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 .
Claims 1-8 are pending in this application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 12/13/2024. The submission is in 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claims 1-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gao (Elastic Electroadhesion with Rapid Release by Integrated Resonant Vibration, Xing Gao, Chongjing Cao, Jianglong Guo, and Andrew Conn, Adv. Mater. Technol. 2019, 4, 1800378).
Regarding claim 1, Gao teaches an electrostatic holding device (abstract, Soft robotic grippers) comprising:
a holder (e.g. electroadhesion electrode EA, figs.1-2) that electrically holds a workpiece (page 2, flat substrates canbe picked-up) by application of a voltage (page 2, The first mode is EAgripping, and it is achieved by applying a voltage bias across thetwo EA electrodes EA V+ and EA VGND); and
a release facilitator (e.g. dielectric elastomer actuator DEA, figs.1-2) that, when the workpiece is released from the holder, facilitates the release of the workpiece from the holder (page 2, the DEA can vibrate out-of-plane with a large amplitude and force the substrate to release).
Regarding claim 2, Gao teaches the electrostatic holding device according to claim 1, wherein a contact portion of the holder with the workpiece is at least partly flexible (e.g. shape of EA electrode in DEA release mode, fig.2b), and the release facilitator includes a deformer that deforms the holder so as to reduce an area of the contact portion (page 2, central disk pushes the substrate downward to create a clear gap between the EA gripper and substrate … creating a small flat surface in the center).
Regarding claim 3, Gao teaches the electrostatic holding device according to claim 1, wherein the release facilitator includes a vibration section that vibrates the holder (page 2, perform fast release, the second actuation mode, DEA out-of-plane vibration, can be triggered by applying an alternating voltage to DEA V+).
Regarding claim 4, Gao teaches the electrostatic holding device according to claim 3, wherein the vibration section vibrates the holder in a direction connecting a position of the holder and a landing position of the workpiece (page 2, the DEA can vibrate out-of-plane with a large amplitude and force the substrate to release) (also see fig.2c).
Regarding claim 6, Gao teaches the electrostatic holding device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a drive section (page 5, the gripper first approached the target plastic film) that conveys the holder from a first position (page 5, steady-state gripping) to a second position (page 5, gripper was lifted); and
a hardware processor (page 5, The actuation voltage wave was generated by MATLAB (Mathworks) and amplified by a high voltage amplifier (Ultravolt 5HV23-BP1)) that, at the first position, causes the holder to electrically hold the workpiece by application of a voltage (page 5, 3.5 kV was applied to the EA pad. After charging the EA pad for 10 s to ensure steady-state gripping) and, at the second position, causes the holder to release the workpiece from the holder by stopping the application of the voltage or applying a reverse voltage (page 5, Release period recording was initiated when switching off the employed EA and was accomplished when substrates completely detached from the gripper).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao (Elastic Electroadhesion with Rapid Release by Integrated Resonant Vibration, Xing Gao, Chongjing Cao, Jianglong Guo, and Andrew Conn, Adv. Mater. Technol. 2019, 4, 1800378), and further in view of Diller (WO 2022241326 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Gao teaches the electrostatic holding device according to claim 6.
Gao does not teach, further comprising an attractor disposed at the second position that electrically attracts the workpiece by application of a voltage, wherein, when applying the reverse voltage to the holder, the hardware processor applies a voltage to the attractor.
Diller teaches in a similar field of endeavor of electroadhesive clutch, an attractor disposed at the second position (e.g. electrode 101 in rigid element 110, fig.2) that electrically attracts the workpiece by application of a voltage ([0034], Positive and negative charges accumulate on the electrodes I0I when a voltage is applied across them, resulting in an attractive electroadhesive force), wherein, when applying the reverse voltage to the holder, the hardware processor applies a voltage to the attractor ([0034], discharging both electrodes 101 to ground, applying an equal voltage to both electrodes 101, or by shorting oppositely charged electrodes 101 to one another).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have optionally included an attractor disposed at the second position that electrically attracts the workpiece by application of a voltage, wherein, when applying the reverse voltage to the holder, the hardware processor applies a voltage to the attractor in Gao, as taught by Diller, as it provides the advantage of simple design, wherein establishing and releasing connections can be achieved quickly.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 5, Gao (Elastic Electroadhesion with Rapid Release by Integrated Resonant Vibration, Xing Gao, Chongjing Cao, Jianglong Guo, and Andrew Conn, Adv. Mater. Technol. 2019, 4, 1800378) teaches the electrostatic holding device according to claim 1.
Gao does not teach, wherein the release facilitator is configured to form a plurality of protruded portions on a contact surface with the workpiece when a reverse voltage is applied to the holder.
Prior art Diller (US 20240271668 A1), Spicer (US 20160056734 A1), Thiel (US 20150124369 A1) and Prahlad (US 20110193362 A1) have been found to be the closest prior art.
However, none of the prior art, taken singly or in combination, teach “wherein the release facilitator is configured to form a plurality of protruded portions on a contact surface with the workpiece when a reverse voltage is applied to the holder.”
Regarding claim 8, Gao (Elastic Electroadhesion with Rapid Release by Integrated Resonant Vibration, Xing Gao, Chongjing Cao, Jianglong Guo, and Andrew Conn, Adv. Mater. Technol. 2019, 4, 1800378) teaches the electrostatic holding device according to claim 6.
Gao does not teach, wherein, when the workpiece is released from the holder, the hardware processor adjusts an angle of the holder with respect to the second position in accordance with a center of gravity of the workpiece.
Prior art Diller (US 20240271668 A1), Spicer (US 20160056734 A1), Thiel (US 20150124369 A1) and Prahlad (US 20110193362 A1) have been found to be the closest prior art.
However, none of the prior art, taken singly or in combination, teach “when the workpiece is released from the holder, the hardware processor adjusts an angle of the holder with respect to the second position in accordance with a center of gravity of the workpiece.”
Conclusion
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/SREEYA SREEVATSA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838 06/04/2026
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