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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the intrusion deep factor (a) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claim 2 recites the broad recitation 0.2<a<0.8, and the claim also recites 0.25<a<0.8 and 0.3<a<0.45 which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
claim 2 recites the broad recitation 0.025<αk<0.08, and the claim also recites 0.03<αk<0.06 which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
claim 2 recites the broad recitation 0.025<αk<0.08, and the claim also recites 0.03<αk<0.06 which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
Similar issues apply to claims 3,4, 5, 14.
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.
Claims 1, 10, 11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Shen [CN 217513879].
Regarding claim 1: Shen shows a soft muscle, comprising two end faces (150,150), a flexible sidewall (122) and a drive source port (130), the flexible sidewall (122) and the two end faces (150,150) enclosing to form a cylindrical cavity having a central axis, the flexible sidewall (122) being configured to or comprising a strain uniformly-distributed stacking structure, which is formed by stacking strain uniformly-distributed stacking layers of identical shapes so that the strain of the entire sidewall is distributed uniformly across the individual strain uniformly-distributed stacking layers, the strain uniformly-distributed stacking layers comprising at least one strain unit with a folding face (121) and a crease (see fig 5), based on a combination of the shape, thickness and stacking manner of the strain units, the strain of the individual strain unit being uniformly distributed on the folding face (121) instead of being concentrated at the crease (see fig 5), the drive source port (130) being provided on the flexible sidewall (122, 122) or on the end face (150, 150) and being configured to change the differential pressure between inside and outside of the cavity and to cause the strain uniformly-distributed stacking structure (see fig 7) to compress or extend to drive the end face (150,150) of the soft muscle to move; wherein the strain uniformly-distributed stacking layer is enclosed by a single or a plurality of folding faces (121, 121), at the joint of the folding faces (121) of two adjacent layers of the strain uniformly-distributed stacking structure, a crease plane with at least one crease (see fig 6) is formed, wherein the soft muscle has an intrusion angle ɵ (ɵ , see markup fig 5), an intrusion depth factor (see markup fig 5) a and a wall thickness t (T, see markup fig 4), the intrusion angle ɵ is the angle between two adjacent layers of the folding faces (121, 121) and the crease plane, the intrusion angle 0 varies with the compression or extension of the strain uniformly-distributed stacking structure (see fig 7), and a difference between distances from a convex crease and a concave crease on a strain unit to a central axis is defined as degree of depression, the intrusion depth factor a (A, see markup fig below) is the proportion of the degree of depression to the overall size of the convex crease, and the wall thickness t is a thickness of the flexible sidewall (122);wherein the intrusion angle 0, the intrusion depth factor a and the wall thickness t are numerically related to each other and have predefined combinations of values, such that during the deformation of the soft muscle, only folding or unfolding of the strain uniformly- distributed stacking structure occurs on the flexible sidewall (2), and the strain of the flexible sidewall (122) is uniformly distributed on each of the folding faces (121, 121) and not concentrated at the creases; wherein the folding faces (121, 121) and creases have one or two basic shapes that are repeated or gradually change in proportion, the basic shapes are circumferentially distributed about the central axis to form a layer of the strain uniformly-distributed stacking layers, and the strain uniformly-distributed stacking layers extend along the central axis to form the strain uniformly-distributed stacking structure which is repetitively stacked in the axial direction, at the joint of the folding faces (121, 121) of two adjacent layers of the strain uniformly-distributed stacking layers, a crease plane is formed, which has creases (see fig 4) having a contour in a form of a closed curve or a polygon (see fig 6), the creases on the spaced crease planes in the direction of the central axis have the same shape and the same position with respect to the central axis, the creases on the spaced crease planes and the creases on the adjacent crease planes have different concave and convex states on the flexible sidewall (122), the soft muscle has an initial intrusion angle Op in an initial state which varies from 0 to a maximum intrusion angle Omax during the compression or extension of the strain uniformly-distributed stacking structure, the crease (see fig 6) only moves along the axis with the crease plane without undergoing deformation.
Regarding claim 10: Shen shows A transmission structure, comprising a push plate, an end plate and an even number of soft muscles according to claim 1 axially arranged, central axes of the soft muscles are collinear, the push plate (200, see fig 2) being provided between two of the axially arranged soft muscles, the end plate being provided at the other end of two of the axially arranged soft muscles away from the push plate, the end plate (150, 150) being fixedly connected to the soft muscles, the push plate having a screw through with a bolt passes; and/or further comprising a communication member.
Regarding claim 11: Shen shows comprising at least one soft muscle according to 1 at least one transmission structure according to 9 (see translation “…the connecting plate 200 relative to the driving main body 100 to generate transmission or movement, affecting the normal operation of the driver 1000…”).
Regarding claim 13: Shen shows a method of designing a manipulator, comprising the steps of: obtaining a working requirement and selecting any one of the transmission structures of claim 9 as an arm joint based on the working requirement; obtaining an ambient pressure and a work load based on the working requirement and obtaining a workspace and a work stroke based on the transmission structure of the selected arm joint; and selecting, based on the soft muscle according to any one of claim 1, a type of the soft muscle and determining an initial height H (H, see markup fig 3), a radius R (R, see markup fig 3), an intrusion depth factor a, an initial intrusion angle Op, a maximum intrusion angle Omax, and a wall thickness t (T, see markup fig 4 ) of the flexible sidewall of the soft muscle based on a shape of a corresponding crease.
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shen [CN 217513879] in view of Chen [CN 114700935].
Regarding claim 9: Shen does not show comprising an end plate and at least two
soft muscles according to claim 1 arranged side by side, the end plates
being provided at two ends of at least two of the soft muscles, the at least two soft muscles having parallel central axes, in the initial state, the end plates at the same end being in the same plane and the end plates being fixedly connected to the soft muscles; and/or further
comprising a communication member. However Chen shows an end plate and at least two
soft muscles according to claim 1 arranged side by side, the end plates (300, 300)
being provided at two ends of at least two of the soft muscles (see fig 1), the at least two soft muscles having parallel central axes, in the initial state, the end plates at the same end being in the same plane and the end plates (300, 300) being fixedly connected to the soft muscles; and/or further comprising a communication member (see fig 1)
It would have been obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective date to have arranged two soft-muscles parallel to provide more power and also to have the second one act as backup in case of failure.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shen [CN 217513879] in view of Li [US Pub # 20200130175].
Regarding claim 12: Shen does not explicitly show A method of producing a soft muscle, comprising the steps of: providing a casting mould; liquefying and casting a preparation material into the mould; and heating the mould to form a soft muscle according to any one of claim 1. However Li show a method of producing a soft muscle, comprising the steps of: providing a casting mould; liquefying and casting a preparation material into the mould; and heating the mould to form a soft muscle according to any one of claim 1 (see [0118]).
It would have been obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective date to have made the soft muscle by molding process for fast production and high efficiency manufacturing process.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 14 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 6-8, 15-17 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 prior arts of the record do not disclose the specific mathematical equations cited in claims 2-8, 14-17.
[AltContent: textbox (R)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (A)][AltContent: textbox (T)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (ɵ)][AltContent: arrow]
PNG
media_image1.png
661
543
media_image1.png
Greyscale
PNG
media_image2.png
539
541
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZAKARIA ELAHMADI whose telephone number is (571)270-5324. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 10-6 EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached on 571-270-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ZAKARIA ELAHMADI/
Examiner, Art Unit 3618