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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because the abstract is greater than 150 words. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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.
Claims 1-8 are 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.
Claim 1 recites, “A travel facility including a vehicle, the travel facility comprising:” which makes it unclear if Applicant is positively reciting the vehicle. Examiner recommends amending the preamble, “A travel a vehicle;” to positively recite the vehicle to provide proper antecedent basis for the further vehicle limitations within the claim.
Claim 1 recites, “a first rail disposed along a first direction such that the vehicle travels on the first rail;” making it unclear to Examiner whether the boundaries of the claim are meant to include the process of vehicle travel while claiming the product of a travel facility which creates confusion as to when direct infringement occurs. See MPEP § 2173.05(p). Examiner recommends amending the limitation to recite “a first rail disposed along a first direction and configured for to travel
Claim 6 recites “the second power reception section faces the second feeder cable from a lateral side.” With no relativity established to which lateral side is being claimed, Examiner recommends amending the limitation to recite, “a lateral side of the second feeder cable in the first direction.” as shown in Fig.5.
Claim 8 recites, “an article storage section provided inside the body and storing an article as a target to be transported,” making it unclear to Examiner whether the boundaries of the claim are meant to include the process of storing an article while claiming the product of a travel facility which creates confusion as to when direct infringement occurs. See MPEP § 2173.05(p). Examiner recommends amending the limitation to recite, “an article storage section provided inside the body configured to store
Claims 2-5 and 7 are rejected due to their dependency upon a rejected claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art to the claimed invention is Fukayama (JP 2011254669 A). Fukayama teaches a travel facility including a vehicle (49; Fig.1), the travel facility comprising: a first rail disposed along a first direction (15a; Fig.1) such that the vehicle travels on the first rail (Fig.1); a second rail (17a; Fig.1) with the second rail, the second feeder cable, the first rail, and the first feeder cable in the view along the first direction and the view along the second direction (apparent from Fig.5) as claimed within independent claim 1.
Fukayama does not teach the second rail being in a second direction intersecting with the first direction in a view along a top-bottom direction; the second feeder cable disposed along the second direction; and in the second power reception posture the second power reception section does not overlap with the second rail and the second feeder cable in the view along the second direction but overlaps with at least one of the second rail and the second feeder cable in the view along the first direction. It would not be obvious to modify the above prior art to include the specific orientation of the second power reception section relative to the first power reception section along with the relativity of the first and second rails since the system within Fukayama utilizes a rail system that changes directions utilizing both first and second rails branching from the initial path together; therefore, the orientation of the first power reception section relative to the second power reception section will be the same throughout travel.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HEAVEN BUFFINGTON whose telephone number is (703)756-1546. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Samuel (Joe) Morano can be reached at (571)272-8300. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HEAVEN R BUFFINGTON/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
/S. Joseph Morano/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3615