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 response to the restriction requirement, Applicant elected claims 1-6 and 17 for further examination. As a result, claims 7-16 are withdrawn from further prosecution.
Applicant’s Election with traverse is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground that the searches would be co-extensive and would not unduly burden the examiner. This is not found persuasive because burden is not only based upon searches being co-extensive. Examination and analysis for determination of patentability creates burden.
Claim Objections
Claim 17 is objected to because of the following informalities: The claim recites the phrase “and/or” that renders the claim indefinite because the claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the claimed invention, thereby rendering the scope of the claim unascertainable. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen (CN 113805529).
Regarding to claim 1:
Chen discloses a height measurement method based on a height measurement assembly of a numerical control apparatus, wherein the height measurement assembly comprises a photoelectric signal collection array (FIG. 2, element 20), a light source (FIG. 2, element 30), a lens (FIG. 2, element 40), and a processing portion (FIG. 2, element 10), the light source being arranged on one side of the photoelectric signal collection array, light emitted out by the light source irradiating a plane (FIG. 2, element 50) to be measured of an assembly to be measured, and the lens being configured for focusing the light emitted out by the light source; and the height measurement method principally comprises:
A1: driving the height measurement assembly to move on a coordinate axis of the numerical control apparatus through a preset positioning mechanism on the plane to be measured of the assembly to be measured, so as to obtain a preset movement distance corresponding to each movement; and acquiring reflected light patterns of several planes to be measured through the photoelectric signal collection array in each movement process, and acquiring a distance between adjacent reflected light patterns through the processing portion (page 2, 3rd paragraph: The height measuring component is driven to move on the coordinate axis, and the preset moving distance and the distance between adjacent reflected light patterns are obtained); and
A2: acquiring a target height of the assembly to be measured through a preset height acquisition model according to each preset movement distance and the distance between adjacent reflected light patterns corresponding to each preset movement distance (page 2, 4th paragraph: The target height value is obtained through the preset moving distance and the distance between adjacent reflected light patterns).
Regarding to claim 2: wherein a method for acquiring the preset height acquisition model comprises:
B1: collecting several height points, within a standard height measurement range of the height measurement assembly, of a standard assembly (page 2, 5th paragraph: Collecting several height points in the standard height measuring range);
B2: driving the height measurement assembly to move on the coordinate axis of the numerical control apparatus by any distance through the preset positioning mechanism at each height point, so as to obtain a movement distance, at each height point, of the height measurement assembly (page 2, 6th paragraph: On each height point, obtaining the moving distance of the height measuring component);
B3: acquiring reflected light patterns of several standard planes through the photoelectric signal collection array when the height measurement assembly moves at each height point, and acquiring a distance between adjacent reflected light patterns corresponding to each height point through the processing portion (page 2, 7th paragraph: Obtaining the distance between each adjacent reflection light patterns corresponding to each height point); and
B4: performing a function fitting on the movement distance at each height point and the distance, between adjacent reflected light patterns, acquired at the corresponding height point to obtain the preset height acquisition model in a standard state (page 2, 8th paragraph and page 3, 1st paragraph: Performing function fitting to the distance between each adjacent reflection light patterns at corresponding height point to obtain the preset height value in the standard state).
Regarding to claim 3: wherein in step B4, the function fitting comprises a neural network based fitting, a specific fitting method of which comprises (page 3, lines 1-2):
B41: acquiring a distance training set, the distance training set comprising a preset movement distance, at a preset height point, of the height measurement assembly and a preset distance between adjacent reflected light patterns at the corresponding height point (page 3, lines 3-4); and
B42: training a back propagation (BP) neural network through the distance training set to obtain the preset height acquisition model (page 3, lines 6-7).
Regarding to claim 4: wherein in step A2, a specific method for the acquiring a target height of the assembly to be measured through a preset height acquisition model comprises: acquiring a height corresponding to each preset movement distance through the preset height acquisition model according to each preset movement distance and the distance between adjacent reflected light patterns corresponding to each preset movement distance; and acquiring an average value of the heights corresponding to all the preset movement distances to serve as the target height, and outputting same (page 3, lines 8-12).
Regarding to claim 5: wherein in step A1, the method further comprises: determining whether the distance between adjacent reflected light patterns is within a preset range, and if not, outputting an error message (page 3, lines 15-17).
Regarding to claim 6: wherein in step B3, a specific method for the acquiring a distance between adjacent reflected light patterns corresponding to each height point through the processing portion comprises: acquiring the distance between adjacent reflected light patterns corresponding to each height point through the processing portion and a digital image correlation method (page 3, lines 18-21).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 17 is 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 and the claim objection addressed above is corrected.
The primary reasons for the indication of the allowability of the claim is the inclusions therein, in combination as currently claimed, of the limitation that wherein the compensation method comprises (1) performing a fitting on an extrusion height hp of the numerical control apparatus and a corresponding printing extrusion amount Fi in a pre-calibration stage to obtain a function relation hp(Fi, Ɵ) of a theoretical basic height, Ɵ being an identified set of other parameters affecting measurement of the target height; (2) converting a three-dimensional model into a motion instruction through preset slice software, the motion instruction comprising an extrusion amount Fi, at each position, of a printing nozzle; and (3) measuring a target height of an actually-printed content in a layer through the height measurement assembly and calculating a corrected printing flow Fpi for implementing an expected height in a next layer after printing in each layer, and continuing to print based on the corrected printing flow Fpi in the next layer, and wherein a height acquisition module comprises a first function construction module configured for constructing a function relation hp(Fi, Ɵ) of a theoretical basic height according to a printing extrusion amount Fi and an extrusion height hp, Ɵ being an identified set of other parameters affecting measurement of the target height; a conversion module configured for converting a three-dimensional model into a motion instruction through preset slice software, the motion instruction comprising an extrusion amount Fi, at each position, of a printing nozzle; a collection module configured for collecting preset heights, within a preset height range, of the assembly to be measured: and driving the height measurement assembly to move by a preset distance in an X or Y direction through a motion mechanism of the height measurement assembly at each preset height, and recording each reflected light pattern through the photoelectric signal collection array in a movement process; a data processing module configured for acquiring a movement distance of the pattern through a digital image correlation algorithm; a second function construction module configured for performing a fitting of a preset function on each preset height and the movement distance of the pattern to obtain a function relation of the height; a reading module configured for controlling movement distances, in the X or Y direction, of the height measurement assembly through a preset external positioning platform, and reading corresponding target heights; a compensation module configured for calculating a corrected printing flow Fpi for implementing an expected height in a next layer; an analysis and determination module configured for determining whether the read target heights are within the height range, and if not, outputting an error height, and an output module configured for acquiring an average value of the read target heights through the function relation of the height to serve as an extrusion height hp, to perform height measurement during the printing process is neither disclosed nor taught by the cited prior art of record, alone or in combination.
CONTACT INFORMATION
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see the attached PTO-892 form.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAM S NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2151.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DOUGLAS RODRIGUEZ, can be reached on 571-431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAM S NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853