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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 06/24/2025 has been entered. Claim 23 has been amended. Applicant argument with respect to claims have been fully considered and are persuasive, therefore overcome non-final rejection mailed on 08/23/2024. However, upon further consideration a new ground of rejection has been applied. Claims 1-23 remains pending.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Paul (US 7698839) in view of Hugh (WO 2012116408).
Regarding claim-1, Paul discloses a material conveyor system container (Abstract; Fig1-3) comprising:
an elevator bucket (10, Fig.1-3) having a back wall, opposed sidewalls, a bottom wall curving upward into a front wall spaced from the back wall (Fig.1-3), a lip (20, Fig.1-3), a volume of space (Fig.1 and 3), and at least one wear monitor (wear indicator 36 and 38, Fig.1-3) affixed to the elevator bucket (Col.2 line63-67 to Col.3 line1-8)
But Paul doesn’t teach wherein the wear monitor transmits information about the elevator bucket through electromagnetic fields
Hugh discloses material conveying system and also, teaches at least one wear monitor (detection system 30, Fig.1) affixed to the elevator bucket (Bucket/GET 81, Fig.8), wherein the wear monitor transmits information about the elevator bucket (The detection system 30 is able to detect the loss of the component 32 from the machine 33) through electromagnetic fields (Transmitting system, Fig.1) (See Pg.4 line30-34 to Pg.5 line1-7; Pg.10 line34 to Pg.11 line1-9; Fig.1, 5-8; Also Pg.19 line29-34 to Pg.22 line1-3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the skilled person in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to provide Paul system with the wear monitor as taught by Hugh for purpose of detecting the loss of any component of GET and upon being detected the components can be repaired or replaced on timely manner.
Regarding claim-2, Paul as modified wherein the elevator bucket (10) further comprises a wear band (36, Fig.1) affixed to the lip (20).
Regarding claim-3, Paul as modified wherein the at least one wear monitor (30/31 as taught by Hugh) is a RFID tag (31, Fig.1, 5 as taught by Hugh).
Regarding claim-4, Paul as modified wherein the at least one wear monitor (30/31 as taught by Hugh) is embedded into the lip (the component 32 may, for example, be a tooth, adapter, protective plate, or a lip of a bucket or scoop, Pg.10 line34 to Pg.11 line1-9 with Fig.5-6 shows that wear monitor is embedded in recess 76 of tooth/lip 70 of elevator bucket 81).
Regarding claim-5, Paul as modified wherein the at least one wear monitor (30/31 as taught by Hugh) is embedded into the wear band (20). It is just a mere of design and constructional detail of an apparatus in which skilled person in the art can easily construed to embed wear monitor between lip and wear band or to wear band based on required specification.
Regarding claim-6, Paul as modified wherein the information about the elevator bucket comprises time stamp information. It is just a mere of design and constructional detail of an apparatus in which skilled person in the art can easily construed to record/time stamp the wear and tear information of lip/tooth of elevator bucket which can be stored in computer database based on required specification. Moreover, RFID includes computer in which any information that are being transmit from RFID/Wear Monitor to computer can be recorded/tracked in database and is well known in the art.
Regarding claim-7, Paul as modified wherein the information about the bucket comprises date stamp information. It is just a mere of design and constructional detail of an apparatus in which skilled person in the art can easily construed to record/time stamp the wear and tear information of lip/tooth of elevator bucket which can be stored in computer database based on required specification. Moreover, RFID includes computer in which any information/data that are being transmit from RFID/Wear Monitor to computer can be recorded/tracked in database and is well known in the art.
Regarding claim-8, Paul as modified further comprising at least two wear monitors (multiple RFID tags for wear monitoring as taught by Hugh Pg.10 line34 to Pg.11 line1-9).
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claim-9 recites: “a wear band made of a second polymer and affixed to the lip; the wear band extending entirely across a top portion of the front wall and arcuate corner parts; the wear band extending across a portion of a top edge of the pair of opposed sidewalls; and wherein the second polymer is overmolded onto the first polymer” in combination with the rest of the claim language is not taught or suggested by the prior art.
Claim-21 recites: “the steps of claimed method of monitoring belt stretch of a material conveyor system using the wear monitoring system of claim 1” in combination with the rest of the claim language is not taught or suggested by the prior art.
Claim-22 recites: “the steps of claimed method of monitoring bucket detachment from a material conveyor system using the wear monitoring system of claim 1” in combination with the rest of the claim language is not taught or suggested by the prior art.
Claim-23 recites: “the steps of claimed method of monitoring belt misalignment of a material conveyor system using the wear monitoring system of claim 1” in combination with the rest of the claim language is not taught or suggested by the prior art.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.
Conclusion
Note: Examiner strongly suggest applicant to consider US 20160178483 when amending the claims as Claim 1-8 can also be rejected by using Paul (US 7698839) with US 20160178483 A1 and US 20160101426 A1.
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/MA/Examiner, Art Unit 3651
/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651