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 .
Drawings
Figure 4 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 3 - 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2001-147287 A to Tanaka Keiji et al. (hereinafter “Tanaka”).
Note: machine translated document of Tanaka is attached to this office action for easier reference.
Regarding Claim 1, Tanaka teaches a pipe inspection device (see paragraphs [0004], [0006] and [0045] describing inspection of target portions such as pipes) comprising a multi-joint gripping member (see arrangement at Fig. 2 illustrating plurality of wheel mechanisms 502a – 502d of the inspection device 500, see paragraph [0045]), a base (see main body 500, Fig. 2 which supports the wheel mechanisms and is located at the central portion as described at paragraph [0045], thus serving as the claimed base), one or more ultrasonic probe holding members (see ultrasonic sensor 600 which is mounted on the main body 500, see arrangement at Fig. 2 and description at paragraph [0045]), and a drive device (see traveling drive motor 504, Fig. 2 and/or rotation motors 503a - 503d, Fig. 2 and/or wheel 501, Fig. 2 of each wheel mechanism as described at paragraph [0045]) that drives the multi-joint gripping member (see arrangement at Fig. 2, see paragraph [0045]), wherein
the multi-joint gripping member (see 502a – 502d, Fig. 2) comprises four or more link members of a fixed length connected in series (see arrangement of the plurality of wheel mechanisms 502a – 502d, Fig. 2) via rotation shafts (see connection of each 502a – 502d via rotation motors 503a, Fig. 2, see paragraph [0045]) and a mechanical restraining unit that always keeps angles between adjacent link members approximately equal (see paragraph [0046] describing “motors 503a, 503b, 503c and 503d are controlled so that the angles of adjacent link-shaped wheel mechanisms are small”,…”The grip control unit 505 receives the control state signal from the attachment/detachment control unit 405 and controls the grip/non-grip in synchronization at a predetermined timing”… and further states “ the grip control unit opens the link mechanism and the posture control mechanisms 310 and 320 control the posture. The position and posture are determined so that the pipe 5 is gripped, and the pipe is gripped by grip control”, thus it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize the grip controller that controls the grip as well as the posture control mechanism that controls the posture as described at paragraph [0046] serves as the claimed mechanical restraining unit, since the controller controls the angles of adjacent link-shaped wheel mechanism to be small (i.e., being “approximately equal”) as well as the position and posture which controls the posture, hence reading on the invention as claimed),
the base (500, Fig. 2) is fixed to one of the link members constituting the multi-joint gripping member (see arrangement at Fig. 2, illustrating the base 500 fixed or connected to one of the multi-joint gripping member such as 502b, 502c via the rotation motors 503b, 503c, hence reading on the invention as claimed),
each of the ultrasonic probe holding members is fixed to one of the link members (see arrangement of the ultrasonic sensor 600 fixed to the main body 500 which is indirectly fixed or connected to one of the link members 502b, 502c via the rotation motors 503b, 503c, hence reading on the invention as claimed), and
the drive device (see traveling drive motor 504, Fig. 2 and/or rotation motors 503a - 503d, Fig. 2 and/or wheel 501, Fig. 2 of each wheel mechanism as described at paragraph [0045]) is fixed to one of the link members constituting the multi-joint gripping member or to the base (see arrangement at Fig. 2).
Even though Tanaka teaches the ultrasonic probe holding member fixed to one of the link members as described above, Tanaka does not explicitly teach each of the ultrasonic probe holding members is fixed to a middle of one of the link members (emphasis added). However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the clamed invention to arrange the holding member fixed to a middle of one of the link members, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950).
Regarding Claim 3, Tanaka as modified above teaches wherein the mechanical restraining unit that always keeps the angles between adjacent link members of the multi-joint gripping member approximately equal has a four-bar linkage mechanism (see for instance the grip control unit 505 that controls the grip as described in paragraph [0046] as well as rejection of claim 1 above, see also Fig. 2 which illustrates the controller 505 that controls the grip and the four motors 503a – 503d, hence reading on the invention as claimed).
Regarding Claim 4, Tanaka as modified above teaches wherein the ultrasonic probe holding members have a tube supplying a contact medium and a bellows holding the contact medium (see paragraph [0045] describing the ultrasonic senor 600 and a contact medium injecting tank 610 mounted on the main body 500 and further states “The ultrasonic sensor 600 is preferably such that it can be pressed against the inspection surface with a spring or the like. The contact medium injection tank 610 may be an accumulator. It is possible to inject the contact medium from the tip of the nozzle 615 so as to be applied onto the surface to be inspected by applying pressure in advance and opening and closing the valve 614”, hence reading on the invention as claimed).
Regarding Claim 5, Tanaka as modified above teaches wherein the multi-joint gripping member controls the angles between adjacent link members (see rejection of claim 1 above describing the invention of Tanaka which controls the angle of adjacent linked wheel mechanisms by a controller and/or motor to thereby control the gripping and non-gripping states of the pipe).
Even though Tanaka teaches controlling the angles between the adjacent link members as described above, Tanaka is silent regarding the multi-joint gripping members having an angle sensor measuring the angles between the adjacent link members. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use an angle sensor, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 227 F.2d 197, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA 1960). The modification allows for a more controlled angle measurement which aids in controlling the angles of the adjacent link members.
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka in view of U.S. Patent No. 5,576,492 to Phalin (hereinafter “Phalin”).
Regarding Claim 2, Tanaka teaches an ultrasonic probe holding member as described in claim 1 above.
Tanaka is however silent regarding wherein the ultrasonic probe holding members have a two-axis gimbal mechanism.
Phalin, in the field of ultrasonic inspection of articles, teaches that it is known to use an ultrasonic probe holding member having a two-axis gimbal mechanism (see arrangement at Fig. 2, see Col. 3, lines 36 – 63, and Col. 4, lines 26 – 44 describing a gimballed mounting means 20 having an outer ring 22 and an inner disk 28 producing a gimbal effect and a transducer barrel 30 affixed to support surface 32 of the inner disk 28 for housing the sensor which performs the inspection such as the ultrasound transducer 34).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the ultrasonic probe with gimbals of Phalin into Tanaka, in order to improve accuracy of the inspection system since the transducer mount keeps the transducer at ninety degrees to the workpiece surface (see abstract and Col. 3, lines 19 – 63).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 form accompanying this office action which includes the following relevant art:
Endo Y eta l. (JP 2013154409 A) teaches a joint mechanism suitable for use in a robot and a finger and a hand provided with the joint mechanism.
Loosararian et al. (U.S. No. 11,669,100 B2) teaches inspection robot having an input sensor comprising a laser profiler and a plurality of wheels structured to engage a curved portion of an inspection surface, wherein the laser profiler is configured to provide laser profiler data of the inspection surface; a controller, comprising: a profiler data circuit structured to interpret the laser profiler data; determine a feature of interest is present at a location of the inspection surface in response to the laser profiler data; and wherein the feature of interest comprises a shape description of the inspection surface at the location of the feature of interest.
Nicolas Yann et al. (AU 2017360081 A1) teaches an inspection support (24) bearing at least one sensor (25) capable of being positioned facing the production line (16); - a catching and travelling assembly (26) for catching on to and travelling along the production line (16). The catching and travelling assembly (26) comprising at least one clamp (28, 30) that can be selectively actuated so that it grips on to the production line (16), the or each clamp (28, 30) delimiting a central passage. The catching and travelling assembly (26) comprises an active mechanism (50) for moving the clamp (28, 30) longitudinally. The or each clamp (28, 30) is capable of applying a nominal clamping pressure of between 2 bar and 90 bar to the production line (16).
Gonzalez et al. (U.S. No. 2016/0238565 A1) teaches an apparatus that is configured to carry an instrument or probe and optionally deploy it against a surface, such as a metal pipeline or storage tank. The apparatus can include a sensor probe for inspecting the integrity of the surface and a first linkage that is operatively coupled to the sensor probe and configured to move the sensor probe according to a first path (in a first direction/first degree of freedom). An actuator can be operatively connected to the first linkage for moving the first linkage so as to move the sensor probe along the first path.
Kawauchi et al. (U.S. No. 2016/0208958 A1) teaches a maintenance apparatus maintains a pipe under the sea. The maintenance apparatus includes: a first grip device that has a plurality of joints and includes a first grip portion holding releasably a first portion of the pipe; a second grip device that has a plurality of joints, includes a second grip portion holding releasably a second portion of the pipe, and is movable relative to the first grip device; a maintenance device that is mounted on at least one of the first grip device and the second grip device and is used for maintenance of the pipe; and a drive device that drives the first grip device and the second grip device such that the first grip device and at least portion of the second grip device move relative to each other.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARRIT EYASSU whose telephone number is (571)270-1403. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 9:00AM - 6:00PM.
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/MARRIT EYASSU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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