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. JP2022-155137, filed on 09/28/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/07/2025 was compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Miyata et al. (US 2026/0195882 A1) hereinafter Miyata.
Regarding Claim 1, Miyata teaches a control system (fig.1; inspection device 10), comprising: a control unit that performs control of a system that is an object of control (fig.1; inspection device 10 controls production site P), and that has a Web server and two or more network ports (fig.1; Para.0061; learning device 30 is connected to the inspection device 10 by factory network FN and information network IN); and a computation unit that has a Web server and a network port (fig.1; Para.0061; learning device 30 is connected to network), wherein the two or more network ports of the control unit include first and second network ports (fig.1; Para.0031; device 10 is connected factory network FN and information network IN), the first network port of the two or more network ports of the control unit, and the network port of the computation unit, are coupled to a first network segment that is a closed network segment to which no elements other than the control unit and the computation unit are coupled (fig.1; inspection device 10 is connected the terminal device 20), the second network port of the two or more network ports of the control unit (fig.1 and 5), and a network port of an interface unit are coupled to a second network segment that is different from the first network segment (fig.1; Para.0059-0061; inspection device 10 is connected the production site P), the interface unit is a client that has a Web browser that displays a Web server screen (fig.1; terminal device 20 with interface for the client input), and the control unit performs forwarding processing of transferring data received from the interface unit to the computation unit (fig.1 and 5; Para.0059-0061; unit 10 transfer or receive data to unit 20 and 30), and also displays a Web server screen of the computation unit on a Web server screen of the control unit (fig.1 and 5; terminal device 20 displays a screen for the user input).
Regarding Claim 2, Miyata teaches the control system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit transfers the data received from the interface unit to the computation unit by port forwarding (fig.10: unit 10 and 20 transfer data using the interface 1003).
Regarding Claim 3, Miyata teaches the control system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit transfers the data received from the interface unit to the computation unit by a combination of port forwarding and a dedicated communication command (fig.1 and 5; unit 10 transfer data to terminal device 20 and displays screen for the user input).
Regarding Claim 4, Miyata teaches the control system according to claim 1, wherein the data transmitted from the interface unit to the control unit is one of a parameter setting and an instruction for the control unit (fig.1 and 5; para.0059-0061), and data transmitted from the interface unit to the computation unit through the control unit by the forwarding processing is one of a parameter setting and an instruction for the computation unit (fig.1 and 5; Para.0059-0061; data transmitted from the unit 20 to the unit 10 through processing and parameter setting and an instruction from unit 20).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art fails to teach Claim 5 and depended on claim 5 which specifically comprises the following features in combination with other recited limitations:-- a sensor for detecting passage of an examination item; and a camera for shooting the examination item in response to a shooting signal from the control unit, wherein the control unit outputs the shooting signal to the camera in a case of receiving input from the sensor to an effect that passage of the examination item is detected, and the computation unit performs training of a model that takes images of examination items as input and outputs determination results of whether the examination items are good items or defective items, and inference of inputting images of the examination items shot by the camera into a trained model and thereby determining whether the examination items are good items or defective items.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FAYEZ A BHUIYAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1562. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00 - 6:00 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lin Ye can be reached on 571-272-7372. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FAYEZ BHUIYAN/
Examiner, Art Unit 2639
/LIN YE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2638
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