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 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.
Claims 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gorman US 2005/0120648 A1.
Gorman teaches:
20. A double-contoured shim for filling a gap between a first mating-surface of a first component and a second mating-surface of a second component, the double-contoured shim comprising:
a first shim [Fig. 4 16] that comprises a first contoured shim-surface [Fig. 4 wave portion of shim] and a first planar shim-surface [Fig. 4 16 planar surface opposite to contoured surface near 13] that is opposite the first contoured shim-surface; and
a second shim [Fig. 4 24] that comprises a second contoured shim-surface and a second planar shim-surface that is opposite the second contoured shim-surface, [Fig. 4 24 planar surface opposite to contoured surface near 13]
wherein the first shim and the second shim are coupled together along the first planar shim-surface and the second planar shim-surface. [Fig. 4 shims coupled together along planar surfaces of 16, 24, and 25]
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 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Boyl-Davis et al. US 2012/0316666 A1 in view of Cramer et al. US 2021/0406412 A1.
Boyl-Davis teaches:
1. A system for fabricating a double-contoured shim, the system comprising:
a computer that:
generates a shim model [3d representation of shim 40] to fill a gap between a first mating-surface of a first component and a second mating-surface of a second component; [Fig. 4 48 and 50 and para. 0036, “The results of step 50 is a digital solid definition of a shim 30 which would substantially fill the gap 34.”] and
Boyl-Davis does not teach the following limitation, however, Cramer teaches:
generates a virtual plane that divides the shim model into a first shim model and a second shim model; [para. 0036, “An object splitting process can be launched by the CAD program(s) 116 to optimize a model for manufacturing, where an object represented by the model is split into two or more objects represented by two or more 3D models.”] and
a manufacturing system that:
fabricates
a first shim that is based on the first shim model and that comprises a first contoured shim-surface that is complementary to a first mating-surface area of the first mating-surface and a first planar shim-surface that is opposite the first contoured shim-surface; [Fig. 2 230 – “Provide the 3D models for use in manufacturing physical structures corresponding to the separate objects, which can be assembled together to form a single structure”] and
fabricates
a second shim that is based on the second shim model and that comprises a second contoured shim-surface that is complementary to a second mating-surface area of the second mating-surface and a second planar shim-surface that is opposite the second contoured shim-surface [Fig. 2 230 – “Provide the 3D models for use in manufacturing physical structures corresponding to the separate objects, which can be assembled together to form a single structure”].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to combine the teachings of Cramer with those of Boyl-Davis. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings because Cramer teaches that splitting a 3d model object into two separate parts makes manufacturing easier and more efficient. (See para. 0005-0006).
Boyl-Davis teaches:
2. The system of Claim 1, wherein:
the computer generates three-dimensional geometry data for a space between a first virtual mating-surface and a second virtual mating-surface; [Fig. 4 50]
Cramer teaches:
the virtual plane divides the space into a first portion and a second portion; [Fig. 2 220 – Determine a three dimensional parting surface to split the object into separate objects]
the first shim model substantially fills the first portion of the space between the virtual plane and the first virtual mating-surface; and the second shim model substantially fills the second portion of the space between the virtual plane and the second virtual mating-surface. [Fig. 2 230 – Provide the 3D models for use in manufacturing physical structures corresponding to the separate objects, which can be assembled together to form a single structure]
Boyl-davis teaches:
3. The system of Claim 2, wherein the computer further:
aligns first measurement data of the first mating-surface and second measurement data of the second mating-surface; [Fig. 4 46 Determine surface profiles of parts]
generates a first virtual shim-surface from the first measurement data that is complementary to a first virtual-surface portion of the first virtual mating-surface; [Fig. 4 48 – Generate digital volume matching gap between the parts] and
generates a second virtual shim-surface from the second measurement data that is complementary to a second virtual-surface portion of the second virtual mating-surface. [Fig. 4 48 – Generate digital volume matching gap between the parts]
Cramer teaches:
4. The system of Claim 3, wherein:
the computer generates
first dimensions of first portion of the space between the first virtual shim-surface and the virtual plane [para. 0094, “In some implementations, a splitting surface can be placed at the mathematical midpoint of the inflection zone along the surface of the geometry, which identifies the area on the geometry that is to be split into separate halves.” i.e. the distance between the contour surface and the parting surface is the dimension of from the surface to the midpoint of the parting zone, or also to reduce curvature of parting surface (flatness) it can be placed at “non-midpoint” locations. See para. 0087] and
generates second dimensions of second portion of the space between the second virtual shim-surface and the virtual plane; [The “second dimension” is the distance between the bottom contoured surface and the parting surface] and
Cramer Fig. 5A
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the manufacturing system [para. 0005, “The physical structures can be manufactured using additive manufacturing, die casting, injection molding, subtractive manufacturing, and/or other manufacturing systems and techniques.”]
fabricates the first shim that comprises a first thickness that varies as a function of the first dimensions [Fig. 2 230 “Provide the 3D models for use in manufacturing physical structure corresponding to the separate objects, which can be assembled together to form a single structure”] and
fabricates the second shim that comprises a second thickness that varies as a function of the second dimensions. [Fig. 2 230 – manufactures second half with geometries determined in 220 and 225]
Cramer teaches:
5. The system of Claim 4, wherein the computer:
generates a planar data set corresponding to the virtual plane; [Fig. 2 220 “parting surface” and para. 0087, “In some implementations, the parting surface 530 can be placed at a non-midpoint location to reduce the curvature and/or deviation of the parting surface itself. As this can be geometry specific, a user's manufacturing objectives may require a smoother and/or flatter parting surface because of a desired manufacturing technique or assembly process.” (emphasis added.)]
determines the first dimensions between the planar data set and the first virtual shim-surface for use as the first thickness of the first shim; and [para. 0087, “In some implementations, the 3D parting surface 530 is placed at a midpoint of the parting zone 519 such that the parting surface 530 identifies an area of the 3D topology that causes the object 501 to be split into separate objects. In some implementations, the parting surface 530 can be placed at a non-midpoint location to reduce the curvature and/or deviation of the parting surface itself.”]
determines the second dimensions between the planar data set and the second virtual shim-surface for use as the second thickness of the second shim. [para. 0087, “In some implementations, the 3D parting surface 530 is placed at a midpoint of the parting zone 519 such that the parting surface 530 identifies an area of the 3D topology that causes the object 501 to be split into separate objects. In some implementations, the parting surface 530 can be placed at a non-midpoint location to reduce the curvature and/or deviation of the parting surface itself.”]
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Cramer teaches:
6. The system of Claim 5, wherein the computer selects the planar data set at an approximately central location between the first virtual shim-surface and the second virtual shim-surface. [para. 00087, “In some implementations, the 3D parting surface 530 is placed at a midpoint of the parting zone 519 such that the parting surface 530 identifies an area of the 3D topology that causes the object 501 to be split into separate objects.”]
Cramer teaches:
7. The system of Claim 3,
wherein:
the computer determines a first virtual shim-surface contour of the first virtual shim-surface and a second virtual shim-surface contour of the second virtual shim-surface; [Fig. 4 405] and
the manufacturing system fabricates the first contoured shim-surface of the first shim that comprises a first shim-surface contour that varies as a function of the first virtual shim-surface contour and fabricates the second contoured shim-surface of the second shim that comprises a second shim-surface contour that varies as a function of the second virtual shim-surface contour. [Fig. 2 230]
Cramer teaches:
8. The system of Claim 3, wherein the computer:
selects a first data set of the first measurement data corresponding to the first mating-surface area of the first mating-surface to generate the first virtual shim-surface; [Fig. 2 225] and
selects a second data set of the second measurement data corresponding to the second mating-surface area of the second mating-surface to generate the second virtual shim-surface. [Fig. 2 225]
Cramer teaches:
9. The system of Claim 1, wherein the manufacturing system couples the first shim and the second shim together along the first planar shim-surface and the second planar shim-surface. [Fig. 2 230]
Regarding method claims 10-19, these method claims recite the steps for executing the functions recited in system claims 1-9 above and are rejected on the same grounds and rationale as corresponding claims above.
Conclusion
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/GARY COLLINS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115