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 .
Priority
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.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) / (a)(2) as being anticipated by Beck (US 2012/0298638).
With respect to the limitations of claim 1, Beck teaches a laser welding method for irradiating with a laser beam (Fig 1, laser beam 20, 20’,0049, 0052) an irradiation target surface of a welding target formed by a plurality of overlaid metal plates (Fig 1, overlapped metal parts 12, 14, 0048), and welding the plurality of metal plates, the plurality of metal plates include a first metal plate that forms the irradiation target surface (Fig 1, top surface of first metal part 12, 0049), and a second metal plate that forms a surface of the welding target (second metal part 14, 0049) on a side opposite to the irradiation target surface, and the laser welding method comprises: a first process of irradiating the irradiation target surface with the laser beam, thereby welding the plurality of metal plates, and forming a welded part (weld seam 22, 0049); and a second process of irradiating with the laser beam (defocused laser beam 20’, 0051, 0052, the laser beam 20' can thereby be the same laser beam 20 which is merely defocused and guided over the weld seam) a target range of the irradiation target surface including at least part of the welded part, and remelting at least the first metal plate without remelting the second metal plate (0051, reference numeral 30 thereby characterises a melted region with a regular seam upper bead) among the plurality of metal plates after the first process.
With respect to the limitations of claims 2, 3 and 6, Beck teaches an irradiation diameter of the laser beam in the second process is larger than the irradiation diameter of the laser beam in the first process (Fig 1, where beam diameter of defocused laser beam 20’ is larger than beam diameter of laser 20);
a state of the laser beam radiated in the second process is a defocus state (defocused laser beam 20’);
the plurality of metal plates include two metal plates of the first metal plate and the second metal plate (overlapped metal parts 12, 14).
With respect to the limitations of claim 7, Beck teaches a laser welding device (0021-0023, 0056-0058, processing head which is formed of a 3D scanner) that irradiates with a laser beam (Fig 1, laser beam 20, 20’,0049, 0052) an irradiation target surface of a welding target (Fig 1, top surface of first metal part 12, 0049) formed by a plurality of overlaid metal plates (Fig 1, overlapped metal parts 12, 14, 0048), and welds the plurality of metal plates, the laser welding device comprising: a laser beam irradiation unit (laser processing head) that irradiates the irradiation target surface with the laser beam (laser beam 20, 20’); and a control unit (0064, control computer unit) that controls the laser beam irradiation unit, the plurality of metal plates include a first metal plate that forms the irradiation target surface (Fig 1, top surface of first metal part 12, 0049), and a second metal plate that forms the surface of the welding target on a side opposite to the irradiation target surface (second metal part 14, 0049), and the control unit executes first processing of causing the laser beam irradiation unit to radiate the laser beam for welding the plurality of metal plates, and forming a welded part (weld seam 22, 0049); and second processing of irradiating a target range of the irradiation target surface including at least part of the welded part with the laser beam (defocused laser beam 20’, 0051, 0052, the laser beam 20' can thereby be the same laser beam 20 which is merely defocused and guided over the weld seam) for remelting at least the first metal plate without remelting the second metal plate (0051, reference numeral 30 thereby characterises a melted region with a regular seam upper bead) among the plurality of metal plates after the first processing.
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.
Claims 4, 5 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Beck (US 2012/0298638) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Hounker (US 2006/0006156).
With respect to the limitations of claim 4, Beck discloses the claimed invention except for further comprising an inspection process of inspecting whether or not a welding defect has been formed in the first process, the inspection process being performed between the first process and the second process, wherein the second process is executed in a case where it is determined in the inspection process that there is the welding defect, and is not executed in a case where it is determined in the inspection process that there is not the welding defect.
However, Hounker discloses further comprising an inspection process of inspecting whether or not a welding defect has been formed in the first process (0018, monitoring the produced weldings for defective weldings), the inspection process being performed between the first process and the second process (0018, 0019), the second process is executed in a case where it is determined in the inspection process that there is the welding defect (0018, in response to detecting a defective welding…then performing a repair welding in a region of the detected defective welding in accordance with the selected repair welding parameters), and is not executed in a case where it is determined in the inspection process (0020, defect monitor) that there is not the welding defect (good weld does not require repair) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the laser welding method of Beck having a first and second laser process silent to an inspection process with the further comprising an inspection process of inspecting whether or not a welding defect has been formed in the first process, the inspection process being performed between the first process and the second process, wherein the second process is executed in a case where it is determined in the inspection process that there is the welding defect, and is not executed in a case where it is determined in the inspection process that there is not the welding defect of Hounker for the purpose of providing a known inspection process that determines if welding defects are present and implements repair strategies to minimize the occurrence of rejects in laser welding (0017).
With respect to the limitations of claim 5, Beck in view of Hounker discloses in the case where it is determined in the inspection process that there is the welding defect, a position of the welding defect is specified (Hounker, 0019, a position of the detected defective welding on the workpiece can be determined), the target range in the second process includes the specified position of the welding defect (Hounker, 0019). Beck in view of Hounker discloses the claimed invention except for the irradiation diameter of the laser beam in the second process is smaller than the irradiation diameter of the laser beam in the first process. However, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to have the irradiation diameter of the laser beam in the second process is smaller than the irradiation diameter of the laser beam in the first process, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable diameter ranges involves only routine skill in the art (see MPEP 2144.04).
With respect to the limitations of claim 8, Beck teaches a computer program product (0064, control computer unit inherently having a computer program product) for irradiating with a laser beam (Fig 1, laser beam 20, 20’,0049, 0052) an irradiation target surface of a welding target (Fig 1, top surface of first metal part 12, 0049) formed by a plurality of overlaid metal plates (Fig 1, overlapped metal parts 12, 14, 0048), and welding the plurality of metal plates, the plurality of metal plates include a first metal plate (Fig 1, first metal part 12, 0049) that forms the irradiation target surface (top surface of first metal part 12), and a second metal plate that forms the surface of the welding target (second metal part 14, 0049) on the side opposite to the irradiation target surface, and the computer program product comprising: irradiating the irradiation target surface with the laser beam for welding the plurality of metal plates, and forming a welded part (weld seam 22, 0049); and irradiating the target range of the irradiation target surface including at least part of the welded part with the laser beam (defocused laser beam 20’, 0051, 0052, the laser beam 20' can thereby be the same laser beam 20 which is merely defocused and guided over the weld seam) for remelting at least the first metal plate without remelting the second metal plate (0051, reference numeral 30 thereby characterises a melted region with a regular seam upper bead) among the plurality of metal plates after the first processing. Beck discloses the claimed invention except for explicitly showing a computer program product for irradiating with a laser beam and the computer program product comprising: a computer readable medium; and a computer program stored on the computer readable medium, the computer program causing a computer to implement the functions of: irradiating the irradiation target surface with the laser beam for welding.
However, Hounker discloses a computer program product for irradiating with a laser (0018-0020, laser welding) beam (0019, the plurality of weldings can be welded according to a welding program) and the computer program product comprising: a computer readable medium (Fig 1, storage medium 10, 0024, 0025); and a computer program stored on the computer readable medium, the computer program causing a computer to implement the functions of: irradiating the irradiation target surface with the laser beam for welding (0019, 0028, claim 3) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the laser welding device of Beck having control computer unit silent to the recited computer program product with a computer program product for irradiating with a laser beam and the computer program product comprising: a computer readable medium; and a computer program stored on the computer readable medium, the computer program causing a computer to implement the functions of: irradiating the irradiation target surface with the laser beam for welding of Hounker for the purpose of providing a known controller, memory and program configuration that controls all the electronic operations of the laser device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THIEN S TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7745. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday [8:00-4:00].
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/THIEN S TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 8/6/2026
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