DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim(s) 1-3,5-8,10-14 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Goto et al. (JP 2022-314A). Regarding claims 1,2,11-13 and 16-18, Goto discloses a rolling mill vision system (2,3,4,5; Fig. 1) and a rolling mill metal processing method comprising an infrared camera (4) included in the vision system configured to detect a metal substrate (steel strip, 10) and acquire image data comprising an intensity distribution of infrared rays ([0021], lines 1-2) which is an image of the steel strip ([0021], lines 7-9) in a harsh environment where a vapor fume (steam) makes it difficult to visually recognize the steel strip. Goto discloses that the harsh environment including the steam vapor fume is a mill operating condition ([0007], lines 10-12) and Goto discloses that the steam vapor fume ([0021], lines 10-11) is the mill operation condition that affects visible camera operation, but the infrared intensity distribution obtained from the infrared camera (4) is not easily scattered by the vapor fume ([0016], [0021], lines 6-9).
Regarding claims 3,6,14 and 19, Goto discloses a long wave infrared camera with a wavelength of 3-1000 µm ([0023], lines 8-10).
Regarding claim 5, the Examiner’s position is that a rolling mill environment can be considered a harsh environment when compared to a clean room or particle free environment, but the rolling mill harsh environment described by Applicant as a fume or mist is read as normal rolling mill operation conditions since vapor fume steam from hot rolling during spray cooling is a normal operating condition in the rolling mill of Goto that requires the use of the infrared camera.
Regarding claim 7, Goto discloses that the vision system (2,3,4,5; [0026], lines 1-5) comprises a controller (6,7) communicatively coupled with the camera (4; Fig. 1), the controller (6,7) is configured to receive the visual camera data, perform calculation and generate a control signal (calculated roll opening difference; [0029], lines 1-2).
Regarding claims 8,10 and 20 Goto discloses that the controller (6,7; [0027],[0028]) is configured to control a piece of metal processing equipment (rolling mill; F7) by calculating a strip characteristic including meandering amount and performing leveling control ([0029], lines 7-10) during rolling mill operation ([0021], lines 6-9).
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) 4,9 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goto et al. (JP 2022-314) in view of Boku et al. (JP 11-156424). Goto does not disclose a short wave infrared camera wavelength. Regarding claims 4 and 15, Boku teaches a CCD camera (1) comprising a short-wave infrared camera [0010] having a wavelength sensitivity in the near-infrared range of 0.8 to 2.0 µm ([0008], lines 7-9) for imaging ([0009], lines 3-5) the surface of a metal substrate (steel plate) and detecting a condition of the steel sheet surface by imaging with the camera in rolling mill operating conditions where water droplets affect vision ([0005], lines 8-10). Regarding claim 9, Boku teaches an image processing device (2) to processes the image signal, which is a result of detecting the condition of the steel sheet surface and a processor with output (4) that calculates a difference of the image signal with a threshold value, and outputs to a display device (3) which has a display screen ([0020], lines 9-12) to alert an operator of an image displayed on the video monitor display screen [0025].
It would have been obvious to the skilled artisan prior to the effective filing date of the present invention to modify the infrared camera of Goto to be a short wave infrared camera as taught by Boku so that infrared wavelength sensitivity in the near-infrared region is used to detect and output a thermal image of the surface of the metal strip.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWARD THOMAS TOLAN whose telephone number is (571)272-4525. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5.
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/EDWARD T TOLAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3725
