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 § 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 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Yoshii (US 2017/0043432) in view of Yu (CN205404929). An English machine translation of Yu (CN205404929) is included with the Notice of Reference Cited (PTO-892).
With respect to the limitations of claims 1 and 2, Yoshii teaches a laser processing apparatus (title, abstract) comprising: a holding unit for holding a workpiece thereon (Figs 1, 2, chuck table 2, workpiece W, 0014); a laser oscillator for emitting a laser beam (oscillating means 30 for oscillating a laser beam, 0019) to be applied to the workpiece held on the holding unit; a condensing lens (condensing lens 80, 0020) for focusing the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator (30) to the workpiece (W); a lens holder (beam condenser 8, 0020) housing the condensing lens (80) therein; a cover glass (cover glass 81, 0020) disposed between the condensing lens (80) and the holding unit (2) for protecting the condensing lens from foreign matter produced from the workpiece when the workpiece is processed by the laser beam; further comprising: a gas ejection nozzle (Fig 2, air supply passage 83, 0020) for ejecting a gas along a surface of the cover glass (0034, air supply passage 83 defined in the side wall around the space 82 ejects air into the space 82, preventing the debris from being attached to the cover glass 81) that faces the workpiece held on the holding unit.
Yoshii discloses the claimed invention except for a cover glass holder housing the cover glass and attached to the lens holder, the cover glass holder is rotatably mounted on the lens holder for rotation about a central axis spaced eccentrically from an optical axis of the lens and parallel to the optical axis.
However, Yu discloses a cover glass holder (Figs 1-3, window lens mount 2, 0037) housing the cover glass (window lens 3, 0037) and attached to (window lens barrel 1, 0037) the lens holder (beam expander 51, 0042), the cover glass holder is rotatably mounted (0039, the window lens mount 2 can rotate inside the window lens barrel 1) on the lens holder for rotation about a central axis spaced eccentrically from an optical axis of the lens and parallel to the optical axis (0039, the center of the lens mount mounting hole 12 is offset from the center of the light-transmitting hole 11. This makes the center of the window lens 3 and the window lens mount 2 offset from the center of the light-transmitting hole 13) 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 processing apparatus of Yoshii having lens holder housing a condensing lens and cover glass silent to the recited rotatably, eccentrically mounted cover glass holder with the cover glass holder housing the cover glass and attached to the lens holder, the cover glass holder is rotatably mounted on the lens holder for rotation about a central axis spaced eccentrically from an optical axis of the lens and parallel to the optical axis of Yu for the purpose of forming a known cover glass holder configuration that allows a damaged part of the cover glass to be moved away by rotating the window lens mount so that an undamaged part of the cover glass can be aligned with light hole, thereby ensuring the transmittance and increasing the number of times the cover glass can be used (0039).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Mo (KR20150062336) in view of Nakai (US 2022/0161358). An English machine translation of Mo (KR20150062336) is included with the Notice of Reference Cited (PTO-892).
With respect to the limitations of claim 3, Mo teaches a processing method of processing a workpiece with a laser processing apparatus (Abstract, 0001, laser welding machine) including a holding unit for holding a workpiece (workpiece W inherently having a workpiece support, 0004) thereon, a laser oscillator for emitting a laser beam (Fig 1, 0004, laser generator (not shown)) to be applied to the workpiece held on the holding unit, a condensing lens for focusing the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator to the workpiece, a lens holder housing the condensing lens (Figs 1-5, focusing lens unit 10 having outer lens holder and focusing lens, 0004) therein, a cover glass (protective glass 30, 0005) disposed between the condensing lens (10) and the holding unit (support for workpiece W) for protecting the condensing lens from foreign matter produced from the workpiece when the workpiece is processed by the laser beam, and a cover glass holder (protective housing 20, 0005) housing the cover glass and attached to the lens holder (10), the processing method comprising: a cover glass turning step of turning the cover glass about a central axis thereof at a predetermined timing (0019, c step of rotating the protective glass to a position where there is no spatter contamination on the protective glass (30) corresponding to the area of the exit hole (42) if contamination is confirmed); and after the cover glass turning step, a processing step of focusing the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator with the focusing lens and applying the focused laser beam to the workpiece held on the holding unit, thereby processing the workpiece with the laser beam (0019, welding, 0022, continuous welding processing can be performed within the laser usable range on the protective glass without spatter contamination, without replacing the protective glass).
Mo discloses the claimed invention except for explicitly showing the laser processing apparatus including a holding unit for holding a workpiece thereon.
However, Nakai discloses the laser processing apparatus including a holding unit for holding a workpiece thereon (Fig 26, workpiece W, moveable table 106, 0098, 0099) 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 processing method of Mo having a workpiece silent to a holding unit with the laser processing apparatus including a holding unit for holding a workpiece thereon of Nakai for the purpose of providing a known workpiece support means that moves the workpiece in a desire direction (0099), thereby improving the overall versatility of the method.
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 6/2/2026
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