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 .
Response to Arguments
This office action is in response to amendments filed 12/30/2025. Claims 21, 23-28 are pending.
Applicant’s arguments and amendments to the claims with respect to prior art rejections of Claims 21, 23-28 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of Claims 21, 23-28 under 35 USC 103 have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new rejection is made in view of Cassidy et al (US 20210016440, hereinafter Cassidy).
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.
Claim(s) 21, 23-24, 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Einav et al (US 20150321280, hereinafter Einav) in view of Cassidy et al (US 20210016440, hereinafter Cassidy.
Regarding Claim 21, Einav teaches:
a portable robotic welding system (see at least "FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of a modular welding and tracking system." in par. 0057) , comprising:
a portable robotic welder (see at least " Reference is now made to FIGS. 3a & 3b showing an exemplary orbital welding system with a tracking device in operation." in par. 0074) , having a torch tip electrode for providing an electric current and which torch tip electrode is variably positionable and moveable in three or more degrees of freedom and wherein a position of said torch tip electrode in 3D space is always known in relation to a fixed point on said portable robotic welder (see at least " A follower mechanism (having for instance wheels and motors, capable of moving the welding head and sensors about); [0061] A welding head; [0062] A marking device; [0063] A control system with GUI & pendant." in par. 0060-0063 and “During a welding process of a joint, a typical rotary platform (1) is attached to the pipe and moves in an orbital path. The platform is equipped with a linear arm (2) that is parallel to the axis of the pipe. The adjustable mechanism (3) enables fine adjustment of the distance between the welding tip (5) and the follower (4).” and “The current as will be clear to one skilled in the art is dependent upon welding electrode position from the work” in par. 0115) ;
a source of laser light (see at least "In some embodiments of the present invention, an additional head is added to the platform (e.g. near the welding head) that includes instruments such as a camera/ultrasound/laser head for position and quality inspection." in par. 0080);
a detector and tracker for: (a) detecting a series of reflected laser light points which are reflected from a desired weld seam of two members desired to be welded together when said laser light source is directed along said desired weld seam (see at least "Another example within provision of the invention would comprise a vision or laser (or other optical means) system that images the seam, for example including the area in front of the rotary platform to allow for accurate movement of the welding platform with respect thereto." in par. 0115) , and
creating a series of datapoint co- ordinates in respect of said reflected laser light points in relation to said fixed reference point on said portable robotic welder (see at least " Through this means the system can control two axes of the welding apparatus position radial and axial the cart controls the azimuthal position of the entire device while the welding apparatus controls the position of the welding head along the pipe axis and radially. The two motions of the welding apparatus can compensate for both lateral and vertical shift of the seam." in par. 0098) ;
a storage of tracked datapoint co-ordinates in a memory (see at least " Furthermore, it is within provision of the invention that the welding platform be supplied with means to record the position of the seam by first measuring the seam relative to the rotary platform storing the information in a controller and then using it while welding. Possibly some marks along the seam may be used to adjust position for occasional referencing and or homing." in par. 0113) ; and
a controller for accessing said memory and utilizing said tracked datapoint co-ordinates so as to calculate and provide machine commands to said robotic welder to cause said robotic welder to move said torch tip electrode thereof progressively along said weld seam to effect welding of said two members along said weld seam (see at least " Furthermore, it is within provision of the invention that the welding platform be supplied with means to record the position of the seam by first measuring the seam relative to the rotary platform storing the information in a controller and then using it while welding. Possibly some marks along the seam may be used to adjust position for occasional referencing and or homing." in par. 0113) .
Einav does not appear to explicitly teach all of the following, but Cassidy does teach:
wherein said desired weld seam has applied beforehand to it a light-reflective paint, light-reflective ink, or light-reflective material, that is traced over, adhered to, or placed along, said desired weld seam, adapted to cause laser light emitted from said laser light source to be reflected back to said detector when said laser light source is directed toward and in a direction of or along said desired weld seam (see at least "Adhesive 316 may be reflective, colored, coated, treated, and/or otherwise designed to be visually distinct from a surface of workpiece 304 and recognizable by vision system 106. Additionally, or alternatively, adhesive 316 may be removable and/or consumable. For a weld operation, adhesive 316 may be formed of a material that is designed to be melted, dissolved, peeled, burned, and/or otherwise removed from workpiece 304 during the weld operation (e.g., upon application of a torch of end effector 116)." in par. 0027)
determining, using LIDAR(light detection and ranging), a range and an angular position relative to said fixed reference point on said portable robotic welder, of each of said series of reflected laser light points (see at least “Vision system 106 includes a vision sensor 130 that is positioned within the workspace 124 and configured to capture one or more images of path marker 114. For example, vision sensor 130 may include a camera, an infrared sensor, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, and/or the like." in par. 0018 and “Path marker 202 may be applied to a workpiece 204 (e.g., printed, painted, laser-etched, cast-formed, handwritten, and/or the like) along a desired work path (e.g., a seam 206 between two or more parts of workpiece 204 to be welded).” In par. 0023)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system taught by Einav to incorporate the teachings of Cassidy wherein the robot uses LIDAR sensors to detect reflective paint, tape, or other material adhered along the desired weld path. The motivation to incorporate the teachings of Cassidy would be to reduce the amount of time and effort to program the welding robot (see par. 0056)
Regarding Claim 23, Einav as modified by Cassidy teaches:
The portable robotic welding system as claimed in claim 21,
Einav further teaches: wherein said portable robotic welding system is further provided with a stabilizer for stabilizing said portable robotic welder at a location where said two or more members are desired to be welded along said weld seam (see at least " The rotary platform rotates around the pipe by means of motor (50) that is linked to the chain. The motor (50) can also rotate the rotary platform wheels to assist and smooth the rotational motion of the welding platform as it rotates around the pipe in circular or helical fashion." in par. 0092) .
Regarding Claim 24, Einav as modified by Cassidy teaches:
the portable robotic welding system as claimed in claim 21, further comprising:
Einav further teaches: a sensor for sensing a height or depth of a weld bead created by said torch tip electrode along said weld seam (see at least " Performing a QA process based on sensory feedback (280). This process can be either on line with the main process or it can be done after the process, or both, The QA process may comprise ultrasound, visual, optical and other measurements intended to analyze and quantify weld quality in terms of uniformity, weld strength, seam size, weld depth, and other parameters as will be clear to one skilled in the art." in par. 0065) ; and
a controller to control (see at least " Performing a QA process based on sensory feedback (280). This process can be either on line with the main process" in par. 0073) , in real time, one or more of :
a speed of travel of said torch tip electrode along said weld seam (see at least " For example temperature, wind speed, smoke concentration, vibration levels, CO2 concentration, oxygen levels, relative humidity, orientation, heading, and the like may be measured and used to change such process parameters as welding current/voltage, gas pressure, gas flux, welding speed, welding technique, and the like." in par. 0161) ; or
an amount of amperage of electrical current applied to said torch tip electrode (see at least " For example temperature, wind speed, smoke concentration, vibration levels, CO2 concentration, oxygen levels, relative humidity, orientation, heading, and the like may be measured and used to change such process parameters as welding current/voltage, gas pressure, gas flux, welding speed, welding technique, and the like." in par. 0161) ;
so as to permit control in real time by an operator of said portable robotic welder of said height or depth of said weld bead (see at least " Performing a QA process based on sensory feedback (280). This process can be either on line with the main process or it can be done after the process, or both, The QA process may comprise ultrasound, visual, optical and other measurements intended to analyze and quantify weld quality in terms of uniformity, weld strength, seam size, weld depth, and other parameters as will be clear to one skilled in the art." in par. 0065).
Regarding Claim 28, Einav as modified by Cassidy (references to Einav) also teaches:
A method (see at least " method for providing a system and method for modular welding and welding seam tracking." in par. 0050)
For implementing the system of Claim 21 (see Claim 21 analysis for rejection of the system)
Claim(s) 25-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Einav et al (US 20150321280, hereinafter Einav) in view of Cassidy et al (US 20210016440, hereinafter Cassidy).
Regarding Claim 25, Einav as modified by Cassidy teaches:
the portable robotic welding system as claimed in claim 21, further comprising:
Einav as modified by Cassidy does not appear to explicitly teach all of the following, but Lonsberry does teach:
an obstruction detector which detects proximity of or 3D spatial location of any possible obstruction if the machine commands generated by said controller would cause a robotic arm or arms of said robotic welding system or portions thereof to contact and thus be constrained in their movement and otherwise cause said torch tip electrode to be unable to be moved along said weld seam (see at least "The controller 108 may determine whether the state at each seam point is feasible, meaning at least in part that the controller 108 may determine whether implementing the chain of states along the sequence of seam points of the seam will cause any collisions between the robot 110 and structures in the workspace 101, or even with parts of the robot 110 itself. " in par. 0058) ; and
in an event a possible obstruction being indicated, said controller adapted to generate alternative machine commands to cause said robotic arm or arms to avoid contact with said obstruction and permit said torch tip electrode to be moved along a full length of said weld seam (see at least " For the subset of waypoint-node pairs with respect to which model intersection is identified, the controller 108 may omit the waypoint-node pairs in that subset from the planned path and may identify alternatives to those waypoint-node pairs. The controller 108 may repeat this process as needed until a collision-free path has been planned. The controller 108 may use a flexible collision library (FCL), which includes various techniques for efficient collision detection and proximity computations, as a tool in the collision avoidance analysis. The FCL is useful to perform multiple proximity queries on different model representations, and it may be used to perform probabilistic collision identification between point clouds." in par. 0061) .
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system taught by Einav as modified by Cassidy to incorporate the teachings of Lonsberry wherein the robot uses LIDAR sensors to identify obstructions around the weld seam and updates welding paths until a collision free path is found. The motivation to incorporate the teachings of Lonsberry would be to avoid collisions and adapt to misaligned parts (see par. 0018).
Regarding Claim 26, Einav as modified by Cassidy and Lonsberry teaches:
the robotic welding system as claimed in claim 25,
Einav as modified by Cassidy does not appear to explicitly teach all of the following, but Lonsberry does teach:
wherein said obstruction detector comprises one of obstruction detection devices selected from a group of obstruction detection devices comprising laser light emitting devices and sonar emitting devices (see at least "For instance, the sensors 102 may include cameras (e.g., cameras with built-in laser), scanners (e.g., laser scanners), etc. The sensors 102 may include sensors such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors. Alternatively or in addition, the sensors 102 may be audio sensors configured to emit and/or capture sound, such as Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR) devices." in par. 0021) .
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system taught by Einav as modified by Cassidy to incorporate the teachings of Lonsberry wherein the robot uses LIDAR or SONAR sensors to identify obstructions around the weld seam and updates welding paths until a collision free path is found. The motivation to incorporate the teachings of Lonsberry would be to avoid collisions and adapt to misaligned parts (see par. 0018).
Claim(s) 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Einav et al (US 20150321280, hereinafter Einav) in view of Cassidy et al (US 20210016440, hereinafter Cassidy) and Artelsmair et al (US 20140014638, hereinafter Artelsmair)
Regarding Claim 27, Einav as modified by Cassidy teaches:
The portable robotic welding system as claimed in claim 21,
Einav further teaches: being mountable on a vehicle, for transportation to various locations where said members have a weld seam to be welded therebetween and which are variously situated about a construction site (see at least "The platform is attached to the pipe using a chain (51) that can be adjusted and tightened to the pipe circumference by means of a crank (52) that pulls a tightening sprocket (53). The chain and motion elements are optionally embedded in a modular cart which mates reversibly with the rest of the welding platform. In this way the device is rendered modular insofar as the movement means comprising cart, wheels, motoring means and the like are separable from the welding and sensing means. " in par. 0091 and “A similar system for flat plates or various other largely planar surfaces is shown in FIGS. 6A,B. The cart (1) is separate from the rest of the assembly which includes an arm (2) upon which the welding apparatus may travel upon a sliding member (9). In this way the device is rendered modular in the sense that the cart is easily separable from the welding and control elements. Thus the cart and/or welding apparatus may be replaced easily for repair, use of different welding system, use of different motoring means, use of different feedback means, and the like. For example a welding apparatus suitable for underwater welding can be used on the same cart used for open air welding by simply replacing the welding apparatus.” In par. 0094 and Fig. 3A, 5A)
Einav and Cassidy do not appear to explicitly teach all of the following, but Artelsmair does teach:
wherein said portable robotic welding system is transportable by:
being mountable on an overhead moveable gantry which is moveable in 2 or more dimensions within a shop facility, to allow said torch tip electrode thereof to be brought in proximity to said members to allow said members to be welded along said a well seam (see at least "It is furthermore noted that the welding robot 26 may also have another design. It is e.g. possible that is designed as a gantry robot." in par. 0131) ;
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system taught by Einav as modified by Cassidy to incorporate the teachings of Artelsmair wherein the welding robot is mounted to a gantry or vehicle to be able to weld in different places. The motivation to incorporate the teachings of Artelsmair would be to enable the gas or power supply to move with the welding robot (see par. 0096, Fig. 1), which removes the need for constant manual moving of components.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DYLAN M KATZ whose telephone number is (571)272-2776. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs. 8:00-6:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abby Lin can be reached on (571) 270-3976. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DYLAN M KATZ/Examiner, Art Unit 3657