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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5, 7, 10, 12 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-4, 6, 8-9, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being by (Suzuki et al (US PUB. 20200327480, herein Suzuki).
Regarding claim 1, Suzuki teaches A production management system related to a production line including a single or a plurality of manufacturing devices and a single or a plurality of inspection devices, in which a manufacturing process and an inspection process of a product by the manufacturing devices and the inspection devices are executed (0009 “an organization capability evaluation system configured to evaluate an organization capability when an organization including a plurality of workers manufactures various products through a plurality of steps, includes a work performance acquisition unit configured to acquire a working time required for work in each of the plurality of steps as a step-specific work performance, an evaluation reference storage unit configured to store a reference working time set for each of the steps as an evaluation reference when evaluating the step-specific work performance, a working capability calculation unit configured to calculate a working capability of each step based on the step-specific work performance and the reference working time, a working capability storage unit configured to store the working capability of each step calculated by the working capability calculation unit as a step-specific working capability, and a step-specific organization capability calculation unit configured to calculate the organization capability for each step based on the step-specific working capability. The organization capability calculation unit is a step-specific organization capability calculation unit configured to calculate the organization capability for each step based on the step-specific working capability”, 0035) , the production management system comprising:
a performance value calculation unit configured to calculate a production performance value that is a performance value of an index related to productivity or quality of the product in the production line (0042 " inspection result acquisition unit 52 acquires information relating to an inspection result of quality inspection performed on a product manufactured in each of the production lines L1 to L3. For example, the inspection result acquisition unit 52 acquires inspection result information input by a worker who performed the quality inspection. The quality inspection includes a plurality of inspection items, and an inspection result is shown for each item. For example, a measurement value obtained when a measurement relating to the product is performed in the quality inspection is compared with a preset threshold value, if the inspection result is good, “O” is set, and if the inspection result is bad, “X” is set", 0062 “organization capability calculation unit 58 calculates an organization capability serving as an index indicating the productivity of the organization, based on the ranks of the step-specific working capabilities stored in the working capability storage unit 57. The organization capability calculation unit 58 includes a step-specific organization capability calculation unit 58a for calculating an organization capability for each step, a product-specific organization capability calculation unit 58b for calculating an organization capability for each product, and a line-specific organization capability calculation unit 58c for calculating an organization capability for each production line”);
and a capability value calculation unit configured to calculate, based on the performance value, a production capability value that is a capability value of an index related to productivity or quality of the product in the production line (0062 “organization capability calculation unit 58 calculates an organization capability serving as an index indicating the productivity of the organization, based on the ranks of the step-specific working capabilities stored in the working capability storage unit 57. The organization capability calculation unit 58 includes a step-specific organization capability calculation unit 58a for calculating an organization capability for each step, a product-specific organization capability calculation unit 58b for calculating an organization capability for each product, and a line-specific organization capability calculation unit 58c for calculating an organization capability for each production line”),
wherein the production capability value is an index related to productivity or quality of the product, the production capability value being calculated by excluding, from data of the index related to productivity or quality of the product in the production line, data of the index corresponding to a statistical outlier in a distribution of the production performance value and/or data of the index affected by a predetermined condition change in the production line (0057 “the ranking unit 56 determines a level of the achievement degree (hereinafter, referred to as “achievement degree level”) using the average serving as the achievement degree. The achievement degree level is divided into a plurality of levels (for example, five levels). In the present embodiment, when the average serving as the achievement degree is a small value, the ranking unit 56 determines that the achievement degree level is high, and assigns a high rank (for example, level 5). On the other hand, when the average serving as the achievement degree is a large value, the ranking unit 56 determines that the achievement degree level is low, and assigns a low rank (for example, level 1)”, 0058 “ the achievement degree may use statistics that can only represent the presence or absence of satisfaction”, 0059 “ranking unit 56 determines a level of the stability degree (hereinafter, referred to as “stability degree level”) using the variance serving as the stability degree. The stability degree level is divided into a plurality of levels (for example, five levels). In the present embodiment, when the variance serving as the stability degree is a small value, the ranking unit 56 determines that the stability degree level is high, and assigns a high rank (for example, level 5). On the other hand, when the variance serving as the stability degree is a large value, the ranking unit 56 determines that the stability degree level is low, and assigns a low rank (for example, level 1). Although the case where the variance is used as one index of the stability degree has been described here as an example, statistics other than the variance can be used”).
Regarding claim 3, the cited prior art teach The production management system according to claim 1.
Suzuki teaches wherein the index related to productivity or quality of the product in the production line includes at least one of a production amount of the product per predetermined time, a manufacturing takt time of the product, and an error rate of the product (0011 “an organization capability evaluation system configured to evaluate an organization capability when an organization including a plurality of workers manufactures various products through a plurality of steps, includes a work performance acquisition unit configured to acquire a working time required for work in each of the plurality of steps as a step-specific work performance, an evaluation reference storage unit configured to store a reference working time set for each of the steps as an evaluation reference when evaluating the step-specific work performance, a working capability calculation unit configured to calculate a working capability of each step based on the step-specific work performance and the reference working time, a working capability storage unit configured to store the working capability of each step calculated by the working capability calculation unit as a step-specific working capability, and a step-specific organization capability calculation unit configured to calculate the organization capability for each step based on the step-specific working capability. The organization capability calculation unit is a product-specific organization capability calculation unit configured to calculate the organization capability for each product based on the step-specific working capability.” 0089 “the working capability calculation unit 55 calculates the achievement degree and stability degree of the working times, and the organization capability calculation unit 58 calculates the organization capability based on the calculated achievement degree and stability degree of the working times. Therefore, the organization manager can appropriately evaluate the organization capability. That is, the manager can grasp the achievement degree and stability degree of the working times with respect to the reference working time by using the organization capability evaluation system”).
Regarding claim 4, the cited prior art teach the production management system according to claim 1.
Suzuki teaches further comprising a result report unit configured to create a result report capable of comparing the production performance value and the production capability value in a predetermined period (0042 “ inspection result acquisition unit 52 acquires information relating to an inspection result of quality inspection performed on a product manufactured in each of the production lines L1 to L3. For example, the inspection result acquisition unit 52 acquires inspection result information input by a worker who performed the quality inspection. The quality inspection includes a plurality of inspection items, and an inspection result is shown for each item. For example, a measurement value obtained when a measurement relating to the product is performed in the quality inspection is compared with a preset threshold value, if the inspection result is good, “O” is set, and if the inspection result is bad, “X” is set.”).
Claims 6, 8-9, and 11 are rejected using similar reasoning as the rejection of claims 1, 3-4 due to reciting similar limitations but directed towards a method and a non-transitory computer readable medium.
Relevant Prior Art
Man (US PUB. 20190236370) has been deemed relevant prior art since it teaches a means for data processing of production line data and performing cleaning of the data. However, Man does not teach the claimed limitations of claims 2, 5, 7, 10 and 12.
Conclusion
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/TAMEEM D SIDDIQUEE/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2116
Prosecution Insights