Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 18, 2026
Application No. 18/333,229

ELEVATOR SYSTEM INCLUDING SENSOR ASSEMBLY FOR DETECTING OBJECT LOADING AND UNLOADING

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jun 12, 2023
Examiner
CARRASQUILLO, JORGE L
Art Unit
2846
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Otis Elevator Company
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
82%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 8m
To Grant
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 82% — above average
82%
Career Allow Rate
404 granted / 496 resolved
+13.5% vs TC avg
Strong +15% interview lift
Without
With
+15.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
513
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.2%
-37.8% vs TC avg
§103
54.1%
+14.1% vs TC avg
§102
25.1%
-14.9% vs TC avg
§112
16.8%
-23.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 496 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION 1. This office action is a response to communication submitted on 06/12/2023 . Information Disclosure Statement 2. The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. 3. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination. Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 10 2 4. 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. (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. 5. Claims 1-4 and 6-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 10 2(1) or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Martin et al. (US 20180170710 A1). In regards to claim s 1, 15 and 20, Martin shows ( Figs. 1-5 ) and discloses an elevator system ( 101 ) , the corresponding method and a computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ( Fig. 2. pars. 40-42, 70 ), the computer program including instructions for causing a processor to implement a process for operating said elevator system comprising: a hoistway ( Fig. 1, i.e. 117, pars. 43, 45 ) ; an elevator car ( 103/303 ) configured to travel in the hoistway ( Fig. 1 ) ; a landing ( 125/325 ) having a landing door ( i.e. 324/424, Figs. 3-4 ) ; a sensor assembly ( i.e. 326/426 ) configured to monitor a field of view overlapping a door opening of the landing door ( pars. 50-60, i.e. potential load change,” as used herein, includes persons, objects, cargo, things, etc. that may be loaded on to (e.g., enter) or unloaded from (e.g., exit) the elevator car 303 ) ; wherein the sensor assembly ( i.e. 326/426 ) is configured to perform at least one of ( i ) determine a number of objects in the elevator car , OR (ii) determine a load of objects in the elevator car ( 326 is configured to perform ( i ) and/or (ii); see pars. 48 -60, i.e. potential load change,” as used herein, includes persons, objects, cargo, things, etc. that may be loaded on to (e.g., enter) or unloaded from (e.g., exit) the elevator car 303 ). In regards to claim s 2 and 16 , Martin shows (Figs. 1-5) and discloses wherein the sensor assembly includes a sensor that measures distances to objects (see Figs. 3-4, pars. 45-50) . In regards to claim s 3 and 17 , Martin shows (Figs. 1-5) and discloses wherein the sensor (i.e. 326/426) includes at least one of a LIDAR sensor, a millimeter wave RADAR sensor and an RGBD camera (see Figs. 3-4, pars. 45-50). In regards to claim 4, Martin shows (Figs. 1-5) and discloses wherein the sensor assembly (i.e. 326/426) is configured to perform at least two of ( i ) determine the number of objects in the elevator car, (ii) determine the load of objects in the elevator car (326 is configured to perform ( i ) and/or (ii); see pars. 50-60, i.e. potential load change,” as used herein, includes persons, objects, cargo, things, etc. that may be loaded on to (e.g., enter) or unloaded from (e.g., exit) the elevator car 303). In regards to claim 6, Martin shows (Figs. 1-5) and discloses wherein the sensor assembly (i.e. 326/426) determines the number of objects in the elevator car by detecting objects entering and existing the elevator car (326 is configured to perform ( i ) and/or (ii); see pars. 36, 46, 48, 50-60, i.e. potential load change,” as used herein, includes persons, objects, cargo, things, etc. that may be loaded on to (e.g., enter) or unloaded from (e.g., exit) the elevator car 303) . In regards to claim s 7 and 19 , Martin shows (Figs. 1-5) and discloses wherein the sensor assembly (i.e. 326/426) is configured to communicate the number of objects in the elevator car to an elevator controller (115/322), (pars. 47-60) . In regards to claim 8, Martin shows (Figs. 1-5) and discloses wherein the elevator controller (115/322) is configured to control operation of the elevator system in response to the number of objects (i.e. load object changes and. via hover mode control system 322 ) in the elevator car (pars. 47-60) . In regards to claim 9, Martin shows (Figs. 1-5) and discloses shows and discloses wherein the sensor assembly (i.e. 326/426) determines the load of the objects in the elevator car by determining a type of each object in the elevator car (i.e. via hover mo d e control system 322) , wherein each type of object is associated with a weight (i.e. estimated mass and/or estimate, and/or determine a weight of the detected person, pars. 50 -60). In regards to claim 10, shows and discloses wherein the sensor assembly (i.e. 326/426) determines the type of each object in the elevator car by comparing sensor data from a sensor to reference data in a memory (i.e. 202(implicit as the term “load change” as used herein includes persons, objects, cargo, things, etc. that may be loaded onto (e.g., enter) or unloaded from (e.g., exit) an elevator car. A positive load change is an increase in weight that is suspended by the load bearing members and a negative load change is a decrease in weight that is suspended by the load bearing members… The sensor(s) 326 of the hover mode control system 322 are configured to detect persons and/or cargo (e.g., a potential load change) located within the elevator car 303 and/or located on the landing 325. The term “potential load change,” as used herein, includes persons, objects, cargo, things, etc. that may be loaded on to (e.g., enter) or unloaded from (e.g., exit) the elevator car 303. The sensor(s) 326 are cameras or other similar detection devices, pars. 37-60). In regards to claim 11, shows and discloses wherein the sensor assembly (i.e. 326/426) is configured to communicate the load of the objects in the elevator car to an elevator controller (115/322), (i.e. via hover mode control system 322, pars. 48-60) . In regards to claim 12, Martin shows ( Figs. 1-5 ) and discloses wherein the elevator controller (115/322) is configured to perform sag compensation in response to the load of the objects in the elevator car (see pars . 48, 52, 67, i.e. During the entering and/or exiting, the load of the elevator car 303 will change, which can result in bounce, as described above. This can be compensated for (preemptively) through operation of the hover mode control system 322). In regards to claim 13, Martin shows ( Figs. 1-5 ) and discloses wherein the type of each object in the elevator car includes a person and a robot (implicit as a Robot is considered an object or a thing or non-person object , see pars. 50-5 3) . In regards to claim s 14 and 18 , Martin shows ( Figs. 1-5 ) and discloses wherein determining the load of objects in the elevator car includes determining a load change of objects in the elevator car (pars . 42-62, i.e. change in load based on loading and unloading). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 6. 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. 7 . Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 10 3 as being unpatentable over Martin et al. (US 20180170710 A1) in view of NODA et al. (EP 3730443 A1). In regards to claim 5, Martin shows ( Figs. 1-5 ) and discloses wherein the sensor assembly is configured to perform all of ( i ) determine the number of objects in the elevator car and (ii) determine the load of objects in the elevator car, but does not explicitly disclose to detect the door obstruction. However, NODA discloses and shows (Figs. 1-15) an elevator user detection system includes a camera (12) disposed in a car and including a super-wide-angle lens, configured to capture at least an image of the entirety of the inside of the car. The system includes a detection area setting unit (22a) configured to set at least two detection areas on an image captured by the camera (12), and a detection processing unit (22b) configured to execute a detection process related to a drive operation of the car for each of the at least two detection areas set by the detection area setting unit (22a), NODA further shows and discloses to detect the door obstruction (i.e. The detection areas E2-1 and E2-2 are areas to predict a user getting caught by the door during the door opening operation, and are set in the inner side surfaces 41a-1 and 41b-1 of the front pillars 41a and 41b… a response process corresponding to a case where a user or an object is detected in the detection areas, see pars. 82-87). Thus, given the teaching of NODA , it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the circuit/system of Martin to additionally detect a person or object obstruction within the elevator as to provide a secure door the door opening/closing control unit that performs a door opening/closing control to avoid a door accident (accident where someone is caught by the door, par. 21) , consequently improving the system reliability and security . Related Prior Arts 8. The following related prior arts made of record are considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure to further show the general state of the art and may be applied alone or in combination for rejection of the claims. KOURA (US 20040159500 A1) discloses an elevator door control device for use in an elevator apparatus of a type in which a doorway frame having a pair of vertical frames and an upper frame provided between the vertical frames is provided in each of a car doorway and a landing doorway, opening/closing operations of a car door for opening and closing the car doorway and opening/closing operations of a landing door for opening and closing the landing doorway being controlled by the elevator door control device, comprising: an obstruction sensor for detecting an obstruction in the vicinity of the vertical frame of at least one of the car doorway and the landing doorway to output an obstruction detection signal; an alarm device for issuing an alarm for a passenger; and a door control unit for controlling the opening/closing operations in accordance with the obstruction detection signal, wherein the door control unit, when it receives the obstruction detection signal prior to the start of the door opening operation, causes the alarm device to issue an alarm before starting the door opening operation. NODA et al. (CN 110294391 A) discloses the user detection region E1 set to has a distance of L1 toward the landing direction and width with distance W1 width W0 of the car door 13 are approximately the same. the current opening degree of the car door 13 under the car door 13 of transverse width of more than half of the case, as shown in FIG. 4 (b) illustrate, without forming overlapped area, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the user detection region E1 set to has a distance of L1 toward the landing direction and width with a distance W2 (W1) is substantially the same as the current 13 with the car door opening. Conclusion 9 . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT JORGE L CARRASQUILLO whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)270-7879 . The examiner can normally be reached on FILLIN "Work schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday to Friday (9am to 5pm) . If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eduardo Colon-Santana can be reached on (571) 272-2060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JORGE L CARRASQUILLO/ Primary Examiner Engineer, Art Unit 2846
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Prosecution Timeline

Jun 12, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 04, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
82%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+15.3%)
2y 8m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 496 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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