DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 § 112
2. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
3. Claims 10-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 10 recites in the preamble, a welding body comprising “multiple axes and moving for welding”. This appears to be a typo. The claim also recites in line 5 “a second panel unit”, however the claim does not earlier recite a first panel unit.
Claim 15 also recites “a fourth processor”, however the claim and its dependent claim 10 do not recite any first through third processors.
Dependent claims 11-14 inherit the deficiencies of parent claim 10 through their dependencies, and are thus rejected for the same reasons.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
5. Claims 1-8 and 10-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Becker et al. (US 2017/0046976 A1).
Regarding claims 1-8 and 10-15, Becker discloses a welding system comprising:
a welding information providing device configured to generate and display information related to welding (Par. 100 – display 32); and
a welding torch (welding tool 14, which may be a welding torch) configured to generate an electric arc in a welding base material (Par. 95),
wherein the welding torch comprises a first panel unit having mounted thereon a marker (130) configured to identify a welding location (Par. 124) (as per claim 1),
the first panel unit is provided on an outer side of a guide portion located between a torch head and a back cap (see Fig. 4) (as per claim 2),
the first panel unit is provided on one or more of a plurality of surfaces surrounding the outer side of the guide portion (Fig. 4) (as per claim 3),
a lighting unit provided between the guide portion and the first panel unit and configured to supply lighting to the first panel unit (marker may be light-emitting marker – Par. 176) (as per claim 4),
a number of lighting units is equal to a number of first panel units (each marker corresponds to light-emitting LED – Par. 176) (as per claim 5),
the welding information providing device comprises: a first camera unit configured to acquire a welding image of welding operation (Par. 96); a display unit configured to display the welding image (video replay 342 may show frames of video/images corresponding to selected time and/or location – Par. 153); and a first processor, wherein the first processor is configured to: generate marker-related information comprising one or more of marker location information, torch direction information, torch angle information, and information regarding a distance from the welding base material to the first camera unit, by using an image of the first panel unit captured by the first camera unit and preset distance information between a welding rod and the first panel unit (Par. 153); receive, from one or more of the first camera unit, a first sensor unit, and a second sensor unit provided in the welding torch, a result of detecting information regarding a welding situation comprising one or more of a welding location, a welding direction, a welding angle, a welding inclination, a welding speed, and a distance between the welding base material and the welding torch (e.g. travel angle); generate welding guide information comprising one or more of an operation instruction, an operation change, and an operation stoppage, on the basis of the marker-related information and the information regarding the welding situation; and output the welding guide information to the display unit (on screen 494 – Par. 189) (as per claim 6),
a welding management device connected to the welding information providing device and the welding torch through a network (Par. 101) and configured to provide the welding information providing device with welding education content guiding an operator to acquire a welding skill and perform safe welding (Par. 234) (as per claim 7),
the welding management device is configured to provide the welding information providing device with welding advice information advising on a result of welding by the operator by comparing the result of welding by the operator, which is received from the welding information providing device, with a preset result of welding by a skilled operator (Par. 98 – stored data representing past operator performance) (as per claim 8),
a welding system comprising: a welding body (14) comprising multiple axes and moving for welding (Par. 176, last 7 lines); and a welding rod extending from the welding body and configured to generate an electric arc in a welding base material (see Fig. 4), wherein the welding rod comprises a second panel unit having mounted thereon a marker (130) configured to identify a welding location (Par. 124) (as per claim 10),
the second panel unit is provided on an outer side of a welding rod head surrounding one side of the welding rod (Fig. 4) (as per claim 11),
the second panel unit is provided on one or more of a plurality of surfaces surrounding the outer side of the welding rod head (Fig. 4) (as per claim 12),
a lighting unit provided between the outer side of the welding rod head and the second panel unit and configured to supply lighting to the second panel unit (marker may be light-emitting marker – Par. 176) (as per claim 13),
a number of lighting units is equal to a number of second panel units (each marker corresponds to light-emitting LED – Par. 176) (as per claim 14), and
a first camera unit; a second camera unit provided on the welding body and configured to acquire a welding image of welding operation (Par. 96); and a fourth processor, wherein the fourth processor is configured to: generate marker-related information comprising one or more of marker location information, torch direction information, torch angle information, and information regarding a distance from the welding base material to the first camera unit, by using an image of the second panel unit captured by the second camera unit and preset distance information between the welding rod and the second panel unit (Par. 153); receive, from one or more of the second camera unit and a third sensor unit, a result of detecting information regarding a welding situation comprising one or more of a welding location, a welding direction, a welding angle, a welding inclination, a welding speed, and a distance between the welding base material and the welding rod; generate welding guide information comprising one or more of an operation instruction, an operation change, and an operation stoppage, on the basis of the marker-related information and the information regarding the welding situation; and control movement of the welding body and an operation of the welding rod in correspondence to the welding guide information (Par. 189) (as per claim 15).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Becker et al. (US 2017/0046976 A1) in view of Albrecht (US 2017/0200394 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Becker discloses providing welding advice (guidance and feedback) to the user based on the user’s performance (see Par’s. 305, 319, 173). Becker does not appear to explicitly disclose the welding management device comprises a third processor configured to predict welding advice information by receiving a welding result image frame corresponding to the result of welding by the operator received from the welding information providing device, by using a deep neural network model pre-trained to predict welding advice information by receiving a welding result image frame, and wherein the deep neural network model is a model trained in a supervised learning method through training data that uses a welding result image frame as an input and uses welding advice information as a label. However, Albrecht discloses a similar welding training system that utilizes a neural network to identify weld anomalies in a weld (Par’s. 28, 72). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Becker by utilizing a neural network to analyze the weld images and provide feedback to the user, as suggested by Albrecht. Such a modification would involve applying a known technique to a known device ready for improvement to yield predictable results.
Conclusion
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER EGLOFF whose telephone number is (571)270-3548. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Xuan Thai can be reached at (571) 272-7147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Peter R Egloff/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715