DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. Claims 1-6 are pending in Instant Application.
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed 6/30/2023 has been received and considered by the examiner. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
Examiner’s Note
5. Examiner has cited particular paragraphs/columns and line numbers or figures in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all of part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner. Applicant is reminded that the Examiner is entitled to give the broadest reasonable interpretation to the language of the claims. Furthermore, the Examiner is not limited to Applicant’s definition which is not specifically set forth in the claims.
Response to Arguments
6. Regarding 103 rejection: Applicant's arguments filed 01/30/2026 have been fully considered. Examiner agrees that Hauser does not explicitly disclose the amended claims, however, Examiner brings forth application Asakusa, which is relied upon to teach that an acceleration sensor can be attached to a fork of a forklift and collect data. A new rejection can be found below. This indicates that Shi in view of Hauser in further view of Yoon in even further view of Asakusa does teach the capability of the amended claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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 non-obviousness.
8. Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi (CN 106228806, paragraph number cited based on the attached machine translated copy) in view of Hauser (US 20180247467) in further view of Yoon (KR 20180077962, paragraph number cited based on the attached machine translated copy) in an even further view of Asakusa (JP2013139309A, paragraph number cited based on the attached machine translated copy).
Regarding Claim 1, Shi discloses An industrial vehicle control device for controlling an industrial vehicle, comprising: (Shi, see at least [0018] “a method for judging the cargo condition of a vehicle by means of the vehicle speed and the sound of the vehicle engine.”)
acquire a first signal indicating a surrounding environmental sound generated during an operation of the industrial vehicle; (Shi, see at least [0033] “The sound acquisition module 240 acquires vehicle sound data.”, [0021] and [0031] discloses sensors for sound **data is being collected as the vehicle is operating, as speed data is being determined for each beginning/end time of each acceleration of the vehicle and corresponding sound data is determined for each acceleration.)
acquire a second signal indicating acceleration information generated by the industrial vehicle during the operation of the industrial vehicle; (Shi, see at least [0033] “The acceleration characteristic value determination module 230 determines the acceleration characteristic value of each acceleration.”, [0020] discloses GPS and vehcle speed sensor **data is being collected as the vehicle is operating, as speed data is being determined for each beginning/end time of each acceleration of the vehicle.)
perform data based on time-series data of the first signal corresponding to the sound data and the second signal corresponding to the acceleration data; (Shi, see at least [0020-0022] wherein acceleration and sound data is filtered and difference calculations are done on the acceleration and sound data to obtain the time series of the acceleration and sound data.)
Shi does not explicitly disclose at least one processor configured to:
and clustering a combination of the extracted feature quantities based on results of the data processing,
control the industrial vehicle based on the estimated state of the industrial vehicle.
However, Hauser discloses at least one processor configured to: (Hauser, see at least [0135] “Computers that may operate as client computer 1602 may include computers that typically connect using a wired or wireless communications medium such as personal computers, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable electronic devices, network PCs, or the like.”)
control the industrial vehicle based on the estimated state of the industrial vehicle, (Hauser, see at least [Fig. 21] and [0222] “if the vehicle monitoring client application determines that some or all of the signal information should be communicated to an analysis server, control may be returned to a process that may be arranged to communicate the signal information to the appropriate analysis server computer.” And [0226] “the signal information may be provided using a communication protocol that allows for command information to be included. Accordingly, in at least one of the various embodiments, the analysis engine may be arranged to different actions and/or processing depending on the command information.”)
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shi to include the capability of extracting feature quantities of the sound data and features quantities of the acceleration data and clustering a combination of the extracted feature quantities based on results of the data processing as taught by Hauser with reasonable expectation that this would allow for diving the results of the data into information necessary for estimation of a vehicle’s state, and therefore improve the accuracy of estimating the state of the vehicle.
Modified Shi does not explicitly disclose estimate a state of the industrial vehicle by extracting feature quantities of the sound data and feature quantities of the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals, the feature quantities of the sound data and the feature quantities of the acceleration data corresponding to a same point in time;
However, Yoon discloses estimate a state of the industrial vehicle by extracting feature quantities of the sound data and feature quantities of the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals, the feature quantities of the sound data and the feature quantities of the acceleration data corresponding to a same point in time; (Yoon, see at least Fig 4 and Fig 4 in which showcases the acoustic tracking pattern according to the rapid acceleration of a vehicle over a time period. Also see at least [0054-0061] wherein the collected data can be collected between frames at a predetermined time period. Also see at least [0056-0057] wherein the data is used to generate or bring awareness to drivers of a vehicle where their might be road repair or reconstruction work within the vehicles environment.)
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shi to include the capability of extracting sound data and acceleration data over a time period as taught by Yoon with reasonable expectation that this would allow for diving the results of the data into information necessary for estimation of a vehicle’s state, and therefore improve the accuracy of estimating the state of the vehicle.
Modified Shi does not explicitly disclose wherein the industrial vehicle is a forklift comprising a fork, wherein the industrial vehicle further comprises an acceleration sensor attached to one of the fork and a member that is configured to move with the fork, and wherein the acceleration sensor is configured to acquire acceleration data, for a vehicle movement of the fork, the fork being stopped, and a movement of the forklift, as the second signal.
wherein the industrial vehicle is a forklift comprising a fork, wherein the industrial vehicle further comprises an acceleration sensor attached to one of the fork and a member that is configured to move with the fork, and wherein the acceleration sensor is configured to acquire acceleration data, for a vehicle movement of the fork, the fork being stopped, and a movement of the forklift, as the second signal. (Asakusa, see at least [0065] wherein an acceleration sensor is attached to the fork of a forklift, and can detect the frequency of vibration. It can detect as the lift is moving and acceleration/decelerating as the lift moves.)
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shi to include the capability of utilizing an acceleration sensor in which is attached to a fork of a fork lift to extract data as taught by Asakusa with reasonable expectation that this would allow for diving the results of the data into information necessary for estimation of a vehicle’s state, and therefore improve the accuracy of estimating the state of the vehicle.
Regarding Claim 2, Shi in view of Hauser discloses The industrial vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:(shown in the rejection above)
acquire the first signal indicating a surrounding environment of the industrial vehicle, (Shi, see at least [0033] “The sound acquisition module 240 acquires vehicle sound data.”)
acquire second signal indicating the state of the industrial vehicle itself. (Shi, see at least [0033] “The acceleration characteristic value determination module 230 determines the acceleration characteristic value of each acceleration.”)
Regarding Claim 3, Shi in view of Hauser discloses The industrial vehicle control device according to claim 2, wherein the acceleration sensor is provided in a cargo handling unit, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: (shown in the rejection above)
acquire the sound data from a sound sensor as the first signal, (Shi, see at least [0031] “The data required by this method, such as vehicle speed, atmospheric pressure, and vehicle sound, can be obtained through existing mature sensors, without the need for a large amount of infrastructure construction; it does not affect the normal operation of the vehicle, and can monitor the load status of the truck in real time, which has practical value and market promotion value.”)
and the state estimation unit estimates a cargo handling state of the industrial vehicle. (Shi, see at least [0030] “the vehicle speed and the vehicle engine sound are used, and the long-term historical data boundary value is used as an indicator to determine whether the vehicle is in a heavy-loaded state, a medium-loaded state, or an unloaded state. This enables real-time monitoring of the vehicle's load status.”)
Regarding Claim 4, Shi in view of Hauser discloses The industrial vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: (shown in the rejection above)
acquire the time-series data of the sound data as the first signal and the acceleration data as the second signal and extracts the plurality of feature quantities based on different view points from the time-series data at predetermined time intervals, (Shi, see at least [0020-0022] wherein acceleration and sound data is filtered and difference calculations are done on the acceleration and sound data to obtain the time series of the acceleration and sound data.)
estimate the state by clustering extraction results of the feature quantities of the at least one processor. (Shi, see at least Fig. 2 and [0020-0022] wherein mean and first-order difference calculations are done on the data to obtain the time series of the data. And see at least [0030] “the vehicle speed and the vehicle engine sound are used, and the long-term historical data boundary value is used as an indicator to determine whether the vehicle is in a heavy-loaded state, a medium-loaded state, or an unloaded state. This enables real-time monitoring of the vehicle's load status.”)
Regarding Claim 5, Shi in view of Hauser discloses An industrial vehicle, comprising: the industrial vehicle control device according to claim (shown in the rejection above)
As per claim 6, the claim is directed towards an industrial vehicle control program for controlling an industrial vehicle that recites similar limitations performed by the industrial vehicle control device of claim 1. The cited portions of Shi in view of Hauser in further view of Yoon in even further view of Asakusa used in the rejection of claim 1 teach the same system limitations of claim 6. Therefore, claim 6 is rejected under the same rationales used in the rejections of claim 1 as outlined above.
Relevant Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20170297879– The present disclosure relates to a fork-lift truck, comprising, a housing, a mast, an actuating device, a framework extension assembly, a control unit, a pair of support legs. The fork-lift truck is provided with a sensor device that is arranged to detect a predetermined rotary position of at least one rotary axis of the framework extension assembly. The control unit is arranged to determine and set a maximal speed and/or a maximal acceleration, and/or a maximal deceleration, and/or a maximal lift height, and/or a maximal load weight, of the fork-lift truck based on the detected predetermined rotary position of the said at least one rotary axis.
US 20210261136– A processing device includes: a calculation unit that is configured to detect a position of an object that is a possible obstacle to a vehicle; a first detection unit that is configured to detect a direction of a line of sight of a driver of the vehicle; a decision unit that is configured to decide an aspect of an alarm on the basis of the position and the direction of the line of sight of the driver; and a control unit that is configured to control a speaker corresponding to the position such that a sound of the aspect is output.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NADA MAHYOOB ALQADERI whose telephone number is (571) 272-2052. The examiner can normally be reached Monday – Friday, 8AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rachid Bendidi can be reached on (571) 272-4896. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NADA MAHYOOB ALQADERI/
Examiner, Art Unit 3664
/RACHID BENDIDI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664