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 .
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-6, and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN113210217) in view of Tu et al. (WO2023019508).
As to claim 1, Huang et al. discloses a method for applying glue onto a product (see Background/ Technical Field, page 1) in which a vision camera acquires a first image of a target material and a template image that corresponds to a reference placement of a template material; position information such as coordinates of corresponding Mark points from the target image and template image are determined and a positional deviation is calculated resulting from the difference between the actual placement position of the target material and the reference placement positioning of the template material (see page 1 of Summary of the invention). Huang et al. further teaches compensating a standard dispensing trajectory based on the determined positional deviation to obtain an actual dispensing trajectory and controlling a dispenser to apply glue according to the compensated trajectory (see Summary of invention page 1).
As to claim 9, Huang et al. discloses a system for coating a glue, comprising a camera configured to acquire a first image of the substrate (vision camera); a visual processor configured to acquire a second image and determine a deviation between a placement position and preset position of the substrate based on the first and second images (Huang calculates deviation of corresponding mark coordinates and sends the deviation to the dispenser which adjusts for the deviation); a glue coating dispenser for regulating the glue coating trajectory based on the deviation between placement position and the preset position of the substate, and coat the glue on the substrate based on the trajectory.
Huang et al. fails to teach that the target material is a water-cooling plate as required by claims 1 and 9.
Tu et al. teaches applying glue to a cooling pate and states the cooling plate may be a water-cooled plate. Tu et al. further teaches camera imaging of the water-cooled plate and use of a preset template image and target image to determine relative displacement and relative angle caused by positional variation of the water-cooled plate (see page 10, steps 301-303)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before ethe effective filling date of the invention to modify the process of Huang et al.. To use the image-based position-deviation determination and dispensing trajectory compensation of Huang et al. when applying glue to the water-cooled plate of Tu et al. in order to compensate for variations in place of the plate and maintain the intended position for glue application allowing for accurate and reliable automatic dispensing of the glue.
As to claim 2, Huang et al. teaches determining first position information of a region of the target material in the first target image and second position information of a corresponding region of the template material in the template image. Huang identified corresponding mark points (corner regions) in the target and template images and determines respective coordinate information for those points. The positional deviation is determined based on the difference between the coordinates of the corresponding mark points (see page 5 of the translation).
As to claim 3, Huang et al. teaches determining a positional deviation from corresponding coordinate positions in the target and template images and compensating the dispensing trajectory based on the determined deviation. Tu et al. teaches determining relative displacement and relative angular displacement between a target image and a present template image to account for positional and angular offset of the water-cooled plate. The determined displacement therefore includes information concerning both the amount and direction of positional variation.
As to claims 5 and 6, Huang et al. teaches, after applying the material, a second target image is collected using the vision camera to determine whether the glue application meets predetermined requirement (see Fig. 4, S104 page 6 of the translation).
As to claim 10, Huang et a. states a computer storage medium stores a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the regulating and dispensing method (see page 8 of the translation).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN113210217) in view of Tu et al. (WO2023019508) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yoshida et al. (CN115039214).
The teachings of Huang et al. modified by Tu et al. as applied to claim 1 are as stated above.
Huang et al. and Tu et al. fail to teach regulating motion trajectory of an apparatus transporting the water-cooled plate based on the deviation as required by claim 4.
Yoshida et al. teaches a substrate conveying apparatus including a robot and camera in which positional deviation of the transported substrate from a reference position is determined and used to correct the movement path of the robot transporting the substrate. Yoshida et al. determines a positional shift amount and positional shift direction and generates a corrected movement path (see Abstract, Content of Invention sections).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the substrate-transport correction technique of Yoshida et al. to the water-cooling plate process of Huang et al. modified by Tu et al. in order to detect placement deviations and compensate during transport and positioning of the water-cooling plate.
Claim(s) 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN113210217) in view of Tu et al. (WO2023019508) as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of CN11236631.
The teachings of Huang et al. modified by Tu et al. as applied to claim 6 are as stated above.
Huang et al. and Tu et al. fail to teach the first parameter comprises a parameter recited in claim 7 or determining that the glue coated cooling plate is qualified if the first parameter satisfies a preset condition as required by claim 8.
CN11236631 teaches an automated plate glue dispensing process where after glue is dispended, the glue coated plate is transported to a detection position which detects the profile of the dispensed glue line. The detected glue line profile includes parameters such as width and height of the glue line. CN11236631 further teaches comparing data collected by the detection camera with preset data and determining that the glue coated plate is qualified when the result ins within a set range and determining that the plate is defective or unqualified when the detection result exceeds a set range (see section describing Fig. 14).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to use the post-dispensing glue line inspection technique of CN11236631 in the water-cooled plate glue coating process of Huang et al. modified by Tu et al. in order to measure the quality of the applied glue and determine whether the glue-coated plate satisfies preset manufacturing requirements which can identify improperly applied glue before the coated plate proceeds to subsequent manufacturing operation.
Conclusion
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/CACHET I. PROCTOR/
Examiner
Art Unit 1712
/CACHET I PROCTOR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1712
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