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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/31/3026, Page 8, Para. 2-3 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant asserts that Sigrist ‘262 does not disclose the goods are conveyed in conveyor containers, or the flow of goods is continuous.
Sigrist discloses the ‘346 discloses the goods are conveyed in transport bags (55)(Fig. 11)(Para. 0096). Sigrist ‘262 shows the goods being conveyed in bags (54)(Fig. 6a)(Para. 0137). Sigrist ‘346 also discloses that conveying suspended goods in transport bags in an overhead conveying apparatus is well-known.
The flow of goods in Sigrist ‘346 and Sigrist ‘262 is continuous (see Sigrist ‘346 Para. 0027, 0031, 0079)(Fig. 8, 10) and Sigrist ‘262, Para. 0115). Applicant cites a portion in Sigrist ‘262 that states that the flow of goods may be stopped in order to insert a transport unit from the storage ring in question into the flow of goods. However, Sigrist ‘262 states the flow of goods “may be stopped as needed”, but not that the flow of goods must stop.
Applicant’s claims do not require “not stopping” of any circulating conveyors to allow goods to be inserted into the flow of goods. Claims 1 and 19 state that the flow of goods is continuous, which is broad.
A broadest reasonable interpretation of the art can be interpreted to mean that goods being supplied on continuous conveyors, as explicitly disclosed and shown in the figures in Sigrist ‘346 (Para. 0079) and Sigrist ‘262 (Para. 0262), meets the limitation of the “flow of goods is continuous”.
Further, the Applicant’s specification does not suggest that the conveyor does not stop, but describes that the conveyor can be stopped using a stopper and unloaded manually (Para. 0069 of the Specification in the present application).
In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
It is not necessary that the prior art suggest the combination to achieve the same advantage or result discovered by the applicant. See MPEP §2144(IV).
Sigrist ‘346 is an overhead conveyor system that is directed towards improving the logistics of picking orders of different goods in an automated manner using continuous conveying devices (Para. 0001, Para. 0028).
Sigrist ‘262 provides a compact, overhead buffer storage device for use in an overhead conveying system, that rearranges a continuous flow of goods, and adjusts capacity. Sigrist ‘346 is an overhead order picking system that needs that kind of buffer to handle sequence changes and to assemble sub-quantities at reduced costs (Para. 0031).
It is obvious to implement Sigrist 262’s buffer storage into Sigrist 346’s overhead system to improve overall logistics and fill orders rapidly, while maintaining a continuous flow. Sigrist ‘346 and Sigrist ‘262 are both directed to the same field of art of automated overhead conveying systems for picking diverse orders, and both provide circulating storage buffers for storing goods in a temporary manner.
See the updated rejection below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sigrist et al (US PG. Pub. 2020/0172346) in view of Sigrist (US 2020/0216262). Relative to claims 1-18, Sigrist ‘346 discloses:
claim 1) a conveying method for goods, the method comprising:
requesting an order from a goods sink (40)(Fig. 7), wherein the order comprises at least one product, which is an ordered product (Para. 0073);
requesting the at least one product (goods) from a first endless conveyor (32) constituting a last conveying stage, to which the goods sink (40) is directly coupled (Ref. 32 comprises the first endless conveyor constituting a last conveying stage)(Fig. 7);
requesting the at least one product from a consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2) forming a first conveying stage upstream of the first endless conveyor (32)(Para. 0074), the storage unit (12.1, 12.2) including a circulating conveyor line (see circulating conveyors, including Ref. 20 that circulates around the storage units; Para. 0079)(Fig. 3, 7);
automatically transferring the at least one product to the first endless conveyor (32)(Para. 0084); and conveying the at least one ordered product to the goods sink (40)(Para. 0084)(Fig. 7);
the respective request for goods is made from a conveying stage (32) to the respective upstream conveying stage (included in Ref. 12.1, 12.2, or sorting unit 13)(Para. 0091);
the first endless conveyor (32) and the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2) are each designed as circulating conveyors which form circulating storage units (Para. 0073)(see Fig. 7 which shows the conveyor 32 circulating along the arrow, the conveyor stores goods by carrying them, conveyors inside 12.1, 12.2 are circulating conveyors, this is shown in Fig. 3-4, 7); and
collecting ordered goods of an order in a conveying stage (13) until this order is complete (Para. 0093); and
the goods are conveyed in conveyor containers (55)(Fig. 11) and a flow of goods is continuous (Para. 0027, 0031, 0079)(Fig. 8, 10);
claim 2) the conveying includes conveying the at least one product in a conveyor container (Para. 0076);
claim 3) the conveying includes conveying the at least one product individually in the conveyor container (items in transport bags may be unit items; Para. 0096)(Fig. 12);
claim 4) conveying the at least one product includes at least one of unloading the at least one product from the conveyor container (such as transport bag or hanger) and discharging of conveyor containers from the first endless conveyor (32);
claim 5) the unloading is an automatic unloading (Para. 0077, goods are unloaded, and empty transport units are returned);
claim 6) the at least one product includes requesting based on at least one of a criteria of order quantity, customer of the order, and order priority (Para. 0074, orders are from customers; Para. 0073);
claim 7) the criteria are variable for different conveying stages (Para. 0093);
claim 8) the requesting the at least one product includes requesting from a second endless conveyor (see outfeed line 31)(Fig. 7) downstream of the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2);
claim 10) the at least one product is a collection of ordered goods of an order in a conveying stage (Para. 0073, Para. 0091-0092);
claim 11) the at least one product is a collection of ordered goods of an order in the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2)(Fig. 7);
claim 13) conveying the at least one product includes conveying the at least one product into the first endless conveyor (32)(Para. 0084);
claim 14) conveying the at least one product includes only conveying the at least one product to a next conveying stage if all ordered goods of this order are arranged in the previous conveying stage (Para. 0086);
claim 15) conveying the at least one product includes only conveying the at least one product to a conveying stage (31) if all ordered goods of this order are arranged in the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2)(Para. 0093);
claim 16) filling the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2) with goods from at least one loading station (supply station 11)(Para. 0074)(Fig. 7).
Sigrist ‘346 does not expressly disclose:
the first endless conveyor and the consolidation storage unit each form circulating storage units with random access to each ordered product, such that the processing sequence of the goods can be changed in these conveying stages by allowing goods of different orders to overtake each other when being transferred from one conveying stage to the next;
claim 9) the requesting the at least one product includes requesting from the second endless conveyor prior to requesting from the consolidation storage unit;
claim 12) including changing an order sequence when requesting goods;
claim 17) providing random access to all goods in at least one of the first endless conveyor, the second endless conveyor, and the consolidation storage unit; or
claim 18) providing random access to all goods in each conveying stage.
Sigrist ‘262 teaches:
the first endless conveyor (see conveyor of Ref. 101, near 106d)(Fig. 1) and the consolidation storage unit (see Ref. 130)(Fig. 1) each form circulating storage units with random access to each ordered product (Para. 0109, Para. 0112; system allows goods to be removed and inserted in different places in the flow of goods at various places in the conveyor system 10, including picking from accumulation points and storage rings 130), such that the processing sequence of the goods can be changed in these conveying stages (101, 130)(Fig. 1) by allowing goods of different orders to overtake each other when being transferred from one conveying stage to the next (Para. 0109);
claim 9) the requesting the at least one product includes requesting from the second endless conveyor (see discharge conveyor, 105)(Fig. 1) prior to requesting from the consolidation storage unit (130)(goods are generally moved in sequence towards destination point unless a specific good that is not in the flow of goods is needed, the good can be retrieved from an upstream storage ring 130)(Para. 0110; 0112);
claim 12) including changing an order sequence when requesting goods (Para. 0115);
claim 17) providing random access to all goods in at least one of the first endless conveyor (see 101 near 106d)(Fig. 1), the second endless conveyor (105), and the consolidation storage unit (130)(Para. 0012; 0115); and
claim 18) providing random access to all goods in each conveying stage (Para. 0110).
Sigrist teaches: the first endless conveyor and the consolidation storage unit are each designed as circulating conveyors with random access; requesting from the second endless conveyor prior to requesting from the consolidation storage unit; changing an order sequence when requesting goods; providing random access to all goods as described above for the purpose of providing a buffer storage device for overhead conveyor systems that can accommodate changes in logistics operations while they are being carried out, is less costly, more efficient and is less complicated to implement (Para. 0031; 0033).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Sigrist ‘346 with the circulating conveyors with random access; requesting from the second endless conveyor prior to requesting from the consolidation storage unit; changing an order sequence when requesting goods; providing random access to all goods as taught in Sigrist ‘262 for the purpose of providing a buffer storage device for overhead conveyor systems that can accommodate changes in logistics operations while they are being carried out, is less costly, more efficient and is less complicated to implement.
Relative to claims 19-24, the disclosure of Sigrist ‘346 includes:
claim 19) a conveying apparatus (10)(Fig. 1) for goods, the apparatus comprising:
a consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2) having a circulating conveyor line (See Ref. 20, Fig. 6);
a first endless conveyor (32) arranged downstream of the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2)(Fig. 7);
at least one goods sink (40) directly coupled to the first endless conveyor (32)(Fig. 7); and
a control unit (56)(Para. 0073) configured to execute conveyance of goods via a conveying method for goods, the method including requesting an order from a goods sink (40), the order comprises at least one product, which is an ordered product (Para. 0073);
requesting the at least one product from a first endless conveyor (32) constituting a last conveying stage (Ref. 32 is before reaching dispatch locations, 40)(Fig. 7), to which the goods sink (40) is directly coupled (Para. 0074);
requesting the at least one product from a consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2) forming a first conveying stage upstream of the first endless conveyor (32), the storage unit (12) including a circulating conveyor line (see conveyor sections in Ref. 12)(Para. 0079);
automatically transferring the at least one product to the first endless conveyor (32); and conveying the at least one ordered product to the goods sink (40)(Para. 0084),
the respective request for goods is made from a conveying stage (for instance, 32) to the respective upstream conveying stage (12.1, 12.2)(Para. 0091);
the first endless conveyor (32) and the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2) are each designed as circulating conveyors (see Fig. 4-7)(Para. 0079; 0073);
collecting ordered goods of an order in a conveying stage (such as to or from sort station, 13) until this order is complete (Para. 0086);
the goods are conveyed in conveyor containers (55)(Fig. 11) and a flow of goods is continuous (Para. 0027, 0031, 0079)(Fig. 8, 10);
claim 20) a second endless conveyor arranged between the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2) and the first endless conveyor (32);
claim 21) the conveying apparatus is an overhead conveying apparatus (Para. 0076)(Fig. 7)(see Fig. 10, see Ref. 11, 12, 13, and 14 which include circulating overhead conveyors from which goods are suspended);
claim 22) the conveying apparatus includes a conveyor rail and entrainers (50) that are conveyable thereon, each of which is couplable to a conveyor container (see rail, 44, goods are in carriages 50 on running on rail; Para. 0096)(Fig. 11-12);
claim 23) the first endless conveyor (32) and the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2) are configured such that an intake capacity thereof decreases as the conveying stage increases (Para. 0091)(See Fig. 7); and
claim 24) the second endless conveyor (31) is configured such that an intake capacity thereof decreases as the conveying stage increases (Fig. 7).
Sigrist ‘346 does not expressly disclose:
the first endless conveyor and the consolidation storage unit each form circulating storage units with random access to each ordered product, such that the processing sequence of the goods can be changed in these conveying stages by allowing goods of different orders to overtake each other when being transferred from one conveying stage to the next.
Sigrist ‘262 teaches:
the first endless conveyor (see conveyor of Ref. 101, near 106d)(Fig. 1) and the consolidation storage unit (see Ref. 130)(Fig. 1) each form circulating storage units with random access to each ordered product (Para. 0109, Para. 0112; system allows goods to be removed and inserted in different places in the flow of goods at various places in the conveyor system 10, including picking from accumulation points and storage rings 130), such that the processing sequence of the goods can be changed in these conveying stages (101, 130)(Fig. 1) by allowing goods of different orders to overtake each other when being transferred from one conveying stage to the next (Para. 0109).
Sigrist teaches: the first endless conveyor and the consolidation storage unit are each formed as circulating conveyors with random access to ordered products as described above for the purpose of providing a buffer storage device for overhead conveyor systems that can accommodate changes in logistics operations while they are being carried out, is less costly, more efficient and is less complicated to implement (Para. 0031; 0033).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Sigrist ‘346 with the circulating conveyors with random access to ordered products described above, as taught in Sigrist ‘262 for the purpose of a buffer storage device for overhead conveyor systems that can accommodate changes in logistics operations while they are being carried out, is less costly, more efficient and is less complicated to implement.
Relative to claim 25, the disclosure of Sigrist ‘346 includes:
A conveying method for goods, the method comprising:
requesting an order from a goods sink (40), wherein the order comprises at least one product, which is an ordered product (Para. 0073);
requesting the at least one product from a consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2 of Ref. 12) forming a first conveying stage upstream of an endless conveyor (32)(Fig. 7), the storage unit (12) including a circulating conveyor line (20)(Para. 0079);
automatically transferring the at least one product to the first endless conveyor (32) constituting a last conveying stage (Para. 0084); and
conveying the at least one ordered product to the goods sink (40), the respective request for goods is made from a conveying stage (for instance, conveyor 31 leading to Ref. 13) to the respective upstream conveying stage (for instance, conveyors of storage section, 12)(Para. 0091)(Fig. 7);
the endless conveyor (32) and the consolidation storage unit (12.1, 12.2) are each designed as circulating conveyors which form circulating storage units (Fig. 7); and
comprising a collection of ordered goods of an order in a conveying stage (for instance conveyors in Ref. 12, or Ref. 31) until this order is complete (Para. 0086).
Sigrist ‘346 does not expressly disclose: the first endless conveyor and the consolidation storage unit form circulating storage units with random access to each ordered product, such that the processing sequence of the goods can be changed in these conveying stages by allowing goods of different orders to overtake each other when being transferred from one conveying stage to the next.
Sigrist ‘262 teaches:
Sigrist teaches: the first endless conveyor and the consolidation storage unit are each formed as circulating conveyors with random access to ordered products as described above for the purpose of providing a buffer storage device for overhead conveyor systems that can accommodate changes in logistics operations while they are being carried out, is less costly, more efficient and is less complicated to implement (Para. 0031; 0033).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Sigrist ‘346 with the circulating conveyors with random access to ordered products described above, as taught in Sigrist ‘262 for the purpose of a buffer storage device for overhead conveyor systems that can accommodate changes in logistics operations while they are being carried out, is less costly, more efficient and is less complicated to implement.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YOLANDA RENEE CUMBESS whose telephone number is (571)270-5527. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gene Crawford can be reached at 571-272-6911. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YOLANDA R CUMBESS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651
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