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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 26 June 2026 was filed prior to the mailing date of this office correspondence. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Amendment filed on 16 June 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-13 are now pending in the application.
Amendments to the claims 1-10 and 12-13 to overcome the informalities are acceptable. Therefore, claim objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments regarding the rejections under U.S.C 112(a) and U.S.C 112(b) have been fully considered and the rejections under U.S.C 112(a) and 35 U.S.C. 112(b) of claims 1-10 have been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 19 December 2022 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Argument on Page 12 third and fourth paragraph:
Applicant argues on Page 12, third paragraph that “Amended Claim 1 specifically recites that "the cable gripper moves manually to a desired position of the at least one processing station”….Thus the claimed manual movement includes physical manipulation of the cable gripper by the user, which includes grasping the cable gripper with a hand and moving it to establish the desired position….When the cable call button is pressed in Agustoni, the control system automatically feeds the cable end to a "predefined initial setting or, for example, to the last stored gripper setting." (Agustoni, para. [0031]). This is automated movement initiated by a button press, and not manual movement of the cable gripper by grasping it with the hand….the operator physically grasps the cable gripper and moves it by hand to establish the desired position, allowing the operator to use tactile feedback and visual observation to position the cable end precisely relative to the processing station.”
Examiner respectfully submits that, the limitation in claim 1, “the cable gripper moves manually to a desired position of the at least one processing station” does not read “grasping the cable gripper with a hand and moving” as applicant argues. It is apparent that, applicant reads the limitations from the specification into the claims. Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). As applicant agrees Agustoni teaches “automated movement initiated by a button press”, in which the button press process has to be initiated manually. In other words, as Agustoni teaches in para. [0031], manually triggering a button that enables moving a cable held by the gripper to a desired position would meet the recited “the cable gripper moves manually to a desired position”.
Given their broadest reasonable interpretation, the term “moves manually” does not always mean “moves by hand”. A manual movement manifests if the movement of the cable is initiated by pressing a button. Therefore, unless otherwise defined, prior art Agustoni teaches the limitation “the cable gripper moves manually to a desired position of the at least one processing station”. Further, as pointed out in the 10 March 2026 office action (see Page 9), detecting a position, and storing the positional signals supplied by detectors in the machine controller is known in the art (see Ito, US 4385358).
Argument on Page 12, last paragraph:
Applicant argues “The Examiner points to Agustoni's cable call button 12 and states that "the local cable call button 12 the user can bring up the cable . . . to the crimping station." However, the cable call button in Agustoni is not connected to the cable gripper, and pressing the button does not involve manual movement of the cable gripper. When the cable call button is pressed in Agustoni, the control system automatically feeds the cable end to a "predefined initial setting or, for example, to the last stored gripper setting."
Examiner submits that, Agustoni teaches that (emphasis added) “the feed process for the crimping station the cable call button has to be kept pressed until the cable end or the gripper holding the cable end has reached the desired target processing station…the feed process of the intermediate stop can be effected by releasing or freeing the cable call button.”, (para. [0022]), “pivot unit 5 comprises a gripper 9 for holding the cable… The pivot unit 5 has to be rotated about a vertical axis for feeding the cable ends to these processing stations”, (para. [0028]) and, “After pressing the cable call button 12 the cable ends pass to a predefined initial setting…The cables are held by a gripper 9 during the feed process, pivoted about the vertical axis and possibly displaced axially along the cable axis in the direction of the crimping tool…The four positioning buttons denoted by 14 serve that purpose. The gripper of the feed unit can be set upwardly and downwardly and thus in the horizontal position thereof by the upper and lower positioning buttons 14…the local cable call button 12 the user can bring up the cable, which is necessary for the setting-up process, to the crimping station 4 in simple manner without having to change over to the central control unit”, (para. [0031]) and “operator can now release the cable call button 12 and the approval button 13…The operator in that case positions the cable end by the positioning buttons 14”, (para. [0039]). In other words, in a setup mode, the cable gripper 9 holding a cable end moves the cable end to a desired position by pressing the positioning buttons 14. Therefore, unless otherwise defined the term “moves manually”, Agustoni teaches the recited limitation “the cable gripper moves manually to a desired position of the at least one processing station”. A claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. See, MPEP § 2114.
Argument on Page 13 third and fourth paragraph:
Applicant further argues “Importantly, Imgrut includes displacing the cable tip by means of manual inputs, and does not include manually moving a machine component such as the cable gripper by grasping it with the hand. In Imgrut, the operator provides manual inputs (e.g., button presses) that cause the machine to move the cable tip; the operator does not physically grasp the cable gripper and move it by hand. The present application, in contrast, states that the operator physically grasps the feed unit with the cable gripper and moves it by hand”.
Examiner respectfully submits that, Agustoni teaches the recited limitation except “storing a position of the cable gripper in the machine controller”. Imgrut teaches in para. [0042] “the crimping press 10 or cable processing machine has a program function that makes it possible to take a stripped cable 140 with the swivel unit 150 to the processing station, displace the cable tip by means of manual inputs in the direction of the cable and transversely thereto, and store the process position set in this way.” One of ordinary skill in the art would have thought that, storing the position of the cable gripper would improve the alignment of the cable end with the crimping tool.
Argument on Page 14, last paragraph:
Applicant argues on Page 14, “Davis, however, concerns a wire feeding and bonding tool for camera lens suspensions, which is a fundamentally different technical field involving feeding wire through a capillary to attach wires to micro-components. Davis does not include the manual movement of a cable gripper by grasping it with the hand, nor does Davis cure the deficiencies in Agustoni and Imgrut with respect to this limitation of independent Claim 1.”
Examiner submits that, though, Davis teaches feeding wires through a capillary, Davis teaches in para. [0019-0020], the feed unit including servo motor or stepper motor equipped with an encoder to provide information representative of the amount of actuation of the motor or supply 30 to the control system 66. It has been held that a prior art reference must either be in the field of the inventor’s endeavor or, if not, then be reasonably pertinent to the particular problem with which the inventor was concerned, in order to be relied upon as a basis for rejection of the claimed invention. Davis particularly solving the to the problem of providing the information related to the movement of a cable end, with which the inventor was concerned.
Further, the limitation “when the machine controller is in a setup mode, the cable gripper moves manually to a desired position of the at least one processing station; and wherein the machine controller, after the desired position has been established manually, stores a position of the cable gripper in the machine controller” recites what the intended use of the machine controller, rather than what it is. See MPEP § 2111. Agustoni teaches, a cable processing device comprising a plurality of processing stations, a feed unit, a machine controller including a stored last position of the cable gripper. Therefore, from the teachings of a cable processing equipment 1 in Fig. 1, para. [0022-0039] of Agustoni and storing the position of the cable end of Imgrut, the recited cable processing device as currently claimed in claim 1 is insufficient to define over the prior art references Agustoni in view of Imgrut.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 3-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agustoni (US 20160139590) in view of Imgrut (US 20170338615).
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Annotated Fig. 1, Agustoni.
Regarding claim 1, Agustoni teaches, a cable processing device (cable processing equipment 1, Fig. 1) for assembling cables, the cable processing device comprising:
a plurality of processing stations (processing stations 3 and 4, Fig. 1);
a feed unit (feed unit 8) including a cable gripper (a gripper 9) adapted to feed a cable end of a cable to at least one of the processing stations (pivot unit 5 comprises a gripper 9 for holding the cable…The pivot unit 5 has to be rotated about a vertical axis for feeding the cable ends to these processing stations, para. [0028]);
a machine controller (central control unit 6, Fig. 1, central control unit 6 is connected with a control by way of which the individual processing stations and machine components are activatable for operation of the cable processing equipment 1, para. [0028]) controlling the cable processing device;
wherein when the machine controller is in a setup mode (after the cable ends or the grippers holding the cable ends are in the initial setting thereof the actual setting-up process for setting up, para. [0031]), the cable gripper moves manually a desired position of the at least one processing station (local control unit further comprises a cable call button 12…the local cable call button 12 the user can bring up the cable, which is necessary for the setting-up process, to the crimping station 4 in simple manner without having to change over to the central control unit,…The cables are held by a gripper 9 during the feed process, pivoted about the vertical axis and possibly displaced axially along the cable axis in the direction of the crimping tool…The four positioning buttons denoted by 14 serve that purpose. The gripper of the feed unit can be set upwardly and downwardly and thus in the horizontal position thereof by the upper and lower positioning buttons 14…the local cable call button 12 the user can bring up the cable, which is necessary for the setting-up process, to the crimping station 4 in simple manner without having to change over to the central control unit para. [0031], operator in that case positions the cable end by the positioning buttons 14, para. [0039]).
Agustoni does not explicitly teach, the machine controller, after the desired position has been established manually, stores a position of the cable gripper in the machine controller. However, Imgrut teaches a cable processing machine 50 in Figs. 2 to 4, in which, wherein the machine controller, after the desired position has been established manually, stores a position of the cable gripper in the machine controller (cable processing machine has a program function that…displace the cable tip by means of manual inputs in the direction of the cable and transversely thereto, and store the process position set in this way, para. [0042]).
From the teaching of Agustoni in para. [0031], “after pressing the cable call button 12 the cable ends pass to a predefined initial setting…to the last stored gripper setting…The cables are held by a gripper 9 during the feed process, pivoted about the vertical axis and possibly displaced axially along the cable axis in the direction of the crimping tool…The four positioning buttons denoted by 14 serve that purpose. The gripper of the feed unit can be set upwardly and downwardly and thus in the horizontal position thereof by the upper and lower positioning buttons 14…the local cable call button 12 the user can bring up the cable, which is necessary for the setting-up process, to the crimping station 4 in simple manner without having to change over to the central control unit”, and para. [0014], “cable processing equipment of that kind can comprise a feed unit with a transfer unit with a gripper, which is movable along a machine longitudinal axis”, one of ordinary skill in the art would have known that during the setting up process, user manually presses the local cable call button 12 and/or the position button 14 that manually brings a gripper holding the cable end to a previously stored position. Imgrut teaches a cable processing machine that stores a process position of the cable after manually displacing the cable. Therefore, in view of the teachings of Imgrut, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the cable processing device of Agustoni and to store the manually displaced position of the cable as Imgrut taught in para. [0042] so that it enables to correctly positioning a cable tip by executing an interpolation operation based on two positional signals which are read out from the memory unit of the controller. Moreover, there is no indication in the instant invention that any surprising results were derived, or that any special steps were devised in order read or store a position of the cable gripper. Such a combination would have been done by one of ordinary skill in the art without any need for experimentation and with reasonable expectations of success.
Note: the limitation “when the machine controller is in a setup mode, the cable gripper can be moved manually to the at least one processing station into a desired position; and wherein the machine controller, after the desired position has been established manually, stores a position of the cable gripper in the machine controller” recites what the intended use of the machine controller, rather than what it is. See MPEP § 2111. The prior art structure in Agustoni teaches central control unit 6 and local control units integrated with a central control unit, in which the central control unit 6 is capable of performing the intended use recited in the claim.
Regarding claim 3, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 1. Agustoni further teaches, the cable processing device according to Claim 1, including a protective hood (cable processing equipment is or can be protected by a protective hood, para. [0016]) movable between a closed position and an open position (see para. [0036]) and, in the closed position, the protective hood covers the at least one processing station and the feed unit (cable processing equipment 1 comprises protective hoods covering all dangerous elements of the machine, para. [0037]) and, in the open position, the protective hood creates a free space via which the at least one processing station and the feed unit are accessible for manual interactions for moving the cable gripper (when the protective hood is open the central control unit is inactive with respect to the setting-up process… protective hood can be raised on each occasion for setting up the machine, para. [0036-0037]), wherein when the protective hood is in the open position, the machine controller deactivates the at least one processing station (when the protective hood is open the central control unit is inactive with respect to the setting-up process, para. [0036]) and the feed unit and does not allow any processing process or the machine controller de-energizes actuators for operating the at least one processing station and the feed unit (risk-laden actions such as, for example, at the crimping station 4 have to be locally triggered by means of the trigger button 11 and the approval button 13 when the protective hood is open, para. [0037] in which it is obvious that the actuators are de-energized).
Regarding claim 4, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 3. Agustoni further teaches, the processing device according to Claim 3, including an operating unit having a hood button adapted to operate the protective hood (risk-laden actions with open protective hood have to be locally undertaken by means of the afore-described local trigger button and local approval button, para. [0036]), wherein the hood button is connected to the machine controller such that the setup mode is automatically established during or after actuation of the hood button (protective hood can be raised on each occasion for setting up the machine. In the setting-up operation it has to be possible with opened protective hood, para. [0037]).
Regarding claim 5, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 4. Agustoni further teaches, the cable processing device according to Claim 4, wherein the operating unit has a further button (approval button 13, Fig. 2, para. [0030]) connected to the machine controller (see para. [0030]) and adapted to operate the protective hood and to confirm that the protective hood is to be brought from an open position into a closed position (control could be so arranged that initially the trigger button 11 has to be pressed and thereafter it is confirmed, by pressing the approval button 13, para. [0030]).
Regarding claim 6, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 4. Agustoni further teaches, the processing device according to Claim 5, wherein the machine controller brings the protective hood from the open position into the closed position only when the hood button and the further button are pressed simultaneously (control is in that case advantageously designed in such a way that the feed process can be started only when the cable call button 12 and the approval button 13 are pressed simultaneously, see Abstract and para. [0031]).
Regarding claim 7, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 1. Agustoni further teaches, the cable processing device according to Claim 1, including an operating unit having a save button (local control unit 10 comprises a button 13, local control unit further comprises a cable call button 12, para. [0030-0031]) adapted to cause the machine controller to store the position of the cable gripper after the manual movement (after pressing the cable call button 12 the cable ends pass to a predefined initial setting or, for example, to the last stored gripper setting, para. [0031], in which it is obvious that the call button 12 saves the position during the button press).
Regarding claim 8, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 1. Agustoni further teaches, the cable processing device according to Claim 1, including a plurality of operating units (local control unit 10, 10’, Fig. 4, para. [0035], see Viviroli (EP 3024099) if applicant disagrees that the local control units 10, 10’ are operating units) each connected to the machine controller, wherein each of the operating units has a save button (local control unit 10 comprises a button 13, local control unit further comprises a cable call button 12, para. [0030-0031]) adapted to cause the machine controller to store the position of the cable gripper after the manual movement (after pressing the cable call button 12 the cable ends pass to a predefined initial setting or, for example, to the last stored gripper setting, para. [0031], in which it is obvious that the call button 12 saves the position during the button press).
Regarding claim 9, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 8. Agustoni further teaches, the cable processing device according to Claim 8, wherein each processing station is assigned to one of two groups, wherein the first group processes a leading end of the cable (a second crimping station for the leading cable end as well as further processing stations, para. [0014]), and the second group processes a trailing end of the cable (a stripping station as well as a first crimping station for the trailing cable end, para. [0014]), wherein at least one operating unit (processing stations, para. [0014]) is assigned to each group.
Regarding claim 10, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 8. Agustoni further teaches, the cable processing device according to Claim 1 wherein the at least one processing station is a crimping station (crimping stations 4 and 4′) to which the cable gripper moves manually in the setup mode (a crimping station, has a local control unit for local setting up of the respective processing station…operator can start the setting-up operations at the respective processing station, para. [0007]).
Regarding claim 11, Agustoni teaches, a method for setting up a cable processing device (cable processing equipment 1, Fig. 1) for assembling cables, the cable processing device including at least one processing station (processing stations 3 and 4, Fig. 1) and a feed unit (feed unit 8), the feed unit including a cable gripper (a gripper 9 for holding the cable… for feeding the cable ends to these processing stations, para. [0028]) for feeding a cable end of a cable to the at least one processing station, the method comprising the steps of:
putting the cable processing device into a setup mode (after the cable ends or the grippers holding the cable ends are in the initial setting thereof the actual setting-up process for setting up, para. [0031]);
manually moving the feed unit with the cable gripper until the cable gripper reaches a desired position in the at least one processing station (local control unit further comprises a cable call button 12 for activating the feed unit for feeding the cable end of the cable to the crimping station 4…the local cable call button 12 the user can bring up the cable, which is necessary for the setting-up process, to the crimping station 4 in simple manner without having to change over to the central control unit, para. [0031]).
Agustoni does not explicitly teach, storing a position of the cable gripper when the cable gripper reaches the desired position. However, Imgrut teaches a cable processing machine 50 in Figs. 2 to 4, in which, storing a position of the cable gripper when the cable gripper reaches the desired position, and using the stored position for controlling the feed unit during a normal operating mode of the cable processing device (cable processing machine has a program function that makes it possible to take a stripped cable 140 with the swivel unit 150 to the processing station, displace the cable tip by means of manual inputs in the direction of the cable and transversely thereto, and store the process position set in this way, para. [0042]).
From the teaching of Agustoni in para. [0031], “after pressing the cable call button 12 the cable ends pass to a predefined initial setting…to the last stored gripper setting…the local cable call button 12 the user can bring up the cable, which is necessary for the setting-up process, to the crimping station 4 in simple manner”, and para. [0014], “cable processing equipment of that kind can comprise a feed unit with a transfer unit with a gripper, which is movable along a machine longitudinal axis”, one of ordinary skill in the art would have known that during the setting up process, user manually presses the local cable call button 12 that manually brings a gripper holding the cable end to a previously stored position. Imgrut teaches a cable processing machine that stores a process position of the cable after manually displacing the cable. Therefore, in view of the teachings of Imgrut, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the cable processing device of Agustoni and to store the manually displaced position of the cable as Imgrut taught in para. [0042] so that it enables to correctly positioning a cable tip by executing an interpolation operation based on two positional signals which are read out from the memory unit of the controller. Moreover, there is no indication in the instant invention that any surprising results were derived, or that any special steps were devised in order read or store a position of the cable gripper. Such a combination would have been done by one of ordinary skill in the art without any need for experimentation and with reasonable expectations of success.
Regarding claim 12, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 11. Agustoni further teaches, the method according to Claim 11 wherein, after the position of the cable gripper has been stored, carrying out a single processing process for test purposes (it has to be checked whether the prescribed cable cross-section is processed…A visual check of the intermediate results of the individual working steps during setting up is ensured at any time, para. [0007]), and visually checking a processed cable end of the cable when the feed unit with the cable gripper is moved toward a user (operator can subsequently trigger and check the crimping process by the trigger button 11, para. [0039]).
Regarding claim 13, Agustoni in view of Imgrut teaches the recited limitations with respect to claim 11. Agustoni further teaches, the method according to Claim 11, wherein putting the cable processing device into the setup mode when a protective hood (cable processing equipment is or can be protected by a protective hood, para. [0016]) covering the at least one processing station and the feed unit with the cable gripper is opened (when the protective hood is open the central control unit is inactive with respect to the setting-up process… protective hood can be raised on each occasion for setting up the machine, para. [0036-0037]).
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agustoni in view of Imgrut as applied to claim 1, and further in view of Davis (US 20160294141).
Regarding claim 2, modified Agustoni in view of Imgrut does not teach, feed unit has at least one servo motor or stepper motor equipped with an encoder. However, Davis teaches a wire processing device including a feeding unit 10 in Fig. 1, in which,
the cable processing device according to Claim 1, wherein the feed unit has at least one servo motor or stepper motor equipped with an encoder (wire supply motor can be a stepper motor with an encoder to provide information representative of the amount of actuation of the motor or supply 30 to the control system 66, para. [0020]) and adapted to move the cable gripper to the at least one processing station during a normal operating mode of the cable processing device, the encoder being connected to the machine controller (control system 66…actuates the wire supply motor to pay out or feed wire from the supply 30…the micrometer 35 provides information to the control system 66 regarding wire 32 fed past the micrometer, and the control system can use that information for active adjustment and control of the wire feed operations, para. [0019-0020]) such that the position of the cable gripper is ascertained by the machine controller from an output of the encoder after the manual movement in the setup mode.
Davis teaches in para. [0016-0020], a wire supply unit 30 including a capillary 24, a tubular structure that has an end portion 26 with a feed opening 28 at its distal end and the wire 32 fed from the supply 30, the wire supply motor can be a stepper motor with an encoder to provide information representative of the amount of actuation of the motor or supply 30 to the control system 66. Therefore, in view of the teachings of Davis, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the cable processing device of Agustoni and include a stepper motor with an encoder as Davis taught in Fig. 1 and to connect the stepper motor to the cable gripper so that it enables the control unit to provide information representative of the amount of actuation of the motor while feeding the cable.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSE K. ABRAHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-1087. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30-4:30 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, THOMAS J. HONG can be reached at (571) 272-0993. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSE K ABRAHAM/Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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