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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 8/10/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-31 remain pending in the application. Claims 19-31 were withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I, claims 1-18 in the reply filed on 8/10/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 19-31 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 8/10/2026.
Priority
Examiner acknowledges claims to priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 or 121 for U.S. application 18973388 to U.S. provisional application serial No. 63616115 filed on 12/29/2023 and U.S. provisional application serial No. 63608034 filed on 12/08/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/28/2024, 12/22/2025 and 2/11/2026 filed after the filing date of the application on 12/09/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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 1-3 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Green 006’ (US 20210104006 A1) in view of Duan (US 20210086392 A1) and Green 680’ (US 20200276680 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Green 006’ teaches a powered saw (see Figure 1) comprising:
at least one camera (240, paragraph 0017);
a saw blade (blade, paragraph 0013);
an electronic controller (paragraph 0036) including an electronic processor and a memory (abstract), the electronic controller configured to:
the keep out area corresponding to the saw blade; receive captured images from the at least one camera, the captured images including at least a portion of the keep-out area; analyze (paragraph 0003), using a machine learning (ML) model (paragraph 0005), the captured images to determine whether a portion of a hand is present in the keep-out area (paragraph 0005); and in response to detecting the portion of the hand in the keep-out area, execute a safety action (paragraph 0005).
Green 006’ fails to teach a motor configured to drive the saw blade; an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor; receive an indication of an orientation of the saw blade from the IMU sensor; determine a keep-out area based on the orientation of the saw blade.
Duan teaches a compound saw (which as both as a miter saw and table saw (see Figure 1), a motor (32) configured to drive the saw blade (see Figure 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of Green 006’ to use the compound saw, as taught by Duan, in order to provide a multiple functional compound saw (abstract of Duan)
Green 680’ teaches a power tool including an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor (paragraph 0021), receive an indication of an orientation of the saw blade from the IMU sensor (paragraph 0084); determine a keep-out area based on the orientation of the saw blade (paragraph 0084-0086).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of Green 006’ to add the inertial measurement unit system, as taught by Green 680’, in order to provide additional information for the keep out area (abstract of Green 680’).
Regarding claim 2, modified Green 006’ further teaches the powered saw is miter saw (as modified by Duan, see Figure 1 of Duan).
Regarding claim 3, modified Green 006’ further teaches the powered saw is a table saw (as modified by Duan, see Figure 1 of Duan).
Regarding claim 11, modified Green 006’ further teaches the at least one camera comprises two cameras (paragraph 0017 of Green 006’).
Regarding claims 12-13, modified Green 006’ teaches all elements of the current invention as set forth in claim 1 above.
Modified Green 006’ teach fails to teach the two cameras comprise a first camera arranged on one side of the saw blade and a second camera arranged on an opposite side of the saw blade (as required by claim 12), the first camera and the second camera are arranged proximate the saw blade (as required by claim 13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of modified Green 006’ to change the location of the cameras any where including a first camera arranged on one side of the saw blade and a second camera arranged on an opposite side of the saw blade, the first camera and the second camera are arranged proximate the saw blade. Since the courts have held that a rearrangement of parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art, absent any showing of unexpected results. In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950) MEPE 2144.04 VI. C.
Claim(s) 4-10 and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Green 006’ (US 20210104006 A1) in view of Duan (US 20210086392 A1) and Green 680’ (US 20200276680 A1) and in further view of Blenkinsopp (US 20190145577 A1).
Regarding claim 4, modified Green 006’ teaches all elements of the current invention as set forth in claim 1 above.
Modified Green 006’ fails to teach the safety action includes at least one selected from a group of: controlling a feedback light to generate a visual warning, controlling a feedback speaker to generate an audible warning, and controlling the motor to stop.
Blenkinsopp teaches a saw device including the safety action includes at least one selected from a group of: controlling a feedback light to generate a visual warning, controlling a feedback speaker to generate an audible warning, and controlling the motor to stop (paragraph 0059).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of modified Green 006’ to add the light warning, as taught by Blenkinsopp, in order to provide additional safety to the user (abstract of Blenkinsopp).
Regarding claim 5, modified Green 006’ teaches all elements of the current invention as set forth in claim 1 above.
Modified Green 006’ fails to teach the keep-out area includes a warning zone and a danger zone, the danger zone being smaller than the warning zone.
Blenkinsopp teaches a saw device including the keep-out area includes a warning zone and a danger zone, the danger zone being smaller than the warning zone (paragraph 0059 and Figure 1b and 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of modified Green 006’ to add different zones, as taught by Blenkinsopp, in order to provide additional safety to the user (abstract of Blenkinsopp).
Regarding claim 6, modified Green 006’ further teaches the danger zone is at least partially contained within the warning zone system (as modified, paragraph 0059 and Figure 1b and 2 of Blenkinsopp).
Regarding claim 7, modified Green 006’ further teaches in response to detecting the portion of the hand in the warning zone, the electronic controller is configured to execute a first safety action; and wherein, in response to detecting the portion of the hand in the danger zone, the electronic controller is configured to execute a second safety action (as modified, paragraph 0059 and Figure 1b and 2 of Blenkinsopp).
Regarding claim 8, modified Green 006’ further teaches the first safety action comprises at least one of controlling a feedback light to generate a visual warning or controlling a feedback speaker to generate an audible warning (as modified, paragraph 0059 and Figure 1b and 2 of Blenkinsopp).
Regarding claim 9, modified Green 006’ further teaches the second safety action comprises controlling the motor to stop (as modified, paragraph 0059 and Figure 1b and 2 of Blenkinsopp).
Regarding claim 10, modified Green 006’ further teaches the second safety action further comprises at least one of controlling a feedback light to generate a visual warning or controlling a feedback speaker to generate an audible warning (as modified, paragraph 0059 and Figure 1b and 2 of Blenkinsopp).
Regarding claim 14, modified Green 006’ further teaches the electronic controller is generate optical flow field data by analyzing the captured images using an optical flow detection model (abstract of Green 006’); determine a presence of an unsafe operating condition based on motion vectors contained in the optical flow field data (see abstract of Green 680’).
Modified Green 006’ in response to detecting the presence of the unsafe operating condition, execute an additional safety action.
Blenkinsopp teaches a saw device including the keep-out area includes a warning zone and a danger zone, the danger zone being smaller than the warning zone (paragraph 0059 and Figure 1b and 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of modified Green 006’ to add different zones, as taught by Blenkinsopp, in order to provide additional safety to the user (as modified, paragraph 0059 and Figure 1b and 2 of Blenkinsopp).
Regarding claim 15, modified Green 006’ further teaches the additional safety action includes at least one of controlling a feedback light to generate a visual warning, controlling a feedback speaker to generate an audible warning, and controlling the motor to stop (as modified, paragraph 0059 and Figure 1b and 2 of Blenkinsopp).
Regarding claim 16, modified Green teaches the presence of the unsafe operating condition is determined when at least one motion vector in the optical flow field data indicates motion of an object towards the keep-out area (as modified, abstract of Green680’).
Regarding claim 17, modified Green 006’ further teaches the presence of the unsafe operating condition is determined when at least one motion vector in the optical flow field data indicates motion of an object from the saw blade with a velocity above a safety threshold value (as modified, abstract of Green680’).
Regarding claim 18, modified Green 006’ further teaches the presence of the unsafe operating condition is determined when at least one motion vector in the optical flow field data indicates an unsafe environmental condition around the powered saw (as modified, abstract of Green680’).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LIANG DONG whose telephone number is (571)270-0479. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8 AM-6 PM.
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/LIANG DONG/Examiner, Art Unit 3724 9/18/2026
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