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 .
Status of Claims
This action is in reply to the application filed on 3/10/2022, the amendments and response filed 6/10/2025, and the amendments and request for continued examination filed on 12/08/2025.
Claims 1, 14, and 18 have been amended.
No claims have been added.
Claims 3 and 4 have been cancelled.
Claims 1-2 and 5-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/08/2025 has been entered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS(s)) submitted on 03/21/2025 and 9/17/2025 have been received and considered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 8-11, filed 12/08/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 35 USC 102 and 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive regarding the cited prior art not teaching the newly amended elements of measuring “the actual value of the screed height […] positioned in a region of a screed’s trailing edge of the screed.” Therefore, the rejection is withdrawn. However, after further consideration, a new rejection has been made in view of Fujita (US 5393167), Shaeding (US 9458581), and Horn (DE 10025474)
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 (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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 8-10, 12-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujita et al (US 5393167, hereinafter referred to as Fujita) in view of Horn (DE 10025474, hereinafter “Horn,” all citations and excerpts taken from the attached machine translation).
Regarding Claim 1, Fujita teaches:
A road finishing machine comprising: a screed for producing a paving layer on a subsoil on which the road finishing machine is operable to move in a laying direction during a pavement drive; (Fujita Col 2 Lines 10-12 “In the method for controlling the thickness of the pavement with the leveling machine which controls the thickness of pavement leveled by a screed attached to the rear of the tractor unit”)
and a leveling system for height adjustment of the screed for compensating for irregularities in the subsoil, (Fujita Col 2 Lines 21-24 “Based on the output signal from the height sensors located in front of the screed, the uneven level of the unpaved surface is detected, and the screed is controlled to offset that uneven level,”)
wherein the leveling system includes a cascade control comprising an outer control loop which includes a first control unit configured to determine, on the basis of a […] value of a screed height of the screed relative to a predetermined reference, and on the basis of a desired value of the screed height relative to the predetermined reference, a desired value of a pulling point position of a pulling point of the screed relative to the predetermined reference, (Fujita Col 2 Lines 44-51 “The height of the paved surface of the road is measured at intervals of a specified distance in the travelling direction, and the measured values are used to create the datum line of the pavement thickness. The height of the unpaved surface is also measured, and this measured value is used to obtain the target level and the pavement thickness at the target point at the specified distance from the screed. Then, the target level compared with the datum line of the pavement thickness at the target point, and the screed is controlled to eliminate any difference,” teaching measuring the screed height compared to a datum line (a predetermined reference))
and an inner control loop which includes a second control unit configured to determine, on the basis of a detected actual value of a leveling cylinder position of an extendable piston of a leveling cylinder attached to the pulling point, and on the basis of a desired value of the leveling cylinder position, a control signal for the leveling cylinder by which the leveling cylinder can be controlled; (Fujita Col 2 Line 63 – 68 “Controlling the operation of the screed by comparing the calculated value and the target value to eliminate any difference between the two values at the target point at the specified point means that the road is being paved while controlling the screed so as to enable to achieve the desired thickness at the specified point.”)
wherein the cascade control further comprises a central control loop between the outer and the inner control loops that includes a third control unit configured to determine, on the basis of a detected actual value of the pulling point position of the pulling point of the screed relative to the predetermined reference, and on the basis of the desired value of the pulling point position determined by the first control unit, the desired value of the leveling cylinder position for the second control unit,
or a pulling point control between the outer and the inner control loops, the pulling point control configured to determine, on the basis of the desired value of the pulling point position of the pulling point of the screed determined by the first control unit, the desired value of the leveling cylinder position for the second control unit, (Fujita Col 6 Lines 56-62 “When the measured value L, which is measured by the third height sensor (19) deviates from the target control value Lo, the screed (5) is controlled in order to correct the difference between these two values. This control is based on the data previously stored in memory of the operation part in accordance with the different types of experiments,” Fig 3 showing L and L0 to be the measured and target screed heights as shown here.)
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wherein the leveling system for the outer control loop includes at least one first sensor configured to detect the […] screed height (Fujita Col 4 Lines 48-49 “the front end of the arm (18) is provided with a third height sensor (19) to measure the distance to the road surface”)
and wherein the at least one first sensor is a distance sensor for detecting a distance to the predetermined reference […] (Fujita Col 4 Lines 50-52 “The third height sensor (19) is located between the second height sensor (14) and the rear edge of the screed (5),” shown in Fig 1 to be in the region of the screed 5)
Fujita does not teach:
[…] detected actual […]
[…] actual value of the […]
[…] which is positioned in a region of a screed's trailing edge of the screed.
Within the same field of endeavor as Fujita, Horn teaches:
[…] detected actual value of a screed height of the screed relative to a predetermined reference, […] wherein the leveling system for the outer control loop includes at least one first sensor configured to detect the actual value of the screed height and wherein the at least one first sensor is a distance sensor for detecting a distance to the predetermined reference which is positioned in a region of a screed's trailing edge of the screed. (Horn Pg 4 ¶ 6 “In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, a height sensor 28, which serves as a distance sensor, is now stationary with respect to the tractor 10 of the paver, for example by means of a rigid connection 30 to the chassis of the tractor. The height sensor 28, or the lower edge of the same, forms the reference position of the tractor 10 of the paver in this embodiment, and measures the relative distance hs to a reference position on the train arm-plank composite, for example in the illustrated embodiment by an upper Edge 32 of the screed 16 is formed. The height sensor 28 is also arranged such that a measuring axis 34 for detecting the distance between the height sensor 28 and the reference position 32 extends through the lower edge 26 of Bohlenhin. In this exemplary embodiment, the height sensor 28 is therefore preferably located directly above the lower trailing edge of the screed, as shown in FIG. 1. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the measuring axis runs perpendicular to a longitudinal axis 36 of the tractor,” and Pg 2 ¶ 11 – Pg 3 ¶ 1 “The present invention is based on the knowledge that it is possible based on the detection of a relative Distance between a first reference point on the tractor one Paver and a second reference point on the Screed composite of the road paver the exact layer thickness of a material installation to be applied. This is possible because the first reference point on the paver's tractor a defined positional relationship to the Un rear of the paver's undercarriage, which is on the Un lies on the ground, and has the second reference position a defined position on the tie arm-screed composite drawing to the bottom trailing edge of the screed, which is the thickness of the defines material layer to be applied,” and Pg 3 ¶ 6 “In any case, a distance sensor is provided according to the invention see the relative distance between a reference point sition on the tractor (e.g. the chassis) Paver and a reference position on the screed or the pull arm of the same. Based on the relative Distance, the layer thickness is recorded, which is then under Ver appropriate control algorithms can be used, to optimize the installation behavior of the paver rea to be able to,” teaching item 28 as a sensor located above the lower trailing edge of the screed (in a region of a screed’s trailing edge) which measures the screed height relative to a predetermined reference, in this case the defined height of the chassis of the paver)
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Fujita and Horn are considered analogous because they both relate to automatic control of paving machine screed height. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sensing of screed height based on height of sensor 19 over the datum level of Fujita with the simple substitution of Horn’s sensor to measure the actual height of the sensor over the screed, located over the lower trailing edge of the screed, to determine the actual screed height relative to the ground using the defined height of the paver. This substitution would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by improving thickness measurement by detecting an exact layer thickness of material paving (Horn Pg 2 ¶ 3).
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 1 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the outer control loop comprises a closed-loop controlled system whose output quantity is the detected actual value of the screed height of the screed relative to the predetermined reference, and/or whose input quantity is the detected actual value of the pulling point position of the pulling point of the screed relative to the predetermined reference (Fujita Col 2 Lines 44-51 “The height of the paved surface of the road is measured at intervals of a specified distance in the travelling direction, and the measured values are used to create the datum line of the pavement thickness. The height of the unpaved surface is also measured, and this measured value is used to obtain the target level and the pavement thickness at the target point at the specified distance from the screed” describing an output quantity of the detected screen height relative to the reference pavement thickness)
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 1 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the inner control loop comprises a closed-loop controlled system whose output quantity is the detected actual value of the leveling cylinder position of the extendable piston of the leveling cylinder attached to the pulling point, and/or whose input quantity is the control signal for the leveling cylinder. (Fujita Col 4 Lines 50-52 “(14) The details of the operation conducted by the operation unit (43) are 1 to calculate the target control value Lo measured by the third height sensor (19) based on data obtained when the operation of the asphalt finisher. AF is steady, and calculate the amount of action required in the pivot cylinder (8) for controlling the screed based on the calculated target value Lo, 2 to calculate the difference E between the value measured by the third height sensor (19) and the object control value Lo, and 3 to provide an appropriate correction for the target control value Lo measured by the third height sensor (19) when the difference .epsilon. between the object thickness of pavement To and the actual average thickness of pavement Ta exceeds a certain range,” describing one of the inputs as the control signal for the pivot cylinder)
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 1 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the central control loop comprises a closed-loop controlled system whose output quantity is the detected actual value of the pulling point position of the screed, and/or whose input quantity is the detected actual value of the leveling cylinder position. (Fujita Col 6 Lines 56-62 “This control is based on the data previously stored in memory of the operation part in accordance with the different types of experiments,” describing an output control value of a stored leveling cylinder position)
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 1 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the leveling system for the central control loop includes a third sensor configured to detect the actual value of the pulling point position to the predetermined reference. (Fujita Col 4 Lines 20-23 “(4) The symbol (11) shows the measuring units, one is provided on the left, and one on the right side of the tractor unit. The measuring unit (11) consists of a first height sensor (13) at the end of the measuring arm (12),” shown in Fig 1 to be located in the region of the pivot point)
Regarding Claim 10, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 9 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the third sensor is a distance sensor for detecting a distance to the predetermined reference
which is positioned in the region of the pulling point of the screed. (Fujita Col 4 Lines 20-23 “(4) The symbol (11) shows the measuring units, one is provided on the left, and one on the right side of the tractor unit. The measuring unit (11) consists of a first height sensor (13) at the end of the measuring arm (12),” shown in Fig 1 to be located in the region of the pivot point)
Regarding Claim 12, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 1 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the cascade control is supplemented by a layer thickness calculation module configured to determine, on the basis of an identified current layer thickness of the produced paving layer, and/or on the basis of a desired value of the layer thickness of the paving layer to be produced, the desired value of the screed height for the outer control loop. (Fujita Col 7 Lines 32-38 “it is determined, based on the signal sent from the operation unit (33), whether or not the average value Ta of the actual thickness of the pavement is greatly different from the target thickness of the pavement To. If this difference is outside a certain range, the constant Lo is adjusted to an appropriate value,” describing an output of a desired screed height adjusted based on the layer thickness)
Regarding Claim 13, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 12 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the layer thickness calculation module is configured to determine the layer thickness from a progression of the sensor measurements employed for leveling. (Fujita Col 5 Lines 31-38 “The details of the operation conducted by the operation unit (33) are 1 to calculate the thickness of pavement T from the difference between the levels at two measurement points simultaneously measured by a pair of height sensors (13) and (14), 2 to choose multiple continuous points from the calculated thickness of pavement T and calculate the average value Ta of the thickness of pavement T”)
Regarding Claim 14, Fujita teaches:
A method of leveling a screed of a road finishing machine for producing a paving layer on a subsoil on which the road finishing machine is moving in a laying direction during a pavement drive, (Fujita Col 2 Lines 10-12 “In the method for controlling the thickness of the pavement with the leveling machine which controls the thickness of pavement leveled by a screed attached to the rear of the tractor unit”)
wherein irregularities in the subsoil are compensated by a leveling system which performs a leveling of the screed (Fujita Col 2 Lines 21-24 “Based on the output signal from the height sensors located in front of the screed, the uneven level of the unpaved surface is detected, and the screed is controlled to offset that uneven level,”)
by a cascade control, wherein an outer control loop of the cascade control determines, by a first control unit, on the basis of a […] value of a screed height of the screed relative to a predetermined reference, and on the basis of a desired value of the screed height relative to the predetermined reference, a desired value of a pulling point position of a pulling point of the screed relative to the predetermined reference, (Fujita Col 2 Lines 44-51 “The height of the paved surface of the road is measured at intervals of a specified distance in the travelling direction, and the measured values are used to create the datum line of the pavement thickness. The height of the unpaved surface is also measured, and this measured value is used to obtain the target level and the pavement thickness at the target point at the specified distance from the screed. Then, the target level compared with the datum line of the pavement thickness at the target point, and the screed is controlled to eliminate any difference,” teaching measuring the screed height compared to a datum line (a predetermined reference))
and wherein an inner control loop of the cascade control determines, by a second control unit, on the basis of a detected actual value of a leveling cylinder position of an extendable piston of a leveling cylinder attached to the pulling point of the screed, and on the basis of a desired value of the leveling cylinder position, a control signal for the leveling cylinder by which the leveling cylinder is controlled for height adjustment of the screed, (Fujita Col 2 Line 63 – 68 “Controlling the operation of the screed by comparing the calculated value and the target value to eliminate any difference between the two values at the target point at the specified point means that the road is being paved while controlling the screed so as to enable to achieve the desired thickness at the specified point.”)
the method comprising: determining, by a third control unit of a central control loop present between the outer and the inner control loops of the cascade control, on the basis of a detected actual value of the pulling point position of the pulling point of the screed relative to the predetermined reference, and on the basis of the desired value of the pulling point position determined by the first control unit, the desired value of the leveling cylinder position for the second control unit;
or determining, by a pulling point control present between the outer and the inner control loops of the cascade control, on the basis of the desired value of the pulling point position of the pulling point of the screed determined by the first control unit, the desired value of the leveling cylinder position for the second control unit; (Fujita Col 6 Lines 56-62 “When the measured value L, which is measured by the third height sensor (19) deviates from the target control value Lo, the screed (5) is controlled in order to correct the difference between these two values. This control is based on the data previously stored in memory of the operation part in accordance with the different types of experiments,” Fig 3 showing L and L0 to be the measured and target screed heights as shown above in Claim 1.)
wherein the leveling system for the outer control loop includes at least one first sensor configured to detect the […] screed height (Fujita Col 4 Lines 48-49 “the front end of the arm (18) is provided with a third height sensor (19) to measure the distance to the road surface”)
and wherein the at least one first sensor is a distance sensor for detecting a distance to the predetermined reference […] (Fujita Col 4 Lines 50-52 “The third height sensor (19) is located between the second height sensor (14) and the rear edge of the screed (5),” shown in Fig 1 to be in the region of the screed 5)
Fujita does not teach:
[…] detected actual […]
[…] actual value of the […]
[…] which is positioned in a region of a screed's trailing edge of the screed.
Within the same field of endeavor as Fujita, Horn teaches:
[…] detected actual value of a screed height of the screed relative to a predetermined reference, […] wherein the leveling system for the outer control loop includes at least one first sensor configured to detect the actual value of the screed height and wherein the at least one first sensor is a distance sensor for detecting a distance to the predetermined reference which is positioned in a region of a screed's trailing edge of the screed. (Horn Pg 4 ¶ 6 “In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, a height sensor 28, which serves as a distance sensor, is now stationary with respect to the tractor 10 of the paver, for example by means of a rigid connection 30 to the chassis of the tractor. The height sensor 28, or the lower edge of the same, forms the reference position of the tractor 10 of the paver in this embodiment, and measures the relative distance hs to a reference position on the train arm-plank composite, for example in the illustrated embodiment by an upper Edge 32 of the screed 16 is formed. The height sensor 28 is also arranged such that a measuring axis 34 for detecting the distance between the height sensor 28 and the reference position 32 extends through the lower edge 26 of Bohlenhin. In this exemplary embodiment, the height sensor 28 is therefore preferably located directly above the lower trailing edge of the screed, as shown in FIG. 1. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the measuring axis runs perpendicular to a longitudinal axis 36 of the tractor,” and Pg 2 ¶ 11 – Pg 3 ¶ 1 “The present invention is based on the knowledge that it is possible based on the detection of a relative Distance between a first reference point on the tractor one Paver and a second reference point on the Screed composite of the road paver the exact layer thickness of a material installation to be applied. This is possible because the first reference point on the paver's tractor a defined positional relationship to the Un rear of the paver's undercarriage, which is on the Un lies on the ground, and has the second reference position a defined position on the tie arm-screed composite drawing to the bottom trailing edge of the screed, which is the thickness of the defines material layer to be applied,” and Pg 3 ¶ 6 “In any case, a distance sensor is provided according to the invention see the relative distance between a reference point sition on the tractor (e.g. the chassis) Paver and a reference position on the screed or the pull arm of the same. Based on the relative Distance, the layer thickness is recorded, which is then under Ver appropriate control algorithms can be used, to optimize the installation behavior of the paver rea to be able to,” teaching item 28 as a sensor located above the lower trailing edge of the screed (in a region of a screed’s trailing edge) which measures the screed height relative to a predetermined reference, in this case the defined height of the chassis of the paver)
Fujita and Horn are considered analogous because they both relate to automatic control of paving machine screed height. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sensing of screed height based on height of sensor 19 over the datum level of Fujita with the simple substitution of Horn’s sensor to measure the actual height of the sensor over the screed, located over the lower trailing edge of the screed, to determine the actual screed height relative to the ground using the defined height of the paver. This substitution would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by improving thickness measurement by detecting an exact layer thickness of material paving (Horn Pg 2 ¶ 3).
Regarding Claim 15, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 14 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the cascade control is supplemented by at least one disturbance variable feedforwarding
and/or by a layer thickness calculation module which determines, on the basis of an identified layer thickness of the produced paving layer, and/or on the basis of a desired value of a layer thickness of the paving layer to be produced, the desired value of the screed height for the outer control loop. (Fujita Col 7 Lines 32-38 “it is determined, based on the signal sent from the operation unit (33), whether or not the average value Ta of the actual thickness of the pavement is greatly different from the target thickness of the pavement To. If this difference is outside a certain range, the constant Lo is adjusted to an appropriate value,” describing an output of a desired screed height adjusted based on the layer thickness)
Regarding Claim 16, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 14 as described above and further teaches:
wherein determining the desired value of the leveling cylinder position for the second control unit by the pulling point control is further on the basis of a digital terrain model of the subsoil on which the road finishing machine is moving for producing the paving layer. (Fujita Col 3 Lines 25-39 “In the present configuration, the thickness of the pavement and other operating conditions are entered into a recording medium by a specialist in the office. Therefore, conditions can be written in quickly and accurately, with no errors. The operator of the leveling machine simply insert the recording medium into the control unit, then starts the control unit to initiate the leveling work. If any operating conditions are changed, the data on the recording medium is rewritten to include the new conditions. If the operating conditions remain unchanged, the recording medium is repeatedly used. This allows a streamlined procedure for setting the operating conditions for the control unit.”)
Regarding Claim 17, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 1 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the pulling point control is further configured to determine the desired value of the leveling cylinder position for the second control unit on the basis of a digital terrain model of the subsoil on which the road finishing machine is moving for producing the paving layer. (Fujita Col 3 Lines 25-39 “In the present configuration, the thickness of the pavement and other operating conditions are entered into a recording medium by a specialist in the office. Therefore, conditions can be written in quickly and accurately, with no errors. The operator of the leveling machine simply insert the recording medium into the control unit, then starts the control unit to initiate the leveling work. If any operating conditions are changed, the data on the recording medium is rewritten to include the new conditions. If the operating conditions remain unchanged, the recording medium is repeatedly used. This allows a streamlined procedure for setting the operating conditions for the control unit.”)
Regarding Claim 18, Fujita teaches:
A leveling system for height adjustment of a screed of a road finishing machine, the screed for producing a paving layer on a subsoil on which the road finishing machine is operable to move in a laying direction during a pavement drive, (Fujita Col 2 Lines 10-12 “In the method for controlling the thickness of the pavement with the leveling machine which controls the thickness of pavement leveled by a screed attached to the rear of the tractor unit”)
the leveling system for compensating for irregularities in the subsoil (Fujita Col 2 Lines 21-24 “Based on the output signal from the height sensors located in front of the screed, the uneven level of the unpaved surface is detected, and the screed is controlled to offset that uneven level,”)
and including a cascade control, the leveling system comprising: an outer control loop which includes a first control unit configured to determine, based on a […] value of a screed height of the screed relative to a predetermined reference, and based on a desired value of the screed height relative to the predetermined reference, a desired value of a pulling point position of a pulling point of the screed relative to the predetermined reference, (Fujita Col 2 Lines 44-51 “The height of the paved surface of the road is measured at intervals of a specified distance in the travelling direction, and the measured values are used to create the datum line of the pavement thickness. The height of the unpaved surface is also measured, and this measured value is used to obtain the target level and the pavement thickness at the target point at the specified distance from the screed. Then, the target level compared with the datum line of the pavement thickness at the target point, and the screed is controlled to eliminate any difference,” teaching measuring the screed height compared to a datum line (a predetermined reference))
and an inner control loop which includes a second control unit configured to determine, based on a detected actual value of a leveling cylinder position of an extendable piston of a leveling cylinder attached to the pulling point, and based on a desired value of the leveling cylinder position, a control signal for the leveling cylinder which the leveling cylinder can be controlled; (Fujita Col 2 Line 63 – 68 “Controlling the operation of the screed by comparing the calculated value and the target value to eliminate any difference between the two values at the target point at the specified point means that the road is being paved while controlling the screed so as to enable to achieve the desired thickness at the specified point.”)
wherein the leveling system further comprises a central control loop between the outer and the inner control loops that includes a third control unit configured to determine, based on a detected actual value of the pulling point position of the pulling point of the screed to the predetermined reference, and based on the desired value of the pulling point position determined by the first control unit, the desired value of the leveling cylinder position for the second control unit,
or a pulling point control between the outer and the inner control loop, the pulling point control configured to determine, based on the desired value of the pulling point position of the pulling point of the screed determined by the first control unit, the desired value of the leveling cylinder position for the second control unit; (Fujita Col 6 Lines 56-62 “When the measured value L, which is measured by the third height sensor (19) deviates from the target control value Lo, the screed (5) is controlled in order to correct the difference between these two values. This control is based on the data previously stored in memory of the operation part in accordance with the different types of experiments,” Fig 3 showing L and L0 to be the measured and target screed heights as shown above in Claim 1.)
wherein the leveling system includes at least one first sensor for the outer control loop which is embodied to detect the […] screed height, (Fujita Col 4 Lines 48-49 “the front end of the arm (18) is provided with a third height sensor (19) to measure the distance to the road surface”)
wherein the at least one first sensor is embodied to detect a distance […] to the predetermined reference. (Fujita Col 4 Lines 50-52 “The third height sensor (19) is located between the second height sensor (14) and the rear edge of the screed (5),” shown in Fig 1 to be in the region of the screed 5)
Fujita does not teach:
[…] detected actual […]
[…] actual value of the […]
[…] of a screed's trailing edge of the screed […]
Within the same field of endeavor as Fujita, Horn teaches:
[…] detected actual value of a screed height of the screed relative to a predetermined reference, […] wherein the leveling system for the outer control loop includes at least one first sensor configured to detect the actual value of the screed height and wherein the at least one first sensor is embodied to detect a distance of a screed's trailing edge of the screed to the predetermined reference. (Horn Pg 4 ¶ 6 “In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, a height sensor 28, which serves as a distance sensor, is now stationary with respect to the tractor 10 of the paver, for example by means of a rigid connection 30 to the chassis of the tractor. The height sensor 28, or the lower edge of the same, forms the reference position of the tractor 10 of the paver in this embodiment, and measures the relative distance hs to a reference position on the train arm-plank composite, for example in the illustrated embodiment by an upper Edge 32 of the screed 16 is formed. The height sensor 28 is also arranged such that a measuring axis 34 for detecting the distance between the height sensor 28 and the reference position 32 extends through the lower edge 26 of Bohlenhin. In this exemplary embodiment, the height sensor 28 is therefore preferably located directly above the lower trailing edge of the screed, as shown in FIG. 1. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the measuring axis runs perpendicular to a longitudinal axis 36 of the tractor,” and Pg 2 ¶ 11 – Pg 3 ¶ 1 “The present invention is based on the knowledge that it is possible based on the detection of a relative Distance between a first reference point on the tractor one Paver and a second reference point on the Screed composite of the road paver the exact layer thickness of a material installation to be applied. This is possible because the first reference point on the paver's tractor a defined positional relationship to the Un rear of the paver's undercarriage, which is on the Un lies on the ground, and has the second reference position a defined position on the tie arm-screed composite drawing to the bottom trailing edge of the screed, which is the thickness of the defines material layer to be applied,” and Pg 3 ¶ 6 “In any case, a distance sensor is provided according to the invention see the relative distance between a reference point sition on the tractor (e.g. the chassis) Paver and a reference position on the screed or the pull arm of the same. Based on the relative Distance, the layer thickness is recorded, which is then under Ver appropriate control algorithms can be used, to optimize the installation behavior of the paver rea to be able to,” teaching item 28 as a sensor located above the lower trailing edge of the screed (in a region of a screed’s trailing edge) which measures the screed height relative to a predetermined reference, in this case the defined height of the chassis of the paver)
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Fujita and Horn are considered analogous because they both relate to automatic control of paving machine screed height. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sensing of screed height based on height of sensor 19 over the datum level of Fujita with the simple substitution of Horn’s sensor to measure the actual height of the sensor over the screed, located over the lower trailing edge of the screed, to determine the actual screed height relative to the ground using the defined height of the paver. This substitution would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by improving thickness measurement by detecting an exact layer thickness of material paving (Horn Pg 2 ¶ 3).
Regarding Claim 20, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 18 as described above and further teaches:
wherein the pulling point control is further configured to determine the desired value of the leveling cylinder position for the second control unit based on a digital terrain model of the subsoil on which the road finishing machine is moving for producing the paving layer. (Fujita Col 3 Lines 25-39 “In the present configuration, the thickness of the pavement and other operating conditions are entered into a recording medium by a specialist in the office. Therefore, conditions can be written in quickly and accurately, with no errors. The operator of the leveling machine simply insert the recording medium into the control unit, then starts the control unit to initiate the leveling work. If any operating conditions are changed, the data on the recording medium is rewritten to include the new conditions. If the operating conditions remain unchanged, the recording medium is repeatedly used. This allows a streamlined procedure for setting the operating conditions for the control unit.”)
Claim(s) 6, 7, 11, 15, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujita in view of Horn and Shaeding et al (US 9458581, hereinafter referred to as Shaeding).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 1 as described above. Fujita does not explicitly teach:
wherein the leveling system for the inner control loop includes at least one second sensor configured to detect the actual value of the leveling cylinder position.
Within the same field of endeavor as Fujita, Shaeding teaches:
wherein the leveling system for the inner control loop includes at least one second sensor configured to detect the actual value of the leveling cylinder position. (Shaeding Col 6 lines 5-9 “The hydraulic lift applied to the paving machine may be detected by and impact one or more sensors associated with the reference drive leg, an array of sensors associated with a controlled variable")
Fujita and Shaeding are considered analogous because they both relate to automatic control of paving machine screed height. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the pivot cylinder of Fujita with the addition of Shaeding’s lift cylinder sensor. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by precise knowledge and control of the cylinder position.
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Fujita, Horn, and Shaeding teaches the elements of Claim 6 as described above. Fujita does not explicitly teach:
wherein the second sensor is a distance sensor positioned in the region of the leveling cylinder for detecting the leveling cylinder position of the piston of the leveling cylinder.
Within the same field of endeavor as Fujita, Shaeding teaches:
wherein the second sensor is a distance sensor positioned in the region of the leveling cylinder for detecting the leveling cylinder position of the piston of the leveling cylinder. (Shaeding Col 6 lines 5-9 “The hydraulic lift applied to the paving machine may be detected by and impact one or more sensors associated with the reference drive leg, an array of sensors associated with a controlled variable")
Fujita and Shaeding are considered analogous because they both relate to automatic control of paving machine screed height. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the pivot cylinder of Fujita with the addition of Shaeding’s lift cylinder sensor. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by precise knowledge and control of the cylinder position.
Regarding Claim 11, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 1 as described above. Fujita does not teach:
wherein the cascade control includes at least one disturbance variable feedforwarding.
Within the same field of endeavor as Fujita, Shaeding teaches:
wherein the cascade control includes at least one disturbance variable feedforwarding. (Shaeding Col 5 lines 1-8 “In embodiments, PGC accounts for grade side disturbances by providing sensor correction values (e.g., determining unique weights to apply to sensors) that accurately and precisely couple desired disturbances at one side to desired disturbances at the other side. For example, if the grade side of a paving machine is determined to need one or more upward lift corrections, then the slope side must also be corrected up (i.e., to maintain a constant slope). In this regard, PGC incorporates feedforward components by anticipating future disturbances caused by outputs.")
Fujita and Shaeding are considered analogous because they both relate to automatic control of paving machine screed height. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the screed height control of Fujita with the addition of Shaeding’s feedforward components to anticipate future disturbances. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by accounting for and preventing future errors (Shaeding Col 4 lines 63-66).
Regarding Claim 19, the combination of Fujita and Horn teaches the elements of Claim 18 as described above. Fujita does not teach:
wherein the cascade control includes at least one disturbance variable feedforwarding.
Within the same field of endeavor as Fujita, Shaeding teaches:
wherein the cascade control includes at least one disturbance variable feedforwarding. (Shaeding Col 5 lines 1-8 “In embodiments, PGC accounts for grade side disturbances by providing sensor correction values (e.g., determining unique weights to apply to sensors) that accurately and precisely couple desired disturbances at one side to desired disturbances at the other side. For example, if the grade side of a paving machine is determined to need one or more upward lift corrections, then the slope side must also be corrected up (i.e., to maintain a constant slope). In this regard, PGC incorporates feedforward components by anticipating future disturbances caused by outputs.")
Fujita and Shaeding are considered analogous because they both relate to automatic control of paving machine screed height. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the screed height control of Fujita with the addition of Shaeding’s feedforward components to anticipate future disturbances. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by accounting for and preventing future errors (Shaeding Col 4 lines 63-66).
Conclusion
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/ZACHARY E. F. GLADE/Examiner, Art Unit 3664
/KITO R ROBINSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664