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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-20 are allowed.
The following is an Examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance and indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding relevant art applicable to Claim 17. The closest prior art is Lu (CN 202322248901) which discloses feeding a center core through a center of a hollow cylindrical wire feeder and a center of a hollow shaft motor, the hollow cylindrical wire feeder being coaxially coupled to the hollow shaft motor; feeding at least one wire through a side of the hollow cylindrical wire feeder to meet with the center core and operating the hollow shaft motor to create a helix structure with the at least one wire around the center core.
Novelty of Claim 17. Lu nor the prior art discloses the steps of fixing one end of each of a stretchable center core and at least one wire to a rotator; maintaining the at least one wire at a right angle to the stretchable center core; and operating the rotator to rotate the stretchable center core while pulling the stretchable center core in a linear direction to create a helix structure with the at least one wire around the stretchable center core.
Indication of Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 22 is objected to and would be allowable if rewritten into base claim 21. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding relevant art applicable to Claim 22 The closest prior art is Lu (CN 202322248901) which discloses feeding a center core through a center of a hollow cylindrical wire feeder and a center of a hollow shaft motor, the hollow cylindrical wire feeder being coaxially coupled to the hollow shaft motor; feeding at least one wire through a side of the hollow cylindrical wire feeder to meet with the center core and operating the hollow shaft motor to create a helix structure with the at least one wire around the center core.
Regarding the novelty of Claim 22 Lu nor the prior art provides the step where the pulled stretchable material of Claim 21 is further required to provide the steps of controlling a winding pitch based at least in part on controlling a first speed of the hollow shaft motor and a second speed of a capstan motor that feeds the stretchable center core through the center of the hollow cylindrical wire feeder and the center of the hollow shaft motor.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(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.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 9 recites a limitation “the flexible capacitive strain sensor is operable to respond to capacitance changes associated with the two parallel wires in a manner that is independent of a strain rate corresponding to a strain induced in the flexible capacitive strain sensor” where the negative limitation of “in a manner that is independent of a strain rate” when strain through measurement of deformation is what the capacitive strain sensor is measuring. For clarity a positive limitation of measuring a change in capacitance to determine capacitance change can correlate with and correspond to the extent of strain [0034].
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 10 & 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a (2) as being anticipated by Caldwell (US 20230048642: “Caldwell”).
Claim 10. Caldwell discloses a flexible inductive strain sensor [0005], comprising: a stretchable center core (204); and a single wire (202) wound about the stretchable center core (204), forming a single helix structure [0083: 202 is wound around an elongated cylindrical extensible coil core 204 to form a single helix structure].
Claim 15. Dependent on the flexible inductive strain sensor of claim 10. Caldwell further discloses the single wire comprises an uninsulated copper wire [0083].
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a (1&2) as being anticipated by Hu (CN106894133: “Hu” translation provided for citations).
Claim 23. Hu discloses a flexible reactive strain sensor [0004-0005: The testing principle of textile strain sensors is that conductive textiles deform with human physiological activities. This deformation causes changes in their resistance or capacitance], comprising: a stretchable center core [0011]; and at least one wire (two wrapped yarn) [0010] wound about the stretchable center core, forming a helix structure [0029: The wrapping yarn consists of two conductive monofilaments or medium-low twist conductive monofilaments, which are wound around the surface of the core yarn in a reverse double helix structure, as shown in Figure 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, 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 1-2, 5, 7, 9 & 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu (CN106894133: “Hu” translation provided for citations).
Claim 1. Hu discloses a flexible capacitive strain sensor [0004-0005: The testing principle of textile strain sensors is that conductive textiles deform with human physiological activities. This deformation causes changes in their resistance or capacitance], comprising: a stretchable [0011: the core yarn is elastic yarn, and the diameter of the core yarn is greater than the diameter of the wrapped yarn] center core (core yarn); and two parallel wires (two wrapped yarn) [0010] wound about the stretchable center core (core yarn), forming a double helix structure [0010: a resistive stretchable multidimensional force sensing yarn, including a core yarn and two wrapping yarns, wherein one wrapping yarn is wound around the core yarn in a spiral manner to form a yarn, and the other wrapping yarn is wound around the yarn in the opposite direction to the first wrapping yarn to form a covering yarn. Hu discloses an embodiment of strain sensor measuring capacitance [0004]. Hu discloses a resistance measured value for determination of a stretch/ deformation [0004-0006]. Hu does not explicitly disclose:
a flexible capacitive strain sensor
Hu teaches an embodiment to measure capacitance values representing strain [0004: This deformation causes changes in their resistance or capacitance, which in turn reflects the state of human physiological activities through changes in resistance or capacitance].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Hu’s embodiment with the capacitance measuring option instead of Hu’s resistance measurement because measuring capacitance improves measuring sensitivity by providing detection at much smaller changes in displacement or strain than resistive gauges and capacitance measurements are less susceptible to error inducing noise than resistive measurements.
Claim 2. Dependent on the flexible capacitive strain sensor of claim 1. Hu further discloses the stretchable center core comprises a polyester elastic string [Abstract- translation provided in separate document with title 18870959 2026-09-03 CN106894133] The core yarn consists of Terylene (RTM: Polyethylene terephthalate), chinlon or polypropylene] where Terylene is a polyester
Claim 5. Dependent on the flexible capacitive strain sensor of claim 1. Hu does not explicitly disclose:
the two parallel wires comprise insulated copper wires two parallel wires that each have a diameter of 160 micrometers (µm).
Caldwell further discloses the single wire comprises a copper wire [0083] having a diameter of 160 micrometers (µm e.g. 34 gauge wire) [0015: at least one helical conductive coil comprises a wire in a range of 20 to 40 gauge]. Caldwell does not explicitly disclose in the embodiment of figs. 1-3].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Caldwell’s 160 micrometer wire as Hu’s wrapped wire size because the fine wire size enables small flexing responses thereby improving the response to measuring micro strain deformations.
Claim 7. Dependent on the flexible capacitive strain sensor of claim 1. Hu further discloses the two parallel wires (two wrapped yarn) [0010] are wound in a gapless fashion about the stretchable center core (Fig. 2)[0035].
Claim 9. Dependent on the flexible capacitive strain sensor of claim 1. Hu discloses an embodiment of strain sensor measuring capacitance [0004]. Hu discloses a resistance measured value for determination of a stretch/ deformation [0004-0006]. Hu does not explicitly disclose:
the flexible capacitive strain sensor is operable to respond to capacitance changes associated with the two parallel wires in a manner that is independent of a strain rate corresponding to a strain induced in the flexible capacitive strain sensor.
Hu teaches an embodiment to measure capacitance values representing strain [0004: This deformation causes changes in their resistance or capacitance, which in turn reflects the state of human physiological activities through changes in resistance or capacitance].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Hu’s embodiment with the capacitance measuring option instead of Hu’s resistance measurement because measuring capacitance improves measuring sensitivity by providing detection at much smaller changes in displacement or strain than resistive gauges and capacitance measurements are less susceptible to error inducing noise than resistive measurements.
Claim 24. Dependent on the flexible reactive strain sensor of claim 23. Hu further discloses the stretchable center core comprises a polyester elastic string [Abstract- translation provided in separate document with title 18870959 2026-09-03 CN106894133] The core yarn consists of Terylene (RTM: Polyethylene terephthalate), chinlon or polypropylene] where Terylene is a polyester.
Claims 3 & 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu in view of Caldwell (US 20230048642: “Caldwell”).
Claim 3. Dependent on the flexible capacitive strain sensor of claim. Hu does not explicitly disclose:
the polyester elastic string has a diameter of 1 millimeter (mm).
Caldwell teaches the elastic string has a diameter of 1 millimeter (mm e.g. .04 inches) [0014: the core member has a diameter in a range of 0.01 inch to 4 inches]. The polyester material choice is taught with motivation to combine in the rejection of claim 11.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Caldwell’s elastic string of 1 millimeter with Hu’s elastic string core of a 1mm diameter provides sufficient material for reliable elastic response without structural fatigue and fracture.
Claim 25. Dependent on the flexible reactive strain sensor of claim 24. Hu does not explicitly disclose:
the polyester elastic string has a diameter of 1 millimeter (mm).
Caldwell teaches the elastic string has a diameter of 1 millimeter (mm e.g. .04 inches) [0014: the core member has a diameter in a range of 0.01 inch to 4 inches]. The polyester material choice for a wire core is taught with motivation to combine in the rejection of claim 11.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Caldwell’s elastic string of 1 millimeter with Hu’s elastic string core of a 1mm diameter provides sufficient material for reliable elastic response without structural fatigue and fracture.
Claims 4 & 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu in view of Sun (CN 106705829: “Sun” translation provided for citations).
Claim 4. Dependent on the flexible capacitive strain sensor of claim 1. Hu does not explicitly disclose:
an angle between at least one of the two parallel wires and a cross-section of the stretchable center core is less than 45 degrees.
Sun teaches flexible wearable conductive fiber sensor of the invention uses unique elastic spiral double-cladding structure can sense the tensile strain, bending angle, torsional deformation [Abstract]. Sun further teaches an angle between the single wire and a cross-section of the stretchable center core is less than 45 degrees [0057: The outer layer covering the surface of the core yarn in a spiral manner according to a certain winding angle (5 to 30 degrees)].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Sun’s ending angle of less than 45 degrees as Hu’s parallel wire winding angle because the angle under 45 degrees improves deformation/stretching measurement accuracy by increasing the length of the wire along the axial stretch direction where deformation is measured.
Claim 26. Dependent on the flexible reactive strain sensor of claim 23. Hu does not explicitly disclose:
an angle between at least one of the two parallel wires and a cross-section of the stretchable center core is less than 45 degrees.
Sun teaches flexible wearable conductive fiber sensor of the invention uses unique elastic spiral double-cladding structure can sense the tensile strain, bending angle, torsional deformation [Abstract]. Sun further teaches an angle between the single wire and a cross-section of the stretchable center core is less than 45 degrees [0057: The outer layer covering the surface of the core yarn in a spiral manner according to a certain winding angle (5 to 30 degrees)].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Sun’s ending angle of less than 45 degrees as Hu’s parallel wire winding angle because the angle under 45 degrees improves deformation/stretching measurement accuracy by increasing the length of the wire along the axial stretch direction where deformation is measured.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu in view of Owen (US 12421659: “Owens”).
Claim 6. Dependent on the flexible capacitive strain sensor of claim 1. Hu does not explicitly disclose:
the two parallel wires comprise one uninsulated copper wire and one insulated copper wire.
Owens teaches braided yarns that can be used to measure elongation, compression, twist, and other properties of a braided object in which they are incorporated [Abstract]. Owens further teaches the two parallel wires comprise one uninsulated copper wire and one insulated copper wire [Col. 3 lines 58-65: The axial tension and elongation preferably changes the mutual capacitance between two bias yarns each comprising a multicomponent fiber bundle. The multicomponent fiber bundle optionally comprises intersecting or non-intersecting insulated conductors or non-intersecting uninsulated conductors].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Owens mixed insulated/non-insulated wire arrangement for capacitive sensing wires with Hu’s sensing wires because the non-intersecting insulated and uninsulated option partially reduces noise intrusion with insulation while maintaining detection sensitivity with uninsulated wire.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu (CN106894133: “Hu” translation provided for citations) in view of Chen (CN 114543650: “Chen”).
Claim 8. Dependent on the flexible capacitive strain sensor of claim 1. Hu, as modified, does not explicitly disclose:
one end of each of the two parallel wires is coupled to the stretchable center core by an adhesive.
Chen teaches a flexible smart glove, which is designed by setting flexible 03-09-2026 - Page 4 strain sensors at the hand joints [0005]. Chen further teaches the wires are coupled (17) to the stretchable center core (13) by an adhesive [0134 -0135].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Chen’s adhesive connection on the ends of the flexible sensor to attach Hu’s, as modified, two parallel wires connected to a flexible core because the attachment at the ends improves reliability of the device by securing the ends while not impacting the flexibility of the sensor device [Chen 0137].
Claims 11-12, 14 & 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Caldwell (US 20230048642: “Caldwell”) in view of Hu (CN106894133: “Hu” translation provided for citations).
Claim 11. Dependent on the flexible inductive strain sensor of claim 10. Caldwell further discloses the stretchable center core [0083]. Caldwell does not explicitly disclose:
the stretchable center core comprises a polyester elastic string.
Hu teaches the stretchable center core comprises a polyester elastic string [Abstract- translation provided in separate document with title 18870959 2026-09-03 CN106894133] The core yarn consists of Terylene (RTM: Polyethylene terephthalate), chinlon or polypropylene] where Terylene as a polyester improves reliability with its established resilience to torsion after repeated stretching performance.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Hu’s material selection of Terylene RTM as Caldwell’s stretchable center core because polyester increases the reliability with a resilience to error inducing torsion from repeated stretching.
Claim 12. Dependent on the flexible inductive strain sensor of claim 11. Caldwell further discloses the elastic string has a diameter of 1 millimeter (mm e.g. .04 inches) [0014: wherein the core member has a diameter in a range of 0.01 inch to 4 inches]. The polyester material selection for the core wire is taught with motivation to combine in the rejection of claim 11.
Claim 14. Dependent on the flexible inductive strain sensor of claim 10. Caldwell further discloses the single wire comprises a copper wire [0083] having a diameter of 160 micrometers (µm e.g. 34 gauge wire) [0015: at least one helical conductive coil comprises a wire in a range of 20 to 40 gauge]. Caldwell does not explicitly disclose in the embodiment of figs. 1-3.
the copper wire is insulated.
Caldwell teaches the option in [0083] and the embodiment of Fig. 4 insulating the copper wire [0083] &[0089].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Caldwell’s fig. 4 embodiment of insulated copper wire as Caldwell’s Fig. 1-3 embodiment of a single copper wire because insulating a copper wire improves reliability against a noisy or corrosive operating environment.
Claim 16. Dependent on the flexible inductive strain sensor of claim 10. Caldwell, as modified, does not explicitly disclose:
the single wire is wound in a gapless fashion about the stretchable center core.
Hu teaches the wires (Fig. 1: wrapped yarn) [0010] are wound in a gapless fashion about the stretchable [0017-0018] center core (Fig. 1: core yarn in center).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Hu’s gapless wrapping of wire around a core yarn as Caldwell’s wrapping of a core yarn because the gapless wrapping increases the measuring accuracy by increasing contact in the axial direction even during flexure.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Caldwell in view of Sun (CN 106705829: “Sun” translation provided for citations).
Claim 13. Dependent on the flexible inductive strain sensor of claim 10. Caldwell does not explicitly disclose:
an angle between the single wire and a cross-section of the stretchable center core is less than 45 degrees.
Sun teaches flexible wearable conductive fiber sensor of the invention uses unique elastic spiral double-cladding structure can sense the tensile strain, bending angle, torsional deformation [Abstract]. Sun further teaches an angle between the single wire and a cross-section of the stretchable center core is less than 45 degrees [0057: The outer layer covering the surface of the core yarn in a spiral manner according to a certain winding angle (5 to 30 degrees)].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Sun’s ending angle of less than 45 degrees ad Caldwell’s single wire winding angle because the angle under 45 degrees improves deformation/stretching measurement accuracy by increasing the length of the wire along the axial stretch direction where deformation is measured.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu in further view of Lu (CN 202322248901: “Lu” translation provided for citations) in view of Hu (CN106894133: “Hu”).
.
Claim 21. Lu discloses a method, the method comprising: feeding a center core [0009: The two traction rollers clamp the wire core and pull it forward] through a center of a hollow cylindrical wire feeder (7) and a center of a hollow shaft motor (5), the hollow cylindrical wire feeder (7) being coaxially coupled to the hollow shaft motor (5)[0032: The second motor 7 is fixedly mounted on the frame through a motor seat. The disc body 5 is fixedly mounted on the front part of the wrapping shaft 4. Two symmetrically arranged belt shafts 6 are provided in front of the disc body 5. The belt shafts 6 are fixedly connected to the disc body 5. There are two wrapping mechanisms, and the wrapping shafts 4 of the two wrapping mechanisms are coaxially arranged]; feeding at least one element through a side of the hollow cylindrical wire feeder (5) to meet with the stretchable center core (4)[0043]; and operating the hollow shaft motor (5) to create a helix structure with the at least one element (8) around the stretchable center core (4)[0010]. Lu does not explicitly disclose:
fabricating a flexible strain sensor feeding a stretchable center and wrapping a wire.
Hu teaches fabricating a flexible strain sensor [0010-0011] feeding a stretchable center and wrapping a wire [0010: including a core yarn and two wrapping yarns, wherein one wrapping yarn is wound around the core yarn in a spiral manner to form a yarn].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Hu’s of an elastic wire core and winding wire with Lu’s winding method that pulls the central core wire while a coaxial winding is performed because the coaxial winding provides a time efficient and consistent winding onto a core wire [Lu 0005].
Conclusion
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/MONICA S YOUNG/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/PETER J MACCHIAROLO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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