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 .
The current application relates PCT/JP2021/037638 and foreign application priority data JP-2020171979 filed on Oct. 12, 2020.
Response to Amendment/Arguments
Applicant's amendment and arguments filed 07/29/2023 have been fully considered and are moot in view new grounds of rejection. Applicant's arguments with respect to the claims have been considered. The arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
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.
Claim(s) 1-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto (5996703) in view of Hashimoto (20190218747).
With regard to claim 1, Yamamoto discloses a control system for a work vehicle including a vehicle body and work equipment that is changeable in height and pitch with respect to the vehicle body, the system comprising a controller with selected automatic driving mode (a bulldozer 1 includes a vehicle body 2, a blade 7, and etc., see Fig.7, wherein the vehicle body 2 is provided with sensor system, and a controller 18, see col 3, lines 38 – col 4, lines 20+ and col 7, line 7-60+), the controller being configured to:
determine a switching point by referring to target displacement data indicating a target displacement of the work equipment according to a movement amount of the work vehicle from a work start position (based on the graph information indicating a starting point Lo, a switching point Lc with amount of traveling distance and the digging altitude of the blade 7, the controller 18 determines a switching point Lc, see col 5, lines 30-60+);
determine whether or not the work vehicle has reached the switching point based on the movement amount of the work vehicle from the work start position (at the time when the bulldozer 1 has reached the switching point according to the actual traveling distance L, and etc., see col 5, lines 60-67+), and
output a command to change the pitch of the work equipment upon determining that the work vehicle has reached the switching point (at the time when the bulldozer 1 has reached the switching point Lc, a pitch command is output from the controller 18 based on the calculated a target pitch angle, see col 5, lines 60-67+) .
Yamamoto is silent about determine a switching point which indicates a displacement of the height of the work equipment, the target displacement of the height of the work vehicle being a displacement amount of the work equipment from the ground surface in a vertical downward direction.
Hashimoto discloses a work vehicle for setting trajectory of work implement (see the abstract). The work vehicle automated controls its moving toward a target designed terrain 70 which includes the height Z1-n of the terrain at a plurality of reference points, and a target displacement distance in the vertical direction at each reference point, see [0057] & [0064]-[0065]+.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Yamamoto by including determine a switching point which indicates a displacement of the height of the work equipment, the target displacement of the height of the work vehicle being a displacement amount of the work equipment from the ground surface in a vertical downward direction as taught by Hashimoto for the bulldozer performance highly precisely.
With regard to claim 2, Yamamoto teaches that the control system for a work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein upon determining that the work vehicle has reached the switching point, the controller is further configured to output the command to change the pitch so as to tilt the work equipment rearward with respect to the vehicle body (the blade pitch rapidly pitches back (backward tipping), changing from the digging attitude to the carry attitude, see col 6, lines 10-40+).
With regard to claims 3-4, Hashimoto teaches that the target design terrain 70 with the target displacement at each target reference point with each target distance, see Fig. 5 which meets the scope of the claims.
With regard to claim 5, Yamamoto teaches that the control system for a work vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the switching point is a point apart spaced from the work start position by the first distance (the graph in Fig.5 showing the relationship between the actual travelling distance L of the bulldozer, a digging starting point and a switching point, see col 5, lines 32-40+).
With regard to claim 6, Yamomoto teaches that the control system for a work vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the switching point is a point spaced from the work start position by the third distance (Fig. 7 shows a digging mode from digging starting point, and a switching point by a traveling distance L, see col 7, lines 3-22).
With regard to claim 7, Yamomoto teaches that the control system for a work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein upon determining that a bucket blade edge of the work equipment has reached the switching point, the controller is further configured to output the command to change the pitch of the work equipment (see col 7, lines 10-22).
With regard to claim 8, Hashimoto teaches that the control system for a work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein upon determining that a position of a center of gravity of the vehicle body has reached directly above the switching point, the controller is further configured to output the command to change the pitch of the work equipment (a digging starting point and a switching point at which the carrying mode is switched to the dumping mode. In the digging mode, a difference of the pitch angle is controlled with the vertical reactive force and the horizontal reactive force, see col 5, line 37-59+).
With regard to claim 9, Hashimoto teaches that the control system for a work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:
acquire current topography information indicating a current topography of a work target (the design terrain data indicates the current terrain at the work site, see [0052]+),
determine a target design surface displaced from the current topography in a vertical direction by referring to the target displacement data (the controller decides the target design terrain, see [0064]-[0065]+), and
output a command to change the height of the work equipment along the target design surface (the controller 26 decides the height of the target design terrain, see [0067]-[0068]+).
With regard to claim 10, Hashimoto teaches that the control system for a work vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the target design surface is located below the current topography (the controller 26 acquires as the digging start position when the cutting edge position drops below the height of the current terrain, see [0062]+).
With regard to claim 11, Yamamoto teaches that the control system for a work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to cause the work equipment to be lowered so as to cancel out a change in a height of a bucket blade edge of the work equipment caused by the command to change the pitch of the work equipment (the lift operation amount is fed to a blade lift cylinder controller for controlling the blade lower, see col 7, lines 60-67+).
With regard to claim 12, Yamamoto discloses a method for controlling a work vehicle including a vehicle body and work equipment that is changeable in height and pitch with respect to the vehicle body, the method comprising:
Automatically determine a switching point by referring to target displacement data indicating a target displacement of the work equipment according to a movement amount of the work vehicle from a work start position (based on the graph information indicating a starting point Lo, a switching point Lc with amount of traveling distance and the digging altitude of the blade 7, the controller 18 determines a switching point Lc, see col 5, lines 30-60+);
Automatically determine whether or not the work vehicle has reached the switching point based on the movement amount of the work vehicle from the work start position (at the time when the bulldozer 1 has reached the switching point according to the actual traveling distance L, and etc., see col 5, lines 60-67+), and
Automatically output a command to change the pitch of the work equipment upon determining that the work vehicle has reached the switching point (at the time when the bulldozer 1 has reached the switching point Lc, a pitch command is output from the controller 18 based on the calculated a target pitch angle, see col 5, lines 60-67+) .
Yamamoto is silent about determine a switching point which indicates a displacement of the height of the work equipment, the target displacement of the height of the work vehicle being a displacement amount of the work equipment from the ground surface in a vertical downward direction.
Hashimoto discloses a work vehicle for setting trajectory of work implement (see the abstract). The work vehicle automated controls its moving toward a target designed terrain 70 which includes the height Z1-n of the terrain at a plurality of reference points, and a target displacement distance in the vertical direction at each reference point, see [0057] & [0064]-[0065]+.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Yamamoto by including determine a switching point which indicates a displacement of the height of the work equipment, the target displacement of the height of the work vehicle being a displacement amount of the work equipment from the ground surface in a vertical downward direction as taught by Hashimoto for the bulldozer performance highly precisely.
With regard to claim 13, Yamamoto teaches that the method for controlling a work vehicle according to claim 12, wherein upon determining that the work vehicle has reached the switching point, the command to change the pitch so as to tilt the work equipment rearward with respect to the vehicle body is output (the blade pitch rapidly pitches back (backward tipping), changing from the digging attitude to the carry attitude, see col 6, lines 10-40+).
With regard to claim 14, Yamamoto teaches that the method for controlling a work vehicle according to claim 12, wherein upon determining that a bucket blade edge of the work equipment has reached the switching point, the command to change the pitch of the work equipment is output (see col 8, lines 3-18).
With regard to claim 15, Hashimoto teaches that the method for controlling a work vehicle according to claim 12, wherein upon determining that a position of a center of gravity of the vehicle body has reached directly above the switching point, the command to change the pitch of the work equipment is output (a digging starting point and a switching point at which the carrying mode is switched to the dumping mode. In the digging mode, a difference of the pitch angle is controlled with the vertical reactive force and the horizontal reactive force, see col 5, line 37-59+).
With regard to claim 16, Zhdanow teaches that the method for controlling a work vehicle according to claim 12, further comprising:
acquire current topography information indicating a current topography of a work target (the design terrain data indicates the current terrain at the work site, see [0052]+),
determine a target design surface displaced from the current topography in a vertical direction by referring to the target displacement data (the controller decides the target design terrain, see [0064]-[0065]+), and
output a command to change the height of the work equipment along the target design surface (the controller 26 decides the height of the target design terrain, see [0067]-[0068]+).
With regard to claim 17, Hashimoto teaches that the method for controlling a work vehicle according to claim 16, wherein the target design surface is located below the current topography (the controller 26 acquires as the digging start position when the cutting edge position drops below the height of the current terrain, see [0062]+).
With regard to claim 18, Yamamoto teaches that the method for controlling a work vehicle according to claim 12, wherein the work equipment is lowered to cancel out a change in a height of a bucket blade edge of the work equipment caused by the command to change the pitch of the work equipment (the lift operation amount is fed to a blade lift cylinder controller for controlling the blade lower, see col 7, lines 60-67+).
With regard to claim 19, Yamamoto discloses an automated work vehicle comprising a vehicle body, a work equipment configured to be changeable in height and pitch with respect to the vehicle body, and a controller (a bulldozer 1 includes a vehicle body 2, a blade 7, and etc., see Fig.7, wherein the vehicle body 2 is provided with sensor system, and a controller 18, see col 3, lines 38 – col 4, lines 20+), the controller being configured to:
determine a switching point by referring to target displacement data indicating a target displacement of the work equipment according to a movement amount of the work vehicle from a work start position (based on the graph information indicating a starting point Lo, a switching point Lc with amount of traveling distance and the digging altitude of the blade 7, the controller 18 determines a switching point Lc, see col 5, lines 30-60+);
determine whether or not the work vehicle has reached the switching point based on the movement amount of the work vehicle from the work start position (at the time when the bulldozer 1 has reached the switching point according to the actual traveling distance L, and etc., see col 5, lines 60-67+), and
output a command to change the pitch of the work equipment upon determining that the work vehicle has reached the switching point (at the time when the bulldozer 1 has reached the switching point Lc, a pitch command is output from the controller 18 based on the calculated a target pitch angle, see col 5, lines 60-67+) .
Yamamoto is silent about determine a switching point which indicates a displacement of the height of the work equipment, the target displacement of the height of the work vehicle being a displacement amount of the work equipment from the ground surface in a vertical downward direction.
Hashimoto discloses a work vehicle for setting trajectory of work implement (see the abstract). The work vehicle automated controls its moving toward a target designed terrain 70 which includes the height Z1-n of the terrain at a plurality of reference points, and a target displacement distance in the vertical direction at each reference point, see [0057] & [0064]-[0065]+.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Yamamoto by including determine a switching point which indicates a displacement of the height of the work equipment, the target displacement of the height of the work vehicle being a displacement amount of the work equipment from the ground surface in a vertical downward direction as taught by Hashimoto for the bulldozer performance highly precisely.
Prior Arts Cited
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Ishibashi (20190078301) discloses a control system for a work machine am actual topography acquisition device, see the abstract.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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NGA X. NGUYEN
Examiner
Art Unit 3662
/NGA X NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662