DETAILED ACTION
This is a non-final Office Action on the merits in response to communications filed by Applicant on October. Claims 1-10 are currently pending and examined below.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP2022-067839, filed on April 15th, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement(s) filed on 12/05/2024 and 07/11/2025 is/are being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or (a)(2) as being anticipated by US 12144576 B2 ("Horie").
Regarding claim 1, Horie teaches a remote control system comprising (Horie: Figure 1, Abstract, “A tactile presentation apparatus including: an operation unit operated by a user; a vibration unit that presents a vibration of an operation target of the operation unit; a contact unit that transmits the vibration by the vibration unit to the user; and an installation unit coupled to the operation unit, over the contact unit provided via an elastic body.”):
an operator to be operated by an operating person (Horie: Figure 1 master apparatus 10L and 10R, Column 4 lines 30-41, “FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an overview of the tactile presentation system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the tactile presentation system is roughly configured by a master apparatus 10 (l0R and l0L) and a slave apparatus 50. The master apparatus 10 is an apparatus provided with an input interface to be operated by an operator such as a doctor (hereinafter, also referred to as a user). In addition, the slave apparatus 50 is an apparatus provided with medical surgical instruments such as forceps or tweezers to be remotely operated in accordance with operations of a user on the master apparatus 10.”, Column 4 lines 42-51, “The tactile presentation system employs bilateral control as an example. The bilateral control refers to a feedback control that conforms the input interface to a position of the surgical instrument as well as a status of force, between the master apparatus 10 and the slave apparatus 50. For example, when the user operates the input interface, the surgical instrument moves in accordance with this operation. When the surgical instrument moves to come into contact with a patient, force upon the contact is fed back to the input interface.”);
a robot that moves according to operation on the operator (Horie: Figure 1 slave apparatus 50, Column 4 lines 30-41, “FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an overview of the tactile presentation system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the tactile presentation system is roughly configured by a master apparatus 10 (l0R and l0L) and a slave apparatus 50.”, Column 5 lines 32-43, “The slave apparatus 50 is an information processor (second information processor) that presents, to the master apparatus 10, an affected area (hereinafter, also referred to as a target) of a patient in the operation as well as force and a vibration at the time when a portion of the slave apparatus 50 for contact comes into contact with the target. The slave apparatus 50 is, for example, an apparatus having one or two or more active joints and a link coupled to the active joints (apparatus having a link mechanism including the active joints), for movement in accordance with motion of the master apparatus 10. It is to be noted that the active joint is a joint driven by a motor, an actuator, or the like.”);
a haptic notifier that notifies occurrence of contact of the robot with an object to the operating person (Horie: Column 7 lines 48-59, “The vibration unit 120 is a vibration device for presenting a vibration of an operation target of the operation apparatus 100, and is included in the operation apparatus 100. For example, the vibration unit 120 vibrates in accordance with an input from a signal processor 170 based on a vibration generated by the operation target touching an object. It is to be noted that, in a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a voice coil motor (VCM: Voice Coil Motor) type vibratory actuator is used as the vibration unit 120; however, another vibration device may be adopted. For example, an LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator) or a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating device.”, Column 8 line 63 – Column 9 line 4, “The signal processor 170 has a function of controlling the vibration of the vibration unit 120 on the basis of a signal received from the slave apparatus 50. For example, the signal processor 170 receives the vibration signal measured by the sensor of the slave apparatus 50 via the high-level control section 190 described later, performs signal processing for removing a noise from the vibration signal, and controls the vibration unit 120 to vibrate on the basis of the processed vibration signal.”. The cited passages clearly show that the system is configured to notify the user of contact by the robot by introducing a vibration to the master apparatus based on said contact.);
and a controller that performs force control of moving the robot according to an operation force applied from the operating person to the operator (Horie: Column 7 lines 5-24, “The operation apparatus 100 functions as a grasping interface for operating a surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. The user changes the position and the orientation of the operation apparatus 100 to thereby change a posture of the support arm part 40 and to change the rotational angle of the joint part and the axis rotational angle of the arm. The coupling part between the operation apparatus 100 and the fourth arm part 40d is provided with a force sensor 152. Such a force sensor 152 detects force inputted to the operation apparatus 100 by the user.”, Column 7 line – Column 8 line 8, “A sensor unit 150 has a function of measuring information for performing drive control of the slave apparatus 50 and force sense presentation. For example, the sensor unit 150 includes the force sensor 152 (torque sensor) and a rotational angle sensor. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, the force sensor 152 is provided, for example, on the coupling part between the support arm part 40 and the operation apparatus 100 attached to the tip end of the support arm part 40, and measures force acting in three axis directions orthogonal to one another. That is, the force sensor 152 measures force inputted to the operation apparatus 100 by the user. In addition, the rotational angle sensor is provided at a plurality of joint parts of the support arm part 40, and measures a rotation angle of each of the joint parts. The rotational angle sensor may be, for example, an encoder.”, Column 8 lines 28-41, “The control unit 160 has a function of controlling operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the control unit 160 controls a posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of information on the rotational angle detected by the encoder included in the master apparatus 10 to change the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. At this time, the control unit 160 detects external force acting on a surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, and applies reaction force to the motion of the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user by performing drive control of the three motors 36 (one of these not illustrated) on the basis of the external force to present to the user a force sense for the movement operation of the operation apparatus 100.”, Column 14 lines 25-42, “As described above, the coupling part between the operation apparatus 100 and the fourth arm part 40d of the support arm part 40 is provided with the force sensor 152. The force sensor 152 may be a six-axis force sensor that detects force and torsion of three-directional and six-axis components to be inputted to the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user. In a case where a translational force or torsional force is applied to the operation apparatus 100, the force sensor 152 generates an output corresponding to moment of the force. In a case of applying force control to the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, the above-described control unit 160 detects force moment inputted to the operation apparatus 100 using the force sensor 152, and controls the posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of the force moment. This makes it possible to smoothly control the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50.”. The cited passages clearly show that the controller performs force control of the robot (i.e. the slave apparatus) based on a force applied to the operator (i.e. the master apparatus) by an operating person.)
and moving the operator according to a reactive force received by the robot from an outside (Horie: Column 8 lines 28-41, “The control unit 160 has a function of controlling operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the control unit 160 controls a posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of information on the rotational angle detected by the encoder included in the master apparatus 10 to change the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. At this time, the control unit 160 detects external force acting on a surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, and applies reaction force to the motion of the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user by performing drive control of the three motors 36 (one of these not illustrated) on the basis of the external force to present to the user a force sense for the movement operation of the operation apparatus 100.”, Column 8 lines 42-54, “In addition, the control unit 160 acquires a signal indicating an operation amount of a grasping motion from the operation apparatus 100 by the user performing the grasping motion of the operation apparatus 100, and causes the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50 to perform the grasping motion on the basis of the signal. At this time, the control unit 160 may detect reaction force for the time of the grasping motion of the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50 and may perform drive control of an unillustrated motor included in the operation apparatus 100 on the basis of the reaction force to thereby present to the user a force sense for the grasping motion of the operation apparatus 100.”. The cited passages clearly show that the system is configured to cause a motor in the master apparatus to move in order to provide the user with a sense of force based on the force applied to the slave apparatus.)
and notification control of notifying the occurrence of the contact to the operating person via the haptic notifier if the robot contacts the object (Horie: Column 7 lines 48-59, “The vibration unit 120 is a vibration device for presenting a vibration of an operation target of the operation apparatus 100, and is included in the operation apparatus 100. For example, the vibration unit 120 vibrates in accordance with an input from a signal processor 170 based on a vibration generated by the operation target touching an object. It is to be noted that, in a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a voice coil motor (VCM: Voice Coil Motor) type vibratory actuator is used as the vibration unit 120; however, another vibration device may be adopted. For example, an LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator) or a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating device.”, Column 8 lines 28-41, “The control unit 160 has a function of controlling operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the control unit 160 controls a posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of information on the rotational angle detected by the encoder included in the master apparatus 10 to change the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. At this time, the control unit 160 detects external force acting on a surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, and applies reaction force to the motion of the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user by performing drive control of the three motors 36 (one of these not illustrated) on the basis of the external force to present to the user a force sense for the movement operation of the operation apparatus 100.”, Column 8 line 63 – Column 9 line 4, “The signal processor 170 has a function of controlling the vibration of the vibration unit 120 on the basis of a signal received from the slave apparatus 50. For example, the signal processor 170 receives the vibration signal measured by the sensor of the slave apparatus 50 via the high-level control section 190 described later, performs signal processing for removing a noise from the vibration signal, and controls the vibration unit 120 to vibrate on the basis of the processed vibration signal.”).
Regarding claim 2, Horie teaches wherein the controller performs the force control and the notification control independently of each other (Horie: Column 7 lines 48-59, “The vibration unit 120 is a vibration device for presenting a vibration of an operation target of the operation apparatus 100, and is included in the operation apparatus 100. For example, the vibration unit 120 vibrates in accordance with an input from a signal processor 170 based on a vibration generated by the operation target touching an object. It is to be noted that, in a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a voice coil motor (VCM: Voice Coil Motor) type vibratory actuator is used as the vibration unit 120; however, another vibration device may be adopted. For example, an LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator) or a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating device.”, Column 8 line 63 – Column 9 line 4, “The signal processor 170 has a function of controlling the vibration of the vibration unit 120 on the basis of a signal received from the slave apparatus 50. For example, the signal processor 170 receives the vibration signal measured by the sensor of the slave apparatus 50 via the high-level control section 190 described later, performs signal processing for removing a noise from the vibration signal, and controls the vibration unit 120 to vibrate on the basis of the processed vibration signal.”, Column 14 lines 25-42, “As described above, the coupling part between the operation apparatus 100 and the fourth arm part 40d of the support arm part 40 is provided with the force sensor 152. The force sensor 152 may be a six-axis force sensor that detects force and torsion of three-directional and six-axis components to be inputted to the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user. In a case where a translational force or torsional force is applied to the operation apparatus 100, the force sensor 152 generates an output corresponding to moment of the force. In a case of applying force control to the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, the above-described control unit 160 detects force moment inputted to the operation apparatus 100 using the force sensor 152, and controls the posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of the force moment. This makes it possible to smoothly control the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50.”. The cited passages clearly show that the haptic feedback using a vibration in response to the robot making contact is controlled by a separate portion of the control unit than is used to control the force control of the robot. Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that, while these processes occur simultaneously, they are independent from one another.).
Regarding claim 7, Horie teaches wherein the haptic notifier applies a stimulus to an operating person's sense of touch to notify the occurrence of the contact of the robot with the object (Horie: Column 7 lines 48-59, “The vibration unit 120 is a vibration device for presenting a vibration of an operation target of the operation apparatus 100, and is included in the operation apparatus 100. For example, the vibration unit 120 vibrates in accordance with an input from a signal processor 170 based on a vibration generated by the operation target touching an object. It is to be noted that, in a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a voice coil motor (VCM: Voice Coil Motor) type vibratory actuator is used as the vibration unit 120; however, another vibration device may be adopted. For example, an LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator) or a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating device.”, Column 8 line 63 – Column 9 line 4, “The signal processor 170 has a function of controlling the vibration of the vibration unit 120 on the basis of a signal received from the slave apparatus 50. For example, the signal processor 170 receives the vibration signal measured by the sensor of the slave apparatus 50 via the high-level control section 190 described later, performs signal processing for removing a noise from the vibration signal, and controls the vibration unit 120 to vibrate on the basis of the processed vibration signal.”. The cited passages clearly show that the system is configured to notify the user of contact by the robot by introducing a vibration to the master apparatus based on said contact. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that a vibration would be a stimulus to a human’s sense of touch.).
Regarding claim 8, Horie teaches wherein the haptic notifier has a vibration source that generates vibration (Horie: Column 7 lines 48-59, “The vibration unit 120 is a vibration device for presenting a vibration of an operation target of the operation apparatus 100, and is included in the operation apparatus 100. For example, the vibration unit 120 vibrates in accordance with an input from a signal processor 170 based on a vibration generated by the operation target touching an object. It is to be noted that, in a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a voice coil motor (VCM: Voice Coil Motor) type vibratory actuator is used as the vibration unit 120; however, another vibration device may be adopted. For example, an LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator) or a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating device.”. The cited passage clearly shows that the vibration source is a voice coil motor.),
and in the notification control, the controller causes the haptic notifier to generate the vibration if the robot contacts the object (Horie: Column 7 lines 48-59, “The vibration unit 120 is a vibration device for presenting a vibration of an operation target of the operation apparatus 100, and is included in the operation apparatus 100. For example, the vibration unit 120 vibrates in accordance with an input from a signal processor 170 based on a vibration generated by the operation target touching an object. It is to be noted that, in a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a voice coil motor (VCM: Voice Coil Motor) type vibratory actuator is used as the vibration unit 120; however, another vibration device may be adopted. For example, an LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator) or a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating device.”, Column 8 line 63 – Column 9 line 4, “The signal processor 170 has a function of controlling the vibration of the vibration unit 120 on the basis of a signal received from the slave apparatus 50. For example, the signal processor 170 receives the vibration signal measured by the sensor of the slave apparatus 50 via the high-level control section 190 described later, performs signal processing for removing a noise from the vibration signal, and controls the vibration unit 120 to vibrate on the basis of the processed vibration signal.”).
Regarding claim 9, Horie teaches a remote control method for controlling a robot via an operator, comprising (Horie: Figure 1, Abstract, “A tactile presentation apparatus including: an operation unit operated by a user; a vibration unit that presents a vibration of an operation target of the operation unit; a contact unit that transmits the vibration by the vibration unit to the user; and an installation unit coupled to the operation unit, over the contact unit provided via an elastic body.”):
performing force control of moving the robot according to an operation force applied from an operating person to the operator (Horie: Column 7 lines 5-24, “The operation apparatus 100 functions as a grasping interface for operating a surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. The user changes the position and the orientation of the operation apparatus 100 to thereby change a posture of the support arm part 40 and to change the rotational angle of the joint part and the axis rotational angle of the arm. The coupling part between the operation apparatus 100 and the fourth arm part 40d is provided with a force sensor 152. Such a force sensor 152 detects force inputted to the operation apparatus 100 by the user.”, Column 7 line – Column 8 line 8, “A sensor unit 150 has a function of measuring information for performing drive control of the slave apparatus 50 and force sense presentation. For example, the sensor unit 150 includes the force sensor 152 (torque sensor) and a rotational angle sensor. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, the force sensor 152 is provided, for example, on the coupling part between the support arm part 40 and the operation apparatus 100 attached to the tip end of the support arm part 40, and measures force acting in three axis directions orthogonal to one another. That is, the force sensor 152 measures force inputted to the operation apparatus 100 by the user. In addition, the rotational angle sensor is provided at a plurality of joint parts of the support arm part 40, and measures a rotation angle of each of the joint parts. The rotational angle sensor may be, for example, an encoder.”, Column 8 lines 28-41, “The control unit 160 has a function of controlling operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the control unit 160 controls a posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of information on the rotational angle detected by the encoder included in the master apparatus 10 to change the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. At this time, the control unit 160 detects external force acting on a surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, and applies reaction force to the motion of the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user by performing drive control of the three motors 36 (one of these not illustrated) on the basis of the external force to present to the user a force sense for the movement operation of the operation apparatus 100.”, Column 14 lines 25-42, “As described above, the coupling part between the operation apparatus 100 and the fourth arm part 40d of the support arm part 40 is provided with the force sensor 152. The force sensor 152 may be a six-axis force sensor that detects force and torsion of three-directional and six-axis components to be inputted to the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user. In a case where a translational force or torsional force is applied to the operation apparatus 100, the force sensor 152 generates an output corresponding to moment of the force. In a case of applying force control to the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, the above-described control unit 160 detects force moment inputted to the operation apparatus 100 using the force sensor 152, and controls the posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of the force moment. This makes it possible to smoothly control the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50.”. The cited passages clearly show that the controller performs force control of the robot (i.e. the slave apparatus) based on a force applied to the operator (i.e. the master apparatus) by an operating person.)
and moving the operator according to a reactive force received by the robot from an outside (Horie: Column 8 lines 28-41, “The control unit 160 has a function of controlling operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the control unit 160 controls a posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of information on the rotational angle detected by the encoder included in the master apparatus 10 to change the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. At this time, the control unit 160 detects external force acting on a surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, and applies reaction force to the motion of the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user by performing drive control of the three motors 36 (one of these not illustrated) on the basis of the external force to present to the user a force sense for the movement operation of the operation apparatus 100.”, Column 8 lines 42-54, “In addition, the control unit 160 acquires a signal indicating an operation amount of a grasping motion from the operation apparatus 100 by the user performing the grasping motion of the operation apparatus 100, and causes the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50 to perform the grasping motion on the basis of the signal. At this time, the control unit 160 may detect reaction force for the time of the grasping motion of the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50 and may perform drive control of an unillustrated motor included in the operation apparatus 100 on the basis of the reaction force to thereby present to the user a force sense for the grasping motion of the operation apparatus 100.”. The cited passages clearly show that the system is configured to cause a motor in the master apparatus to move in order to provide the user with a sense of force based on the force applied to the slave apparatus.)
and notifying occurrence of contact to the operating person via a haptic notifier if the robot contacts an object (Horie: Column 7 lines 48-59, “The vibration unit 120 is a vibration device for presenting a vibration of an operation target of the operation apparatus 100, and is included in the operation apparatus 100. For example, the vibration unit 120 vibrates in accordance with an input from a signal processor 170 based on a vibration generated by the operation target touching an object. It is to be noted that, in a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a voice coil motor (VCM: Voice Coil Motor) type vibratory actuator is used as the vibration unit 120; however, another vibration device may be adopted. For example, an LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator) or a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating device.”, Column 8 lines 28-41, “The control unit 160 has a function of controlling operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the control unit 160 controls a posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of information on the rotational angle detected by the encoder included in the master apparatus 10 to change the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. At this time, the control unit 160 detects external force acting on a surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, and applies reaction force to the motion of the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user by performing drive control of the three motors 36 (one of these not illustrated) on the basis of the external force to present to the user a force sense for the movement operation of the operation apparatus 100.”, Column 8 line 63 – Column 9 line 4, “The signal processor 170 has a function of controlling the vibration of the vibration unit 120 on the basis of a signal received from the slave apparatus 50. For example, the signal processor 170 receives the vibration signal measured by the sensor of the slave apparatus 50 via the high-level control section 190 described later, performs signal processing for removing a noise from the vibration signal, and controls the vibration unit 120 to vibrate on the basis of the processed vibration signal.”).
Regarding claim 10, Horie teaches a non-transitory storage medium storing a remote control program causing a computer to implement a function of controlling a remote control system including (Horie: Figure 1, Abstract, “A tactile presentation apparatus including: an operation unit operated by a user; a vibration unit that presents a vibration of an operation target of the operation unit; a contact unit that transmits the vibration by the vibration unit to the user; and an installation unit coupled to the operation unit, over the contact unit provided via an elastic body.”, Column 31 lined23-27, “The master apparatus 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 901, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 903, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 905. In addition, the master apparatus 10 includes an input device 907, a storage device 909, and a communication device 911.”, Column 31 lines 53-65, “The storage device 909 is a device for storing data. The storage device 909 may include a storage medium, a recording device that records data on the storage medium, a reading device that reads data from the storage medium, and a deleting device that deletes data recorded on the storage medium. The storage device 909 is configured by, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid Strage Drive), or by a memory having equivalent functions. The storage device 909 drives the storage, and stores programs to be executed by the CPU 901 and various data. The storage device 909 may implement the functions of the storage section 180 described with reference to FIG. 3, for example.”):
an operator to be operated by an operating person (Horie: Figure 1 master apparatus 10L and 10R, Column 4 lines 30-41, “FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an overview of the tactile presentation system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the tactile presentation system is roughly configured by a master apparatus 10 (l0R and l0L) and a slave apparatus 50. The master apparatus 10 is an apparatus provided with an input interface to be operated by an operator such as a doctor (hereinafter, also referred to as a user). In addition, the slave apparatus 50 is an apparatus provided with medical surgical instruments such as forceps or tweezers to be remotely operated in accordance with operations of a user on the master apparatus 10.”, Column 4 lines 42-51, “The tactile presentation system employs bilateral control as an example. The bilateral control refers to a feedback control that conforms the input interface to a position of the surgical instrument as well as a status of force, between the master apparatus 10 and the slave apparatus 50. For example, when the user operates the input interface, the surgical instrument moves in accordance with this operation. When the surgical instrument moves to come into contact with a patient, force upon the contact is fed back to the input interface.”);
and a robot that moves according to operation on the operator (Horie: Figure 1 slave apparatus 50, Column 4 lines 30-41, “FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an overview of the tactile presentation system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the tactile presentation system is roughly configured by a master apparatus 10 (l0R and l0L) and a slave apparatus 50.”, Column 5 lines 32-43, “The slave apparatus 50 is an information processor (second information processor) that presents, to the master apparatus 10, an affected area (hereinafter, also referred to as a target) of a patient in the operation as well as force and a vibration at the time when a portion of the slave apparatus 50 for contact comes into contact with the target. The slave apparatus 50 is, for example, an apparatus having one or two or more active joints and a link coupled to the active joints (apparatus having a link mechanism including the active joints), for movement in accordance with motion of the master apparatus 10. It is to be noted that the active joint is a joint driven by a motor, an actuator, or the like.”);
the remote control program further causing the computer to implement a function of performing force control of moving the robot according to an operation force applied from the operating person to the operator (Horie: Column 7 lines 5-24, “The operation apparatus 100 functions as a grasping interface for operating a surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. The user changes the position and the orientation of the operation apparatus 100 to thereby change a posture of the support arm part 40 and to change the rotational angle of the joint part and the axis rotational angle of the arm. The coupling part between the operation apparatus 100 and the fourth arm part 40d is provided with a force sensor 152. Such a force sensor 152 detects force inputted to the operation apparatus 100 by the user.”, Column 7 line – Column 8 line 8, “A sensor unit 150 has a function of measuring information for performing drive control of the slave apparatus 50 and force sense presentation. For example, the sensor unit 150 includes the force sensor 152 (torque sensor) and a rotational angle sensor. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, the force sensor 152 is provided, for example, on the coupling part between the support arm part 40 and the operation apparatus 100 attached to the tip end of the support arm part 40, and measures force acting in three axis directions orthogonal to one another. That is, the force sensor 152 measures force inputted to the operation apparatus 100 by the user. In addition, the rotational angle sensor is provided at a plurality of joint parts of the support arm part 40, and measures a rotation angle of each of the joint parts. The rotational angle sensor may be, for example, an encoder.”, Column 8 lines 28-41, “The control unit 160 has a function of controlling operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the control unit 160 controls a posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of information on the rotational angle detected by the encoder included in the master apparatus 10 to change the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. At this time, the control unit 160 detects external force acting on a surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, and applies reaction force to the motion of the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user by performing drive control of the three motors 36 (one of these not illustrated) on the basis of the external force to present to the user a force sense for the movement operation of the operation apparatus 100.”, Column 14 lines 25-42, “As described above, the coupling part between the operation apparatus 100 and the fourth arm part 40d of the support arm part 40 is provided with the force sensor 152. The force sensor 152 may be a six-axis force sensor that detects force and torsion of three-directional and six-axis components to be inputted to the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user. In a case where a translational force or torsional force is applied to the operation apparatus 100, the force sensor 152 generates an output corresponding to moment of the force. In a case of applying force control to the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, the above-described control unit 160 detects force moment inputted to the operation apparatus 100 using the force sensor 152, and controls the posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of the force moment. This makes it possible to smoothly control the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50.”. The cited passages clearly show that the controller performs force control of the robot (i.e. the slave apparatus) based on a force applied to the operator (i.e. the master apparatus) by an operating person.)
and moving the operator according to a reactive force received by the robot from an outside (Horie: Column 8 lines 28-41, “The control unit 160 has a function of controlling operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the control unit 160 controls a posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of information on the rotational angle detected by the encoder included in the master apparatus 10 to change the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. At this time, the control unit 160 detects external force acting on a surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, and applies reaction force to the motion of the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user by performing drive control of the three motors 36 (one of these not illustrated) on the basis of the external force to present to the user a force sense for the movement operation of the operation apparatus 100.”, Column 8 lines 42-54, “In addition, the control unit 160 acquires a signal indicating an operation amount of a grasping motion from the operation apparatus 100 by the user performing the grasping motion of the operation apparatus 100, and causes the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50 to perform the grasping motion on the basis of the signal. At this time, the control unit 160 may detect reaction force for the time of the grasping motion of the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50 and may perform drive control of an unillustrated motor included in the operation apparatus 100 on the basis of the reaction force to thereby present to the user a force sense for the grasping motion of the operation apparatus 100.”. The cited passages clearly show that the system is configured to cause a motor in the master apparatus to move in order to provide the user with a sense of force based on the force applied to the slave apparatus.)
and a function of notifying occurrence of contact to the operating person via a haptic notifier if the robot contacts an object (Horie: Column 7 lines 48-59, “The vibration unit 120 is a vibration device for presenting a vibration of an operation target of the operation apparatus 100, and is included in the operation apparatus 100. For example, the vibration unit 120 vibrates in accordance with an input from a signal processor 170 based on a vibration generated by the operation target touching an object. It is to be noted that, in a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a voice coil motor (VCM: Voice Coil Motor) type vibratory actuator is used as the vibration unit 120; however, another vibration device may be adopted. For example, an LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator) or a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating device.”, Column 8 lines 28-41, “The control unit 160 has a function of controlling operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the control unit 160 controls a posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of information on the rotational angle detected by the encoder included in the master apparatus 10 to change the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument supported by the slave apparatus 50. At this time, the control unit 160 detects external force acting on a surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, and applies reaction force to the motion of the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user by performing drive control of the three motors 36 (one of these not illustrated) on the basis of the external force to present to the user a force sense for the movement operation of the operation apparatus 100.”, Column 8 line 63 – Column 9 line 4, “The signal processor 170 has a function of controlling the vibration of the vibration unit 120 on the basis of a signal received from the slave apparatus 50. For example, the signal processor 170 receives the vibration signal measured by the sensor of the slave apparatus 50 via the high-level control section 190 described later, performs signal processing for removing a noise from the vibration signal, and controls the vibration unit 120 to vibrate on the basis of the processed vibration signal.”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 12144576 B2 ("Horie") in view of US 20200352665 A1 ("Itotani").
Regarding claim 3, Horie teaches wherein the robot has a contact force sensor that detects a contact force acting on the robot from the outside (Horie: Column 5 lines 44-55, “In the slave apparatus 50, a tip end part (A illustrated in FIG. 1) of an arm illustrated in FIG. 1 is provided with various sensors ( e.g., an origin sensor, a Limit sensor, an encoder, a microphone, an acceleration sensor, etc.). In addition, the tip end part of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 is provided with a force sensor (B illustrated in FIG. 1). The force sensor measures force applied to the tip end part of the arm when the tip end part of the arm comes into contact with the patient. It is to be noted that a location where the above-mentioned various sensors are provided is not particularly limited; the various sensors may be provided at any location of the tip end part of the arm.”. The cited passage clearly shows that the robot is equipped with a force sensor that measures a contact force.),
and determines the occurrence of the contact of the robot based on the contact force detected by the contact force sensor in the notification control (Horie: Column 7 lines 48-59, “The vibration unit 120 is a vibration device for presenting a vibration of an operation target of the operation apparatus 100, and is included in the operation apparatus 100. For example, the vibration unit 120 vibrates in accordance with an input from a signal processor 170 based on a vibration generated by the operation target touching an object. It is to be noted that, in a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a voice coil motor (VCM: Voice Coil Motor) type vibratory actuator is used as the vibration unit 120; however, another vibration device may be adopted. For example, an LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator) or a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating device.”, Column 8 line 63 – Column 9 line 4, “The signal processor 170 has a function of controlling the vibration of the vibration unit 120 on the basis of a signal received from the slave apparatus 50. For example, the signal processor 170 receives the vibration signal measured by the sensor of the slave apparatus 50 via the high-level control section 190 described later, performs signal processing for removing a noise from the vibration signal, and controls the vibration unit 120 to vibrate on the basis of the processed vibration signal.”, Column 12 lines 27-37, “The high-level control section 190 has a function related to control of the operations of the slave apparatus 50. For example, the high-level control section 190 receives the vibration signal measured by the sensor of the slave apparatus 50 from the slave apparatus 50, and outputs the drive signal to the band limit section 171 of the signal processor 170. In addition, the high-level control section 190 receives input of a signal calculated by the signal processor 170 on the basis of the drive signal from the adder 179 of the signal processor 170 to drive the slave apparatus 50 in response to the signal.”. The cited passages clearly teach that the vibration used to notify the user that contact has occurred is based in part on the force detected by the force sensor on the robot.).
Horie does not teach and the controller uses the contact force detected by the contact force sensor for the force control.
Itotani, in the same field of endeavor, teaches and the controller uses the contact force detected by the contact force sensor for the force control (Itotani: ¶ 0031, “The slave apparatus 10 is a force sensation presenting apparatus that presents the force and vibration of the contact between an affected site (that is also referred to as target below) of a patient in surgery and a part (that is also referred to as contact part below) of the slave apparatus 10 that comes into contact with the target to the master apparatus 30. It is to be noted that an information processing device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is applied to the slave apparatus 10.”, ¶ 0034, “A front end part 140 is the front end portion of the arm of the slave apparatus 10 illustrated in FIG. 1. The front end part 140 includes a contact part 142 at which a surgical instrument comes into contact with a patient. The front end part 140 is provided with various sensors. Examples of the various sensors include an origin sensor, a Limit sensor, an encoder, a force sensor, a vibration sensor, a distance measuring sensor, and the like. For example, the front end part 140 includes a force sensor. The force sensor measures force (that is also referred to as front end force below) applied to the contact part 142 when the contact part 142 comes into contact with a patient.”. ¶ 0049, “The following describes an internal configuration example of the slave apparatus according to the embodiment of the present disclosure with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the internal configuration example of the slave apparatus according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the slave apparatus 10 includes a sensor unit 110, a controller 120, and a storage unit 130. It is to be noted that the controller 120 has a function of the information processing device.”, ¶ 0055, “To achieve the above-described function, the controller 120 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes the first acquisition unit 121, the second acquisition unit 122, and an output control unit 123 as illustrated in FIG. 2.”, ¶ 0077, “The inverse dynamics calculation section 126 has a function of performing inverse dynamics calculation on operation information of the slave apparatus 10. Here, the operation information is a measurement result of the motion sensor included in the slave apparatus 10. For example, the inverse dynamics calculation section 126 acquires external force measured by the force sensor of the sensor unit 110 from the second acquisition unit 122, and corrects the external force with inverse dynamics calculation. The force sensor of the sensor unit 110 attempts to measure force (front end force) applied to the front end part 140. The force measured by the force sensor is, however, external force including gravity and inertia force in addition to the front end force. It is thus hard to consider that the force measured by the force sensor indicates accurate front end force. Accordingly, the use of a result of inverse dynamics calculation allows the inverse dynamics calculation section 126 to calculate more accurate front end force from the external force measured by the force sensor. This is because the inverse dynamics calculation allows the gravity and the inertia force to be obtained.”. The cited passages clearly teaches that the system is configured to perform force control of the slave apparatus based on the contact force applied to said slave apparatus).
Horie teaches a remote control system comprising: wherein the robot has a contact force sensor that detects a contact force acting on the robot from the outside, and determines the occurrence of the contact of the robot based on the contact force detected by the contact force sensor in the notification control. Horie does not teach the controller uses the contact force detected by the contact force sensor for the force control. Itotani teaches the controller uses the contact force detected by the contact force sensor for the force control. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have had the technological capabilities required to have modified the system taught in Horie with the controller uses the contact force detected by the contact force sensor for the force control taught in Itotani. Furthermore, the system taught in Horie is already configured to acquire a contact force applied to the robot by using a force sensor and is also configured to perform force control of the robot. The system is readily configurable with the controller uses the contact force detected by the contact force sensor for the force control taught in Itotani as the system taught in Horie already teaches the acquisition of a contact force applied to the robot and a method of performing force control of the robot. The modification would require the simple addition of the method of force control using the contact force as taught in Itotani according to methods known in the art. Such a modification would not have changed or introduced new functionality. No inventive effort would have been required. The combination would have yielded the predictable result of a remote control system comprising: the controller uses the contact force detected by the contact force sensor for the force control
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have combine the system taught in Horie with the controller uses the contact force detected by the contact force sensor for the force control taught in Itotani with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the combination would have yielded predictable results.
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 12144576 B2 ("Horie") in view of US 20200352665 A1 ("Itotani") in further view of US 9849595 B2 ("Wang").
Regarding claim 4, Horie in view of Itotani does not teach wherein the controller performs the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor is a predetermined upper limit or less,
and stops the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor exceeds the upper limit.
Wang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the controller performs the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor is a predetermined upper limit or less (Wang: Column 3 lines 1-7, “The operator station 14 has at least one tele-operation input device 14a such as joysticks or stylus-type devices which the operator uses to create continuous motion signals (position or speed signals). When force feedback is added to these devices they become haptic devices. This feedback causes a vibration in the joystick and the operator feels the force feedback in the stylus-type devices.”, Column 7 lines 12-43, “In a further example, a virtual constraint force used to provide haptic feedback force can be calculated by controls implementing the following logic: if Frobot_sensor<Fthreshold then Fhaptic_Feedback=Fvc, else Fhaptic_Feedback=Fsaturated, where Frobot_sensor is a feedback force from one or more robot sensors, Fthreshold is a threshold that may be correlated with the activation of a force limit on the robot such as the force limits described above in connection with block 43, Fhaptic_Feedback is the haptic feedback force provided by the operator input device, Fvc may be any of the formulations for the virtual constraint force set forth above, and Fsaturated is a force limit that will saturate the contact force and resulting haptic feedback force indicating to the operator that a hard limit on robot operation has been reached. Depending on the actual implementation of the force limiting function and the haptic effect, when force limiting is active, the haptic force may be not be proportional to the actual force or may be proportional only over a certain feedback force range. For example, haptic feedback force may vary proportionally with feedback force it is desirable to add additional virtual constraint force to the haptic effects to give the user a much stronger resistance.”. The cited passages clearly show that the system is configured to provide haptic feedback to a user by applying a vibration to an operation input device when the force detected by a force sensor on a robot is less than a threshold.),
and stops the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor exceeds the upper limit (Wang: Column 7 lines 12-43. The cited passage clearly shows that when the force is greater than the threshold, the current haptic feedback to the user is stopped, and a different haptic feedback is sent to the user. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that this method still teaches stopping the current notification when the threshold is exceeded.).
Horie in view of Itotani teaches a remote control system comprising: a haptic notifier that notifies occurrence of contact of the robot with an object to the operating person; and notification control of notifying the occurrence of the contact to the operating person via the haptic notifier if the robot contacts the object. Horie in view of Itotani does not teach wherein the controller performs the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor is a predetermined upper limit or less, and stops the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor exceeds the upper limit. Wang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the controller performs the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor is a predetermined upper limit or less, and stops the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor exceeds the upper limit. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have had the technological capabilities required to have combine the system taught in Horie in view of Itotani with wherein the controller performs the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor is a predetermined upper limit or less, and stops the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor exceeds the upper limit taught in Wang. Furthermore, the system taught in Horie in view of Itotani is already configured to determine if the robot contacts an object using a force sensor on the robot, provide a notification to the user in the form of a vibration that contact has occurred, and teaches comparing the measured contact force to a threshold (Itotani: ¶ 0120, “After the parallel processes are finished, the weight decision section 127-1 confirms whether or not the front end force acquired in step S1020 satisfies a predetermined condition (front end force>threshold E), and makes a determination of contact (step S1024). In a case where the front end force satisfies the predetermined condition (step S1024/YES), the weight decision section 127-1 determines that the contact part 142 of the slave apparatus 10 and the target are in contact with each other (step S1028). The weight decision section 127-1 then decides a weight as 1 (step S1032). In addition, in a case where the front end force does not satisfy the predetermined condition (step S1024/NO), the weight decision section 127-1 determines that the contact part 142 of the slave apparatus 10 and the target are not in contact with each other (step S1036). The weight decision section 127-1 then decides a weight as O (step S1040). After the weight is decided, the output control unit 123-1 outputs a vibration signal multiplied by the weight by the weight decision section 127-1 and converted from a digital signal to an analog signal by the DIA 128 to the master apparatus 30 as an output signal (step S1044).”). As such, the system taught in Horie in view of Itotani is readily configurable with the method taught in Wang. Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to modify the system taught in Horie in view of Itotani with the method taught in Wang according to methods known in the art. Such a modification would not have changed or introduced new functionality. No inventive effort would have been required. The combination would have yielded the predictable result of a remote control system comprising: wherein the controller performs the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor is a predetermined upper limit or less, and stops the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor exceeds the upper limit.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have combine the system taught in Horie in view of Itotani with wherein the controller performs the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor is a predetermined upper limit or less, and stops the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor exceeds the upper limit taught in Wang with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the combination would have yielded predictable results.
Regarding claim 5, Horie in view of Itotani in further view of Wang teaches wherein the controller performs the force control in a range in which the contact force detected by the contact force sensor exceeds the upper limit (Horie: Column 14 lines 25-42, “As described above, the coupling part between the operation apparatus 100 and the fourth arm part 40d of the support arm part 40 is provided with the force sensor 152. The force sensor 152 may be a six-axis force sensor that detects force and torsion of three-directional and six-axis components to be inputted to the operation apparatus 100 operated by the user. In a case where a translational force or torsional force is applied to the operation apparatus 100, the force sensor 152 generates an output corresponding to moment of the force. In a case of applying force control to the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument of the slave apparatus 50, the above-described control unit 160 detects force moment inputted to the operation apparatus 100 using the force sensor 152, and controls the posture of the arm of the slave apparatus 50 on the basis of the force moment. This makes it possible to smoothly control the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument attached to the slave apparatus 50.” Itotani: ¶ 0049, “The following describes an internal configuration example of the slave apparatus according to the embodiment of the present disclosure with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the internal configuration example of the slave apparatus according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the slave apparatus 10 includes a sensor unit 110, a controller 120, and a storage unit 130. It is to be noted that the controller 120 has a function of the information processing device.”, ¶ 0055, “To achieve the above-described function, the controller 120 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes the first acquisition unit 121, the second acquisition unit 122, and an output control unit 123 as illustrated in FIG. 2.”, ¶ 0077, “The inverse dynamics calculation section 126 has a function of performing inverse dynamics calculation on operation information of the slave apparatus 10. Here, the operation information is a measurement result of the motion sensor included in the slave apparatus 10. For example, the inverse dynamics calculation section 126 acquires external force measured by the force sensor of the sensor unit 110 from the second acquisition unit 122, and corrects the external force with inverse dynamics calculation. The force sensor of the sensor unit 110 attempts to measure force (front end force) applied to the front end part 140. The force measured by the force sensor is, however, external force including gravity and inertia force in addition to the front end force. It is thus hard to consider that the force measured by the force sensor indicates accurate front end force. Accordingly, the use of a result of inverse dynamics calculation allows the inverse dynamics calculation section 126 to calculate more accurate front end force from the external force measured by the force sensor. This is because the inverse dynamics calculation allows the gravity and the inertia force to be obtained.”, ¶ 0120, “After the parallel processes are finished, the weight decision section 127-1 confirms whether or not the front end force acquired in step S1020 satisfies a predetermined condition (front end force>threshold E), and makes a determination of contact (step S1024). In a case where the front end force satisfies the predetermined condition (step S1024/YES), the weight decision section 127-1 determines that the contact part 142 of the slave apparatus 10 and the target are in contact with each other (step S1028). The weight decision section 127-1 then decides a weight as 1 (step S1032). In addition, in a case where the front end force does not satisfy the predetermined condition (step S1024/NO), the weight decision section 127-1 determines that the contact part 142 of the slave apparatus 10 and the target are not in contact with each other (step S1036). The weight decision section 127-1 then decides a weight as O (step S1040). After the weight is decided, the output control unit 123-1 outputs a vibration signal multiplied by the weight by the weight decision section 127-1 and converted from a digital signal to an analog signal by the DIA 128 to the master apparatus 30 as an output signal (step S1044).”).
Horie teaches a remote control system wherein the system performs force control of a robot based on a force applied to an operator and a force sensor that is coupled to the robot that is used to determine the contact force between a robot and an object. Itotani teaches a method by which force control is performed for a robot based in part on the contact force determined by a sensor on the robot and if the contact force exceeds a threshold. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the force control is performed whether or not the robot is in contact with an object, and would therefore perform the force control when the contact force exceeds the threshold. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the combination of Horie in view of Itotani in further view of Wang teaches the limitations of claim 5.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 12144576 B2 ("Horie") in view of US 20200352665 A1 ("Itotani") in further view of US 9849595 B2 ("Wang") in further view of US 12384030 B2 ("Søe-Knudsen").
Regarding claim 6, Horie in view of Itotani in further view of Wang teaches wherein the robot has a hand that holds a workpiece (Wang: Column 2 lines 56-59, “The robot station 12 can also include as an option one or more actuators and other devices, that are mounted to the robot or next to the robot, such as grippers, fixtures, welding guns, spraying guns, spotlights and conveyors.”. The cited passage clearly teaches that the robot can be configured with a gripper.).
Horie in view of Itotani in further view of Wang does not teach and while the hand is gripping the workpiece, the controller performs the notification control if an increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from a reference value is the upper limit or less with a contact force due to gripping of the workpiece as the reference value, and stops the notification control when the increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from the reference value exceeds the upper limit.
Søe-Knudsen, in the same field of endeavor, teaches and while the hand is gripping the workpiece, the controller performs the notification control if an increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from a reference value is the upper limit or less with a contact force due to gripping of the workpiece as the reference value, and stops the notification control when the increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from the reference value exceeds the upper limit (Søe-Knudsen: Column 22 lines 33-40, “In this embodiment the step 670 of indicating change in contact comprises a step 673 of obtaining a force difference AF.sub.contact between at least two contact forces obtained at different points in time. This can for instance be achieve by subtracting the latest contact force Fcontact, t with an earlier contact force Fcontact, t-i sensed prior to the latest contact force. The earlier contact force Fcontact, t-i can for instance be obtained from the force memory buffer 664.”, Column 22 lines 41-48, “The force difference can thus be obtained as: AFcontact=Fcontact,t – F contact, t-I eq. 5
The force difference ΔF.sub.contact can then be stored in a memory for later use as described below.”, Column 22 line 66 – Column 23 line 33, “In the illustrated embodiment the step 670 comprises a step 671 of comparing the force difference ΔF.sub.contact with a force threshold value Fthreshold, where the force threshold value has been predetermined and for instance stored in the memory. As discussed in connection with FIGS. 3a-3i and 4a-4i an increase in contact force occurs upon change in contact between the contact part of the robot and the object. Consequently, upon change in contact the force difference ΔF.sub.contact will be positive upon change in contact, if the latest contact force F.sub.contact,t is obtained upon change in contact and the earlier contact force F.sub.contact, t-i is obtained before change in contact. The step of comparing the force difference with the force threshold value is configured to abandon (indicated by a thumb-down icon) the step 670 of indicating change in contact, if the force difference is smaller than the force threshold value, as this indicates that change in contact has not occurred. Opposite, the step of comparing the force difference with the force threshold value is configured to continue (indicated by a thumb-up icon) to the next step of the step 670 of indicating change in contact, if the force difference is larger than the force threshold value, as this indicates that change in contact has occurred.”, The cited passages clearly show that an increment between the currently measured contact force and a reference value (i.e. the previously measured contact force) is determined and that this increment is compared to a threshold. Additionally, the system behaves differently based on whether or not the increment is greater or less than the threshold.).
Horie in view of Itotani in further view of Wang teaches a remote control system comprising: a haptic notifier that notifies occurrence of contact of the robot with an object to the operating person; and notification control of notifying the occurrence of the contact to the operating person via the haptic notifier if the robot contacts the object, the controller performs the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor is a predetermined upper limit or less, and stops the notification control if the contact force detected by the contact force sensor exceeds the upper limit. Horie in view of Itotani in further view of Wang does not teach while the hand is gripping the workpiece, the controller performs the notification control if an increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from a reference value is the upper limit or less with a contact force due to gripping of the workpiece as the reference value, and stops the notification control when the increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from the reference value exceeds the upper limit. Søe-Knudsen teaches while the hand is gripping the workpiece, the controller performs the notification control if an increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from a reference value is the upper limit or less with a contact force due to gripping of the workpiece as the reference value, and stops the notification control when the increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from the reference value exceeds the upper limit. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have had the technological capabilities required to have modified the system taught in Horie in view of Itotani in further view of Wang with while the hand is gripping the workpiece, the controller performs the notification control if an increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from a reference value is the upper limit or less with a contact force due to gripping of the workpiece as the reference value, and stops the notification control when the increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from the reference value exceeds the upper limit taught in Søe-Knudsen. Furthermore, the system taught in Horie in view of Itotani in further view of Wang already teaches a robot with a force sensor that is configured to determine if the robot contacts an object, applying a vibration to an operator to notify a use that the robot has made contact with an object, and only applying this vibration when the contact force is less than a threshold. As such, the system is readily configurable with the methods taught in Søe-Knudsen. Additionally, modifying the system to use the increment between the current force and a reference force as taught in Søe-Knudsen would require the simple substitution for the contact force itself for the increment of the contact force, both of which are quantities known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Such a modification would not have changes or introduced new functionality. No inventive effort would have been required. The combination would have yielded the predictable result of a remote control system comprising: while the hand is gripping the workpiece, the controller performs the notification control if an increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from a reference value is the upper limit or less with a contact force due to gripping of the workpiece as the reference value, and stops the notification control when the increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from the reference value exceeds the upper limit.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have combine the system taught in Horie in view of Itotani in further view of Wang with while the hand is gripping the workpiece, the controller performs the notification control if an increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from a reference value is the upper limit or less with a contact force due to gripping of the workpiece as the reference value, and stops the notification control when the increment of the contact force detected by the contact force sensor from the reference value exceeds the upper limit taught in Søe-Knudsen with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the combination would have yielded predictable results.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Noah W Stiebritz whose telephone number is (571)272-3414. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 7-5 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ramon Mercado can be reached at (571) 270-5744. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/N.W.S./Examiner, Art Unit 3658
/Ramon A. Mercado/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3658