Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/573,493

CONTROL DEVICE FOR MACHINE TOOL

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Dec 22, 2023
Examiner
CENTRAL, DOCKET
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Fanuc Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 7m
To Grant
56%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allow Rate
20 granted / 25 resolved
+20.0% vs TC avg
Minimal -24% lift
Without
With
+-24.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
48 currently pending
Career history
73
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
14.0%
-26.0% vs TC avg
§103
45.3%
+5.3% vs TC avg
§102
18.7%
-21.3% vs TC avg
§112
20.4%
-19.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 25 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION Claims 1- 6 are pending. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions. Priority Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for priority of U.S provisional application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e). Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statements provided complies with the provisions of MPEP § 609. It has been placed in the application file, and the information referred to therein has been considered as to the merits. A signed copy of the form is attached. 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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Polasek , (US 8,414,156) in view of Cella et al. (US 20230176557) . A s per claim 1, Polasek , teaches a control device vibrating a tool comprising: a vibration condition (see col. 2, lines 42-48) setting unit that sets a vibration condition (see col. 2, lines 42-48) including at least one of a frequency parameter consisting of a vibration frequency or a vibration frequency multiplying factor, an amplitude parameter consisting of a vibration amplitude or a vibration amplitude multiplying factor, or a vibration direction; a vibration upper limit setting unit that sets an upper limit value of a vibration parameter, which includes at least one of a vibration frequency, a vibration amplitude, a vibration velocity, a vibration acceleration, or a vibration jerk (see col. 6, lines 14-24) , which are determined by the vibration condition (see col. 2, lines 42-48) , based on one or both of the vibration frequency and the vibration direction; a vibration condition (see col. 2, lines 42-48) restricting unit (see col 2, lines 20-41 and 42-55) that restricts the vibration condition (see col. 2, lines 42-48) set by the vibration condition setting unit (see col. 2, lines 42-48) , based on the upper limit value of the vibration parameter; and a vibration control unit that executes vibration control of a control shaft (see col. 1, lines 7-10) , based on the vibration condition (see col. 2, lines 42-48) restricted by the vibration condition (see col. 2, lines 42-48) restricting unit (see col 2, lines 20-41 and 42-55) . Polasek was silent about for a machine tool that machines a workpiece while ; and the workpiece relative to each other . Cella et al. teaches a machine tool that machines a workpiece while ; and the workpiece relative to each other ( see pars. [2221 and 2222] ) . Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the vibration teachings of Polasek with a machine tool as taught by Cella et al. so that “ data values may include vibration parameters ” ( Cella ’s et al. par. [0023] ), thereby improving the efficiency and the reliability of the control device for machine tool . A s per claim 2, Polasek , teaches wherein the vibration upper limit setting unit sets the upper limit value of the vibration parameter to decrease stepwise or continuously as the vibration restricting unit (see col 2, lines 42-55) . A s per claim 3, Polasek , teaches wherein the vibration upper limit setting unit sets the upper limit value of the vibration parameter to different values when the vibration direction is parallel or non-parallel to the drive direction of each control shaft (see col. 1, lines 7-10) . A s per claim 4, Cella et al. teaches in combination of Polasek , vibration direction relative to the central axis direction of the workpiece increases ( see par. [0972] ) . A s per claim 5, Cella et al. teaches in combination of Polasek , vibration parameter to a smaller value than in cases of other frequencies (see par. [0970) . A s per claim 6, Cella et al. teaches in combination of Polasek , vibration condition setting unit so as not to exceed the upper limit value of the vibration parameter (see par. [0014]) . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT MCDIEUNEL MARC whose telephone number is (571) 272-6964. The examiner can normally be reached on FILLIN "Work schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Work 9:00 AM to 7:30 . If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, WADE MILES can be reached on (571) 270- 7777 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)-273-3976. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. left 42754 0 0 / McDieunel Marc/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 366 5
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 22, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
80%
Grant Probability
56%
With Interview (-24.0%)
2y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 25 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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