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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendments filed 07/06/2026 have been accepted and are considered in this office action. Claim 2 has been cancelled. Claims 1, 3-4, and 8-9 have been amended. Claim 9 has been added. Claims 1 and 3-9 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection of claims 1-9 have been considered and are persuasive regarding the amended limitations added. Although the claims recite information-processing limitations that may fall within the mental process grouping of abstract ideas, amended claim 1 further requires the processor to control the industrial machine in accordance with the change in the control state of the acquired element and the additional information associated with the acquired element. When the claim is considered as a whole, this additional limitation integrates the recited abstract idea into a practical application by applying the information processing to control of an industrial machine. Accordingly, the claims are not directed to a judicial exception under Step 2A, Prong Two.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection of claims 1-9 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection necessitated by the applicant’s amendments to the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagashima et al. (hereinafter Nagashima) (US 20050171624 A1) in view of Ino et al. (hereinafter Ino) (US 20170083017 A1), and in further view of Miyazaki et al. (hereinafter Miyazaki) (US 20190317474 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Nagashima discloses:
extract an element forming the program and additional information added to the element from the program acquired by the program acquisition unit (Nagashima, P[0053]: "the processor 21 of the programmable controller 20 extracts addresses relating to I/O signals (whose addresses are X, Y, etc.) from the signal information area in the sequence program", P[0024]: "the pieces of information on signals are constituted by: addresses indicating locations of various signals such as, input/output signals that are interchanged between the programmable controller and a machine controlled by the programmable controller using the sequence program, input/output signals interchanged between the programmable controller and the numerical control apparatus, internal relays, etc.; names (symbols) given to the signals; and comments aiding the understanding of the signals and/or the sequence program.", Nagashima teaches extraction of an element forming the program because processor 21 extracts the signal address from the signal-information area of the sequence program, while Nagashima defines the signal information as including the signal address together with its symbol and explanatory comment, ex. additional information associated with that program element.);
create a dictionary in which the element and the additional information extracted by the extraction unit are associated with each other (Nagashima, P[0024]: "address "R10.0" and name (symbol) "CNC ALARM" of a signal are stored. In addition, a corresponding comment is registered", P[0031]: "the sequence program has a signal information area stored with the address, name (symbol), and comment for every signal.", Nagashima teaches the claimed dictionary because its signal information area stores, for every program signal element, the signal address together with its associated symbol/name and corresponding comment. The structured signal information area therefore reads on a dictionary associating each element with its additional information);
with the additional information associated with the element in the dictionary (Nagashima, P[0042]: "address "R10.0" and name (symbol) "CNC ALARM" of a signal are stored. In addition, a corresponding comment is registered", each program signal element is stored together with its corresponding descriptive additional information/comment in the signal information area);
and the additional information associated with the acquired element (Nagashima, P[0031]: "the sequence program has a signal information area stored with the address, name (symbol), and comment for every signal.", Nagashima teaches additional information associated with the acquired element because each program signal/address is stored together with its corresponding name/symbol and comment, thus, associating descriptive additional information with the program element.).
Nagashima does not explicitly disclose:
An information generation device comprising:
a processor configured to:
acquire a program executed in a control device configured to control an industrial machine;
acquire an image indicating a state of the industrial machine;
associate the image acquired by the processor when a control state related to the element changes in the control device
and
output the image and the additional information associated with each other by the processor
wherein the processor controls the industrial machine in accordance with the change in the control state of the acquired element
An information generation device comprising:
a processor configured to:
acquire a program executed in a control device configured to control an industrial machine;
acquire an image indicating a state of the industrial machine;
associate the image acquired by the processor when a control state related to the element changes in the control device; and
output the image and the additional information associated with each other by the processor
wherein the processor controls the industrial machine in accordance with the change in the control state of the acquired element
However, Ino discloses:
acquire a program executed in a control device configured to control an industrial machine (Ino, P[0035], Ino teaches acquiring the claimed program because its monitoring device acquires the ladder program from the programmable controller incorporated in the CNC, and that ladder program controls the industrial machine);
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Nagashima in view of Ino. Doing so would have provided Ino’s acquisition and monitoring of changing CNC/ladder program operating states (Ino, Abstract, P[0035]) with Nagashima’s sequence program system (Nagashima, Abstract, P[0024]-P[0031]) because doing so would have predictably enabled the signal information including associated symbols/comments, to be monitored according to current CNC operating states, thus, improving real time understanding of machine operation.
The combination of Nagashima and Ino does not explicitly disclose:
An information generation device comprising:
a processor configured to:
acquire an image indicating a state of the industrial machine;
associate the image acquired by the processor when a control state related to the element changes in the control device
and
output the image and the additional information associated with each other by the processor
wherein the processor controls the industrial machine in accordance with the change in the control state of the acquired element
An information generation device comprising:
a processor configured to:
acquire a program executed in a control device configured to control an industrial machine;
acquire an image indicating a state of the industrial machine;
associate the image acquired by the processor when a control state related to the element changes in the control device; and
output the image and the additional information associated with each other by the processor
wherein the processor controls the industrial machine in accordance with the change in the control state of the acquired element
However, Miyazaki discloses:
An information generation device comprising:
a processor configured to (Miyazaki, P[0062]: "The numerical controller 10 and the image processing device 20 are configured as an arithmetic processor such as, for example, a digital signal processor (DSP) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).", claimed processor is taught because numerical controller 10/image-processing device 2 are implemented using arithmetic processors that execute the subsequently described program-analysis, machine control and image processing operations):
acquire an image indicating a state of the industrial machine (Miyazaki, P[0053]: "The image processing device 20 processes images of a tool T or a work W of a machine tool captured by a vision sensor (an imaging device) 2. The vision sensor 2 images the tool T or the work W of a machine tool.", P[0065]: "The image processing unit 22 of the image processing device 20 operates the vision sensor 2 via the communication unit 21 on the basis of the imaging and image processing activation command received from the numerical controller 10 and performs imaging of the tool T or the work W of the machine tool (S7).", Miyazaki teaches acquiring an image indicating the industrial machine state because vision sensor 2 captures the tool/work of the machine tool and the image processing system receives/processes those captured images);
associate the image acquired by the processor when a control state related to the element changes in the control device (Miyazaki, P[0055]-P[0056], P[0065]: "The image processing unit 22 of the image processing device 20 operates the vision sensor 2 via the communication unit 21 on the basis of the imaging and image processing activation command received from the numerical controller 10 and performs imaging of the tool T or the work W of the machine tool (S7).", Miyazaki teaches execution/change of program control information, G810, and its associated macro variable/signal control information causes the controller to activate imaging and acquire the machine/tool/work image)
and
output the image and the additional information associated with each other by the processor (Miyazaki, P[0060]-P[0061]: "the communication unit 21 receives the captured images of the tool T or the work W from the vision sensor 2 and outputs the received captured images to the image processing device 20.", "The image processing unit 22 processes the images from the vision sensor 2…", Miyazaki teaches computer output/processing of the acquired machine image),
wherein the processor controls the industrial machine in accordance with the change in the control state of the acquired element (Miyazaki, P[0054]-P[0058]: "numerical controller 10 controls a machine tool on the basis of an NC program during machining of the work W.", "the NC program includes G-code commands, M-code commands, and macro variables.", "The macro variable value table storage unit 12 stores the setting values (for example, tool information, work information, and a coordinate value of a characteristic portion) necessary for controlling the operation of a machine tool as the values of macro variables.", Miyazaki teaches the processor controlling the industrial machine in accordance with the control state of an acquired program element because the numerical controller controls the machine tool based on the NC program, the NC program includes macro-variable elements, and the values of the macro variables constitute setting values necessary for controlling operation of the machine tool, with such setting values being set during execution of the NC program)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Nagashima in view of Ino and Miyazaki. Doing so would have provided the program-controlled imaging of Miyazaki (Miyazaki, Abstract, P[0054]-P[0058]) with Ino’s acquisition and monitoring of changing CNC/ladder program operating states (Ino, Abstract, P[0035]) with Nagashima’s sequence program system (Nagashima, Abstract, P[0024]-P[0031]) because doing so would have predictably acquired images corresponding to program controlled machine operating states thus improving monitoring and confirmation of machine operation.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Nagashima, Ino, and Miyazaki discloses the information generation device according to claim 1.
The combination further discloses:
wherein the control state related to the element changes between at least a first state and a second state (Nagashima, P[0028]-P[0029]: "the address, symbol (name), and status of this signal are displayed in the I/O diagnosis screen.", "the address "X110.0," the symbol "VOLT ALARM1," and the status "OFF" of the I/O signal are displayed.", Nagashima teaches that the program element is an I/O signal having a control status, including an OFF state. An I/O signal inherently changes between its ON and OFF control states during sequence control), and the processor creates the dictionary in which the element is associated with the additional information indicating the first state and the additional information indicating the second state (Nagashima, P[0027]: "display character data serving as comment of information on signal is registered for every display screen.", P[0031]: "the sequence program has a signal information area stored with the address, name (symbol), and comment for every signal.", Nagashima teaches maintaining associated additional information for each signal element in its signal information area).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Nagashima, Ino, and Miyazaki discloses the information generation device according to claim 1.
The combination further discloses:
wherein the control state includes at least any one of a state of a signal, a state of a macro variable, and a state of a shared variable (Nagashima, P[0028]-P[0029]: "the address, symbol (name), and status of this signal are displayed in the I/O diagnosis screen.", "the address "X110.0," the symbol "VOLT ALARM1," and the status "OFF" of the I/O signal are displayed.", Nagashima teaches the claimed state of a signal alternative).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Nagashima, Ino, and Miyazaki discloses the information generation device according to claim 3.
The combination further discloses:
wherein the control state includes at least any one of a state of a signal, a state of a macro variable, and a state of a shared variable (Nagashima, P[0029]: "the address "X110.0," the symbol "VOLT ALARM1," and the status "OFF" of the I/O signal are displayed.", Nagashima teaches the claimed state of a signal alternative).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Nagashima, Ino, and Miyazaki discloses the information generation device according to claim 1.
The combination further discloses:
wherein the program includes at least any one of a machining program, a sequence program, a system program, and an embedded program (Nagashima, P[0025]: "sequence program", reads on sequence program alternative).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Nagashima, Ino, and Miyazaki discloses the information generation device according to claim 1.
The combination further discloses:
wherein the additional information includes at least any one of a comment and a symbol name (Nagashima, P[0005]-P[0007], Nagashima calls the comments additional information and teaches both claimed alternatives, comments and symbol names, associated with signals appearing in the program).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Nagashima, Ino, and Miyazaki discloses the information generation device according to claim 1.
The combination further discloses:
wherein the processor is further configured to accept edition information used for editing the additional information associated with the element in the dictionary (Ino, P[0032]: "a circuit comment is inserted in the vicinity of the relevant ladder circuit using a ladder program edit function. In the inserted circuit comment, as well as explanation of the ladder circuit, keywords representing various kinds of information of the CNC regarding the display target axis, such as the instruction code to the axis and the current position and the speed of the axis, are designated.", Ino teaches an editing function that accepts user specified comment information and keywords for insertion into/editing of the circuit comment associated with the corresponding ladder-program circuit element).
Regarding claim 9, claim 9 recites the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing an instruction corresponding with the information generation device according to claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons as above.
The combination of Nagashima, Ino, and Miyazaki further discloses:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing an instruction that causes a computer to perform (Ino, P[0042]):
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 SHASHIDHAR S MANOHARAN whose telephone number is (571)272-6772. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:00.
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, Andrew Flanders can be reached at 571-272-7516. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHASHIDHAR SHANKAR MANOHARAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2655
/ANDREW C FLANDERS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2655
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