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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/10/24 is 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 § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schmidt et al. (US 2022/0099463).
Regarding claim 1,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
A system for correlating an input signal (Fig. 2) with an operating state of a motor (40, ¶0041), the system comprising: a substrate (Fig. 4, 130, 75, ¶0049) mounted on the motor (40, ¶0049), wherein the substrate further comprises: a first input (90) connected to a sensor (48A) proximate to the motor (40, ¶0050), the first input (90) operative to receive a first signal from the sensor (48A-C, ¶0050); a second input (Fig. 2, 90, also input to 90) connected to a position sensor (46) mounted on the motor (40, ¶0041), the second input operative to receive a position feedback signal from the position sensor (46, ¶0041); a control circuit (Fig. 4, 132) operative to: detect a change in state of the first signal (from 90, via 91, ¶0067), correlate at least one additional signal to the change in state of the first signal (encoder signal from 46, ¶0041, ¶0050), and generate a data packet (via 136) including the first signal and the at least one additional signal correlated at the change in state (¶0057-¶0059); and a communication interface (136) operative to transmit the data packet from the control circuit (132) to at least one additional controller (Fig. 3, 10) external from the motor (¶0048).
Regarding claim 2,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein: the position sensor (fig. 2, 46) continually generates the position feedback signal corresponding to a present angular position of the motor (¶0057); and the at least one additional signal correlated to the change in state of the first signal is the position feedback signal (Fig. 4, from 48A-C, ¶0050-¶0051).
Regarding claim 3,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 4):
wherein the control circuit is further operative to: generate an interrupt signal when the change in state of the first signal is detected, and store a present value of the position feedback signal in memory (Fig. 4, 134) on the control circuit when the interrupt signal is generated (¶0062).
Regarding claim 4,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 4):
wherein the control circuit is further operative to: sample a value of the position feedback signal at a periodic interval, and store a most recent sampled value of the position feedback signal in memory (fig. 4, 134) on the control circuit when the change in state of the first signal is detected (¶0062).
Regarding claim 5,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein: the position feedback signal is provided to a motor drive at a second periodic interval to control operation of the motor (¶0063), and a duration of the periodic interval at which the value of the position feedback signal is sampled for correlation to the change in state of the first signal is less than the a duration of the second periodic interval (the intervals can be synchronized and timed at different times and states, ¶0063).
Regarding claim 6,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein: the substrate further comprises a clock circuit (not shown, ¶0063); the clock circuit is synchronized to a master clock circuit (¶0063, Fig. 6, 120); and the at least one additional signal correlated to the change in state of the first signal is a timestamp from the clock circuit (¶0063).
Regarding claim 7,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein: the motor is connected to a drivetrain for an axis of motion of a controlled machine or process (¶0037); the controlled machine or process has a machine cycle, which executes on a periodic basis (¶0037); the periodic basis on which the machine cycle executes does not correspond to one rotation of the motor (¶0055-¶0056); and the at least one additional signal correlated to the change in state of the first signal is a portion of the machine cycle (¶0056-¶0057).
Regarding claim 8,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein the at least one additional controller is a motor drive (fig. 1, 30) operatively connected to the motor (40) to control operation of the motor (¶0037).
Regarding claim 9,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein the at least one additional controller is an industrial controller in communication with the communication interface via an industrial network (fig. 1, 22, ¶0037).
Regarding claim 10,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
A method for correlating an input signal (fig. 4, input to 90) with an operating state of a motor (40, ¶0041), the method comprising the steps of: receiving a first signal at a first input from a sensor proximate to the motor (48A-C, ¶0050), wherein the first input is on a substrate (Fig. 4, 130, 75, ¶0049) mounted on the motor (40, ¶0049); receiving a position feedback signal at a second input on the substrate (Fig. 2, 90, also input to 90) from a position sensor mounted on the motor (46, ¶0041); detecting a change in state of the first signal (from 90, via 91, ¶0067); correlating at least one additional signal to the change in state of the first signal (encoder signal from 46, ¶0041, ¶0050); generating a data packet including the first signal and the at least one additional signal correlated at the change in state (¶0057-¶0059); and transmitting the data packet from a control circuit on the substrate to at least one additional controller (Fig. 3, 10) external from the motor (¶0048).
Regarding claim 11,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein: the position sensor (fig. 2, 46) continually generates the position feedback signal corresponding to a present angular position of the motor (¶0057); and the at least one additional signal correlated to the change in state of the first signal is the position feedback signal (Fig. 4, from 48A-C, ¶0050-¶0051).
Regarding claim 12,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
further comprising the steps of: generating an interrupt signal when the change in state of the first signal is detected, and storing a present value of the position feedback signal in memory (fig. 4, 134) on the control circuit when the interrupt signal is generated (¶0062).
Regarding claim 13,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
further comprising the steps of: sampling a value of the position feedback signal at a periodic interval, and storing a most recent sampled value of the position feedback signal in memory on the control circuit when the change in state of the first signal is detected (¶0062).
Regarding claim 14,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
further comprising the step of transmitting the position feedback signal to a motor drive at a second periodic interval to control operation of the motor (¶0063), wherein a rate of the periodic interval at which the value of the position feedback signal is sampled for correlation to the change in state of the first signal is greater than a rate of the second periodic interval (the intervals can be synchronized and timed at different times and states, ¶0063).
Regarding claim 15,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
further comprising the step of synchronizing a clock circuit (not shown, ¶0063) on the substrate to a master clock circuit (¶0063, Fig. 6, 120), wherein the at least one additional signal correlated to the change in state of the first signal is a timestamp from the clock circuit (¶0063).
Regarding claim 16,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
further comprising the step of receiving a third signal at the substrate at a periodic interval, wherein: the third signal corresponds to a machine cycle (¶0037); the periodic interval at which the third signal is received does not correspond to one rotation of the motor (¶0055-¶0056); and the at least one additional signal correlated to the change in state of the first signal is a portion of the machine cycle (¶0056-¶0057).
Regarding claim 17,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein the at least one additional controller is a motor drive (fig. 1, 30) operatively connected to the motor (40) to control operation of the motor (¶0037).
Regarding claim 18,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 1):
wherein the at least one additional controller is an industrial controller in communication with the communication interface via an industrial network (fig. 1, 22, ¶0037).
Regarding claim 19,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
A system for correlating an input signal (Fig. 2) at a motor (40, ¶0041), the system comprising: an encoder (Fig. 2, 46) mounted on the motor (¶0041), wherein the encoder is operative to generate a position feedback signal corresponding to an angular position of the motor (¶0041); a substrate mounted in either the encoder or on the motor (Fig. 4, 130, 75, ¶0049); an input (90) on the substrate (130 75), wherein the input is operative to receive an external signal from a sensor proximate the motor (fig. 4, 48A-C, ¶0050); and a control circuit on the substrate (132), the control circuit operative to: detect a change in state of the external signal (from 90), generate a data packet including an indication of the change of state of the external signal (via 136) and at least one additional signal correlated at the change in state (¶0057-¶0059); and a communication interface (136) operative to transmit the data packet from the control circuit to at least one additional controller external (fig. 3, 10) from the motor (¶0048).
Regarding claim 20,
Schmidt discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein the at least one additional signal is either the position feedback signal or a timestamp generated by a clock circuit present in the control circuit (¶0057).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Antoina et al. (US 2017/0003372) – encoder system
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/C.S.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2846 /DAVID LUO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846