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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/09/2025 and 04/07/2026 are 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
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-4, 6-7, 11-14, and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (US Pre-Granted Publication No. US 2024/0278432 A1 hereinafter “He”) in view of Lawrence, III et al. (US Pre-Granted Publication No. US 2017/0297198 A1 hereinafter “Lawerence”).
Regarding claim 1 He discloses:
A robotic laser … system comprising … (He [0044] wherein the robot includes laser processing) a camera configured to capture light and depth information in an input image of a workpiece; (He [0056] wherein the robot system includes point cloud scanning and a vision system to create 3D images i.e. light and depth information for the workpiece) processing circuitry and associated memory storing instructions that when executed cause the processing circuitry to: (He [0047] wherein the system relies on logic circuitry and other microprocessors to determine controls to follow) receive the input image; (He [0048] [0055-0056] wherein the system uses the images or camera systems to process the work surface) segment the input image to produce an image segment that depicts at least a portion of the workpiece; (He [0058-0061] wherein the system uses the images and point clouds to depict the surface of the workpiece) apply a surface-fitting algorithm to generate a polynomial surface that is fit to the surface in the image segment; (He [0060] [0063] wherein the surface of the workpiece is determined with sub-patches to cover the surface as a polynomial) compute a set of surface normal vectors across the polynomial surface and generate a set of waypoints offset from the polynomial surface by an offset length; (He [0094] [0088] wherein the system creates normal vectors for the surface) programmatically generate a motion path linking a plurality of the waypoints; and (He [0083-0086] wherein the system creates a trajectory for the robot to follow based on waypoints) perform laser … of the surface of the portion of the workpiece with the laser componentry by moving the end effector of the robot based on the motion path. (He [0112] [0044] wherein the robot moves the tool head based on the path shape determined, including laser processing).
While He discloses means for laser processing, He does not appear to explicitly disclose:
… laser ablation system … a robot having an end effector configured to move in a plurality of degrees of freedom; laser componentry mounted to the end effector; … perform laser ablation
However, in the same field of endeavor of robot controls Lawrence discloses:
“laser ablation system” (Lawrence [0046] [0049] [0059] wherein the robot includes an ablation system to remove a coat) and “a robot having an end effector configured to move in a plurality of degrees of freedom; (Lawrence [0059-0064] [0175-0181] fig. 3 wherein the system includes a laser on a robot with a poseable end effector) laser componentry mounted to the end effector;” (Lawrence [0050] [0053] wherein the components are mounted to the robot end effector) and “perform laser ablation” (Lawrence [0046] [0049] [0059] wherein the robot includes an ablation system to remove a coat)
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the ablation system of Lawrence with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to process a workpiece in a desired manner, such as through ablation of a top coat with an accurate plan that is both efficient and high quality (Lawrence [0008] [0059]).
Regarding claim 2 He in view of Lawrence disclose all of the limitations of claim 1 and He further discloses:
The robotic laser ablation system of claim 1, wherein the segmenting is accomplished at least in part by: identifying a seed point in the input image; and (He [0085-0086] [0081-0082] wherein the system determines where to start the waypoints, or the user may select a point to start on the working area) … and an associated depth coordinate from the camera to the surface. (He [0056-0057] wherein the 3D depth information for the surface based on the point cloud are determined in a coordinate system).
He does not appear to explicitly disclose:
… implementing a segmentation algorithm using the seed point to identify a region of pixels in the input image that depicts a surface of the portion of the workpiece, each pixel in the region having associated two-dimensional coordinates in the input image …
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Lawrence discloses:
“implementing a segmentation algorithm using the seed point to identify a region of pixels in the input image that depicts a surface of the portion of the workpiece, (Lawrence [0059] [0149] wherein the system includes representing the image in individual pixel regions to texture the image of the physical surface area using individual image pixels) each pixel in the region having associated two-dimensional coordinates in the input image” (Lawrence [0125-0126] wherein the system includes surface coordinates of the workpiece to determine a trajectory of the robot to follow)
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the ablation system segmentation based on pixels of Lawrence with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide the system a means of quickly identifying what aspects of a workpiece are desired to be impacted, such as a topcoat or substrate, and allow the robot to operate as desired based on such segmented information (Lawrence [0149]).
Regarding claim 3 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 2 and He further discloses:
The robotic laser ablation system of claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to display on a graphical user-interface (GUI) a confirmation selector configured to receive user input confirming the seed point and/or confirming the image segment contains the surface. (He [0053] [0085-0086] [0081-0082] wherein the system includes a user interface to allow the user to control and select points on the surface).
Regarding claim 4 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 2 and He further discloses:
The robotic laser ablation system of claim 2, wherein the identifying of the seed point is accomplished at least in part by: user selection of the seed point via a graphical user-interface (GUI); (He [0053] [0085-0086] [0081-0082] wherein the system includes a user interface to allow the user to control and select points on the surface) or programmatic determination of the seed point based on a determination criterion. (He [0055] wherein the system can alternatively automatically determine the surface fitting based on the scanning data).
Regarding claim 6 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 but He does not appear to further disclose:
… wherein the laser componentry includes a laser source and/or a laser guiding optical element, and the laser ablation is performed by: moving the robot to cause the laser componentry mounted on the end effector to travel along the motion path; and intermittently or continuously energizing the laser source as the laser componentry travels along the motion path.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Lawrence discloses:
“wherein the laser componentry includes a laser source and/or a laser guiding optical element, (Lawrence [0039] wherein vision system for the laser includes a laser scanner and stripper i.e. optical element and laser source) and the laser ablation is performed by: moving the robot to cause the laser componentry mounted on the end effector to travel along the motion path; (Lawrence [0096-0097] wherein the system includes moving the robot around the trajectory to remove the surface coating) and intermittently or continuously energizing the laser source as the laser componentry travels along the motion path.” (Lawrence [0049] wherein the laser is the laser is controlled based on modulating the intensity while operating to energize the laser).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the ablation system of Lawrence with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to process a workpiece in a desired manner, such as through ablation of a top coat with an accurate plan that is both efficient and high quality (Lawrence [0008] [0059]).
Regarding claim 7 He in view of Lawrence discloses al of the limitations of claim 1 but He does not appear to disclose:
… wherein the processing circuitry is configured to segment the input image using a segmentation model selected from the group consisting of include semantic segmentation models, instance segmentation models, panoptic segmentation models, edge detection models, region- based segmentation models, clustering-based segmentation models, attention-based segmentation models, real-time segmentation models, nearest neighbor segmentation models, and a segment anything model.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Lawrence discloses:
“wherein the processing circuitry is configured to segment the input image using a segmentation model selected from the group consisting of include semantic segmentation models, instance segmentation models, panoptic segmentation models, edge detection models, region- based segmentation models, clustering-based segmentation models, attention-based segmentation models, real-time segmentation models, nearest neighbor segmentation models, and a segment anything model.” (Lawrence [0152-0156] wherein the segmentation of the image includes non-Gaussian regions, geometric shapes, weighted schemes, or other region segmentation systems to break up the image).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the ablation segmentation system of Lawrence with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the input images for further operation of the surface to detect how to process the surface (Lawrence [0151-0152]).
Regarding claim 11 He discloses:
A method that facilitates robotic laser … the method comprising: (He [0044] wherein the robot includes laser processing) receiving an input image of a workpiece from a camera (He [0056] wherein the robot system includes point cloud scanning and a vision system to create 3D images i.e. light and depth information for the workpiece) … the camera being configured to capture light and depth information in the input image of the workpiece; (He [0056] wherein the robot system includes point cloud scanning and a vision system to create 3D images i.e. light and depth information for the workpiece) segmenting the input image to produce an image segment that depicts at least a portion of the workpiece; (He [0058-0061] wherein the system uses the images and point clouds to depict the surface of the workpiece) applying a surface-fitting algorithm to generate a polynomial surface that is fit to the surface in the image segment; (He [0060] [0063] wherein the surface of the workpiece is determined with sub-patches to cover the surface as a polynomial) computing a set of surface normal vectors across the polynomial surface and generating a set of waypoints offset from the polynomial surface by an offset length; (He [0094] [0088] wherein the system creates normal vectors for the surface) programmatically generating a motion path linking a plurality of the waypoints of the set of waypoints; (He [0083-0086] wherein the system creates a trajectory for the robot to follow based on waypoints) and performing, … laser … of the surface of the portion of the workpiece based on the motion path. (He [0112] [0044] wherein the robot moves the tool head based on the path shape determined, including laser processing).
While He discloses means for laser processing, He does not appear to explicitly disclose:
… laser ablation … and a camera mounted to an end effector of a robot, the end effector being configured to move in a plurality of degrees of freedom and … and using laser componentry mounted to the end effector of the robot, laser … laser ablation
However, in the same field of endeavor of robot controls Lawrence discloses:
“laser ablation system” (Lawrence [0046] [0049] [0059] wherein the robot includes an ablation system to remove a coat) and “a camera mounted to an end effector of a robot, the end effector being configured to move in a plurality of degrees of freedom and (Lawrence [0068] fig. 2 wherein the system includes a surface analysis camera and light attached to the end effector) using laser componentry mounted to the end effector of the robot, laser” (Lawrence [0050] [0053] wherein the components are mounted to the robot end effector) and “perform laser ablation” (Lawrence [0046] [0049] [0059] wherein the robot includes an ablation system to remove a coat)
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the ablation system of Lawrence with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to process a workpiece in a desired manner, such as through ablation of a top coat with an accurate plan that is both efficient and high quality (Lawrence [0008] [0059]).
Regarding claim 12 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 11 and He further discloses:
The method of claim 11, wherein the segmenting is accomplished at least in part by: identifying a seed point in the input image; and (He [0085-0086] [0081-0082] wherein the system determines where to start the waypoints, or the user may select a point to start on the working area … and an associated depth coordinate from the camera to the surface. (He [0056-0057] wherein the 3D depth information for the surface based on the point cloud are determined in a coordinate system).
He does not appear to explicitly disclose:
… implementing a segmentation algorithm using the seed point to identify a region of pixels in the input image that depicts a surface of the portion of the workpiece, each pixel in the region having associated two-dimensional coordinates in the input image …
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Lawrence discloses:
“implementing a segmentation algorithm using the seed point to identify a region of pixels in the input image that depicts a surface of the portion of the workpiece, (Lawrence [0059] [0149] wherein the system includes representing the image in individual pixel regions to texture the image of the physical surface area using individual image pixels) each pixel in the region having associated two-dimensional coordinates in the input image” (Lawrence [0125-0126] wherein the system includes surface coordinates of the workpiece to determine a trajectory of the robot to follow)
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the ablation system segmentation based on pixels of Lawrence with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide the system a means of quickly identifying what aspects of a workpiece are desired to be impacted, such as a topcoat or substrate, and allow the robot to operate as desired based on such segmented information (Lawrence [0149]).
Regarding claim 13 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 12 and He further discloses:
The method of claim 12 further comprising displaying on a graphical user-interface (GUI) a confirmation selector configured to receive user input confirming the seed point and/or confirming the image segment contains the surface. (He [0053] [0085-0086] [0081-0082] wherein the system includes a user interface to allow the user to control and select points on the surface).
Regarding claim 14 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 12 and He further discloses:
The method of claim 12, wherein the identifying of the seed point is accomplished at least in part by: obtaining user selection of the seed point via a graphical user-interface (GUI); (He [0053] [0085-0086] [0081-0082] wherein the system includes a user interface to allow the user to control and select points on the surface) or programmatically determining the seed point based on a determination criterion. (He [0055] wherein the system can alternatively automatically determine the surface fitting based on the scanning data).
Regarding claim 16 He in view Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 11 but He does not appear to disclose:
… wherein the laser componentry includes a laser source and/or a laser guiding optical element, and the performing laser ablation includes: moving the robot to cause the laser componentry mounted on the end effector to travel along the motion path; and intermittently or continuously energizing the laser source as the laser componentry travels along the motion path.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Lawrence discloses:
“wherein the laser componentry includes a laser source and/or a laser guiding optical element, (Lawrence [0039] wherein vision system for the laser includes a laser scanner and stripper i.e. optical element and laser source) and the performing laser ablation includes: moving the robot to cause the laser componentry mounted on the end effector to travel along the motion path; (Lawrence [0096-0097] wherein the system includes moving the robot around the trajectory to remove the surface coating) and intermittently or continuously energizing the laser source as the laser componentry travels along the motion path.” (Lawrence [0049] wherein the laser is the laser is controlled based on modulating the intensity while operating to energize the laser).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the ablation system of Lawrence with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to process a workpiece in a desired manner, such as through ablation of a top coat with an accurate plan that is both efficient and high quality (Lawrence [0008] [0059]).
Regarding claim 17 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 11 but He does not appear to disclose:
… wherein the segmenting the input image employs a segmentation model selected from the group consisting of include semantic segmentation models, instance segmentation models, panoptic segmentation models, edge detection models, region-based segmentation models, clustering-based segmentation models, attention-based segmentation models, real-time segmentation models, nearest neighbor segmentation models, and a segment anything model.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Lawrence discloses:
“wherein the segmenting the input image employs a segmentation model selected from the group consisting of include semantic segmentation models, instance segmentation models, panoptic segmentation models, edge detection models, region-based segmentation models, clustering-based segmentation models, attention-based segmentation models, real-time segmentation models, nearest neighbor segmentation models, and a segment anything model.” (Lawrence [0152-0156] wherein the segmentation of the image includes non-Gaussian regions, geometric shapes, weighted schemes, or other region segmentation systems to break up the image).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the ablation segmentation system of Lawrence with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the input images for further operation of the surface to detect how to process the surface (Lawrence [0151-0152]).
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He and Lawrence as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Corkum et al. (US Pre-Granted Publication No. US 2018/0126553 A1 hereinafter “Corkum”).
Regarding claim 5 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 and He further teaches:
The robotic laser ablation system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to define two-dimensional frames that contain respective subsets of the waypoints, (He [0057-0061] [0081] wherein the system determines sub-patches on the surface that include the scanned surface and waypoints on the surface) and wherein the subsets of the waypoints in each two-dimensional frame are linked by subpaths of the motion path, (He [0057-0061] [0091] wherein the system determines a path to follow based on the sub-patches and the designated points) …
He does not appear to disclose:
… and wherein the motion path is generated in camera space, and the processing circuitry is further configured to convert the motion path to a frame of reference of the robot.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Corkum discloses:
“and wherein the motion path is generated in camera space, and the processing circuitry is further configured to convert the motion path to a frame of reference of the robot.” (Corkum [0067] wherein the camera’s position during operations and the known offset of the end effector are used to transform the camera position to the reference frame of the arm)
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the camera frame transformation of Corkum with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow for the system to calibrate successfully based on what was observed from the camera in a frame for the robot to follow (Corkum [0067] [0014-0015]).
Regarding claim 15 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 15 and He further discloses:
The method of claim 11 further comprising defining two-dimensional frames that contain respective subsets of the waypoints, (He [0057-0061] [0081] wherein the system determines sub-patches on the surface that include the scanned surface and waypoints on the surface) wherein the subsets of the waypoints in each two-dimensional frame are linked by subpaths of the motion path, (He [0057-0061] [0091] wherein the system determines a path to follow based on the sub-patches and the designated points)…
He does not appear to disclose:
… and wherein the generating includes the motion path being generated in camera space, and the processing circuitry is further configured to convert the motion path to a frame of reference of the robot.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Corkum discloses:
“and wherein the generating includes the motion path being generated in camera space, and the processing circuitry is further configured to convert the motion path to a frame of reference of the robot.” (Corkum [0067] wherein the camera’s position during operations and the known offset of the end effector are used to transform the camera position to the reference frame of the arm)
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the camera frame transformation of Corkum with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow for the system to calibrate successfully based on what was observed from the camera in a frame for the robot to follow (Corkum [0067] [0014-0015]).
Claims 8 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He and Lawrence as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Sibley et al. (US Pre-Granted Publication No. US 2022/0118555 A1 hereinafter “Sibley”).
Regarding claim 8 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 but He does not appear to disclose:
… wherein the workpiece is one of a plurality of workpieces the camera is configured to concurrently capture in the image, and the segmentation by the processing circuitry further segments the input image into a plurality of image segments, each containing a respective one of the plurality of workpieces.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Sibley discloses:
“wherein the workpiece is one of a plurality of workpieces the camera is configured to concurrently capture in the image, and the segmentation by the processing circuitry further segments the input image into a plurality of image segments, each containing a respective one of the plurality of workpieces.” (Sibley [0251] wherein the system segments the images to highlight the different objects of interest).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the object segmentation system of Sibley with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to separate objects of interests appropriately as the items of different classes, improving the identification of the system and ensuring that only the desired item or workpiece is interacted with (Sibley [0251-0252]).
Regarding claim 18 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 11 but He does not appear to disclose:
… wherein the workpiece is one of a plurality of workpieces the camera is configured to concurrently capture in the image, and the segmenting includes further segmenting the input image into a plurality of image segments, each containing a respective one of the plurality of workpieces.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Sibley discloses:
“wherein the workpiece is one of a plurality of workpieces the camera is configured to concurrently capture in the image, and the segmenting includes further segmenting the input image into a plurality of image segments, each containing a respective one of the plurality of workpieces.” (Sibley [0251] wherein the system segments the images to highlight the different objects of interest).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the object segmentation system of Sibley with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to separate objects of interests appropriately as the items of different classes, improving the identification of the system and ensuring that only the desired item or workpiece is interacted with (Sibley [0251-0252]).
Claims 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He and Lawrence as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Holliman (US Pre-Granted Publication No. US 2025/0018500 A1 hereinafter “Holliman”).
Regarding claim 9 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 but He does not appear to disclose:
… wherein the laser ablation is applied in a square, rectangle, triangle, and/or hexagon pattern.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Holliman discloses:
“wherein the laser ablation is applied in a square, rectangle, triangle, and/or hexagon pattern.” (Holliman [0106] clm 16 wherein the laser is a square shaped pattern).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the laser shapes of Holliman with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide a laser system capable of producing various shapes that best fit the needs of the task (Holliman [0106]).
Regarding claim 19 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 11 but He does not appear to disclose:
… wherein the laser ablation is applied in a square, rectangle, triangle, and/or hexagon pattern.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Holliman discloses:
“wherein the laser ablation is applied in a square, rectangle, triangle, and/or hexagon pattern.” (Holliman [0106] clm 16 wherein the laser is a square shaped pattern).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the laser shapes of Holliman with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide a laser system capable of producing various shapes that best fit the needs of the task (Holliman [0106]).
Claims 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He and Lawrence as applied to claims 1 above, and further in view of Dallaire (US Pre-Granted Publication No. US 2021/0220944 A1 hereinafter “Dallaire”).
Regarding claim 10 He in view of Lawrence discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 but He does not appear to further disclose:
… wherein: the camera being further configured to capture confirmation image of the surface of the portion of the workpiece during and/or after performance of laser ablation on the surface of the portion of the workpiece; the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine, based on the confirmation image, that quality of laser ablation of the surface of the portion of the workpiece is insufficient; and in response that determination, perform further laser ablation on the surface of the portion of the workpiece.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Dallaire discloses:
“wherein: the camera being further configured to capture confirmation image of the surface of the portion of the workpiece during and/or after performance of laser ablation on the surface of the portion of the workpiece; the processing circuitry is further configured to: (Dallaire [0059] [0067] wherein the system determines that workpiece processing is insufficient and further passes with corrected actions are needed) determine, based on the confirmation image, that quality of laser ablation of the surface of the portion of the workpiece is insufficient; (Dallaire [0059] [0067] wherein the system determines that workpiece processing is insufficient and further passes with corrected actions are needed) and in response that determination, perform further laser ablation on the surface of the portion of the workpiece.” (Dallaire [0059] [0067] wherein the system determines that workpiece processing is insufficient and further passes with corrected actions are needed)
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the repeated processing of Dallaire with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide a laser system to subsequently correct operation of the laser in subsequent rework including passing an area more than once (Dallaire [0057]).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He in view of Lawrence, further in view of Corkum.
Regarding claim 20 He discloses:
A robotic laser … system, comprising: (He [0044] wherein the robot includes laser processing) … a camera mounted to the end effector, the camera being configured to capture an input image of a workpiece, (He [0056] wherein the robot system includes point cloud scanning and a vision system to create 3D images i.e. light and depth information for the workpiece) the input image including color information and depth information (He [0056] wherein the robot system includes point cloud scanning and a vision system to create 3D images i.e. light and depth information for the workpiece) … processing circuitry and associated memory storing instructions that when executed cause the processing circuitry to: (He [0047] wherein the system relies on logic circuitry and other microprocessors to determine controls to follow) receive the input image; (He [0048] [0055-0056] wherein the system uses the images or camera systems to process the work surface) segment the input image to generate a segmented image of at least a portion of the workpiece, (He [0058-0061] wherein the system uses the images and point clouds to depict the surface of the workpiece) at least in part by: identifying a seed point in the input image, (He [0085-0086] [0081-0082] wherein the system determines where to start the waypoints, or the user may select a point to start on the working area) wherein the identifying of the seed point is accomplished at least in part by: obtaining user selection of the seed point via a graphical user-interface (GUI); (He [0053] [0085-0086] [0081-0082] wherein the system includes a user interface to allow the user to control and select points on the surface) or programmatic determination of the seed point based on a determination criterion; (He [0055] wherein the system can alternatively automatically determine the surface fitting based on the scanning data) … and an associated depth coordinate from the camera to the surface; (He [0056-0057] wherein the 3D depth information for the surface based on the point cloud are determined in a coordinate system) apply a surface-fitting algorithm to generate a polynomial surface that is fit to the surface in the segmented image; (He [0060] [0063] wherein the surface of the workpiece is determined with sub-patches to cover the surface as a polynomial) compute a set of surface normal vectors across the polynomial surface and generate a set of waypoints offset from the polynomial surface by an offset length of the surface normal vectors; (He [0094] [0088] wherein the system creates normal vectors for the surface) define two-dimensional frames that contain respective subsets of the waypoints; (He [0057-0061] [0081] wherein the system determines sub-patches on the surface that include the scanned surface and waypoints on the surface) programmatically generate a motion path linking the waypoints, (He [0083-0086] wherein the system creates a trajectory for the robot to follow based on waypoints) wherein the subsets of the waypoints in each two-dimensional frame are linked by subpaths of the motion path, (He [0057-0061] [0091] wherein the system determines a path to follow based on the sub-patches and the designated points) … moving the robot to cause the laser … to travel along the converted motion path; (He [0112] [0044] wherein the robot moves the tool head based on the path shape determined, including laser processing) …
While He discloses means for laser processing, He does not appear to explicitly disclose:
… laser ablation system … a robot configured to move an end effector in a plurality of degrees of freedom; laser componentry mounted to the end effector, the laser componentry including a laser source and/or a laser guiding optical element; … for each of a plurality of pixels in the input image; … implementing a segmentation algorithm using the seed point to identify a region of pixels in the input image that depicts a surface of the portion of the workpiece, each pixel in the region having associated two-dimensional coordinates in the input image … wherein the motion path is generated in camera space, the processing circuitry further being configured to convert the motion path to a frame of reference of the robot; perform laser ablation of the surface of the portion of the workpiece by: … laser componentry mounted on the end effector … and intermittently or continuously energizing the laser source as the laser componentry travels along the converted motion path.
However, in the same field of endeavor of robot controls Lawrence discloses:
“laser ablation system” (Lawrence [0046] [0049] [0059] wherein the robot includes an ablation system to remove a coat) and “a robot configured to move an end effector in a plurality of degrees of freedom; (Lawrence [0059-0064] [0175-0181] fig. 3 wherein the system includes a laser on a robot with a poseable end effector) laser componentry mounted to the end effector, (Lawrence [0050] [0053] wherein the components are mounted to the robot end effector) the laser componentry including a laser source and/or a laser guiding optical element;” (Lawrence [0039] wherein vision system for the laser includes a laser scanner and stripper i.e. optical element and laser source) and “for each of a plurality of pixels in the input image;” (Lawrence [0059] [0149] wherein the system includes representing the image in individual pixel regions to texture the image of the physical surface area using individual image pixels) and “implementing a segmentation algorithm using the seed point to identify a region of pixels in the input image that depicts a surface of the portion of the workpiece, (Lawrence [0059] [0149] wherein the system includes representing the image in individual pixel regions to texture the image of the physical surface area using individual image pixels) each pixel in the region having associated two-dimensional coordinates in the input image” (Lawrence [0125-0126] wherein the system includes surface coordinates of the workpiece to determine a trajectory of the robot to follow) and “perform laser ablation of the surface of the portion of the workpiece by:” (Lawrence [0046] [0049] [0059] wherein the robot includes an ablation system to remove a coat) and “laser componentry mounted on the end effector” (Lawrence [0096-0097] wherein the system includes moving the robot around the trajectory to remove the surface coating) and “and intermittently or continuously energizing the laser source as the laser componentry travels along the converted motion path.” (Lawrence [0049] wherein the laser is the laser is controlled based on modulating the intensity while operating to energize the laser)
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the ablation system and pixel segmentation of Lawrence with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to process a workpiece in a desired manner, such as through ablation of a top coat with an accurate plan that is both efficient and high quality while operating on the segmented information determined (Lawrence [0008] [0059] [0149]).
Additionally, He in view of Lawrence does not appear to disclose:
… wherein the motion path is generated in camera space, the processing circuitry further being configured to convert the motion path to a frame of reference of the robot;
However, in the same field of endeavor of robotic controls Corkum discloses:
“wherein the motion path is generated in camera space, the processing circuitry further being configured to convert the motion path to a frame of reference of the robot;” (Corkum [0067] wherein the camera’s position during operations and the known offset of the end effector are used to transform the camera position to the reference frame of the arm)
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the camera frame transformation of Corkum with the system of He with a reasonable expectation of success because one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow for the system to calibrate successfully based on what was observed from the camera in a frame for the robot to follow (Corkum [0067] [0014-0015]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2020/0130107 A1 discloses a machining robot using a 3D scan and computer data to machine the workpiece using a laser
US 2020/0099917 A1 discloses a laser guided scanning system for a robot using cameras for capturing the image information
US 2017/0182722 A1 discloses a mold cleaning system using a robot and a laser to irradiating the beam
US 2016/0250714 A1 discloses a laser processing system using movement of the beam to spot workpiece locations
US 12,194,569 B2 discloses a coating removal robot using an ablation system
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/KYLE T JOHNSON/Examiner, Art Unit 3656
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