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 .
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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 10/2/2023 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered. The IDS filed indicates U.S. Patent documents to which the cited foreign documents are related. These patent documents have been included and considered on the PTO-892 filed herewith. The foreign reference numbers cited do not appear to relate to those U.S. documents as different foreign reference numbers are listed on the cited U.S. documents. As such, the foreign references cited on the IDS filed 10/2/2023 have been struck through as not considered because the examiner cannot confirm that they are in fact related to the cited U.S. documents.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rocke et al. (5,493,798).
Regarding claims 1 and 5, Rocke et al. discloses a control device and method for a loading machine, which is a control device (250) for a loading machine including a swing body (105) swinging around a swing center (Y – Figure 22), a support part (155) supporting the swing body (105), and work equipment having a bucket (120) attached swing body (105), the control device (250) for a loading machine comprising:
a start angle determination unit determining a start angle which is an angle of the swing body at the start of loading of the loading machine (column 10 lines 4-12); and
a movement control unit generating an operation signal for driving the swing body in the work equipment (column 10 lines 13-46), wherein
the movement control unit outputs an operation signal for driving the swing body until the angle of the swing body reaches the start angle (function 340) after the bucket has reached a loading point above a loading target (function 335), and outputs an operation signal for driving the work equipment until a posture of the bucket bucket with respect to the swing body reaches the preset target posture different from posture of the bucket at the start of loading (column 10 lines 47-62)
Regarding claim 2, the start angle is an angle of the swing body at the start of automatic loading control of the loading machine in and when the automatic loading control is started the movement control unit outputs and operation signal to move the bucket to the loading point by driving the swing body and work equipment until the bucket reaches the loading point (column 10 lines 4-62).
Regarding claim 3, a position of the bucket related to the target posture is a position which does not interfere with a virtual circular cylinder circumscribing the support part (Figure 18, 22; column 11 lines 41-46).
Regarding claim 4, a dump control unit outputting an operation signal for driving the bucket to execute a dump operation when bucket and the loading target overlap in a plan view from above wherein the movement control unit outputs operation signal during execute of the dump operation (column 10 lines 29-63).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Clark et al. (7,979,181) also discloses a control system for controlling the unloading of a bucket utilizing swing and dump actuators.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jamie L McGowan whose telephone number is (571)272-5064. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 9:00-5:00 CST.
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/JAMIE L MCGOWAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671