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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/12/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5-8, filed 05/25/2026 with respect to the Olsen (US Patent Application Publication 2013/0030641) reference in the rejection of claim 14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the Olsen reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Applicant generally argues in the current response that Hayashi (US Patent Application Publication 2011/0251735) does not disclose the function of the analyzing part as currently amended. Applicant previously argued, see pages 7-8, filed 11/26/2025 that Hayashi does not disclose the analyzing part comprising the claimed “comparison mechanism.” However, the on board controller 41 has a memory 43 for storing positional data to identify positional patterns of abnormality occurrence by storing sensed data indicating abnormal conditions together with a detected time and position [see Hayashi 0034]. The instantaneous value analysis unit 72 gathers the data at different positions along a rail for a plurality of traveling vehicles to distinguish whether abnormal data indicates an issue requiring maintenance in one of the vehicles or in the external environment, such as in the rail itself [see Hayashi 0039, 0041]. The function of the instantaneous value analysis unit 72 includes the claimed comparison mechanism because the data compares past (i.e. historical) and present data, the data is acquired at different geographic locations along the rail and the data is acquired across multiple vehicles traveling on the same rail. The function of the other analysis units, such as the time series analysis unit 73 and the group analysis unit 74, requires that the function of the instantaneous value analysis unit 72 is performed first. Said differently, in order to generate time series data or statistical distributions of the data (i.e. averages, dispersion, etc.) based on a plurality of vehicles traveling at the same position or at different positions along a route, the function of the comparison mechanism must be performed first. Each of the time series analysis unit 73, the group analysis unit 74 and the correlation analysis unit 75 categorize the abnormalities indicative of the external environmental factors separately from abnormalities associated with the vehicle-specific malfunction in response to the comparison mechanism. For example, Hayashi teaches: “[t]he average value, dispersion, and the tendencies in change of the data such as vibrations, noises or the like are determined in each position of the equipment on the ground such as the rails. In this manner, the condition of vehicles as a whole and the condition of the travel route as a whole are determined. By detecting these conditions, it can be determined whether there are any vehicles or positions on the travel route having values that are deviated from the average values of the vehicles or positions in the entire system, and these vehicles or the positions are determined as targets of maintenance” [see Hayashi 0041]. Since the instant specification does not provide a special definition of the word “categorize,” the term is being broadly interpreted to mean arranging, labeling or distinguishing into separate categories.
35 USC § 101 Analysis
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 14 recites an article transfer system and therefore is directed to the statutory category of invention of a product. The product being claimed is also directed to at least one judicial exception because it is used to perform the abstract idea of determining a cause of an abnormality in the system. Determining a cause of abnormality is an abstract idea because it is an idea that may be performed as a mental process in the human mind. In addition to the abstract idea, the claim recites the additional elements of: a driving rail, a plurality of vehicles, a plurality of sensors, a storing part, a diagnosing part and an analyzing part. Claim limitations such as “storing part,” “diagnosing part,” and “analyzing part” were interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), see 11/25/2024 non-final Office action, and have been interpreted as generic computing elements for memory storage and processing as shown in Figures 1-3. Since these are generic computing elements, they do not improve the functioning of a computer, technology or technical field and simply apply the mental process to performance by a computer. The further structural elements of a “driving rail,” “plurality of vehicles” and “plurality of sensors” integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. While it is known in the art to use sensors on vehicles that travel on a driving rail, adding a sensor on every rail vehicle is non-routine. For example, sensors may be embedded in the rail instead of placed on the vehicles or excluded entirely. Therefore, the claims are not being rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101.
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) 14-16, 18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hayashi (US Patent Application Publication 2011/0251735).
Regarding claim 14, Hayashi discloses an article transfer system comprising:
a driving rail (4, 6);
a plurality of vehicles (10) configured to transfer and load or unload an article along the driving rail [0028-0029];
a plurality of sensors prepared on each of the vehicles and configured to sense operation information of the vehicles [0031-0033];
a storing part (62 or 43) configured to store operation information of the vehicles, which is transmitted from the sensors [0028-0029] [0031] [0034-0035]; and
a diagnosing part (72) configured to compare the operation information stored in the storing part with a reference operation information of a vehicle, which is previously stored, to diagnose symptom of abnormality of the vehicles [0037-0039] [0041-0042];
an analyzing part (73) configured to determine that a cause of the at least one symptom of abnormality in the vehicles is in one of the vehicles when the at least one symptom of abnormality is repeatedly generated in the one of the vehicles, and that the cause of the at least one symptom of abnormality in the vehicles is from the environment external to the vehicle and including the driving rail when the at least one symptom of abnormality is repeatedly generated in a plurality of the vehicles at a same geographic position of the driving rail, the determining using history information including historical geographic position of the vehicles and historical occurrence of the at least one symptom of abnormality in the vehicles [0005, 0014-0015, 0037, 0040, 0044-0045];
wherein the operation information comprises information of transport operation, information of load or unload operation of the vehicles, time information, distance information, distribution information, and control sequence information of unit operation of the vehicles, wherein the operation includes at least one of forward movement, reverse movement, left turn, right turn, and stop operation of the vehicle [0031-0033],
wherein the time information is information of time for performing the unit operation [0029, 0031, 0033-0034, zone controller 32 or system controller 30 receive positioning signals from each traveling vehicle 10, where the position is detected using linear sensor 52 and reported at a cycle time in the range of 0.01 to 1 second; the time when the vehicle is stopped, in the middle of transfer or in the middle of traveling as unit operations is data generated from the sensors], the distance information is information of transport distance of the vehicles or parts of the vehicles for the unit operation [0034-0035, the position detected using linear sensor 52 is used to derive the transport distance of the vehicle indicated in absolute or relative coordinates], the distribution information is information of distribution degree of values acquired from the vehicles with respect to the same unit operation [0034-0035, 0041, data from the sensors is stored in the memory 43 correlated with the time information for each of the vehicles in each control cycle including at the times when the vehicles are stopped and dispersion in the data is calculated for each position between each of the vehicles], and the control sequence information is information of sequence of control signals provided to the vehicles to perform the unit operation [0036, control instructions are for setting the target position of each vehicle in each control cycle are detected by communication unit 60],
wherein the reference operation information includes operation information of the normally operating vehicles, operation information of abnormally operating vehicles, and operation information of operating vehicles before the abnormality [0039, the instantaneous value analysis unit 72 includes reference information that classifies detected data from the vehicles into a normal range for the normally operating vehicles, an abnormal range for the abnormally operating vehicles and a caution required range for vehicles before an abnormality],
wherein the diagnosing part diagnoses the vehicles as the vehicles having the symptom of abnormality when the operation information is equal to the operation information before the occurrence of abnormality [0044, data within the caution required condition repeatedly indicates an abnormality in which maintenance is required],
wherein the analyzing part comprises a comparison mechanism configured to compare historical geographic positional data gathered over time across multiple vehicles to identify geographic positional patterns of abnormality occurrence by comparing the gathered historical geographic positional data of the multiple vehicles along the driving rail, and based on the comparison to distinguish between abnormalities indicative of at least one external environmental factor and abnormalities indicative of at least one vehicle-specific malfunction [0034, 0039], and
wherein, in response to comparing the historical geographic positional data gathered over time across the multiple vehicles, the analyzing part is configured to:
categorize abnormalities associated with a plurality of vehicles occurring at the same geographic position of the driving rail as being indicative of an external environmental factor, and
categorize abnormalities associated with repeated occurrence in the a same vehicle across different geographic positions of the driving rail as being indicative of a vehicle-specific malfunction [0039-0042].
Regarding claim 15, Hayashi further discloses wherein the diagnosing part receives the operation information from the storing part based on a geographic position of the vehicles on the driving rail [0031] [0035-0037].
Regarding claim 16, Hayashi further discloses wherein the diagnosing part receives the operation information from the storing part by each of the vehicles [0030] [0035] [0038] [0041].
Regarding claim 18, Hayashi further discloses a position checking unit including:
a position display part prepared on the driving rail to check a geographic position of the vehicles on the driving rail [0033]; and
a recognizing part (52) prepared on the vehicles to recognize the position display part [0033] [0034] [0048].
Regarding claim 20, Hayashi further discloses wherein the article comprises a storage container to store a good [0028, 0032, where the article is a front opening universal pod for storing a silicon wafer].
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayashi (US Patent Application Publication 2011/0251735) in view of Kim (US Patent Application Publication 2002/0025244).
Regarding claim 19, Hayashi discloses the system of claim 14 as discussed above but does not disclose the system further comprising a position checking unit including a global positioning system receiver prepared on each of the vehicles to check a geographic position of the vehicles on the driving rail.
Kim discloses an article transfer system comprising a position checking unit (132) including a global position system receiver prepared on a plurality of vehicles (110) to check a geographic position of the vehicles on a driving rail [0051] [0054-0055].
Kim teaches when a global positioning system receiver is used to control the movement of the vehicles, the guide rails along the traveling path may be eliminated, thereby for example simplifying the system [0055].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the global position system receivers disclosed by Kim with the vehicles disclosed by Hayashi to trace the motion of the vehicles and eliminate the need for guide rails along the driving rail.
Conclusion
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/JOSHUA CAMPBELL/
Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LOGAN M KRAFT/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747
