).
Regarding Claim 6, Borcea in view of Shenzhen teach the cell gripper of claim 1, wherein each of the pair of pinion gears is provided with:
an axial through-hole passing through opposing side surfaces of the pinion gear at a position corresponding to a virtual rotary axis (Figure 3, #13 first fixing plate, #14 first gear, #19 second fixing plate, #22 second gear); and a coupling protrusion protruding outward from a side surface of the opposing side surfaces in which the axial through-hole is defined (Fig 3, [Wingdings font/0xE0] Shenzhen teaches wherein the fixing frame is movably inserted with a moving rod and the size of the moving rod is fixedly connected with a straight rack).
Regarding Claim 7, Borcea in view of Shenzhen teach the cell gripper of claim 1, wherein each of the gear frames comprise:
a first frame coupled at a side surface of each of the pair of pinion gears (Fig 3, #1 fixed frame and #24 buffer frame [Wingdings font/0xE0] Shenzhen teaches wherein the fixing frame is movably inserted with a moving rod and the size of the moving rod is fixedly connected with a straight rack); and
a second frame having one side coupled to the first frame and the other side coupled to each of the cell fixing members (Fig 3, #1 fixed frame and #24 buffer frame [Wingdings font/0xE0] Shenzhen teaches wherein the fixing frame is movably inserted with a moving rod and the size of the moving rod is fixedly connected with a straight rack),
wherein one side of the first frame is disposed to correspond to an axial through-hole of each of the pair of pinion gears so as to be coupled to the pinion gear, and the other side is coupled to the second frame (Shenzhen: Figure 3, #13 first fixing plate, #14 first gear, #19 second fixing plate, #22 second gear), wherein the first frame is coupled to a coupling protrusion of the pinion gear at a position between the one side and the other side of the first frame.
Regarding Claim 8, Borcea in view of Shenzhen teach the cell gripper of claim 7, wherein each of the gear frames further comprise a third frame having one side coupled to the second frame and the other side rotatably coupled to the housing (Fig 3, #1 fixed frame and #24 buffer frame [Wingdings font/0xE0] Shenzhen teaches wherein the gear frames comprise a variety of the gear frames of the assembly).
Regarding Claim 9, Borcea in view of Shenzhen teach the cell gripper of claim 8, wherein the third frame is coupled to the second frame so as to be disposed between the cell fixing member and the first frame (Fig 3, #1 fixed frame and #24 buffer frame [Wingdings font/0xE0] Shenzhen teaches wherein the gear frames comprise a variety of the gear frames of the assembly).
Regarding Claim 10, Borcea in view of Shenzhen teach the cell gripper of claim 7, wherein the cell fixing member (Shenzhen teaches a first fixing plate #13 and a second fixing plate #19) comprises:
a pressing part provided as a flat surface; and
a pair of coupling parts extending in a direction opposite to the flat surface of the pressing part (Figure 3, #13 first fixing plate, #14 first gear, #19 second fixing plate, #22 second gear [Wingdings font/0xE0] Shenzhen teaches this for the purpose of allowing movement of the gear frames in order to provide a high-efficiency clamping function).
Regarding Claim 11, Borcea in view of Shenzhen teach the cell gripper of claim 10, wherein, in the second frame, the other side opposite to the one side coupled to the first frame is inserted between the pair of coupling parts to be rotatably coupled (Fig 3, #1 fixed frame and #24 buffer frame).
Regarding Claim 12, Borcea in view of Shenzhen teach the cell gripper of claim 1, wherein a notch groove having a U- shaped vertical section is defined in the housing at a position corresponding to the cell seating groove (Page 3, the first elastic clamping piece #17 and the second elastic clamping piece have an arc-shaped structure).
Regarding Claim 13, Borcea in view of Shenzhen teach the cell gripper of claim 12, wherein the notch groove is defined to have a size greater than a size of the cell seating groove (Figures 1-3; Page 3, the first elastic clamping piece #17 and the second elastic clamping piece have an arc-shaped structure).
Regarding Claim 14, Borcea discloses comprising at least one gripper #10; and
a mount configured to fix the at least one cell gripper from below the at least one cell gripper (Col 1, lines 39-50 and lines 53-67 [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses a gripper assembly),
wherein the at least one cell gripper #10 (Abstract [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses a gripper device) comprises
a housing (Col 2, lines 33-50, housing #10A), and
a grip assembly mounted in the housing (Col 1, lines 39-50 and lines 53-67 [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses a gripper assembly), and
a pair of pinion gears provided on opposing exterior side surfaces of the cell support, respectively (Abstract; Col 1, lines 53-67; [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses a pair of spur gears that are disposed in meshing relationship on opposite sides of a rack carriage), and configured to convert a vertical linear movement of the cell support into a rotational movement of the pair of pinion gears (Abstract [Wingdings font/0xE0] Borcea discloses wherein the spur gears are arranged to counter-rotate relative to each other).
Borcea, however, fails to expressly disclose a cell gripper,
wherein the grip assembly comprises a cell support defining a cell seating groove having an upper portion into which a cell is configured to be seated;
a pair of gear frames coupled to the pair of pinion gears, respectively, and configured to transmit the rotational movement of the pair of pinion gears; and
a pair of cell fixing members provided on end portions of the pair of gear frames, respectively, and configured to press and fix the cell seated in the cell seating groove from both sides.
Shenzhen teaches the gripper above comprising a pair of gear frames coupled to the pair of pinion gears (Fig 3, #1 fixed frame and #24 buffer frame [Wingdings font/0xE0] Shenzhen teaches wherein the fixing frame is movably inserted with a moving rod and the size of the moving rod is fixedly connected with a straight rack), respectively, and configured to transmit the rotational movement of the pair of pinion gears, and a pair of cell fixing members provided on end portions of the pair of gear frames, respectively, and configured to press and fix the cell seated in the cell seating groove from both sides (Figure 3, #13 first fixing plate, #14 first gear, #19 second fixing plate, #22 second gear) for the purpose of allowing movement of the gear frames in order to provide a high-efficiency clamping function (Abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Borcea to include a pair of gear frames and a pair of cell fixing members, as taught by Shenzhen, because doing so would allow movement of the gear frames in order to provide a high-efficiency clamping function.
Lee Dae teaches expressly a cell gripper (paragraph [0001] [Wingdings font/0xE0] Lee Dae teaches a cell transfer device comprising gripping portions, wherein the gripping portion is a cell gripper), wherein the grip assembly comprises a cell support defining a cell seating groove having an upper portion into which a cell is configured to be seated (Abstract; paragraphs [0001] and [0073] [Wingdings font/0xE0] Lee Dae teaches wherein the cell gripper #410 of the gripping portion #400 holds and fixes/supports the main body of the cell #100) for the purpose of mounting the cell gripper onto the main body in order to provide support for a cell transfer device (Abstract; paragraph [0001]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Borcea to include expressly a cell gripper comprising a cell support, as taught by Lee Dae, because doing so would help to mount the cell gripper onto the main body in order to provide support for a cell transfer device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Gao (U.S Pub 2014/0021731) – discloses a reconfigurable gripping device for securely gripping, lifting, and transporting a work piece that includes a first finger and a second finger each secured to a base platform (Abstract).
Bertini (U.S Patent 6,394,521) – discloses a gripper having a housing containing a piston and a cylinder assembly and a pair of pinion gears rotatably to oscillate in opposite directions (Abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ASHISH K VARMA whose telephone number is (571)272-9565. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30-5:30pm, Telework Mondays and Fridays.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Doug Hutton can be reached at 571-272-4137. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ASHISH K VARMA/Examiner, Art Unit 3674
/WILLIAM D HUTTON JR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3674
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