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 1-18 filed on August 23, 2024 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tanimura (EP 1895266 A2, Published March 5, 2008).
As to claim 1, Tanimura discloses a laser tracker for a distance measurement to a target point using a measuring beam (Tanimura at Abstract; ¶ [0001]-[0002]), wherein:
a target axis of the measuring beam can be swiveled around a fixed nodal point inside a revolution body shaped datum fixedly arranged inside a housing of the laser tracker (Tanimura at Figs 6, reference sphere 14; ¶ [0040]),
the laser tracker comprises an optical arrangement configured to provide a measurement path of the measuring beam to the target point and an internal reference path (Tanimura at Figs. 1-2, 6),1
the optical arrangement comprises an optics unit and a fiber connected to a source of the measuring beam (Tanimura at Figs. 2, 6, polarization preserving fiber 16, interferometer 26; ¶ [0012]-[0013] discloses “A laser beam projected through a polarization-preserving fiber 16 from a laser light source (not illustrated) passes through a lens 17, and is made into parallel light 18 having two linearly polarized lights (P-polarized light and S-polarized light) orthogonal to each other, and is directed to the PBS 13.”)
wherein the optics unit comprises: a feed-in point for the fiber (Tanimura at Fig. 2, feed-in point of fiber 16),
a beam exit for emitting the measuring beam along the target axis (Tanimura at Figs. 2, 7, beam transmitted to reflection body 15), and
a contacting surface configured to contact a tangential point on a surface of the datum, and the laser tracker is configured to use the surface of the datum as a mechanical guide for a movement of the optics unit about the nodal point (Tanimura at Figs. 6-7, tangential contact point between reference sphere 14 and shoe 39 of rectilinear ball guiding mechanism 34),
wherein: the optics unit is embodied as mechanically fixed arrangement, and the laser tracker comprises a force supply arrangement configured to provide a force acting on the optics unit, which causes the optics unit to maintain contact with the surface of the datum (Tanimura at Figs. 6-7, compression coil spring 41; ¶ [0044]-[0045] discloses” That is, laser interference measurement of length can be carried out by such a system in which the shoe 39 is caused to be profiled on the surface of the reference sphere 14 while being pressed to the surface of the reference sphere 14 with a constant force at all times and being brought into contact therewith”).
As to claim 2, Tanimura discloses the laser tracker according to claim 1, wherein the datum is spherical and the nodal point is the center of mass of the spherical datum (Tanimura at Figs. 6-7, reference sphere 14).
As to claim 4, Tanimura discloses the laser tracker according to claim 1, wherein the force supply arrangement comprises a pre-tensioned coil spring, being configured to generate a spring force acting on the optics unit and causing the optics unit to maintain contact with the surface of the datum, wherein: the force supply arrangement is provided by a spring-pair mounted such that the lines of action of the springs of the spring pair are parallel to the target axis, and the target axis is located between the lines of action, located symmetrically between the lines of action (Tanimura at Figs. 6-7; ¶ [0044]-[0045]).
Claims 5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 ,16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanimura (EP 1895266 A2, Published March 5, 2008).
As to claim 5, Tanimura discloses the laser tracker according to claim 1.
Tanimura does not disclose being configured to provide magnetic attraction between the optics unit and the datum to maintain the contact with the surface of the datum. However, Examiner takes an official notice that magnetic or electromagnetic biasing mechanisms are well-known in the art. Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill to simply substitute a magnetic or electromagnetic biasing mechanism of the compression coil 41 of Tanimura with the same result.
As to claim 10, Tanimura discloses the laser tracker according to claim 1, being configured to perform the distance measurement based on interferometric principles, in particular configured to provide the distance measurement to the target point with submicrometer precision (Tanimura at Figs. 6, 10, 12, in particular. MPEP 2144.05(II) establishes that optimization of ranges is obvious).
As to claim 11, Tanimura discloses the laser tracker according to claim 10, wherein: the fiber is embodied as a non-polarizing single mode fiber (Tanimura does not disclose its fiber is non-polarizing single mode. However, Examiner takes official notice that such optical fiber is well-known in the art),
the feed-in point provides an optical reference point for the internal reference path, wherein a distal end of the fiber is located outside the housing and optically coupled to a fiber splitter (Tanimura at Figs. 2, 6-7).
As to claim 13, Tanimura discloses the laser tracker according to claim 1, comprising a base plate, wherein the base plate has a fixed spatial relationship with the datum and is configured to define an orientation of the laser tracker with respect to an external coordinate system, and the housing is rotatable relative to the base plate (Tanimura at Figs. 6-7, shoe 39 has fixed relationship with reference sphere 14; ¶ [0044]-[0045]; Fig. 12, in particular),
wherein: the laser tracker comprises a support unit supporting the optics unit, the support unit is mounted to the base plate rotatably, the housing is mounted to the support unit (Tanimura at Figs. 6, 7, 12, in particular), and
thermal expansion coefficients of the base plate and the support unit are selected to minimize the thermal movement of the reference point in regard to the base plate (Tanimura at ¶ [0047]-[0048]. While Tanimura does disclose the criticality of maintain proper distance relationship between reference sphere 14 and shoe 49, Tanimura does not expressly disclose that the materials of reference ball 14 and shoe 49 are matched according to thermal expansion. However, Examiner takes an official notice that matching materials according to thermal expansion properties is well-known in the art. For example, KOVAR is an alloy well-known in the art for its similar thermal expansion characteristics as glass. Since Tanimura contemplates measurements of high accuracy and reliability (Tanimura at ¶ [0047]-[0048), it would be obvious to person of ordinary skill to similarly match the materials of reference sphere 14 and shoe 39).
As to claim 14, Tanimura disclose the laser tracker according to claim 13, wherein the housing is configured to enclose the datum and the optics unit in a dust- and humidity protected manner, and comprises a fixed exit window transparent for the measuring beam, such that for the distance measurement to the target point, the measuring beam exits at the beam exit of the optics unit and then passes the exit window (Tanimura at Fig. 12, in particular).
As to claim 15, Tanimura disclose the laser tracker according to claim 14, wherein the exit window: has an extent of at least 50°, in particular at least 80°, in direction perpendicular to the plane of base plate, is formed from chemically strengthened silicate-based glass or from sapphire-based material (Tanimura at Figs. 6, 7, 12, in particular. MPEP 2144.04(IV) establishes that changes in shape/configuration are obvious).
As to claim 16, Tanimura disclose the laser tracker according to claim 14, further comprising a handle with fixed spatial relationship to the base plate, the laser tracker being configured to provide a transport mode, wherein a rotation of the housing is locked, and the exit window is positioned between the datum and the handle (Tanimura at Figs. 6-7, 12, in particular. MPEP 2144.04(V) establishes that making portable is obvious).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 17, 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all elements of the objected to claim and 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:
As to claim 3, none of the prior art found by the Examiner discloses the claimed aspects of: wherein the contacting surface is embodied as a wear-free diamond surface, particularly a wear-free diamond plate.
As to claim 6, none of the prior art found by the Examiner discloses the claimed aspects of: wherein the force supply arrangement is provided by: a magnetic element arranged at the optics unit, particularly at or in the vicinity of the contacting surface, more particularly next to a contacting point on the contacting surface for contacting the tangential point, and the datum is configured to be magnetically attractable, wherein: the force supply arrangement comprises at least one guide allowing an uniaxial translation of the optics unit, the magnetic element is embodied as a permanent magnet or an electromagnet, the datum comprises or is made from ferromagnetic material, a direction of the uniaxial translation is parallel to the target axis, and the magnetic element is mounted with its pole axis parallel to the target axis, or the force supply arrangement is provided by a pair of magnetic elements mounted such that the target axis is located symmetrically between the pole axes of the magnetic elements.
As to claim 12, none of the prior art found by the Examiner discloses the claimed aspects of: wherein the optics unit comprises a first part having a first thermal expansion coefficient and a second part having a second thermal expansion coefficient, wherein: the first thermal expansion coefficient is less than 10.sup.−5 K.sup.−1, in particular less than 10.sup.−6 K.sup.−1, the second thermal expansion coefficient correlates with the thermal expansion coefficient of the datum, and the second part is dimensioned such that its thermal expansion compensates the thermal expansion of the datum.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ura (US 2004/0233460 A1, Published November 25, 2004) is made of record for its relevance to claim 1 by its disclosure of a laser tracker at Fig. 3:
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Sanjiv D Patel whose telephone number is (571)270-5731. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/Sanjiv D. Patel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2625
07/28/2026
1 See also Osawa (US 2002/0036764 A1) at Fig. 1, portion 108; ¶ [0042]) – provided on IDS.
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