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 § 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.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Homma (US11112236B2) in view of Yang (CN210664364U), further in view of Sabater (US 5589941 A) as evidenced by Vinshtok (US 20200096316 A1))
Homma teaches an optical displacement meter of a light sectioning method that measures a cross-sectional profile of a workpiece having a height in a Z direction based on a principle of triangulation (Abstract), the optical displacement meter comprising:
a light projecting /receiving module (head section 1) including a light projecting unit (6) that emits slit (L1) light extending in an X direction (Col. 3, lines 1-4, lines 25-31), a light receiving lens (12) that collects reflected light of the slit light reflected by the workpiece, and an imaging unit (13) that receives light collected by the light receiving lens (12) (Col. 3, lines 38-39); but fails to disclose a motor that integrally rotates the light projecting/receiving module; and a control unit that controls the motor to scan the slit light in a direction orthogonal to the X direction, wherein a rotation angle of the light projecting/receiving module is limited to prevent specularly reflected light reflected from a specular reflection surface from being captured by the imaging unit when the light projecting unit irradiates the workpiece having the specular reflection surface, parallel to an X-Y plane extending in the X direction and a Y direction, with the slit light.
However, Yang from the same field of endeavor, teaches a motor that integrally rotates the light projecting/receiving module (lines 175-176, lines 189-190: the static laser triangulation device 9 comprises an illumination light source 1, an optical lens 2 and an image sensor 3 which are fixed in relative positions and distributed in a triangular shape; lines 189-190: The rotating mechanism 8 drives the static laser triangulation device 9 to perform rotary scanning); and
a control unit (The rotating mechanism 8) that controls the motor to scan the slit light in a direction orthogonal to the X direction (Figs. 2-3: the system performs rotational , the slit light extending in x, is rotating about an axis, it scans in an arc which has a component in the Y direction which is orthogonal to X).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Homma by incorporating a motor that integrally rotates the light projecting/receiving module; and a control unit that controls the motor to scan the slit light in a direction orthogonal to the X direction for the purpose of efficiently scanning the workpiece.
Homma, when modified by Yang fails to disclose wherein a rotation angle of the light projecting/receiving module is limited to prevent specularly reflected light reflected from a specular reflection surface from being captured by the imaging unit when the light projecting unit irradiates the workpiece having the specular reflection surface, parallel to an X-Y plane extending in the X direction and a Y direction, with the slit light.
However, Sabater (US 5589941 A), from the same field of endeavor, teaches angle of the light projecting/receiving module is limited to prevent specularly reflected light reflected from a specular reflection surface from being captured by the imaging unit when the light projecting unit irradiates the workpiece having the specular reflection surface (Col. 4, lines 12-15).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Homma and Yang by incorporating wherein a rotation angle of the light projecting/receiving module is limited to prevent specularly reflected light reflected from a specular reflection surface from being captured by the imaging unit when the light projecting unit irradiates the workpiece having the specular reflection surface, parallel to an X-Y plane extending in the X direction and a Y direction, with the slit light to prevent saturation or blooming of images as evidenced by Vinshtok (US 20200096316 A1: [0158]).
Regarding claim 2, Homma, when modified by Yang and Sabater, teaches the optical displacement meter according to claim 1, wherein a measurement range in the Y direction is eccentrically located closer to a side of the light projecting unit side than a light receiving unit side including the light receiving lens and the imaging unit with respect to a light projection axis of the light projecting unit in a state of being parallel to the Z direction (Homma: fig. 2 shows the measurement location Z0 is closer to the light emitting side in the Y-axis direction than it is to the light receiving side).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 3:
The prior art of record (Homma (US11112236B2), Yang (CN210664364U), Sabater (US 5589941 A) and Vinshtok (US 20200096316 A1)), taken alone or in combination, fails to teach or disclose “the control unit rotates the light projecting/receiving module in a first angle range to execute a measurement operation on a left side of a light projection axis of the light projecting unit in a state of being parallel to the Z direction, and rotates the light projecting/receiving module in a second angle range, which is smaller than the first angle range and does not include a predetermined angle at which the specularly reflected light is collected on the light receiving lens, to execute the measurement operation on a right side of the light projection axis in the state of being parallel to the Z direction”
Claims 4-7 would be allowable due to dependency on claim 3.
Conclusion
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/MOHAMED DOUMBIA/ Examiner, Art Unit 2877
/MICHELLE M IACOLETTI/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2877