DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/13/2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1-9, 12-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Henni US 20130174666 in view of Rosenberg US 6314322 and in further view of Yamanaka US 6006593.
As to claim 1, Henni teaches “An apparatus for measuring elastic properties of a material (Figure 1A; Abstract) comprising: a stimulating energy source coupled to the material to excite the material into vibration (Figure 1B, 16; [0077]); a vibration sensor adapted to provide an electrical signal measuring vibration of the material (Figure 1B, 12; [0077]); and a controller executing a stored program to control the stimulating energy source and vibration sensor (Figure 1B, 18; [0077]) to: (a) excite the material with the stimulating energy source into vibration (Figure 1B teaches a shaker, 16. This element is the same as the shaker in the claimed invention, 26. Based on the claim language and claimed structure, shaker 16 could also produce linear and nonlinear vibrations); (b) cease excitation of the material to measure the linear and nonlinear vibration with the vibration sensor during a free vibration period ([0010]; [0102]); (c) extract a value of elasticity from the measured linear vibration (Abstract).” Henni does not teach that at least one of a thickness and stress can be extracted from vibrational data. Nor does Henni explicitly teach linear and nonlinear vibrations, however, Henni does teach a shaker which is the same as the claimed shaker. Based on this, this shaker could also produce linear and nonlinear vibrations since it can shake in all 3 dimensions and the processor can generate different types of vibrations as seen in [0112].
Rosenberg teaches “and (d) extract at least one of a thickness of the material and an internal static stress of the material from the measured nonlinear vibration (Column 6, lines 30-35); Column 7, lines 54-56. The use of acoustic sensors implies that vibration data is measured).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Rosenberg with Henni. It is known that vibrational data is often used to determine physical characteristics of materials under test. Henni teaches the use of vibrational data to determine elasticity and Rosenberg teaches that vibration data is used to determine stress and thickness of a material, such as soft tissue. It would be obvious to use vibrational data to determine the desired physical characteristics of a material under test since this requires one set of data to run multiple types of analysis.
The prior arts do not teach linear and nonlinear vibrations.
Yamanaka teaches “linear and nonlinear (Column 4, lines 57-59 teach linear and nonlinear vibrations from an excitation of an element).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Yamanaka with Rosenberg and Henni. The use of linear and nonlinear vibrations is known in the field of material analysis, specifically determining physical properties. Henni teaches in [0112] that the device can generate different types of excitations. Since Henni teaches a controller and shaker, which is also in the claimed invention, this teaching in [0112] would result in one of ordinary skill in the art to use linear and nonlinear vibrations to determine physical properties since its been established in Yamanaka that it is done in this field. This allows for the device to utilize a wide range of excitations to determine the desired physical characteristics of a material under test.
As to claim 2, Henni teaches “wherein the stimulating energy source provides a dominant vibration of material along an axis and the thickness is along the axis (Figure 1B, 16; [0077]. The energy source is controlled by processor 18 which can generate different types of excitations signals. Based on this and the function of the shaker, the shaker in this prior art can perform the same function as the claimed shaker).”
As to claim 3, Henni teaches “wherein the controller excites the material with the stimulating energy source to an amplitude at least one tenth of a thickness of the material along the axis (Figure 1B, 18. Based on [0112], the controller can generate different types of excitation signals, therefore the signal can be controlled by the user to meet the desired criteria).”
As to claim 4, Henni teaches “a rigid sample holder defining a cylindrical volume aligned with the axis and holding the material in disk form (Figure 1B, 14. As to the shape, altering the shape of a known element only involves routine skill in the art, therefore altering the shape as needed would be obvious).”
As to claim 5, Henni teaches “wherein the stimulating energy source is an electromechanical actuator coupled to the material (Figure 1B, 16; [0077]).”
As to claim 6, Henni teaches “wherein the vibration sensor is a noncontact vibration sensor (Figure 1B, 12; [0077]).”
As to claim 7, Henni teaches “wherein the vibration sensor is a laser vibrometer ([0077]).”
As to claim 8, Henni teaches “wherein the controller further receives an input indicating a density of the material ([0103] teaches that density is used to determine displacement, therefore the controller is aware of the material density).”
As to claim 9, Henni teaches “wherein the controller further receives a dimension of the material perpendicular to an axis of vibration (Figure 1B, 14 holds the material and this material can be oriented as desired by the user. Plus Figure 3B shows that the material can be oriented in different ways).”
As to claim 12, Rosenberg teaches “wherein (d) extracts thickness of the material and not internal static stress (Column 6, lines 30-35); Column 7, lines 54-56. The use of acoustic sensors implies that vibration data is measured. This step is mere data processing of a measured set of data. One of ordinary skill in the art has the knowledge to program a processor to manipulate a data set to produce a desired calculation).”
As to claim 13, Rosenberg teaches “wherein (d) extracts internal static stress and not thickness of the material (Column 6, lines 30-35); Column 7, lines 54-56. The use of acoustic sensors implies that vibration data is measured. This step is mere data processing of a measured set of data. One of ordinary skill in the art has the knowledge to program a processor to manipulate a data set to produce a desired calculation).”
As to claim 14, Henni teaches “further including (e) of repeating (a)-(d) to provide composite values of elasticity (Abstract teaches determining the elasticity of a material using vibrations and a non-contact sensor. Repeating the steps is a part of the scientific process and would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art since repeating steps would result in more data leading to a more accurate measurement).”
Rosenberg teaches “and at least one of thickness of the material and the internal static stress of the material combining individual measurements (Column 6, lines 30-35); Column 7, lines 54-56).”
As to claim 15, Henni teaches “repeating (e) to provide an output indicating an evolution of at least one of elasticity, thickness of the material, and internal static stress of the material over time ([0119]).”
As to claim 16, Henni teaches “including at least one of a lamp, a heater, and a fan controllable by the controller to provide an environmental stress to the material from illumination, heating, or dehydration ([0077] teaches “The material sample or structure contained in a sample container, holder or attached to supports 14 can be confined in a thermal chamber 15 for thermal controlling containing a measurement window 13 for non-contact measurement of dynamical vibrations.” This implies that the thermal chamber can control the heat within it).”
As to claim 17, Henni teaches “wherein the material has a Young's modulus between lPa and 1 MPa (Figure 3b shows sample 303. Although the prior art does not teach that the material has a certain Youngs Modulus, one of ordinary skill in the art chooses the material under test, therefore one of ordinary skill in the art can choose a material with a desired Youngs Modulus).”
As to claim 18, Henni teaches “wherein the measure of elasticity is Young's modulus (Abstract teaches elasticity; [0014]).”
As to claim 19, Henni teaches “A method of measuring elastic properties of a material employing an apparatus (Abstract) providing: a stimulating energy source coupled to the material to excite the material into vibration (Figure 1B, 16; [0077]); a vibration sensor adapted to provide an electrical signal measuring vibration of the material (Figure 1B, 12; [0077]); and a controller executing a stored program to control the stimulating energy source and vibration sensor (Figure 1B, 18; [0077]); the method comprising operating the controller to: (a) excite the material with the stimulating energy source into vibration (Figure 1B teaches a shaker, 16. This element is the same as the shaker in the claimed invention, 26. Based on the claim language and claimed structure, shaker 16 could also produce linear and nonlinear vibrations); (b) cease excitation of the material to measure the linear and nonlinear vibration with the vibration sensor during a free vibration period ([0010]; [0102]); (c) extract a value of Young's modulus from the measured linear vibration (Abstract).” Henni does not teach that at least one of a thickness and stress can be extracted from vibrational data. Nor does Henni explicitly teach linear and nonlinear vibrations, however, Henni does teach a shaker which is the same as the claimed shaker. Based on this, this shaker could also produce linear and nonlinear vibrations since it can shake in all 3 dimensions and the processor can generate different types of vibrations as seen in [0112].
Rosenberg teaches “and (d) extract at least one of a thickness of the material and an internal static stress of the material from the measured nonlinear vibration (Column 6, lines 30-35); Column 7, lines 54-56. The use of acoustic sensors implies that vibration data is measured).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Rosenberg with Henni. It is known that vibrational data is often used to determine physical characteristics of materials under test. Henni teaches the use of vibrational data to determine elasticity and Rosenberg teaches that vibration data is used to determine stress and thickness of a material, such as soft tissue. It would be obvious to use vibrational data to determine the desired physical characteristics of a material under test since this requires one set of data to run multiple types of analysis.
The prior arts do not teach linear and nonlinear vibrations.
Yamanaka teaches “linear and nonlinear (Column 4, lines 57-59 teach linear and nonlinear vibrations from an excitation of an element).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Yamanaka with Rosenberg and Henni. The use of linear and nonlinear vibrations is known in the field of material analysis, specifically determining physical properties. Henni teaches in [0112] that the device can generate different types of excitations. Since Henni teaches a controller and shaker, which is also in the claimed invention, this teaching in [0112] would result in one of ordinary skill in the art to use linear and nonlinear vibrations to determine physical properties since its been established in Yamanaka that it is done in this field. This allows for the device to utilize a wide range of excitations to determine the desired physical characteristics of a material under test.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 11 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. As to claim 10, the prior arts touch upon resonance but do not explicitly teach “identifying a at least one resonant frequency of the material and the controller operates the stimulating energy source to provide a narrowband excitation of the material specific to the identified at least one resonant frequency.” This step leads to a more accurate excitation since the resonant frequency of the material has been determined. Claim 11 depends on claim 10.
Conclusion
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/TARUN SINHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2863