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 .
Claims 1-19 are pending.
Claims 1-19 are rejected below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered.
There was no IDS filed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claims 1-19 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.
The term “thin-walled” is used throughout the claims and is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “thin-walled”, specifically the “thin” portion is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Claim 1, states that the claim is a milling processing and measurement process and control process method, then states that the method comprises various procedures. However, these are not actually method steps which leaves the Examiner unclear on what coverage the applicant seeks. It seems as though the only actual method steps are purely from the thin-walled part processing path program transplantation procedure. Furthermore, the terms transplantation and transplanting are hard to define in this specific situation. Examiner is interpreting this as a transposition. Also, Examiner notes that the methods steps include, aligning, calculating, and transplanting. None of which seem to be doing what the preamble states milling processing and measurement process and control process method. They do seem like computer computation with little more. Examiner notes that claim 7 seems to remedy this by adding in a processing step.
Claim 2 does not seem to be adding anything to the method. Claim 2 is adding elements that are more in line with a system claim and are not method steps. This is similar to structure in a preamble and isn’t given weight.
Claim 4 has a similar issue to that of claim 2. It is assumed that Applicant is trying to claim the driving step of the machine tool.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the cutter location point extraction procedure" in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. “[t]he theoretical position hole center coordinates” in the next line also lacks antecedent basis. Claim 5 also seems to be stated there are multiple holes, however, only one has been defined. Examiner is also interpreting the cutter location point information to be just the cutter location points since this “information” is never defined. Also, there is a new “mesh” defined in the final calculation step of claim 5, although not incorrect, Examiner would just like to ensure that this is what Applicant intends. If so, nothing to correct with regards to the new mesh.
Claim 6 recites the limitation “the actual position hole center coordinates” in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 6 also states “the cutter location point” however, there is a plurality of cutter location points. Perhaps stating “one of the plurality of cutter location points” is more accurate. Also, the limitation "the pre-projected geodesic" in lines 8-9 lack antecedent basis. The limitation "the preset geodesic range" in lines 8-9 lack antecedent basis.
Claim 7 states “ the thickness procedure”. This lacks antecedent basis. This occurs in claims 8 and 9 are well.
Claim 8 states a “subsidence area”. It is unclear what the means and how to define it. The specification does use it three times, but no definition is given.
Claim 9 recites the limitation “the thickness” and “the real-time thickness” . There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation “the eddy current spacing”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 11 recites the limitation “the back normal direction” , “the eddy current normal holding procedure”, and “the orientation” .There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 does not have any method steps in and seems to be just adding structure similar to that of claim 2 above.
Claim 13 states “scanning the thin-walled part after processing” It is unclear what “processing” this is. Also, “the design curved surface” in line 7 lacks antecedent basis. In lines 10 and 11 “the geodesic check” is claimed. It is unclear what this check is and how to accomplish it. Further, it lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 15 seems to be defining a “thin-walled part” in line two. However, this is already defined and should state “the thin-walled part”. In line 4 “the milling cutter” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 17 last sentence “the mirror milling procedure” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 19 recites the limitation “the water flow” .There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
The claims are replete with indefinite and/or functional language not supported by the recited structure. The above listing is exemplary and is not an exhaustive listing. Therefore, please review the claims and amend accordingly for compliance with 35 USC 112(b).
Other Art of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Afrooze (U.S. PG Pub. 20230368414) teaches imaging data to determine position and using a mesh model.
LU (U.S. PG Pub. 20220164498) teaches measuring forces while machining.
Guo (U.S. PG Pub. 20220088731) teaches a supporting device for mirror milling
Varrelmann (U.S. PG Pub. 2019/0001398) teaches clamping frame for a workpiece to be processed.
Dong (U.S. Pat. 12,122,008) teaches a mirror milling process with point position optimization.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN L LAUGHLIN whose telephone number is (571)270-1042. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mohammad Ali can be reached at 571-272-4105. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHAN L LAUGHLIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119
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