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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mizoguchi (Applicant provided machine translation of JP2019034002).
As per claim 1, Mizoguchi (Applicant provided machine translation of JP2019034002) discloses a master device, comprising:
a fixed shaft provided to a base member (see at least pg. 4, para. 5 and Fig. 1 for rotating shaft 6a in head section 4);
a first master arm having a proximal end part turnably coupled to the fixed shaft and including a first insertion part into which a first finger of a user is to be inserted, the first master arm being configured to be turned by finger operation by the user to thereby teach a slave device to move (see at least pg. 4, para. 6 and Fig. 1 for operation unit 6 with hole 6b coupled to rotation shaft 6a; see at least pg. 5, para. 6 for the operation unit 6 and first rotary motor 8 are the master and grip 3, secondary rotary motor 9, and operation member 18 are the slave); and
a master motor provided to the base member and including a rotor that is rotated by a turning movement of the first master arm (see at least Fig. 1 and 4 for first rotary motor 8 with pinion gear 13b turned by movement of operation unit 6),
a part of the first master arm being rotatably coupled, via a first coupling pin, to a first portion that is eccentric with respect to an axis of the rotor (see at least Fig. 1 for operation unit 6 coupled to pinion gear 13a, which has axis that is offset to pinion gear 13b, by rotating shaft 6a).
As per claim 5, Mizoguchi discloses a teaching system, comprising:
a master device recited in claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above);
a slave device that operates in accordance with a turning movement of the first master arm (see at least pg. 5, para. 6 for grip 3, secondary rotary motor 9, and operation member 18 are the slave); and
a control section that controls a movement of the slave device with reference to a rotation angle and/or a torque of the rotor, the rotation angle and the torque being in accordance with the turning movement of the first master arm (see at least pg. 5, para. 6 for control unit 5 performing angular acceleration control on slaves; as angular acceleration is the second derivative of rotation angle it is controlled by rotation angle of operation unit 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 and 6 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: The closest prior art is regarded to be JP2018039065 which discloses a first and second master device for controlling a slave arm but is silent regarding a master motor including a rotor, and it would not appear to have been obvious to modify to have one.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4838. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM - 4PM ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ANNA MOMPER can be reached at (571) 270-5788. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ROBERT T NGUYEN/PRIMARY EXAMINER, Art Unit 3619
