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 .
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.
Claims 1-3, 8-9, 11, 13, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (CN218141844U) in view of Han et al. (CN102030047A).
With respect to claim 1, Zhu et al. disclose an electro-hydraulic combination driven explosion-proof legged robot, comprising a explosion-proof chamber body (10; page 5, lines 13-27 of attached translation) and a leg-foot assembly (Fig 2), the leg-foot assembly comprising a hydraulic cylinder (41, 42, 43), a servo pump (2), the hydraulic cylinder is located outside the chamber body (Figs 1-2); the leg-foot assembly comprising a mounting bracket (51), a leg-foot forward-and-backward swing mechanism (62), a hip joint mechanism (61) and a leg-foot mechanism (7), wherein the leg-foot forward-and-backward swing mechanism (62) and the hip joint mechanism (61) are connected outside the chamber body (Fig 1) through the mounting bracket (51), the hip joint mechanism (61) is connected to the leg-foot mechanism and is able to drive the leg-foot mechanism to swing laterally inward and outward (via 53), the leg-foot forward-and-backward swing mechanism (62) is connected to the hip joint mechanism in a transmission manner and is able to drive the hip joint mechanism to rotate (via hydraulic cylinder 42). Zhu et al. do not disclose that the chamber body is a positive-pressure chamber body, wherein the servo pump is arranged inside the chamber body, and the chamber body has a chamber wall formed with oil inlet and outlet holes configured to intercommunicate the servo pump with the hydraulic cylinder. Han et al. disclose a coal mine downhole rescue robot that has a positive-pressure main body (page 3, lines 4-5 of attached translation). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to modify the invention of Zhu et al. in view of the teachings of Han et al. to have a positive-pressure main body in order to have a lightweight design which prevents gas, dust, and water from entering and/or exiting the main body (page 2, lines 29-35 of attached translation). Zhu et al. also disclose driving components arranged inside the positive-pressure main body (Figs 2-3) with lines running through openings in the main body to drive the wheels. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to mount the servo pump inside the main body with inlet and outlet holes located in the chamber wall for intercommunicating oil from the servo pump to the hydraulic cylinder in order to protect the servo pump components from damage while allowing fluid flow to drive the legs of the robot.
With respect to claim 2, wherein the leg-foot forward-and-backward swing mechanism (62) is connected to the hip joint mechanism (61) in a coaxial transmission manner (Fig 2).
With respect to claim 3, wherein the hip joint mechanism comprises a connecting piece (53) and a lateral swing driving mechanism (41), the connecting piece is rotatably connected to the mounting bracket (51), the lateral swing driving mechanism (41) is connected between the connecting piece (53) and the main body, and the lateral swing driving mechanism (41) is configured to provide a power for the inward and outward lateral swing of the leg-foot mechanism (Fig 2). The combination does not specifically disclose that the lateral swing driving mechanism is connected between the connecting piece and the leg-foot mechanism. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to place it between the connecting piece and the leg-foot mechanism, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art.
With respect to claims 8-9 and 11, the combination of Zhu et al. and Han et al. disclose three servo pumps connected to three respective hydraulic cylinders, wherein the servo pumps, as modified, are inside the chamber body, the leg-foot forward-and-backward swing mechanism (62) comprises a first hydraulic cylinder (42), the chamber body has a side wall (Fig 1) formed with penetrating first oil outlet hole and first oil inlet hole (as modified by Han et al.), and the first oil outlet hole and first oil inlet hole are configured to intercommunicate the first servo pump with the first hydraulic cylinder (as modified by Han et al.), the hip joint mechanism comprises a second hydraulic cylinder (41), and the chamber body has a side wall formed with oil inlet and outlet holes configured to intercommunicate the second servo pump with the second hydraulic cylinder (as modified by Han et al.), the leg-foot mechanism comprises a third hydraulic cylinder (43), and the chamber body has a side wall formed with a second oil outlet hole and a second oil inlet hole configured to communicate with the third servo pump (as modified by Han et al.).
With respect to claims 13-14, the combination does not specifically disclose wherein two ends of the oil inlet and outlet holes of the chamber body are provided with sealing rings or wherein the chamber body is formed with a sealing groove configured to place the sealing ring. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to provide sealing grooves with corresponding sealing rings for the oil inlet and outlet holes, since it was old and well known in the art that sealing grooves with rings are used in hydraulic inlets and outlets in order to prevent leakage.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7, 10, 12, and 15-19 are 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.
Conclusion
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DREW BROWN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3616
/DREW J BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3614