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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-8) in the reply filed on 4/19/20 is acknowledged.
Claims 9-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 4/19/20.
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, “where the motor rotation direction and speed is controlled from a location remote to the apparatus,” recited in claim 1; “a planetary gear,” recited in claim 2; “controlling, monitoring, a variable displacement motor and, a communication system,” recited in claims 4-6; 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.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
In claim 1, the phrase, “where the motor rotation direction and speed is controlled from a location remote to the apparatus,” is indefinite and vague. Where is “a location remote to the apparatus?”
Claim 2 is indefinite and vague. Which element constitutes “a planetary gear?”
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the tongue" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 4-6 are indefinite and vague. Where and which element(s) constitutes “controlling, monitoring, a variable displacement motor and, a communication system?”
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the tongue" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the tractor" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the tongue hitch" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 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.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Puck, US 2014/0077020 A1, in view of Quenneville et al., US 2006/0071116 A1.
Regarding claims 1 and 3-8, Puck ‘020 discloses an apparatus 10 for transporting, laying down, and picking up a hose 70, the apparatus comprising: a frame 12, at least two wheel 16 coupled through an axle 14 supporting the frame, a hose reel 34 rotatably coupled to the frame, and a motor 48 (e.g., a hydraulic motor) coupled to the hose reel to rotate the hose reel 34, where the motor rotation direction and speed is controlled by coupling hydraulic lines 50 to the hydraulic system (i.e., a vehicle, such as a tractor) through a tongue 58 (claim 3, which has a hitch, no reference number, connected to a tractor 52, see figure 1) movable coupling has a first position and a second position pivotally coupled and substantially perpendicular to the wheel axle 14 and driven by a hydraulic cylinder 62 which is connected by hydraulic lines 64 to the hydraulic system (claims 7-8), see figures 1-4.
Puck ‘020 does not explicitly show whether the motor 48 is actuated from the apparatus or from the vehicle even though the hydraulic lines 50 are connected from the vehicle to the motor.
Quenneville ‘116 discloses the concept of controlling (using 17, and see figure 6, controlling, monitoring, a variable displacement motor as same as applicant since it can be controlled remotely, a communication system, claims 4-6) an apparatus 12 a location remote to the apparatus, see figures 1-6.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the apparatus of Puck ‘020 to include control the apparatus from a remote location as suggested by Quenneville ‘116 in order to prevent any danger during the use of the apparatus. Furthermore, since all of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Regarding claim 2, as stated above, Puck ‘020 shows a hydraulic motor 48 coupled to drive the hose reel using a large gear 42, a small gear 46, and a chain 44 than using a planetary gear.
Puck ‘020 in view of Quenneville ‘116 discloses the claimed invention except for using a planetary gear. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use any already known gear(s) (i.e., such as a planetary gear which was already known in the industry and applicant did not invent a planetary gear) to drive the hose reel since using a planetary gear is another way of driving the reel without using a chain.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANG K KIM whose telephone number is 571-272-6947. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday through Thursday from 10:30 A.M. to 9 P.M or Tuesday through Thursday from 10:30 A.M. to 7 P.M.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Michael Mansen, can be reached on (571) 272-6608. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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SK
4/29/20
/SANG K KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654