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 .
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 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.
Examiner’s Note
This Office Action is in response to amendment filed on 3/10/2026, where claims 1-5 are amended; claim 6 is added; and claims 1-6 are currently pending.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 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 a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the primary reason that claim 6 is allowable over the International Patent Doc. 2017221380 (Kayashima) and the US Patent Application Pub. No. 20140222186 (Wada), is because Kayashima in view of Wada teach substantially similar subject matter of reading ahead of machining program to generate command to eliminate positioning error of a numerical control device; however, neither alone nor in combination, the cited prior art teach generating the final positioning command that finally eliminates a positioning error and complete positioning by reading ahead the machining program when a positioning command block with a positioning error elimination operation, wherein the positioning error elimination operation consists of a single direction positioning operation performed only from one direction set in advance, is analyzed; and determine an axis on which a positioning error elimination operation is performed, and generate a positioning error elimination operation command to eliminate a positioning error by the single direction positioning operation on the determined axis on which the positioning error elimination operation is performed as recited in claim 6. As such, the cited prior art do not teach each and every limitation as currently recited.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 5-6, filed on 3/10/2026, with respect to previous rejections of claims 1-5 under 35 U.S.C. § 101, have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the amendment. As such, the rejections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 6, with respect to claims 1 and 4 invoking and thus interpreted under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) or 35 U.S.C. § 112 (pre-AIA ), sixth paragraph, have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the amendment. As such, claims have been withdrawn from interpretation under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f).
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 6, with respect to previous rejections of claims 1-5 under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. § 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the amendment. As such, rejections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 6-8, with respect to previous rejection of independent claims 1 and 4 under 35 U.S.C. § 102, have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the amendment. As such, the instant claims are now rejected under new grounds.
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 8, that all dependent claims are patentably distinguished over the cited prior art at least in view of the dependency from their respective independent claims, and requests that the rejections for all dependent claims be reconsidered and withdrew for the reasons argued above. However, their respective independent claims are now rejected under new grounds in view of the amendment and thus the dependent claims are likewise rejected.
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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kayashima, (WO2017221380) (hereinafter Kayashima) in view of Wada et al., (US 20140222186 A1) (hereinafter Wada).
Referring to claim 1, Kayashima teaches a numerical control device that machines a workpiece by driving an axis of a machine tool based on a machining program (¶ [0007], “a numerical control device according to the present invention is a numerical control device for numerically controlling a machine tool”), the numerical control device comprising a processor configured to:
generate a final positioning command that finally eliminates a positioning error and complete positioning by reading ahead the machining program when a positioning command block with a positioning error elimination operation is analyzed (¶ [0007], “read ahead a block constituting a machining program, determine whether or not lost motion correction is necessary by estimating an inter-inversion position distance between a first inversion position in a movement direction of a feed shaft of the machine tool and a second inversion position that is an inversion position after the first inversion position”. ¶ [0023], “The lost motion correction unit 100-2 includes an inversion position estimation unit 2 that sequentially reads blocks constituting the processing program 1 during movement of the tool 31 and estimates an inversion position of the feed shaft in the movement direction”);
acquire a movement direction according to a command after the final positioning command (¶ [0027], “a method of estimating a position at which the movement direction of the feed axis is reversed by the inversion position estimation unit 2”. ¶ [0028], figs. 4 and 6, “FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an inversion position estimation process in the axial movement direction by the inversion position estimation unit shown in FIG. 1. The inversion position estimation unit 2 reads the processing program 1 of the user creation in S 1, analyzes the blocks subsequent to the block currently being executed in S 2 one block at a time, and estimates the movement path of each of the plurality of feed shafts 8x, 28 y, and 28 z.” ¶ [0031], figs. 4 and 6, “repeatedly executes the processes after S 2 until the second inversion operation is generated from the currently executed block, that is, until the inversion number becomes 2 or more.”);
distribute the positioning error elimination operation command to each drive axis (Based at least on figures 6, 8, and 10, the lost motion correction is performed on the feed axis indicated by the vertical axis at reference characters B and C).
Kayashima teaches the limitations above. However, Kayashima does not explicitly teach determine, based on the final positioning command and the movement direction, an axis on which a positioning error elimination operation is performed, and generate a positioning error elimination operation command to eliminate a positioning error on the determined axis on which the positioning error elimination operation is performed.
Wada teaches determine, based on the final positioning command and the movement direction, an axis on which a positioning error elimination operation is performed, and generate a positioning error elimination operation command to eliminate a positioning error on the determined axis on which the positioning error elimination operation is performed (¶ [0022], “A control method according to the present invention is a control method that performs position control of a control object while compensating for backlash in the control object”. ¶ [0023], “the final position command signal generating step may include a position command signal generating step of generating the position command signal; a control direction detecting step of detecting, on the basis of the position command signal generated in the position command signal generating step, a control direction for controlling the control object; a backlash quantity calculating step of generating, in accordance with the control direction detected in the control direction detecting step, a backlash quantity signal for compensating for the amount of backlash in the control object; a delay time calculating step of generating a backlash correction signal by delaying, by a predetermined delay time with respect to the position command signal, the backlash quantity signal generated in the backlash quantity calculating step; and a signal adding step of generating a final position command signal by adding the backlash correction signal generated in the delay time calculating step to the position command signal.”)
Kayashima and Wada are analogous art to the claimed invention because they are concerning with correcting positioning error in machine(s) (i.e., same field of endeavor).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention having Kayashima and Wada before them to modify the numerical control device of Kayashima to incorporate the function of determine axis on which positioning error elimination operation is performed based on the final positioning command and the movement direction as taught by Wada. One of ordinary skill in the art would have combined the elements as claimed by known methods as disclosed by Wada (¶ [0046]-[0153]), because the function of determine axis on which positioning error elimination operation is performed based on the final positioning command and the movement direction does not depend on the numerical control device. That is the function of determine axis on which positioning error elimination operation is performed based on the final positioning command and the movement direction performs the same function independent on which interface it is incorporated onto, and therefore, the result of the combination would have been predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art. The motivation to combine would have been to eliminate error in machine movement by controlling behavioral range of the control object the same as if there is no machine movement error as suggested by Wada (¶ [0020]).
Referring to claim 2, Kayashima further teaches the numerical control device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine a timing at which the positioning error elimination operation is able to be started on the axis on which the positioning error elimination operation is performed, and generate a positioning error elimination operation command to eliminate a positioning error on the axis on which the positioning error elimination operation is performed after a determined timing (¶ [0039], fig. 10, “the horizontal axis represents time. The position of the arrow indicated by the reference characters B and C is the execution position of the lost motion correction”)
Referring to claim 3, Kayashima further teaches the numerical control device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine an axis that finishes moving in an axial direction as the axis on which the positioning error elimination operation is performed (Based at least on figures 6, 8, and 10, the lost motion correction is performed on the feed axis indicated by the vertical axis at reference characters B and C, which shows the end of each respective feed axis before moving the opposite direction.)
Referring to claim 5, Kayashima further teaches the numerical control device according to claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to determine an axis that finishes moving in an axial direction as the axis on which the positioning error elimination operation is performed (Based at least on figures 6, 8, and 10, the lost motion correction is performed on the feed axis indicated by the vertical axis at reference characters B and C, which shows the end of each respective feed axis before moving the opposite direction.)
Referring to claim 4, Kayashima teaches a numerical control device that machines a workpiece by driving an axis of a machine tool based on a machining program (¶ [0007], “a numerical control device according to the present invention is a numerical control device for numerically controlling a machine tool”), the numerical control device comprising a processor configured to:
generate a final positioning command that finally eliminates a positioning error and complete positioning by reading ahead the machining program when a positioning command block with a positioning error elimination operation is analyzed (¶ [0007], “read ahead a block constituting a machining program, determine whether or not lost motion correction is necessary by estimating an inter-inversion position distance between a first inversion position in a movement direction of a feed shaft of the machine tool and a second inversion position that is an inversion position after the first inversion position”. ¶ [0023], “The lost motion correction unit 100-2 includes an inversion position estimation unit 2 that sequentially reads blocks constituting the processing program 1 during movement of the tool 31 and estimates an inversion position of the feed shaft in the movement direction”);
distribute the positioning error elimination operation command to each driving axis (Based at least on figures 6, 8, and 10, the lost motion correction is performed on the feed axis indicated by the vertical axis at reference characters B and C).
Kayashima teaches the limitations above. However, Kayashima does not explicitly teach determine, based on the final positioning command, a timing at which a positioning error elimination operation is able to be started, and generate a positioning error elimination operation command to eliminate a positioning error after a determined timing.
Wada teaches determine, based on the final positioning command, a timing (¶ [0023], delay time) at which a positioning error elimination operation is able to be started, and generate a positioning error elimination operation command to eliminate a positioning error after a determined timing (¶ [0022], “A control method according to the present invention is a control method that performs position control of a control object while compensating for backlash in the control object”. ¶ [0023], “the final position command signal generating step may include a position command signal generating step of generating the position command signal; a control direction detecting step of detecting, on the basis of the position command signal generated in the position command signal generating step, a control direction for controlling the control object; a backlash quantity calculating step of generating, in accordance with the control direction detected in the control direction detecting step, a backlash quantity signal for compensating for the amount of backlash in the control object; a delay time calculating step of generating a backlash correction signal by delaying, by a predetermined delay time with respect to the position command signal, the backlash quantity signal generated in the backlash quantity calculating step; and a signal adding step of generating a final position command signal by adding the backlash correction signal generated in the delay time calculating step to the position command signal.”)
Kayashima and Wada are analogous art to the claimed invention because they are concerning with correcting positioning error in machine(s) (i.e., same field of endeavor).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention having Kayashima and Wada before them to modify the numerical control device of Kayashima to incorporate the function of determine a timing to start the positioning error elimination operation as taught by Wada. One of ordinary skill in the art would have combined the elements as claimed by known methods as disclosed by Wada (¶ [0046]-[0153]), because the function of determine a timing to start the positioning error elimination operation does not depend on the numerical control device. That is the function of determine a timing to start the positioning error elimination operation performs the same function independent on which interface it is incorporated onto, and therefore, the result of the combination would have been predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art. The motivation to combine would have been to eliminate error in machine movement by controlling behavioral range of the control object the same as if there is no machine movement error as suggested by Wada (¶ [0020]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
US 20150331409 (Oka) – discloses numerical controller having a function of controlling operation of a device.
US 20170108847 (Ito) – discloses numerical controller for controlling positioning of a machine tool to avoid interference with workpiece.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/MONG-SHUNE CHUNG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2118