DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 6, “is slant” should be -is slanted--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The claims are generally narrative and indefinite, failing to conform with current U.S. practice. They appear to be a literal translation into English from a foreign document and are replete with grammatical and idiomatic errors. This is not an all-inclusive list and applicant should review all claims for clarity.
Claim 1 claims “an intelligent robot” but further positively recites “comprising a tunnel pipe”. The pipe is not part of the robot itself, the robot works in a pipe. It is unclear what the scope of this claim is. It appears the claim should refer to the pipe in functional terms. (further note claim 7, “wherein an upper end of the pretensioning mechanism abuts against the top of the tunnel pipe” should also be functionally recited, etc.)
Claim 2 recites, “a bracket, which is sleeved outside the drive shaft”. It appears from applicant’s drawings that the fixed block sleeves the drive shaft and the bracket merely connects to the fixed block (Fig. 2, 2214 and 2217), thus how is the bracket sleeved?
Claim 2 recites, “a fixed block, which is fixedly connected to one side of the bracket, wherein an interior thereof is rotationally connected with a driven shaft”. It is unclear what “thereof” is referring to the block or the bracket.
Claim 3 recites, “wherein the driven shaft runs through the other side from one side of the mounting frame”. The sentence is unclear as “the other side” lacks antecedent basis. It is further unclear as to the other side of what?
Claim 4 recites, “the extending and retracting shaft that is located on the ring slot is fixedly connected with a traction rod”. It is unclear how anything can be located “on” a slot as a slot is a gap or opening. Perhaps applicant meant –in—the slot?
Claim 4 recites, “to perform an extending and retracting regulation on the extending and retracting shaft in cooperation with the regulating spring”. It is unclear how applicant’s traction rod (2251) is “regulating” the extension of the shaft. It appears to be only holding it in place.
Claim 5 recites, “which is fixedly connected to one end of the dredging rotary block that is relative to the driven shaft”. It is unclear what is meant by “relative to the driven shaft”. What is relative to the driven shaft, how is it relative, all things are relative.
Claim 6 recites, “wherein one side of the dredging rotary block that is located on the top column is provided with a cutting and blocking edge”. It is unclear what this means, how is a side of the block on the column? Does applicant mean the side of the block the column is on?
Claim 8 recites, “a mounting block, which is fixedly connected to an upper end of the lifting shaft wherein an upper end thereof is rotationally connected to a guide wheel. It is unclear what “thereof” is referring to, the shaft or the mounting block.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Tong (CN 112827960, provided herein, see English translation provided herein).
For claim 1, Tong discloses an intelligent robot for long-distance detection in a drainage deep tunnel (abstract and figs.), comprising:
a tunnel pipe (sewage pipeline, abstract);
a cleaning unit, comprising a conduction assembly for conducting a blocked part of the tunnel pipe (10), a cleaning assembly located on one side of the conduction assembly and used for cleaning the conducted tunnel pipe (7, 8), and
a drive assembly arranged on one side of the cleaning assembly and used for synchronously driving the cleaning assembly and the conduction assembly to rotate (13); and
a pushing unit (1-3), arranged on one side of the cleaning unit and used for pushing the cleaning unit to move forwards along an interior of the tunnel pipe (via wheels 3).
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.
Claim(s) 2-3 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tong.
For claim 2, Tong further discloses wherein the drive assembly comprises:
a drive motor (13), which is connected to an upper end of the pushing unit (see fig. 2),
wherein a drive end thereof is connected with a drive shaft (14);
a first gear (114), which is fixedly sleeved outside the drive shaft (fig. 2 and 5);
a housing which is sleeved outside the drive shaft (see fig. 5, not numbered but the housing around 112, 113, 114, and 14) and located between the first gear and the drive motor (fig. 1), wherein a bottom of the housing is connected to the upper end of the pushing unit, to support the drive shaft (fig. 1);
a driven shaft (at 11);
a driven gear (113), which is fixedly sleeved outside the driven shaft and meshed with the first gear, to drive the cleaning assembly and the conduction assembly to rotate (figs. 2 and 5).
Tong is silent about a bracket and a fixed block, which is fixedly connected to one side of the bracket, wherein an interior thereof is rotationally connected with a driven shaft.
It would have been an obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made as substitution of functional equivalent to substitute housing of Tong with a bracket and fixed block arrangement, in order to attach the drive mechanism to the pushing mechanism and since a simple substitution of one known element for another would obtain predictable results. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 1739, 1740, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395, 1396 (2007).
For claim 3, Tong further teaches
wherein the cleaning assembly comprises:
a mounting frame (frame of box 15), which is fixedly connected to one end of the fixed block (as modified above), wherein the driven shaft runs through the other side from one side of the mounting frame (see fig. 2);
a turntable (15), which is fixedly sleeved outside the driven shaft and located inside the mounting frame (stirring mechanism 11, see description “the stirring rod 112 drives the spiral blade ring 111 to rotate in the material collecting box 15”);
second guide cylinders (801, 803), wherein a plurality of groups of second guide cylinders are equidistantly connected along the outside of the turntable (see fig. 2);
an extending and retracting shaft (802), which is slidingly plugged inside the second guide cylinders;
a regulating spring (804), which is plugged inside the second guide cylinders and used for regulating the position of an extending and retracting rod; and
a scraping plate (805), which is connected to a top of the extending and retracting rod (see fig. 2), used for scraping off residual dirt on an inner wall of the conducted tunnel pipe (805 can perform this function).
Tong is silent about wherein the scraping plate is L-shaped.
it would have been an obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to make the different portions of the scarping plate L shaped or of whatever form or shape was desired or expedient, in order to effectively scrape and clean the pipe. A change in form or shape is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art, absent any showing of unexpected results. In re Dailey et al., 149 USPQ 47.
Claim(s) 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tong in view of Zhang (CN 108207727, provided herein, see English translation provided herein).
For claim 4, Tong is silent about wherein an inner wall of the mounting frame is provided with a ring slot, and one side of the extending and retracting shaft that is located on the ring slot is fixedly connected with a traction rod; and the traction rod is L-shaped and has a top abutting against an inner wall of the ring slot, to perform an extending and retracting regulation on the extending and retracting shaft in cooperation with the regulating spring.
Zhang teaches a pipe cleaning robot (description and figs.) including a cleaning assembly having a mounting frame (1, fig. 4) wherein an inner wall of the mounting frame is provided with a ring slot (3), and one side of the extending and retracting shaft that is located on the ring slot is fixedly connected with a traction rod (44 attaching within the slot 3); and the traction rod is L-shaped (see fig. 2) and has a top abutting against an inner wall of the ring slot (fig. 2), to perform an extending and retracting regulation on the extending and retracting shaft in cooperation with the regulating spring (see fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to make the cleaning assembly of Tong include a ring slot and traction rod arrangement, as taught by the cleaning assembly of Zhang, in order to effectively clean within a pipe.
For claim 5, modified Tong further teaches wherein the conduction assembly comprises: a dredging rotary block (10), which is connected to one side of the driven shaft (fig. 2, connects to shaft 112 via 15), to locally dredge the blocked part in the tunnel pipe (can perform this function); and
a top column (9, fig. 9), which is fixedly connected to one end of the dredging rotary block (connected to back end of 10 via 15) that is relative to the driven shaft, to pierce silts at the blocked part and guide a dredging process of the dredging rotary block (cutter assembly 9 will perform this function).
For claim 6, modified Tong further teaches wherein one side of the dredging rotary block that is located on the top column is provided with a cutting and blocking edge (9, fig. 2 and 9, on one side of 10), and the cutting and blocking edge is slant (sawtooth at 904) and used for reducing a resistance that the dredging rotary block is inserted into the blockage silts (performs this function).
Claim(s) 7-8 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tong in view of Guo (CN 213793298, provided herein, see English translation provided herein).
For claim 7, Tong further, wherein the pushing unit comprises:
a base plate (2), which is disposed inside the tunnel pipe and used for supporting the cleaning unit (see fig. 2);
a drive wheel (3), which is connected to a lower end of the base plate (fig. 2), wherein a bottom thereof is disposed on a bottom wall of the tunnel pipe (fig. 2), to drive the base plate to move along the interior of the tunnel pipe (fig. 2); and
Tong is silent about a pretensioning mechanism, which is arranged at an upper end of the base plate, wherein an upper end of the pretensioning mechanism abuts against the top of the tunnel pipe, to increase a grip between the drive wheel and the tunnel pipe.
Guo teaches a cleaning robot for a pipe (abstract and figs.) including a pretensioning mechanism (16-20), which is arranged at an upper end of the base plate (2), wherein an upper end of the pretensioning mechanism abuts against the top of the tunnel pipe (see description, configured for this arrangement), to increase a grip between the drive wheel and the tunnel pipe (see description, performs this function).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to make the cleaning robot of Tong include a pretensioning mechanism as taught by the pipe cleaning robot of Guo, in order to “avoid the uneven inner part of the pipeline; the uneven stress of the device” as per description of Guo.
For claim 8, modified Tong further teaches wherein the pretensioning mechanism comprises (see Guo);
a first guide cylinder (16), which is fixedly connected to the upper end of the base plate (fig. 1);
a lifting shaft (17), which is slidingly plugged inside the first guide cylinder (fig. 3);
a mounting block (18), which is fixedly connected to an upper end of the lifting shaft (fig. 3), wherein an upper end thereof is rotationally connected to a guide wheel abutting against the inner wall of the tunnel pipe (connects to freewheel 20 which allows for rotation); and
a tightening spring (19), to tighten the guide wheel upwards (see description).
Modified Tong fails to teach the specific arrangement of the tightening spring sleeved outside the lifting shaft and located between the mounting block and the first guide cylinder.
However this is the same arrangement as the adjusting mechanism of Tong (element 8, spring 804 outside of 802 and between 7 and 803, fig. 2 of Tong).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to make the pretensioning arrangement of modified Tong, in the same manner as the adjusting arrangement (8) of Tong, in order to adjust the guide wheels in any known manner and since a simple substitution of one known element for another would obtain predictable results. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 1739, 1740, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395, 1396 (2007).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The prior art of record is noted as it pertains to pipe cleaning robots.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAGDALENA TOPOLSKI whose telephone number is (571)270-3568. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/MAGDALENA TOPOLSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3642
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