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 § 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 1-6 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “a flexible base material including a plurality of insulating layers”, but a review of the original disclosure only finds that the base material is “an insulating layer”, which is singular ([0024]). This is not representative of a plurality of insulating layers, and, therefore, the Examiner questions whether the “plurality of insulating layers” actually refers to the insulating layers used between the facing sensor pattern layers or if the actual base material itself is supposed to be a plurality of layers. This limitation is indefinite.
For purposes of Examination, the base material itself is assumed to be a single layer and the device itself contains a plurality of insulating layers.
Claims 2-6 are rejected based on their dependency upon claim 1.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dragosits et al. (EP 3671107 A1) in view of Cahan et al. (US 20180103899 A1).
Considering claim 1, Dragosits discloses a strain detection device comprising:
- a flexible base material 21 (Figure 8; [0052]; [0007]; [0014]);
- a first sensor pattern (25 of P1) provided on the base material 21, which includes a plurality of first strain gauges (Figure 6) provided in a row spaced apart in a first direction and a plurality of conductive lines connected respectively to the first strain gauges (Figures 6-8); [0050-55]; [0023]);
- a second sensor pattern (23 of P1), which includes a plurality of second strain gauges (Figure 7) provided in a row spaced apart in the first direction and a plurality of conductive lines connected respectively to the second strain gauges, and which is stacked on the base material 21 and faces the first sensor pattern (25) (Figures 6-8 [0050-55]; [0023]);
- a third sensor pattern (23 of P2), which includes a plurality of third strain gauges provided in a row spaced apart in the first direction and a plurality of conductive lines connected respectively to the third strain gauges, and which is stacked on the base material 21 and faces the second sensor pattern with an insulating layer 21 in between (Figures 6-8; [0050-55]; [0023]);
- a fourth sensor pattern (25 of P2), which includes a plurality of fourth strain gauges provided in a row spaced apart in the first direction and a plurality of conductive lines connected respectively to the fourth strain gauges, and which is stacked on the base material 21 and faces the third sensor pattern (Figures 6-8; [0051-55]; [0023]); and
- a controller 17 that applies voltage to the first strain gauges, the second strain gauges, the third strain gauges, and the fourth strain gauges via the plurality of conductive lines and reads a detection value of each strain gauge (Figure 9; [0056]);
- wherein the first strain gauges, the second strain gauges, the third strain gauges, and the fourth strain gauges are arranged facing each other in a thickness direction of the base material (Figures 7-8, overlapped and facing), and
- the first strain gauges (25) and the fourth strain gauges (25) are arranged symmetrically with respect to a center position of the base material 21 in the thickness direction (Figure 8), and
- the second strain gauges (23) and the third strain gauges (2) are arranged symmetrically with respect to the center position of the base material 21 in the thickness direction (Figure 8).
The invention by Dragosits teaches placing an insulating film between the 2nd and 3rd strain gauge matrices, as best shown in Figure 8, but fails to explicitly disclose placing an additional insulating layer between each pair of 1st,2nd and 3rd,4th strain gauge matrices.
However, Cahan teaches placing an insulating film between each adjacent pair of vertically stacked, planar strain gauge element (Figure 1E; [0033]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize an insulator layer between the each pair of 1st,2nd and 3rd,4th strain gauges, as taught by Cahan, in the invention by Dragosits. The motivation for doing so is to provide electrical isolation, as taught by Cahan ([0033]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Considering claim 2, the prior art made of record fails to disclose, suggest or otherwise render obvious the subject matter of a plurality of power lines and a plurality of first signal lines each connected to a first end of the first strain gauges and the fourth strain gauges, and a plurality of ground lines and a plurality of second signal lines each connected to a second end of the first strain gauges and the fourth strain gauges, in combination with the remainder of the elements of claim 2.
The closest art of record for this limitation is to Anderson (US 2020/0363304 A1), which discloses a symmetrical arrangement of first, second, third and fourth strain gauges in a thickness direction of a material subjected to tension, compression and bending forces about a neutral axis. Furthermore, the first and fourth strain gauges are each supplied with a power line at a first end and a ground line at a second end, and they are configured in series as an arm of a Wheatstone bridge configuration. Simply duplicating the concept across all of the strain gauges of Dragosits matrices would arrive at the claimed plurality of power and ground lines. However, the select lines are located at the second end of the first strain and the first end of the fourth, not at the first end of the first and the second end of the fourth, as claimed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zandman et al. (US 2011/0023630 A1) discloses a general bending sensor configuration having symmetric single strain gauges elements on opposite sides of a substrate.
Nakano et al. (US 2024/0264015 A1) discloses the plurality of power, ground and select lines for a single pair of strain gauges sets separated by a substrate. Appears to have been co-owned at the time of filing.
Hayakawa et al. (US 8451011 B2) discloses a bend sensor having four layers of electrodes with insulator interposers.
Li (US 11162851 B2) discloses a general bending sensor configuration having symmetric single strain gauges elements on opposite sides of a substrate whereby the opposing strain gauge elements are configured in series as an arm of a Wheatstone bridge configuration.
Harbour (EP 0168149 A2) discloses a vertically stacked Wheatstone bridge that features alternating layers of strain gauge and insulator until four strain gauges having been stacked.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jonathan M Dunlap whose telephone number is (571)270-1335. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10AM - 7PM.
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/JONATHAN M DUNLAP/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855 July 11, 2026
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