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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ihde, U.S. Patent Publication 2021/0268595 (hereinafter "Ihde").
In Reference to Claim 1:
Ihde discloses a welding system comprising: a welding power supply (108) ; one or more welding torches (106); a wire feeder (104) coupled to one or more of the welding power supply or the one or more welding torches; a user interface (94 and 114) to present the one or more system capabilities; and control circuitry (112 and 134) to: receive information corresponding to one or more operating parameters ( See, Paragraph [0084]: power, voltage current, wire feed speed, etc) from each of the welding power supply, the one or more torches, or the wire feeder; determine the one or more system capabilities based on the one or more operating parameters; and enable one or more circuits of the welding power supply, the one or more torches, or the wire feeder corresponding to the one or more system capabilities. See, Paragraph [0099-0101] which discloses the logic block of how it optimizes and operates; See also Paragraph [0109] which identifying welding conditions and automatically optimizing the valve of the welding parameters based off the said conditions and the logic circuit executing a control. See, Also Figure 3A and 3B which illustrates a remote control which shows indicia of the welding system which can be altered by a user operator. See, Paragraph [0090-0093] as well.
In Reference to Claim 2:
Idhe further discloses wherein the control circuitry is further configured to control the user interface to present the determined one or more system capabilities. See, Paragraph [0092] which disclose that the remove control has indicia which can be altered in response to a received parameter (adjusted value). See, also Paragraph [0090] which disclose the operator is exposed to a list of commands for various components of the welding system from information from input devices 46-56.
In Reference to Claim 3:
Idhe further discloses wherein the user interface (remote control) includes one or more user inputs for selecting the determined one or more system capabilities. See, Paragraph [0068]: “ the control circuitry 112 receives input from the user interface 114, through which a user may control one or more components (including the engine 84 and/or generator of a primary power system), and or choose a process and/or input desired parameters for a welding output (e.g., voltages, currents, particular pulsed or non-pulsed welding regimes, and so forth). The user interface 114 may receive inputs using one or more input devices 115, such as via a keypad, keyboard, physical buttons, a touch screen (e.g., software buttons), a voice activation system, a wireless device, remote device 94, etc. Furthermore, the control circuitry 112 controls operating parameters based on input by the user as well as based on other operating parameters.”
In Reference to Claim 4:
Idhe further discloses wherein the one or more operating parameters include one or more of an operating voltage range, an operating current range, a wire feed speed range, or presence of polarity reversing circuitry. See, Paragraph [0084] which discloses the following parameters of the system as being used: power, voltage current, wire feed speed, etc; See also Paragraph [0068] which discloses that the control circuitry control the operation based of the user interface and network interface to choose the desired parameters of the welding output.
In Reference to Claim 5:
Idhe further discloses wherein the one or more system capabilities include one or more of voltage control welding, current control welding, wire feed speed adjustment, or polarity adjustment. See, Paragraph [0090] and[0092] which shows on the graphic user interface of the remote control indicia such as the wire feed speed, arc length, current and voltage, all of which parameters are adjustable via the buttons to send a command to the control circuitry 112. See, also Paragraph [0068].
In Reference to Claim 6:
Idhe further discloses one or more sensors to measure one or more characteristics of the welding power supply, the one or more torches, the wire feeder, or the one or more weld cables. See, Paragraph [0098]; See also Paragraph [0084-0085] : “In some examples, one or more sensors 127 are included with or connected to in the wire feeder 104 to monitor one or more welding parameters (e.g., power, voltage, current, wire feed speed, etc.) to inform the controller 134 during the welding process. In some examples, one or more sensors are included in the welding power supply 102.... In some examples, one or more sensors 147 are included with or connected to the welding torch 106 to monitor one or more welding parameters (e.g., power, voltage, current, wire feed speed, etc.) to inform the controller 134 and/or 112 during the welding process”
In Reference to Claim 7:
Idhe further discloses wherein the one or more sensors are further configured to transmit the measured one or more characteristics to the control circuitry, the control circuitry further configured to calculate a system capability of the one or more system capabilities based on the measurements. See, Paragraph [0098-0102] which disclose that sensor data is stored in the memory and used for control and monitoring.
In Reference to Claim 9:
Idhe further discloses wherein wherein the control circuitry or the user interface is located in the welding power supply. See, Figure 2A.
In Reference to Claim 10:
Idhe further discloses wherein the control circuitry or the user interface is located in the wire feeder. See, Figure 2B.
In Reference to claim 11:
Idhe further discloses comprising one or more auxiliary devices (remote device 94 shown in Figure 3), each auxiliary device including auxiliary control circuitry and communication circuitry to transmit information corresponding to one or more operating parameters to the auxiliary control circuitry. See, Paragraph [0089-0091]
In Reference to Claim 12:
Idhe further discloses wherein the one or more auxiliary devices includes a remote control device or an auxiliary power supply. See, Figure 3.
In Reference to Claim 13:
Idhe discloses a wire feeder (104) coupled to one or more of a welding power supply (102) or one or more welding torches(106) , the wire feeder comprising: a user interface (114 and 94) to present one or more system capabilities; and control circuitry to: receive information corresponding to one or more operating parameters from each of the welding power supply or the one or more torches ; determine the one or more system capabilities based on the one or more operating parameters; and control the user interface to present the determined one or more system capabilities. See, Paragraph [0099-0109] which discloses the control circuitry capabilities. See, also logic diagram in Figure 4.
In reference to Claim 14:
Idhe further discloses wherein the control circuitry is further configured to enable one or more circuits of the welding power supply, the one or more torches, or the wire feeder corresponding to the one or more system capabilities. See, Paragraph [0109] and Figure3 which shows that control circuitry is capable of adjusting the welding power supply and the wire feeder and torch arc length run for the purposes of optimizing the weld based off the user inputs and the sensors.
In Reference to Claim 15:
Idhe further discloses , wherein the user interface includes one or more user inputs for selecting the determined one or more system capabilities. See, Figure 3 which shows a remote control that hasa user interface what can input the user desired inputs via the buttons.
In Reference to Claim 16:
Idhe further discloses wherein the one or more system capabilities include a welding type process including one or more of gas metal arc (GMAW) welding or GTAW. See, Paragraph [0049].
In Reference to Claim 17:
Idhe further discloses a user interface (114 or 94 (remote control as shown in Figure 3)) to present the one or more system capabilities (shows weld length, voltage, current, weld type, etc as depicted in Figure 3), the user interface comprising: one or more switches (shown as button in Figure 3 but disclosed as also being switches knobs and or haptics) to receive an input corresponding to one or more operating parameters from one or more of a welding power supply, one or more torches, or a wire feeder; and one or more dynamic displays or icons operable to display the one or more system capabilities corresponding to the one or more operating parameters. See, Paragraph [0057] and [0089].
In Reference to Claim 18:
Idhe further discloses wherein the user interface is incorporated into a wire feeder. See, Figure 2B which shows user interface 114 within the wire feeder.
In Reference to Claim 19: ‘
Idhe further discloses wherein the wire feeder (104) comprises control circuitry (134) operable to enable one or more circuits of the welding power supply, the one or more torches, or the wire feeder corresponding to the one or more system capabilities. See, Paragraph [0084] which discloses what the controller located within the wire feeder is responsible for.
In Reference to Claim 20:
Idhe further discloses wherein the one or more operating parameters include one or more of an operating voltage range, an operating current range, a wire feed speed range, or presence of polarity reversing circuitry. See, Figure 3 which shows operating parameters of current, voltage and wire feed speed which the user can adjust via the buttons.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Ihde, U.S. Patent Publication 2021/025895 (hereinafter "Ihde") in view of Vogel, U.S. Patent Publication 2010/0308027 (hereinafter “Vogel”).
In Reference to Claim 8:
Idhe discloses all the limitations recited in claim 6, but fails to explicitly disclose , wherein the one or more sensors include circuitry to determine cable inductance of the one or more weld cables.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Vogel discloses a welding device wherein the welding device contains sensors to determine cable inductance off of the voltage ripple and a controller which is capable of adjusting parameters due to the effect of inductance leakage. See , Paragraph [0005] and [0039-0040] for the purpose of insuring consistent smooth weld beads; See also Paragraphs [0061-0064].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to modify Idhe to include the teachings of Vogel, specifically to modify the controller of Idhe to also be able to determine the cable inductance of the weld cable and correct for inductance leakage (as taught by Vogel) because doing so ensures a cleaner, stronger and more stable weld joint by maintaining a more consistent current and therefore a more stable arc during the welding procedure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL S. COLLINS whose telephone number is (313)446-6535. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8:00-5:30.
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/DANIEL S COLLINS/ Examiner, Art Unit 3745
/NATHANIEL E WIEHE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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