DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “a hydraulic hoist unit of a mobile machine” in claims 1 and 8.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are not being interpreted to cover only the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant intends to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to remove the structure, materials, or acts that performs the claimed function; or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) does/do not recite sufficient structure, materials, or acts to perform the claimed function.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6 and 8-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Knechtel, Hans (DE 10 2018 108 946).
Regarding claims 1 and 8: Hans discloses a method and device for controlling a hydraulic hoist unit of a mobile machine to raise and lower a load handling (Fig. 4; via unit 1) wherein the hoist unit a lift cylinder device (via load cylinder device 3) and a control valve device (via 12) which is in communication with a consumer line that leads to the lift cylinder device, see for example (Figs. 1-4; via the shown communication lines between different sections and controller of the system), to a reservoir line that leads to a reservoir and to a delivery line that is connected with a pump an operator the raising and lowering of the hoist unit by manually operating (inherently an operator is initiating the lifting/lowering operations) a hoist unit control element that is linked to the control valve device (via valve device 12), and when there is no load on the load handling during lowering of the hoist unit, the operator, by actuating an authorization actuation element while simultaneously operating the hoist unit control element authorizes a high-speed lowering (via outflow flow control valve 30 and switching valve 45), during which a lowering flow volume discharged from the hoist unit is increased by a cross section expansion by a cross section expansion device in a hydraulic flow path from the hoist unit to the reservoir (via “second switching position 45b deactivates the drain flow control valve, so that in the lowering operation of the lifting cylinder device the “pressure medium flow bypasses the drain flow control valve”).
Regarding claims 2 & 9: the cross-section expansion is achieved by opening a bypass line leading from the consumer line to the reservoir (via “activates the outflow flow control valve (30) arranged in the container line (18)”).
Regarding claims 3 & 10: an electrically actuated hydraulic bypass valve is opened to open the bypass line (via bypasses valve 30 “the pressure medium flow bypasses the drain flow control valve (30)”).
Regarding claims 4 & 11: the cross section expansion is achieved by opening an additional valve in the control valve device (via switching valve 45 and/or valve 60).
Regarding claims 5 & 12: the cross section expansion is achieved by routing a full flow through a lowering proportional throttle valve that carries a partial flow during the lowering of the hoist unit (via valve 60).
Regarding claim 13: for the control of the cross section expansion device, an electronic control device is provided which is linked with the hoist unit control element and the authorization actuation element as well as with the cross section expansion device, see for example (Figs. 1-4; via the shown controlling mechanisms 30 and/or 25).
Regarding claims 6 & 14: load pressure of the hoist unit is measured by a load pressure sensor and the cross section expansion is prevented if the load pressure exceeds a specified value (Fig. 1; via 70/71).
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) 7 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Knechtel, Hans (DE 10 2018 108 946).
Regarding claims 7 & 15: Hans does not disclose the use of temperature sensor. However, the Office takes an official notice that a use of temperature sensors is old and well known in the art to be used as a design choice when needed.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention, to have modified Hans’s method/apparatus by the use of temperature sensor, to further gain more control of the hydraulic hoist unit.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMEH TAWFIK whose telephone number is (571)272-4470. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
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/SAMEH TAWFIK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3731