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 .
Status of Claims
The Office Action is in response to the application filed 06/02/2026. Claims 1-14 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 6, filed 06/02/2026, with respect to the interpretation of claims under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The amendments to the claims have overcome the claim interpretation under 35 U.S.C. 112(f). The claim interpretation under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments, see page 6, filed 06/02/2026, regarding the rejection of claim 5 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The amended claim language regarding an injection object has been attached to claim 1, and now reads “injects a predetermined injection toward the workpiece in the treatment”. As the claim is written, and in light of the specification, it is not clear what is meant by “a predetermined injection”. The examiner called the applicant’s attorney on 06/17/2026, wherein the applicant’s attorney communicated that the term “injection” is meant to cover welding, paint, but also lasers or ultrasonic waves. However, this language “injects a predetermined injection” has even less support from the specification than the language regarding an injection object previously cited in claim 5. The specification does not define “injection” by itself as a noun, and while the examiner appreciates the applicant’s attempts to clarify the claim language, the claim as written is indefinite in light of the specification.
Applicant's arguments, see pages 6-7, filed 06/02/2026, regarding the rejection of claims 1-6 and 8-12 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) in view of Kuwahara US 20150112482 A1 (“Kuwahara”) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The amendments to the claims, particularly the amendment of the claim language “display a virtue injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image” as being a necessary element not cited in the alternative as previously claimed has distinguished the claims from Kuwahara. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made under 35 U.S.C. 103 in view of Kuwahara US 20150112482 A1 (“Kuwahara”) in combination with Hashimoto et al. US 20210323151 A1 (“Hashimoto”).
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.
Claim(s) 1-6 and 8-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuwahara US 20150112482 A1 (“Kuwahara”) in combination with Hashimoto et al. US 20210323151 A1 (“Hashimoto”).
Regarding Claim 1. Kuwahara teaches a teaching system comprising:
an operator that is operated by a user;
one or more processors configured to:
generate a teaching point of a robot (A “teaching point” is information indicating a target position through which each joint of the robot is caused to pass to reproductively operate the robot. FIG. 6F shows a dialog box that reads “generate teaching point on projection plane”, where an operator can select whether or not to generate a teaching point on the designated plane [paragraph 96]), the robot including a tool that:
performs a treatment on a workpiece in a non-contact manner (FIG. 1 shows the robot 30 and a workpiece W, where the workpiece is a door handle. The primary example in Kuwahara of work to be done by the robot is a coating robot that is applying a coating to a workpiece [paragraph 21]), and
injects a predetermined injection toward the workpiece in the treatment (the paint coating robot of paragraph 21); and
generate a virtual image in which a virtual tool corresponding to the tool and a virtual workpiece corresponding to the workpiece are placed in a virtual space (The teaching controller 11 outputs a virtual image including the robot 30 whose operation is subjected to a simulation operation to the display unit 12 based on an operation performed by an operator with the operating unit 13. The virtual image further includes a workpiece W having a processed surface to be processed by the robot 30 [paragraph 25]); and
a display that displays the virtual image (The teaching controller 11 outputs a virtual image including the robot 30 whose operation is subjected to a simulation operation to the display unit 12 based on an operation performed by an operator with the operating unit 13. The virtual image further includes a workpiece W having a processed surface to be processed by the robot 30 [paragraph 25]), wherein
the one or more processors are further configured to:
generate the virtual image in which the virtual tool moves in accordance with an operation to the operator and performs a treatment on the virtual workpiece (The teaching controller 11 outputs a virtual image including the robot 30 whose operation is subjected to a simulation operation to the display unit 12 based on an operation performed by an operator with the operating unit 13. The virtual image further includes a workpiece W having a processed surface to be processed by the robot 30 [paragraph 25]. The teaching controller 11 generates a job program for operating the robot 30 from the virtual image based on an operation performed by the operator with the operating unit 13 and registers the job program in the job information DB 14 [paragraph 26]. Furthermore, the teaching system 10 can read the teaching points and the job program registered in the job information DB 14 based on the instruction operation performed by the operator. Thus, the teaching system 10 can display the virtual image of the robot 30 whose tip of the end effector 35 reaches a specific teaching point and reproduce a series of operation of the robot 30 performed by the job program on the display unit 12 [paragraph 70]);
generate the teaching point corresponding to a position of the virtual tool generated by the image generator in the virtual space (FIGS. 6A-6H).
Kuwahara does not teach:
display a virtual injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image (while Kuwahara talks about a range for the painting tool, it does not explicitly display a virtual range for the painting tool).
However, Hashimoto teaches:
display a virtual injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image (FIG. 3 illustrates a state where three-dimensional model data of the spraying device 120, the robot 110, and the workpiece W1 is displayed on a display section 60 [paragraph 26]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was filed to modify the invention of Kuwahara with display a virtual injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image as taught by Hashimoto so as to allow the operator to see the working range of the injection/injector tool.
Regarding Claim 2. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches the teaching system according to claim 1.
Kuwahara also teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are configured to apply a display to a portion of the virtual workpiece subjected to the treatment by the tool to indicate that the portion has been subjected to the treatment (FIG. 4 shows the virtual image displayed on the display unit with a robot and a workpiece [paragraph 64]. FIG. 5A shows the virtual image after a partial application of the coating of surface P [paragraph 73]).
Regarding Claim 3. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches the teaching system according to claim 1.
Kuwahara also teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are configured to display an image indicating a degree of a distance from the virtual tool in the virtual image (The work line generating unit 111e generates the work line WC such that the group of target points is arranged not on the actual coating surface P of the workpiece W but on the projection plane PP as illustrated in FIG. 6G. At this time, the projection plane PP is generated at a position away from the point P1 in the normal direction by the distance "d" [paragraph 97, FIG. 6]).
Regarding Claim 4. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches the teaching system according to claim 1.
Kuwahara also teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are configured to display an image indicating a posture of the virtual tool in the virtual image (FIG. 4 shows an example of the image generator displaying an image of a posture of the tool in the virtual image. The image generating unit generates a virtual image including a robot and a workpiece having a processed surface to be processed by the robot. The projecting unit generates a projection plane orthogonal to a normal direction of a desired point on the processed surface selected on the virtual image and projects the processed surface onto the projection plane [paragraph 106]. The work line generating unit generates a work line serving as a group of target points for the robot based on setting contents received via the projection plane. The arithmetic unit calculates a teaching value including a position and a posture of the robot at each point of the target points [paragraph 107]).
Regarding Claim 5. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches the teaching system according to claim 1.
Kuwahara also teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are further configured to display a virtual injection corresponding to the predetermined injection (FIG. 5A).
Regarding Claim 6. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches the teaching system according to claim 1.
Kuwahara also teaches:
wherein the treatment is coating, welding, cleaning, or shot blasting (paragraph 21).
Regarding Claim 8. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches the teaching system according to claim 1.
Kuwahara also teaches:
wherein the robot further includes a robot arm to which the tool is coupled, and
the one or more processors are configured to display a virtual arm corresponding to the robot arm in the virtual image (FIG. 4).
Regarding Claim 9. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches the teaching system according to claim 8.
Kuwahara also teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are configured to switch display of the virtual arm in the virtual image between display and non-display (Based on the explanation of what is meant by “display” and “non-display” in paragraph [0117] of the present application, FIGS. 6A-6F show an example of the display with a dialogue box in FIG. 6C that switches on and off the generation of teaching points on a projection plane. FIG. 6E shows the virtual image with a group of target points arranged on the coating surface, while FIG. 4 shows the display with no visible teaching points).
Regarding Claim 10. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches a robot system comprising:
the teaching system according to claim 1; and
a robot that moves in accordance with the teaching point generated by the one or more processors (the robot in FIGS. 6A-6H, shown to follow the teaching points generated by the system).
Regarding Claim 11. Kuwahara teaches a teaching method for a robot including a tool that performs a treatment on a workpiece in a non-contact manner (FIG. 1 shows the robot 30 and a workpiece W, where the workpiece is a door handle. The primary example in Kuwahara of work to be done by the robot is a coating robot that is applying a coating to a workpiece [paragraph 21]) and injects a predetermined injection toward the workpiece in the treatment (the paint coating robot of paragraph 21), the method comprising:
generating a virtual image in which a virtual tool corresponding to the tool and a virtual workpiece corresponding to the workpiece are placed in a virtual space (The teaching controller 11 outputs a virtual image including the robot 30 whose operation is subjected to a simulation operation to the display unit 12 based on an operation performed by an operator with the operating unit 13. The virtual image further includes a workpiece W having a processed surface to be processed by the robot 30 [paragraph 25]);
displaying the virtual image (The teaching controller 11 outputs a virtual image including the robot 30 whose operation is subjected to a simulation operation to the display unit 12 based on an operation performed by an operator with the operating unit 13. The virtual image further includes a workpiece W having a processed surface to be processed by the robot 30 [paragraph 25]);
moving the virtual tool in the virtual image in accordance with an operation from a user to an operator for moving the virtual tool and causing the virtual tool to perform a treatment on the virtual workpiece (the robot in FIGS. 6A-6H, shown to follow the teaching points generated by the system); and
generating a teaching point corresponding to a position of the virtual tool in the virtual space (FIGS. 6A-6H).
Kuwahara does not teach:
display a virtual injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image (while Kuwahara talks about a range for the painting tool, it does not explicitly display a virtual range for the painting tool).
However, Hashimoto teaches:
display a virtual injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image (FIG. 3 illustrates a state where three-dimensional model data of the spraying device 120, the robot 110, and the workpiece W1 is displayed on a display section 60 [paragraph 26]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was filed to modify the invention of Kuwahara with display a virtual injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image as taught by Hashimoto so as to allow the operator to see the working range of the injection/injector tool.
Regarding Claim 12. Kuwahara teaches a non-transitory storage medium (The storage unit at 112 of FIG. 2 is a storage device, such as a hard disk drive and a non-volatile memory [paragraph 103]) storing teaching program for a robot including a tool that performs a treatment on a workpiece in a non-contact manner (FIG. 1 shows the robot 30 and a workpiece W, where the workpiece is a door handle. The primary example in Kuwahara of work to be done by the robot is a coating robot that is applying a coating to a workpiece [paragraph 21]) and injects a predetermined injection toward the workpiece in the treatment (the paint coating robot of paragraph 21), the program causing a computer to perform the functions of:
generating a virtual image in which a virtual tool corresponding to the tool and a virtual workpiece corresponding to the workpiece are placed in a virtual space (The teaching controller 11 outputs a virtual image including the robot 30 whose operation is subjected to a simulation operation to the display unit 12 based on an operation performed by an operator with the operating unit 13. The virtual image further includes a workpiece W having a processed surface to be processed by the robot 30 [paragraph 25]);
moving the virtual tool in the virtual image in accordance with an operation from a user to an operator for moving the virtual tool (The teaching controller 11 outputs a virtual image including the robot 30 whose operation is subjected to a simulation operation to the display unit 12 based on an operation performed by an operator with the operating unit 13. The virtual image further includes a workpiece W having a processed surface to be processed by the robot 30 [paragraph 25]. The teaching controller 11 generates a job program for operating the robot 30 from the virtual image based on an operation performed by the operator with the operating unit 13 and registers the job program in the job information DB 14 [paragraph 26]. Furthermore, the teaching system 10 can read the teaching points and the job program registered in the job information DB 14 based on the instruction operation performed by the operator. Thus, the teaching system 10 can display the virtual image of the robot 30 whose tip of the end effector 35 reaches a specific teaching point and reproduce a series of operation of the robot 30 performed by the job program on the display unit 12 [paragraph 70]); and
generating a teaching point corresponding to a position of the virtual tool in the virtual space (FIGS. 6A-6H).
Kuwahara does not teach:
displaying a virtual injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image (while Kuwahara talks about a range for the painting tool, it does not explicitly display a virtual range for the painting tool).
However, Hashimoto teaches:
displaying a virtual injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image (FIG. 3 illustrates a state where three-dimensional model data of the spraying device 120, the robot 110, and the workpiece W1 is displayed on a display section 60 [paragraph 26]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was filed to modify the invention of Kuwahara with displaying a virtual injection range corresponding to an injection range of the predetermined injection, in the virtual image as taught by Hashimoto so as to allow the operator to see the working range of the injection/injector tool.
Claim(s) 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuwahara US 20150112482 A1 (“Kuwahara”) in combination with Hashimoto et al. US 20210323151 A1 (“Hashimoto”) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Adams et al. US 20120276281 A1 (“Adams”).
Regarding Claim 7. Kuwahara teaches the teaching system according to claim 1.
Kuwahara also teaches:
wherein the image generator displays, in the virtual image, an image indicating that a portion of the virtual workpiece subjected to the treatment has been subjected to the treatment (FIG. 5A shows the painting robot covering a plurality of surfaces to be selected in the virtual image and coated by the robot).
Kuwahara does not teach:
and being determinable for a portion where the treatment overlaps (Kuwahara is silent about overlaps, although this is implicit due to the nature of any application of paint through a sprayer tool, as the sprayed paint will randomly overlap areas already treated).
However, Adams teaches:
and being determinable for a portion where the treatment overlaps (FIG. 2 shows a method of applying multiple layers of paint to a workpiece [paragraph 19]. This would necessarily involve overlapping portions of the workpiece to apply the treatment, as the entire workpiece becomes the portion where the treatment is applied multiple times).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the invention of Kuwahara with and being determinable for a portion where the treatment overlaps as taught by Adams, so that the robot can be used to apply multiple coats of treatment when necessary.
Claim(s) 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuwahara US 20150112482 A1 (“Kuwahara”) in combination with Hashimoto et al. US 20210323151 A1 (“Hashimoto”) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yoneyama US 20210170593 A1 (“Yoneyama”).
Regarding Claim 13. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches the teaching system according to claim 1.
Kuwahara does not teach:
wherein the virtual injection range has a conical outer shape about an injection axis of the virtual tool.
However, Yoneyama teaches:
wherein the virtual injection range has a conical outer shape about an injection axis of the virtual tool (FIG. 5 shows this exact type of range, wherein a conical outer shape is built around an injection axis of the tool).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was filed to modify the invention of Kuwahara with wherein the virtual injection range has a conical outer shape about an injection axis of the virtual tool as taught by Yoneyama because this is an incredibly common range for a tool that applies a coating such as paint, which will spread out from a directed axis the further the target is from the tool.
Claim(s) 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuwahara US 20150112482 A1 (“Kuwahara”) in combination with Hashimoto et al. US 20210323151 A1 (“Hashimoto”) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chen et al. US 20190321983 A1 (“Chen”).
Regarding Claim 14. Kuwahara in combination with Hashimoto teaches the teaching system according to claim 1.
Kuwahara does not teach:
wherein
the virtual workpiece is a first virtual workpiece,
the one or more processors are configured to generate, in the virtual image, a virtual operator corresponding to the operator and a second virtual workpiece corresponding to the workpiece,
the virtual tool is located at a position offset from the virtual operator,
the second virtual workpiece is located at a position offset from the first virtual workpiece, and
a relative positional relationship between the virtual operator and the second virtual workpiece coincides with a relative positional relationship between the virtual tool and the first virtual workpiece.
However, Chen teaches:
wherein
the virtual workpiece is a first virtual workpiece,
the one or more processors are configured to generate, in the virtual image, a virtual operator corresponding to the operator and a second virtual workpiece corresponding to the workpiece (The movement teaching apparatus 10 includes a first camera (first visual sensor) 11 that captures time-varying images of a first workpiece W1 and fingers F of a human H when the human H works on the first workpiece W1, a second camera (second visual sensor) 12 that captures images of a second workpiece W2 worked on by the robot 2, and an image processing unit 13 that is connected to the first camera 11 and the second camera 12 [paragraph 11]),
the virtual tool is located at a position offset from the virtual operator (FIG. 1),
the second virtual workpiece is located at a position offset from the first virtual workpiece (FIG. 1), and
a relative positional relationship between the virtual operator and the second virtual workpiece coincides with a relative positional relationship between the virtual tool and the first virtual workpiece (paragraph 37 describes how the system can extract multiple feature points of a second workpiece at predetermined intervals, and a position/posture calculation unit may update the equation of motion of each feature point at the same intervals based on the extracted positions of the feature points, and calculate the position or posture of the second workpiece W2 based on the position of each feature point calculated from the corresponding updated equation of motion. The robot 2 may be controlled based on the calculated position or posture of the second workpiece W2, and the movement path A’ is the movement of the robot with the second workpiece. This advantageously enables the robot 2 to accurately follow the second workpiece W2 moving at random, by visual servoing. Meanwhile, paragraphs 23-24 describe how the relationship between the human H and the first workpiece W1 with movement path A. All of this is for a known motion capture technique used to extract the motion trail of markers from time-varying images obtained by the first camera, with the nuance that the human H may work on the first workpiece W1 within a virtual reality (VR) space. This allows the movement path A of the fingers F of the human H to be extracted without providing a real work environment for the first workpiece W1 and the human H [paragraph 39]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was filed to modify the invention of Kuwahara with wherein the virtual workpiece is a first virtual workpiece, the one or more processors are configured to generate, in the virtual image, a virtual operator corresponding to the operator and a second virtual workpiece corresponding to the workpiece, the virtual tool is located at a position offset from the virtual operator, the second virtual workpiece is located at a position offset from the first virtual workpiece, and a relative positional relationship between the virtual operator and the second virtual workpiece coincides with a relative positional relationship between the virtual tool and the first virtual workpiece as taught by Chen so as to allow the system to work with more than one workpiece, and to allow the operator to set teaching points directly. Kuwahara already teaches that the teaching controller outputs a virtual image including the robot whose operation is subjected to a simulation operation to the display unit based on an operation performed by the operator. Having the workpiece observe the operator perform the operation on a separate workpiece allows the robot to see the operation on a separate workpiece is a known method in the art for achieving a predictable result with a high chance of success.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AARON G CAIN whose telephone number is (571)272-7009. The examiner can normally be reached Monday: 7:30am - 4:30pm EST to Friday 7:30pm - 4:30am.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Wade Miles can be reached at (571) 270-7777. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AARON G CAIN/Examiner, Art Unit 3656
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