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 § 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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pascal (US Patent 8516710) “Pascal”, in view of Farzan et al. (US Patent 5198990) “Farzan”
Regarding claims 1-5, Pascal discloses a measurement program generation method of generating a measurement program (Column 1; lines 55-60) representing a measuring route of a probe (150) of a three-dimensional coordinate measuring machine (Fig. 1) that measures one or more measurement elements of an object (200) to be measured using the probe, the measurement program generation method comprising:
a manual operation step of manually executing a measurement element specifying operation (Col. 3; lines 30-45) to bring the probe into contact with measuring points on a measurement element (Col. 1; lines 20-25), and a measurement element confirming operation to indicate an end of the measurement element specifying operation, for each of the one or more measurement elements (Col. 5; lines 18-30);
a coordinate value acquisition step of acquiring coordinate values of the measuring points with which the probe is brought into contact (Col. 2; lines 25-30);
a first intermediate point (“transition points”) setting step of setting, each time when the coordinate values of one measuring point of the measuring points are acquired in the coordinate value acquisition step (Col. 2; lines 25-30),
a second intermediate point setting step (“transition point”) of setting as a second intermediate point, a position of the probe when the measurement element confirming operation is executed (claim 14);
a third intermediate point (“points of transition”) setting step of acquiring a moving locus of the probe during movement of the probe in the manual operation step (Col. 3; lines 30-45), approximating the moving locus by a plurality of straight lines (Col. 5; lines 15-30 and claim 14) by performing linear fitting on the moving locus (Col. 3; lines 30-45); the third intermediate point setting step (“points of transition”) includes: a repeat calculation step (Col. 6; lines 5-25) of repeatedly executing calculation of a fitting straight line that is fit to the moving locus from an initial position of the probe to a current position of the probe and calculation of a fitting error that is an error between the fitting straight line and the moving locus (Col. 6; lines 5-25), and a determination step of determining the fitting error calculated in the repeat calculation step (Col. 6; lines 5-25), based on whether or not the fitting error is larger than a predetermined threshold, and the threshold is variable (Col. 6; lines 25-30);
a retreating operation (“by-passing point”) to manually retreat the probe (150) from the object to be measured, to a replacement position where the probe is replaceable (“tool switching”), the measurement program generation method further comprises a fourth intermediate point setting step of setting as a fourth intermediate point (“by-passing point”), the replacement position when the retreating operation is executed (Col. 5; lines 17-35)
Pascal does not disclose a position that is offset from the one measuring point in a direction opposite a contact direction, an intersection point, a new intersection point.
Farzan teaches a position that is offset from the one measuring point in a direction opposite a contact direction (Col. 9; lines 30-40), an intersection point (Col. 9; lines 64-68), a new intersection point (Col. 9; lines 64-68).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to use Farzan’s intersection point calculation in Pascal’s manual programming with transition point recording to generate a measurement program that more clearly defines probe routes and intersection points for smooth and collision-free operation.
Regarding claims 6-7, Pascal discloses a three-dimensional coordinate measuring machine (Fig. 1) which measures one or more measurement elements of an object (200) to be measured using a probe (150), the three-dimensional coordinate measuring machine comprising: a manual operation unit (190) configured to be capable of executing a measurement element specifying operation (Col. 1; lines 20-25) to bring the probe into contact with measuring points on a measurement element (Col. 1; lines 20-25), and a measurement element confirming operation (Col. 5; lines 18-30) to indicate an end of the measurement element specifying operation (Col. 5; lines 18-30), for each of the one or more measurement elements, by manual operation (Col. 3; lines 30-45); a coordinate value acquisition unit (120) configured to acquire coordinate values of the measuring points with which the probe is brought into contact; a first intermediate point setting unit (“transition point”) configured to set, each time when the coordinate value acquisition unit (120) acquires the coordinate values of one measuring point of the measuring points (Col. 1; lines 20-25), a first intermediate point (“transition point”), a second intermediate point setting unit (“transition point”) configured to set as a second intermediate point (“transition point”), a position of the probe when the measurement element confirming operation is executed (Col. 5; lines 18-30); a third intermediate point setting unit (“transition point”) configured to acquire a moving locus of the probe during movement of the probe according to the manual operation (190), approximate the moving locus by a plurality of straight lines (Col. 5; lines 15-30 and claim 14), and a program generation unit (Col. 2; lines 55-70) configured to generate a measurement program (Column 1; lines 55-60) representing a measuring route of the probe (150) based on the coordinate values of the measuring points (Col. 2; lines 25-30) acquired by the coordinate value acquisition unit (120), coordinate values of the second intermediate point (“transition point”) set by the second intermediate point setting unit, and coordinate values of the third intermediate point (“transition point”) set by the third intermediate point setting unit;
the manual operation unit is capable of executing a retreating operation (“by-passing point”) to retreat the probe (150) by manual operation (190) from the object to be measured (200) to a replacement position where the probe is replaceable (“tool switching”), the three-dimensional coordinate measuring machine further comprises a fourth intermediate point (“by-passing point”) setting unit configured to set as a fourth intermediate point, the replacement position when the manual operation unit executes the retreating operation (“by-passing point”), and in a case where the manual operation unit executes the retreating operation (“by-passing point”), the program generation unit generates the measurement program (Column 1; lines 55-60) based on the coordinate values of the measuring points, the coordinate values of the second intermediate point (“transition point”), the coordinate values of the third intermediate point (“transition point”), and coordinate values of the fourth intermediate point set by the fourth intermediate point setting unit (“by-passing point”).
Pascal does not disclose a position that is offset from the one measuring point in a direction opposite a contact direction, nor an intersection point.
Farzan teaches a position that is offset from the one measuring point in a direction opposite a contact direction (Col. 9; lines 30-40), an intersection point (Col. 9; lines 64-68).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to use Farzan’s intersection point calculation in Pascal’s manual programming with transition point recording to generate a measurement program that more clearly defines probe routes and intersection points for smooth and collision-free operation.
Conclusion
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/ANNA JOSEPHINE SAUNDERS/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/PETER J MACCHIAROLO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855