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 .
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.
Claim 9 is 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 9, a “second sensor” is recited but a “first sensor” was not recited in the preceding claims that claim 9 depends upon. For the purposes of examination, the claim will be interpreted as requiring a single sensor.
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.
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.
Claims 1-4 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mojden (US 5158424 A) in view of Jin (CN 108834497 A).
Regarding claim 1, Mojden teaches a system for baggage trays in an airport security environment (this is a recitation of intended use, as the device of Mojden can be used in an airport environment for conveying baggage trays), the system comprising:
a first buffering zone disposed at the input and equipped to receive a stack of dirty trays (Fig. 1: unstacking station 36 would be capable of receiving dirty trays); and
a second buffering zone disposed at the output and equipped to receive a stack of clean trays (Fig. 2: stacking station 26 would be capable of receiving a stack of clean trays)
but does not teach wherein the cleaning system is an ultraviolet radiation cleaning system and a radiation tunnel comprising an input for dirty trays and an output for clean trays;
Mojden already teaches a conveyor 40 (Fig. 1) for transferring trays between stations 36 and 26 and further suggests sterilizing the articles on the trays (C1L34-35: For example, at one stage the ends may be suitably cleaned and sterilized for use in beverage or food containers) but does not teach a means of doing so. In general, it would be advantageous to also clean the trays that carry the articles of Mojden in order to limit contamination.
Jin teaches a tray sterilization device (abstract: The invention claims an intelligent tray-loading and sowing machine). Jin has an ultraviolet radiation sterilization tunnel for sterilizing trays transferred over a conveyor, wherein the tunnel structure is necessary to protect people from the UV radiation (Fig. 1-2: 6, transmission device 2; pg. 4 2nd last par.: the sterilizing device 6 is the ultraviolet sterilizing lamp, the outer side is provided with a protective cover 61, preventing ultraviolet injury to the people around). Adding an ultraviolet sterilization tunnel to the conveyor of Mojden would improve the device of Mojden by sterilizing the trays to minimize contamination.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the conveyor of Mojden to have an ultraviolet sterilization tunnel on it, as taught by Jin, in order to sterilize the trays and minimize contamination to the articles on the trays.
Regarding claim 2, Mojden modified by Jin teaches the ultraviolet radiation cleaning system of claim 1, and teaches further comprising:
a destacking system disposed at the input for removal of an individual dirty tray from the stack of dirty trays in the first buffering zone (Fig. 1: unstacking means 38); and
a first transfer mechanism to receive said individual dirty tray from the destacking system and to supply said individual dirty tray taken from the stack of dirty trays to the radiation tunnel (Fig. 1: feeder conveyor means 46; NOTE: whether or not the trays are dirty is a recitation of intended use).
Regarding claim 3, Mojden modified by Jin teaches the ultraviolet radiation cleaning system of claim 2, and teaches further comprising:
a second transfer mechanism disposed at the output (Fig. 1: feeder conveyor means 44) to transfer an individual cleaned tray from the radiation tunnel to a stacking system for receiving such individual cleaned tray (NOTE: this is a recitation of intended use; Fig. 1: stacking means 28) and to supply that individual cleaned tray to the stack of clean trays in the second buffering zone (Fig. 1; NOTE: whether or not the trays are cleaned is a recitation of intended use).
Regarding claim 4, Mojden modified by Jin teaches the ultraviolet radiation cleaning system of claim 3, and teaches wherein the destacking system and/or the stacking system comprises four tray handling organs that are operative near corner points of the trays (Fig. 3: air cylinders 212 located near the corners of the trays).
Regarding claim 8, Mojden modified by Jin teaches the ultraviolet radiation cleaning system of claim 3, and teaches wherein the second buffering zone at the output is arranged to receive and add an individual cleaned tray to the top of the stack of cleaned trays (Fig. 3; C12L19-21: together with the grippers 218, 220 engaged therewith from the top of the tray loading station to the top of the filled tray stacking station).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mojden modified by Jin in view of Dideriksen (WO 2005044703 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Mojden modified by Jin teaches the ultraviolet radiation cleaning system of claim 4, but does not teach wherein each tray handling organ comprises two flanges that share a common vertical axis, wherein the two flanges are jointly rotatable around said vertical axis, and wherein said two flanges define a slit between the two flanges which is equipped to receive an edge from a tray, wherein the two flanges have obliquely oriented surfaces that are facing each other and that delimit the slit for the edge of the tray so as to arrange that rotation of the tray handling organ will cause the slit to change in height.
Dideriksen teaches a mechanism for a tray destacking device (abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing of stacked objects (16) in a predetermined dispensing direction, the dispensing apparatus comprises at least one guiding means Intended for guiding the stack of objects and at least one dispensing unit Intended for repetitive dispensing of at least one object at a time). Dideriksen teaches four tray handling organs each arranged on a corner of the tray, that share a common vertical axis, wherein the two flanges are jointly rotatable around said vertical axis, and wherein said two flanges define a slit between the two flanges which is equipped to receive an edge from a tray, wherein the two flanges have obliquely oriented surfaces that are facing each other and that delimit the slit for the edge of the tray so as to arrange that rotation of the tray handling organ will cause the slit to change in height (Fig. 2 shows four dispensing units; Fig. 3: supporting members 5 and 6 are the coaxial flanges; pg. 10 lines 19-21: A cross-section 28 of the edge of the second supporting member is shown in a situation just before the edge of the supporting member will be lifting and/or be supporting the edge 25a). This mechanism of destacking trays has the advantage of being precise, safe, and fast (pg. 5 par. 4: A method involving these steps results in a precise, a safe and a fast dispensing of objects).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the destacking mechanism of Mojden modified by Jin to instead have four tray handling organs at the corners of the trays wherein each tray handling organ comprises two flanges that share a common vertical axis, wherein the two flanges are jointly rotatable around said vertical axis, and wherein said two flanges define a slit between the two flanges which is equipped to receive an edge from a tray, wherein the two flanges have obliquely oriented surfaces that are facing each other and that delimit the slit for the edge of the tray so as to arrange that rotation of the tray handling organ will cause the slit to change in height, as taught by Dideriksen, in order to provide a more precise, safer, and faster method of destacking trays.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mojden modified by Jin in view of White (WO 03074093 A2).
Regarding claim 6, Mojden modified by Jin teaches the ultraviolet radiation cleaning system of claim 3, but does not teach wherein the second buffering zone at the output is arranged to receive and add an individual cleaned tray to the bottom of the stack of cleaned trays.
Mojden teaches wherein a tray is added to the top of the stack (Fig. 3; C12L19-21: together with the grippers 218, 220 engaged therewith from the top of the tray loading station to the top of the filled tray stacking station).
White teaches a tray sterilizer featuring stacking and unstacking means (Fig. 2: tray stacker station 25; abstract: A sterilization apparatus and method for automatically transporting a plurality of ophthalmic lenses packages containing ophthalmic lenses to be sterilized through an in-line apparatus, without off-loading packages from the line, for transport through a sterilizer under optimum conditions of temperature and time for enabling increased throughput). White teaches wherein trays are added to the bottom of the stack (pg. 6 par. 3: As shown in Figure 8, latching fingers 175a,b under spring control are actuated by the stacking cylinder 170 when extended (Figure 2) to nest the next successive tray 101 at the bottom of the tray stack). This provides the advantage of the stacking mechanism taking up less space (see Fig. 2 wherein the trays can be directly conveyed into the stack, as opposed to Fig. 3 of Mojden which requires a second scissor lift mechanism apart from the stack).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the stacking mechanism of Mojden to be structured such that each successive tray is added to the bottom of the stack, as taught by White, in order to conserve space for the stacking mechanism.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mojden modified by Jin and White in view of CN 212150761 U (hereinafter referred to as ‘761).
Regarding claim 7, Mojden modified by Jin and White teaches the ultraviolet radiation cleaning system of claim 6, but does not teach wherein the second buffering zone at the output comprises a first sensor for monitoring the height of the stack of cleaned trays.
‘761 teaches a tray stacking system (abstract: A stacking and/or layering device of lithium battery packaging tray, comprising a roller conveying mechanism). ‘761 teaches a tray stack height sensor (pg. 3 par. 1: As an improvement of the utility model, further comprising a tray layer height detection component). This would be advantageous so that the tray stack does not get too tall or too heavy for the stacking system and/or transfer systems to handle.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the stacking mechanism at the second buffering zone of Mojden modified by Jin and White to have a sensor for monitoring the tray stack height, as taught by ‘761, to ensure that the tray stack does not get too tall nor too heavy for the stacking system and/or transfer systems to handle.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mojden modified by Jin in view of ‘761.
Regarding claim 9, Mojden modified by Jin teaches the ultraviolet radiation cleaning system of claim 8, and teaches the system further comprising a control system (C7L56-60: To this end, suitable control means 82, 84 (shown in diagrammatic form in FIG. 1) are provided for controlling the individual operation of the pick-and-place devices with respect to the infeed and outfeed lanes 50, 51) but does not teach and a second sensor to monitor the altitude of the top of the stack of cleaned trays so as to maintain this altitude.
‘761 teaches a tray stacking system (abstract: A stacking and/or layering device of lithium battery packaging tray, comprising a roller conveying mechanism). ‘761 teaches a tray stack height sensor (pg. 3 par. 1: As an improvement of the utility model, further comprising a tray layer height detection component). This would be advantageous so that the tray stack does not get too tall or too heavy for the stacking system and/or transfer systems to handle.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the stacking mechanism at the second buffering zone of Mojden modified by Jin to have a sensor for monitoring the tray stack height, as taught by ‘761, to ensure that the tray stack does not get too tall nor too heavy for the stacking system and/or transfer systems to handle.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHANGRU CHEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1201. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30-5:30.
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/C.C./Examiner, Art Unit 1796
/ELIZABETH A ROBINSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1796