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 Objections
Claims 1, 5, and 10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 Ln 16, please amend to --to [[the]] sides--.
Claim 5 Ln 4, please amend to --to [[the]] a maximum length--.
Claim 10 Ln 2, please amend to --with [[a]] the gripping device--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(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 5 and 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 5 Ln 3-4 states the limitation "having a length similar to the maximum length”. The use of the approximations term ‘similar’ is indefinite as it is unclear what the applicant intended to cover by the limitation. See MPEP 2173.05(b) III. Therefore, the scope of the claim is indeterminate.
Claim 6 is rejected for its dependence upon claim 5.
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.
-(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1), 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Maurissen; Karel M. M. et al. US 20130236285 A1, hereinafter Maurissen.
Regarding claim 1, Maurissen discloses (Fig. 2-5) a gripping device (10) to be mounted to a palletising or depalletising robot (20) for gripping a set of products (70) arranged in the form of at least one layer on a container (“pallet”), said gripping device comprising a chassis (30) to which are mounted:
a suction plate (40) comprising side faces forming bearing surfaces (depicted side faces) and a lower face (54) which forms a substantially horizontal plane when the gripping device is mounted to the robot, said suction plate being connected to a first pumping device (46) and having vacuum openings and being arranged so that its lower face comes into contact with a layer of products by a displacement of the gripping device [0023], and
a side skirt (42) of a flexible material forming a strip surrounding said side faces of the suction plate [0022]
wherein the side skirt is configured to move from a rest position in which it is at a distance from the at least one layer of products to a working position in which it is in contact with the at least one layer of products and the bearing surfaces of the suction plate and in which the side skirt forms with the plane a closed vacuum volume above and to the sides of the at least one layer of products, the suction plate being vertically movable with respect to the side skirt to adapt the vacuum volume to the height of the at least one layer of products to be gripped by the gripping device (see Fig. 4A-4C, [0029-0030]).
Regarding claim 3, Maurissen discloses (Fig. 2-5) further comprising a clamping device (32) which can be activated to come into contact with and/or clamp the at least one layer of products [0022, 0025, 0029].
Regarding claim 9, Maurissen discloses (Fig. 2-5) the suction plate (40) further comprises suction openings connected to a second pumping device (46) and configured to suck up products when the suction plate is in a position of contact with the at least one layer of products [0023].
Regarding claim 10, Maurissen discloses (Fig. 2-5) a palletising or depalletising system, comprising a robot (20) provided with a gripping device (10) according to 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maurissen in view of SCHMALZ KURT DR DE 4222355 C2, hereinafter Schmalz. The references is/are considered analogous art to the claimed invention because the references is/are from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention (gripping heads for handling devices). MPEP2141.01(a) I. A machine translation is provided for Schmalz and is used throughout for paragraph callouts.
Regarding claim 4, Maurissen discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for Claim 3 except fails to explicitly state that the clamping device comprises four telescopic bars forming a rectangle whose surface area decreases when the clamping device is activated to come into contact with the at least one layer of products.
Schmalz discloses (Fig. 1, 2) a gripping device to be mounted to a palletising or depalletising robot for gripping a set of products (19) arranged in the form of at least one layer on a container [0010], said gripping device comprising a chassis (1) to which are mounted:
a suction plate (2) comprising side faces forming bearing surfaces (depicted side faces) and a lower face (24) which forms a substantially horizontal plane when the gripping device is mounted to the robot, said suction plate being connected to a first pumping device (3) and having vacuum openings and being arranged so that its lower face comes into contact with a layer of products by a displacement of the gripping device [0010-11], and
a side skirt (4) of a flexible material forming a strip surrounding said side faces of the suction plate [0010] ,
wherein the side skirt is configured to move from a rest position in which it is at a distance from the at least one layer of products to a working position in which it is in contact with the at least one layer of products and the bearing surfaces of the suction plate and in which the side skirt forms with the plane a closed vacuum volume above and to the sides of the at least one layer of products, the suction plate being vertically movable with respect to the side skirt to adapt the vacuum volume to the height of the at least one layer of products to be gripped by the gripping device [0010-0011],
wherein the clamping device comprises four telescopic bars (13/14) forming a rectangle whose surface area decreases when the clamping device is activated to come into contact with the at least one layer of products [0011-0012] for the purposes of compensating for offsets between the products and the device [0011].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to modify Maurissen, by providing the four telescopic bars, as taught by Schmalz, for the purpose of compensating for offsets between the products and the device.
Regarding claim 5, as far as is determinate, Schmalz discloses (Fig. 1, 2) the side skirt comprises four rectangular webs each being disposed on one side of the rectangle defined by the telescopic bars and having a length similar to the maximum length of the telescopic bar disposed on the same side of the rectangle and having a lower side partially attached thereto [0010-0012].
Regarding claim 6, as far as is determinate, Schmalz discloses (Fig. 1, 2) an accumulation device is arranged between each pair of adjacent telescopic bars, said accumulation device being configured to receive an excess part of each of the two webs attached to said pair of telescopic bars when the clamping device is activated to contact the at least one layer of products ([0010] discloses the curtains designed as “made of a flexible material, such as silicone… designed as telescopic panels” which accounts for any “excess part of each of the two webs”).
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maurissen in view of Murarotto; Emilio US 20130177380 A1, hereinafter Murarotto. The references is/are considered analogous art to the claimed invention because the references is/are from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention (gripping heads for handling devices). MPEP2141.01(a) I.
Regarding claim 7, Maurissen discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for Claim 1 except fails to explicitly state that the device further comprising a tray for supporting the at least one layer of products, horizontally movable between a support position in which it is located under the at least one layer of products and a retracted position in which it is away from the products.
Murarotto discloses (Fig. 1, 2) a gripping device to be mounted to a palletising or depalletising robot for gripping a set of products (“goods”, “load”) arranged in the form of at least one layer on a container [0001-0004], said gripping device comprising a chassis (8) to which are mounted:
a suction plate (10) comprising side faces forming bearing surfaces (depicted side faces) and a lower face (depicted bottom face) which forms a substantially horizontal plane when the gripping device is mounted to the robot, said suction plate being connected to a first pumping device (13) and having vacuum openings and being arranged so that its lower face comes into contact with a layer of products by a displacement of the gripping device [0040],
a side skirt (14) of a flexible material forming a strip surrounding said side faces of the suction plate [0042-0052], and
a tray (18) for supporting the at least one layer of products [0053], horizontally movable between a support position in which it is located under the at least one layer of products (Fig. 5) and a retracted position in which it is away from the products (Fig. 4), for the purpose of preventing the fall of the goods/loads [0053],
wherein the side skirt is configured to move from a rest position in which it is at a distance from the at least one layer of products to a working position in which it is in contact with the at least one layer of products and the bearing surfaces of the suction plate and in which the side skirt forms with the plane a closed vacuum volume above and to the sides of the at least one layer of products, the suction plate being vertically movable with respect to the side skirt to adapt the vacuum volume to the height of the at least one layer of products to be gripped by the gripping device [0042-0052].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to modify Maurissen, by providing the tray, as taught by Murarotto, for the purpose of preventing the fall of the goods/loads.
Regarding claim 8, Murarotto discloses (Fig. 1, 2) the support tray is formed by a plurality of panels (21) hinged to one another and capable of being deployed under the products in the support position and of being retracted in the retracted position [0062].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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 2, Maurissen discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for Claim 1 except fails to explicitly state that the suction plate comprises side openings on its contour for adhering the side skirt to its bearing faces by suction in the working position.
The prior art does not anticipate nor render obvious the combination set forth in the claim, and specifically does not show the claimed side openings. Although Maurissen discloses a suction plate, there is no teaching in the prior art of record that would, reasonably and absent impermissible hindsight, motivate one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Maurissen to incorporate the details of the suction plate comprises side openings on its contour for adhering the side skirt to its bearing faces by suction in the working position, along with the other claimed components of the gripping device. Therefore, when viewed as a whole and for at least the foregoing reasons, the prior art of record neither anticipates nor rendered obvious the present invention as set forth in the claim.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Relevant Art
The following is a listing of relevant art:
US 20160059425 A1, US 20060242785 A1 and US 6802688 B1 discloses gripping devices similar to the claimed invention.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW WIBLIN whose telephone number is (571)272-9836. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:00 am - 4:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, NATHANIEL WIEHE can be reached on 571-272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MATTHEW WIBLIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745
Prosecution Insights