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 § 102
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.
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.
Claims 1-2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by EP 2184387 B1 (hereinafter “Frenzen”).
Regarding claim 1 Frenzen discloses a workstation (10) of a textile machine comprising:
a thread feeding device (12) for supplying a thread (17);
a traversing device (51) for traversing the supplied thread (17);
a thread winding device (18) for winding the traversed thread (17) onto a run-on bobbin (19);
a pneumatic thread storage (4);
a thread storage unit (2) having a thread guide arm (35) pivotably mounted about a pivot axis (see fig. 2);
a controllable drive unit (37) for reversible pivoting of the thread guide arm (35); and
a sensor unit (3/33) which is designed and arranged for collecting sensor information about a thread force (i.e. via 33) acting on the thread guide arm (35), and for transmitting the sensor information to a control system (6) associated with the workstation (10);
wherein the thread storage unit (2) is arranged at the workstation (10) such that the control system (6) detects a thread breakage (i.e. by thread monitor 3; see original paragraph 27) based on the sensor information (of 3/33).
(I.e. original paragraph 27 states: “If it comes to one of the jobs 54 of the open-end rotor spinning machine to a fault, such as a thread break, which is preferably detected by the thread monitor 3, the workstation computer 6 ensures that both the open-end spinning device 12 of the relevant job 10 and the associated winding device 18 are stopped.”)
Regarding claim 2 Frenzen discloses the above workstation, and further discloses wherein the control system (6) is designed to interrupt a working process (see original paragraph 27) taking place at the workstation (10).
Regarding claim 4 Frenzen discloses the above workstation, and further discloses wherein the control system (6) is designed to control the controllable drive unit (37) for regulating a storage quantity of the thread (17).
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 3 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Frenzen in view of EP 1975106 A2 (hereinafter “Mair”).
Regarding claim 11 Frenzen discloses the above workstation, and further discloses a method for monitoring a thread run of a running thread (17) at the workstation (10) of the textile machine,
wherein the sensor unit (3/33) transmits the sensor information about the thread force (from 33) acting on the thread guide arm (35), and
wherein the control system (6) evaluates the sensor information, and in the event of:
a detected thread (17) breakage, interrupts a working process at the workstation (10) (see original paragraph 27).
(I.e. original paragraph 27 states: “If it comes to one of the jobs 54 of the open-end rotor spinning machine to a fault, such as a thread break, which is preferably detected by the thread monitor 3, the workstation computer 6 ensures that both the open-end spinning device 12 of the relevant job 10 and the associated winding device 18 are stopped.”)
Frenzen fails to teach sensing or transmitting rotational movement and/or position of the thread guide arm to the control system associated with the workstation.
Mair teaches an arm (7) for a textile guide roller (8) in a storage device (e.g. see fig. 2). Mair further teaches sensing and transmitting rotational movement and/or position information of the thread guide arm (7) to a control system (21) associated with the workstation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the rotation sensing of Mair to the guide arm of Frenzen with a reasonable expectation of success. One having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination in order to better apprize the system of the amount of accumulated textile filament.
Regarding claim 3 modified Frenzen teaches the above workstation, and further teaches wherein the sensor unit (Frenzen 3/33) has an incremental encoder (Mair 20) for collecting the sensor information about the position of the thread guide arm (Frenzen 35).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-10 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Such references show various forms of apparatus which comprise at least one similar feature to the present application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nathaniel L Adams whose telephone number is (571)272-4830. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4 Pacific Time.
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/NATHANIEL L ADAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 3654