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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group IV (Claims 14-20) in the reply filed on 03/10/2026 is acknowledged.
Response to Amendment
In view of the amendment filed 03/10/2026:
Claims 1-13 are withdrawn from further consideration.
Claims 14-20 are pending.
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao et al. (CN 212342581- Machine translation provided herein), and further in view of Li et al. (CN111282777- Machine translation provided herein).
Regarding claim 14, Rao teaches a curing apparatus (Abstract: “An IGBT module automatic curing device”) comprising:
a workbench (frame 2 in Figure 1 and oven base 67 in Figure 12); and
a plurality of curing devices stacked on the workbench (see baking devices 6 in Figure 1 and stacked ovens 68 in Figure 12; “oven 68 begins to operate, the IGBT module product for baking and curing”- see pg. 9), each of the plurality of curing devices comprising:
a housing (“the front side of the oven 68 is provided with a drying box opening 70 connected with the inner space thereof”- see pg. 4) with an opening (drying box opening 70; Figure 12);
a carrying plate (large tray 12; Figure 1 and Figure 9) for carrying a jig (small tray 86; Figure 7 and Figure 9) receiving a product (Examiner notes that claim 14 is directed to an apparatus, and that it is the structure of the apparatus rather than the particular material that goes through the apparatus which is assessed for patentability as discussed in MPEP 2115. Therefore, the product and adhesive do not impart patentability to the claim), the jig comprising a light transmitting area (see opening in jig where light is capable of transmitting through in Figure 6);
a moving assembly (shelf 71 in Figure 13) disposed in the housing and connected to the carrying plate, the moving assembly being configured for driving the carrying plate to move into and out of the housing from the opening (“then the large tray 12 of the buffer 65 under the action of the large tray conveying device 5, through the oven port 70 into the oven 68 inner space, when the large tray 12 is located in the oven 68 space, large tray 12 left and right two ends are clamped on the shelf 71”- see pg. 9).
Rao teaches the curing apparatus encapsulates a side frame glue module and silica gel module when manufacturing insulated gate bipolar transistors (“the curing device is used for encapsulating the side frame glue module and the silica gel module in the manufacturing process of the IGBT module in the manufacturing process”- see pg. 2). However, Rao fails to explicitly teach the curing process is driven by a light source disposed in the housing that irradiates the light transmitting area of the jig to cure a material in the jig.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to an automated curing device, Li teaches a curing apparatus with a light source disposed in the housing such that the irradiation is directed towards a product to be cured (“the illumination unit comprising a reflecting lamp shade 607 and the reflecting lamp shade 607 on the curing lamp 606. Preferably, the curing lamp 606 preferably uses mercury lamp, also can be other types of curing lamp 606. the reflecting lamp shade 607 located in the illumination chamber, the curing lamp 606 electrically connected to the controller 617, the curing lamp 606 irradiating direction towards the product to be processed”- see pg. 13).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the housing of Rao comprise a light source, as taught by Li, for irradiating the light transmitting area of the jig to achieve the predictable result of curing a material in the jig. There would have been a reasonable expectation of success for the housing of Rao to comprise a light source such that the light is irradiated towards the light transmitting area of the jig, since Rao teaches the curing apparatus performs a step of encapsulating a side frame glue module and silica gel module when manufacturing insulated gate bipolar transistors, and one of ordinary skill would look to applying an external stimulus such as light or temperature in a curing apparatus to drive the encapsulation step that occurs during curing. Li similarly teaches coating a product by applying a curable material onto a product and curing the material to form the coating (see Abstract of Li).
Regarding claim 15, Rao modified with Li teaches the curing apparatus of claim 14.
Rao teaches the curing apparatus further comprising:
a loading mechanism arranged on the workbench and spaced from the plurality of the curing devices for transporting and supplying the jig (small tray conveying device 4 in Figure 1 and Figure 4; “when the automatic curing device starts to operate, the left side of the small tray conveying device 4 of the driving motor 38 is in the starting state, the driving motor 38 will drive the conveying line 37 to move, only needs to put the small tray of the IGBT module product 86 is placed to the left side of the small tray conveying device of the conveying line 37; conveying line 37 will be provided with small tray 86 towards the small tray loading and unloading frame 2 direction”- see pg. 7);
a transfer mechanism for moving the jig on the loading mechanism and placing the jig onto the carrying plate (“when the small tray 86 is upper top, then the first time is left side of the small tray material moving device 3 detects, then the left side of the small tray material moving device 3 starts to operate…finally under the action of the transverse module 28 and the longitudinal module 29 the small tray 86 is placed on the large tray 12; At this time, the small tray 86 is located on the limiting step 15 of the large tray 12”- see pg. 8);
a controller (control panel 80; Figure 1) electrically connected to the transfer mechanism; and
an unloading mechanism arranged on the workbench and spaced from the loading mechanism, the unloading mechanism being configured for receiving the jig after curing (“when the IGBT module product after curing… then conveying it to the turntable device 1 of the large tray base 9, and the electric cylinder 16 can through the piston rod of the top supporting plate 84… small tray top plate 17 will the small tray 86 from the large tray 12… finally placed on the conveying line 37 of the right small tray conveying device 4; when the small tray 86 is conveyed to the lower part of the code scanner 40… the small tray 86 under the action of the lifting cylinder 41 is lifted by the lifting plate 42 upwards, finally the small tray 86 on the cured IGBT module product after collecting- see pg. 9-10);
wherein the moving assembly is configured to drive the carrying plate to drive the jig to move out of the housing (“then the large tray 12 of the buffer 65 under the action of the large tray conveying device 5, through the oven port 70 into the oven 68 inner space, when the large tray 12 is located in the oven 68 space, large tray 12 left and right two ends are clamped on the shelf 71”- see pg. 9), and
the transfer mechanism is configured to move the jig after curing from the carrying plate to the unloading mechanism (“then conveying it to the turntable device 1 of the large tray base 9, and the electric cylinder 16 can through the piston rod of the top supporting plate 84… small tray top plate 17 will the small tray 86 from the large tray 12… finally placed on the conveying line 37 of the right small tray conveying device 4; when the small tray 86 is conveyed to the lower part of the code scanner 40… the small tray 86 under the action of the lifting cylinder 41 is lifted by the lifting plate 42 upwards, finally the small tray 86 on the cured IGBT module product after collecting- see pg. 10).
While Rao fails to teach the controller controls the light source to turn on to irradiate the light transmitting area of the jig to cure the material in the jig after the jig is moved in the housing, Li teaches light source is electrically connected to a controller “the curing lamp 606 electrically connected to the controller 617”- see pg. 13).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the light source of Rao modified with Li to be controlled by the controller of Rao to turn on to irradiate the light transmitting area of the jig to cure the material in the jig after the jig is moved in the housing, since one of ordinary skill would be motivated to turn on the light source to complete the curing process. Further, Rao teaches a fully automated curing process that increases worker safety and improves productivity (“effectively avoiding the temperature of the product after curing is high caused by the operator is easy to be scalded, and with the curing work automation of the IGBT module; it can effectively save manpower, at the same time, improve the productivity”- pg. 10), prompting one of ordinary skill to turn on the light source through a controller to maintain an automated curing process.
Regarding claim 16, Rao modified with Li teaches the curing apparatus of claim 15. Further, Rao teaches wherein each of the loading mechanism and the unloading mechanism comprises a conveyor belt for transmitting the jig (“the small tray material moving device 3 comprises a small tray loading and unloading machine frame 2 on the gear rack sliding table 25; the gear rack sliding table 25 comprises a sliding seat 26; the sliding seat 26 is provided with a servo motor 27 matched with it; the sliding seat 26 right side wall is provided with a transverse module 28; the movable body of the transverse module 28 is connected with a longitudinal module 29; the longitudinal module 29 and the transverse module 28 are vertical to each other; the transverse module 28 and the longitudinal module 29 are ball screw sliding table”- see pg. 6 and Figure 5).
Regarding claim 17, Rao modified with Li teaches the curing apparatus of claim 15.
Further, Rao teaches wherein the transfer mechanism comprises:
a gripper assembly (see Figure 6) for picking and placing the jig (“the locating block 32 can move back and forth through the transverse module 28, the locating block 32 can move up and down through the longitudinal module 29, finally the two sides of the locating block 32 are respectively located on the lifting plate 42 on the small tray 86 two sides; then clamping the bidirectional cylinder 31 is started, clamping two sides of the bidirectional cylinder 31 of the piston rod will drive the two side locating block 32 close to the small tray 86 two sides of the final two side locating block 32 the small tray 86 clamping the small tray 86 clamping process in the locating block 32”- see pg. 8);
an up and down movement assembly (longitudinal module 29; Figure 5 and Figure 6) for driving the gripper assembly to move up and down (see Figure 6);
a transverse movement assembly (transverse module 28; Figure 5) for driving the up and down movement assembly to move horizontally (“the locating block 32 can move back and forth through the transverse module 28, the locating block 32 can move up and down through the longitudinal module 29”- see pg. 7); and
a longitudinal movement assembly (sliding seat 26; Figure 5) for driving the transverse movement assembly to move longitudinally (“sliding table 25 belongs to the conventional structure; can drive the sliding seat 26 along the small tray loading and unloading frame 2 of the track to move left and right”- see pg. 7).
Claim(s) 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao et al. (CN 212342581- Machine translation provided herein) and Li et al. (CN111282777- Machine translation provided herein), and further in view of Liu et al. (CN115256430- Machine translation provided herein).
Regarding claim 18, Rao modified with Li teaches the curing apparatus of claim 17/
Further, Rao teaches wherein the up and down movement assembly comprises:
a moving plate connected to the transverse driving member (see annotated Figure 6 below);
a mounting base (lifting supporting plate 30; Figure 6);
an up and down driving member arranged on the moving plate (see motor at top of longitudinal module 29 in Figure 5 and rails arranged on moving plate in annotated Figure 6 below) and connected to the mounting base for driving the mounting base to move up and down (rails will drive lifting support plate 30 up and down along the rails shown in annotated Figure 6 below).
However, Rao fails to teach a rotating driving member arranged on the mounting base and configured for driving the gripper assembly to rotate.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to a gripping assembly for processing components on an industrial scale, Liu teaches a rotating driving member (first motor 3; Figure 4) arranged on a mounting base (mounting rod 1; Figure 4) and configured for driving a gripper assembly to rotate (“the first motor 3 drives the first mounting plate 4 to rotate, the direction of the composite clamp is changed, after the rotation is finished”- see pg. 4-5). Rotating the gripper assembly realizes the use of different positions for the gripper assembly, so as to adapt to different use requirements (Abstract: “that the first mounting plate to rotate, so as to realize the change of the use direction and use position of the composite clamp, so as to adapt to different use requirements”).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the gripper assembly of Rao modified with Li comprise a rotating driving member arranged on the mounting base and configured for driving the gripper assembly to rotate, as taught by Liu, for the benefit of increasing the positional capabilities of the gripper assembly, so as to adapt to different use requirements.
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Regarding claim 19, Rao modified with Li and Liu teaches the curing apparatus of claim 18.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to a gripping assembly for processing components on an industrial scale, Liu teaches a gripper assembly comprising:
a rotating plate (first mounting plate 4; Figure 4) connected to the rotating driving member (first motor 3; Figure 4),
a gripper driver (second motor 7 output shaft fixed on screw rod 8; Figure 5) arranged on the rotating plate (see Figure 3),
two protrusions respectively arranged at opposite sides of the rotating plate and respectively arranged at opposite sides of the gripper driver (see annotated Figure 2 below),
two gripper slide rails (first slide rail 18 and second slide rail 19 in Figure 4),
two gripper sliders (slider 10 in Figure 6 and where each clamping side has a slider then there are two gripper sliders),
two gripper connecting plates (screw end sleeve 9 in Figure 5 and where each clamping side has a gripper connecting plate then there are two gripper connecting plates), and
two gripper fingers (second jaw 16 in Figure 5 and Figure 6 and where each clamping side has a gripper finger then there are two gripper fingers);
each of the gripper slide rails is arranged on one of the protrusions (see Figure 4),
each of the gripper sliders is slidably connected to one of the gripper slide rails (“the second motor 7 is started by external power supply, the screw 8 to rotate, so that the two sides of the screw 8 two ends of screw thread sleeve 9 are opposite or relatively moved, and drives the sliding block 10 to move correspondingly, so as to realize the first clamping jaw 12 of clamping and loosening” - see pg. 5) and a bottom of one end of one of the gripper connecting plates (see sliding block 10 connected to screw thread sleeve 9 in Figure 6),
a bottom of another end of the one of the gripper connecting plates is connected to the gripper driver (bottom of threaded hole in screw thread sleeve 9 is connected to screw rod 8 as shown in Figure 5)
each of the gripper fingers is connected to the end of one of the gripper connecting plates (via sliding block 10 as shown in Figure 6),
the gripper driver is configured to drive the gripper connecting plates to approach or move away from each other (“the second motor 7 is started by external power supply, the screw 8 to rotate, so that the two sides of the screw 8 two ends of screw thread sleeve 9 are opposite or relatively moved, and drives the sliding block 10 to move correspondingly, so as to realize the first clamping jaw 12 of clamping and loosening”- see pg. 5),
the gripper connecting plates are configured to drive the gripper sliders to slide on the gripper slide rails (“one end of the sliding block 10 is mounted on one end of the first sliding rail 18, the other end of the sliding block 10 is mounted on one end of the second sliding rail 19”- see pg. 5),
the gripper sliders are configured to drive the gripper fingers to approach or move away from each other to clamp the jig or loosen a plate shaped article (“move correspondingly, so as to realize the first clamping jaw 12 of clamping and loosening. the first jaw 12 is vertical, the first jaw 12 is convenient for clamping the plate-shaped article”- see pg. 5). The clamping assembly of Li is convenient for clamping plate-shaped articles (“the first clamping jaw is vertical, the first clamping jaw is convenient for clamping the plate-shaped article”- see pg. 3).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the gripper assembly of Rao modified with Li and Liu comprise rotating plate connected to the rotating driving member, a gripper driver arranged on the rotating plate, two protrusions respectively arranged at opposite sides of the rotating plate and respectively arranged at opposite sides of the gripper driver, two gripper slide rails, two gripper sliders, two gripper connecting plates, and two gripper fingers, as taught by Liu, for the benefit of conveniently clamping plate-shaped articles. The jig of Rao that is clamped or loosened by its gripper assembly is plate-shaped (see small tray 86 in Figure 7 and Figure 9 of Rao). Therefore, one of ordinary skill would look to related art for gripper assemblies that conveniently clamp or loosen plate-shaped articles.
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The closest prior art is Rao et al. (CN 212342581- Machine translation provided herein), Li et al. (CN111282777- Machine translation provided herein) and Liu et al. (CN115256430- Machine translation provided herein), and further in view of Wu et al. (CN110587364- Machine translation provided herein).
Regarding claim 20, Rao modified with Li and Liu teaches the curing apparatus of claim 19.
Further, Rao teaches the jig contains a code to identify a basic information of the jig (“each small tray 86 of the four corners can be respectively installed with 1 detection sensor 87, when the small tray 86 is placed to the large tray 12, detection sensor 87 will send information to the left side small tray material moving device 3, prompting large tray 12 the position has been placed to the small tray 86 and product”- see pg. 8 and Figure 16) and
wherein the transfer mechanism further comprises: a height sensor (vision camera 35; Figure 6) for monitoring a position of the gripper assembly (“the upper surface of the right end of the lifting supporting plate 30 is provided with a camera frame 34; the left side of the upper end of the camera frame 34 is provided with a visual camera 35; therefore, the visual camera 35 will move along with the lifting supporting plate 30; when the left small tray moving device 3 grips the small tray 86 of the product to be solidified into the middle turntable device 1; visual camera 35 the product photographing detection, and compared with the standard picture, viewing the small tray 86 above there is no product”- see pg. 8).
While Rao teaches a code scanner 40 on the loading and unloading mechanism can read two-dimensional code on the jig (“scanning detection sensor 44 will control the scanning stop cylinder 46 to stop the small tray 86, stopping cylinder is a conventional cylinder; mainly used for stopping the production line tray; the small tray after stopping 86 is located below the code scanner 40; the code scanner 40 can read the two-dimensional code on the small tray 86; the small tray 86 data recording system, associated with the product quality data on the subsequent small tray 86, corresponding to each other; It realizes traceability of product quality data”- see pg. line), Rao fails to teach the transfer mechanism comprises the code scanner such that it is arranged on the rotating plate.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to a gripping assembly for processing components on an industrial scale, Wu teaches a transfer mechanism comprising a code scanner (industrial bar code scanner 14; Figure 2) arranged on a rotating plate (“the industrial bar code scanner 14 through screw rod nut installed on the robot arm 31 of the robot main body on the front end part”). However, the code scanner of Wu is configured to scan a code of the gripper assembly to identify a basic information of the gripper assembly, and therefore, it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to arrange the code scanner of Rao on the rotating plate to be configured to scan a code of the jig to identify a basic information of the jig
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARIELLA MACHNESS whose telephone number is (408)918-7587. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 6:30-2:30 PT.
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/ARIELLA MACHNESS/Examiner, Art Unit 1743
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