DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-6, 8-10, 13-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention/species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 12/10/2025.
Applicant's election with traverse of Claims 7, 11, 12, 15, 16 (Invention II, Species 2a) in the reply filed on 12/10/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that a search and examination of the entire application would not place a serious burden on the examiner. This is not found persuasive because there is an examination and search burden for these patentably distinct species due to their mutually exclusive characteristics. The invention/species require a different field of search (e.g., searching different classes/subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search queries); and/or the prior art applicable to one species would not likely be applicable to another species; and/or the species are likely to raise different non-prior art issues under 35 U.S.C. 101 and/or 35 U.S.C. 112, and/or first paragraph 112(a).
For example, prior art that reads on claim 11 species which requires:
a traveling instruction input device to which an instruction of a traveling direction is input by a user; an operation valve configured to be operated by the travel instruction input device to regulate the first pump pilot pressure; a secondary pilot oil passage connecting the operation valve and the first pump pilot port; a secondary pressure control valve provided in the secondary pilot oil passage and configured to regulate a secondary pilot pressure which is a hydraulic pressure of the pilot oil in the secondary pilot oil passage; and the control circuitry being configured to control the secondary pressure control valve to convert the first pump pilot pressure to the secondary pilot pressure such that the vehicle speed is controlled to maintain the target speed
would not read on prior art that reads on claim 9 species that requires:
a travel instruction input device to which an instruction of a traveling direction is input by a user; an operation valve configured to be operated by the travel instruction input device to regulate the first pump pilot pressure; and a primary pilot oil passage connecting the pilot pump and the operation valve; and a primary pressure control valve provided in the primary pilot oil passage and configured to regulate a primary pilot pressure which is a hydraulic pressure of the pilot oil in the primary pilot oil passage, the primary pilot pressure being an upper limit of the first pump pilot pressure; the control circuitry being configured to control the primary pressure control valve to regulate the primary pilot pressure such that the vehicle speed is controlled to maintain the target speed.
because it uses a pressure control valve at two different locations which is not readily apparent to be obvious.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/01/2023 and 11/19/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 15 recites “a second hydraulic motor having a second motor pilot port and configured to drive a second traveling device according to a second motor pilot pressure applied to the second motor pilot port” in lines 4-5. However, claim 15 line 2 also recites “a second traveling device”. It is unclear whether the line 4-5 recitation of “a second traveling device” is supposed to refer back to the previously established structure or is establishing a different structure.
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) 7, 15, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fukuda et al. (US 2020/0318320), hereinafter ‘Fukuda’.
Fukuda discloses:
7. A work vehicle comprising: a vehicle body (2); a first traveling device (5L) provided on the vehicle body; a first hydraulic motor (36L) having a first motor pilot port (port connected to 37L that adjusts the displacement of moto 36L) and configured to drive the first traveling device in response to a first motor pilot pressure applied to the first motor pilot port;
a first hydraulic pump (53L) having a first pump pilot port (53a or 53b) and configured to supply hydraulic fluid to the first hydraulic motor in response to a first pump pilot pressure applied to the first pump pilot port;
a first oil passage (57h connected to 80a) and a second oil passage (57h connected to 80b) which connect the first hydraulic pump and the first hydraulic motor and through which the hydraulic fluid is supplied;
a first hydraulic pressure sensor (80a) configured to detect a first hydraulic pressure in the first oil passage; a second hydraulic pressure sensor (80b) configured to detect a second hydraulic pressure in the second oil passage;
a pilot pump (P1) configured to supply pilot oil to the first pump pilot port;
an engine (32) configured to drive the first hydraulic pump and the pilot pump; and
control circuitry configured to obtain an absolute value of a first differential pressure, which is a difference between the first hydraulic pressure and the second hydraulic pressure (paragraph [0213] discloses differential pressure calculator portion 63; paragraph [0510] discloses “first absolute value (|V1−V2|, |V2−V1|) that is an absolute value between a value of the first traveling pump pressure V1 and a value of the second traveling pump pressure V2”),
the control circuity being configured to regulate at least one of the first pump pilot pressure (paragraph [0538], valve 58 has its opening adjusted to regulate a first pump pilot pressure that is output from pilot pump P1) and a rotational speed of the engine such that a vehicle speed is controlled to maintain a predetermined target speed according to the absolute value of the first differential pressure (paragraph [0540] discloses the displacements of pumps 53L, 53R are adjusted based on the control of the valve 58, and paragraphs [0533]-[0543] discloses the automatic deceleration control is a function of the pressure output from valve 58 by adjusting threshold values that the differential pressure absolute values are compared to, therefore the automatic deceleration control that causes the vehicle speed to change from the second speed to the first predetermined speed is achieved by regulating the first pilot pressure that is output from the pilot pump P1 via valve 58).
15. The work vehicle according to claim 7, further comprising:
a second traveling device (5R) provided on the vehicle body opposite to the first traveling device;
a second hydraulic motor (36R) having a second motor pilot port (port connected to 37R) and configured to drive a second traveling device according to a second motor pilot pressure applied to the second motor pilot port;
a second hydraulic pump (53R) having a second pump pilot port (53a or 53b) and configured to supply hydraulic fluid to the second hydraulic motor in response to a second pump pilot pressure applied to the second pump pilot port;
a third oil passage (57i connected to 80c) and a fourth oil passage (57i connected to 80d) which connect the second hydraulic pump and the second hydraulic motor and through which the hydraulic fluid is supplied;
a third hydraulic pressure sensor (80c) configured to detect a third hydraulic pressure in the third oil passage a fourth hydraulic pressure sensor (80d) configured to detect a fourth hydraulic pressure in the fourth oil passage; the engine being configured to drive the second hydraulic pump (engine 32 drives pumps 53L, 53R, P1)
the pilot pump (P1) being configured to supply the pilot oil to the second pump pilot port (see hydraulic circuit figures);
the control circuitry being configured to obtain an absolute value of a second differential pressure which is a difference between the third hydraulic pressure and the fourth hydraulic pressure (paragraph [0509] - [0518]); and
the control circuitry being configured to regulate at least one of the second pump pilot pressure and the rotational speed of the engine according to the absolute value of the first differential pressure such that the vehicle speed is controlled to maintain the predetermined target speed
when the absolute value of the first differential pressure is larger than the absolute value of the second differential pressure (paragraph [0508]-[0525] discusses using both absolute values of differential pressures of the right traveling motor circuit and the left traveling motor circuit to determine when to perform automatic deceleration, and states that when either absolute value is more than a threshold value, the automatic deceleration is performed which includes the scenario in which the first absolute value is larger than the second absolute value).
16. The work vehicle according to claim 15, wherein the second pump pilot pressure is regulated to be increased as the absolute value of the first differential pressure increases (the same pilot pump P1 provides the pilot pressure to both the second pump and first pump pilot ports, therefore when the first differential pressure increases, the second pump pilot pressure also increases).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter
The prior art does not disclose nor render obvious work vehicle including further comprising: a traveling instruction input device to which an instruction of a traveling direction is input by a user; an operation valve configured to be operated by the travel instruction input device to regulate the first pump pilot pressure; a secondary pilot oil passage connecting the operation valve and the first pump pilot port; a secondary pressure control valve provided in the secondary pilot oil passage and configured to regulate a secondary pilot pressure which is a hydraulic pressure of the pilot oil in the secondary pilot oil passage; and the control circuitry being configured to control the secondary pressure control valve to convert the first pump pilot pressure to the secondary pilot pressure such that the vehicle speed is controlled to maintain the target speed as claimed in claim 11, including its base claim limitations.
Claims 12 is allowable because it depends from allowable claim 11.
Conclusion
The art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Oasa (US 10920399) discloses a work vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body (2);
a first traveling device (4) provided on the vehicle body;
a first hydraulic motor (33) having a first motor pilot port (35a) and configured to drive the first traveling device in response to a first motor pilot pressure applied to the first motor pilot port;
a first hydraulic pump (31) having a first pump pilot port (ports connected to 46, 47) and configured to supply hydraulic fluid to the first hydraulic motor in response to a first pump pilot pressure applied to the first pump pilot port (pump 31 supplies fluid to motor 33);
a first oil passage (32a) and a second oil passage (32b) which connect the first hydraulic pump and the first hydraulic motor and through which the hydraulic fluid is supplied;
a first hydraulic pressure sensor (34a) configured to detect a first hydraulic pressure in the first oil passage; a second hydraulic pressure sensor (34b) configured to detect a second hydraulic pressure in the second oil passage;
a pilot pump (38) configured to supply pilot oil to the first pump pilot port;
an engine (21) configured to drive the first hydraulic pump and the pilot pump (see Fig. 2); and
control circuitry configured to obtain an absolute value of a first differential pressure, which is a difference between the first hydraulic pressure and the second hydraulic pressure (Col. 20 discusses using differential of the pressure obtained by the first pressure sensor 34a and the second pressure sensor 34b and having the controller obtain the absolute value of a correction amount),
the control circuity being configured to regulate at least one of the first pump pilot pressure and a rotational speed of the engine such that a vehicle speed is controlled to maintain a predetermined target speed according to the absolute value of the first differential pressure (Col. 17 lines 31-40 discloses controlling the engine speed and the pump displacement for a target vehicle speed; Col. 21 discusses controlling the engine and the displacement of the pump using the disclosed method including using the absolute value differential pressure;
Col. 19, lines 19-40, S906 determines a differential pressure and uses it to determine a correction amount used in the control of the pump displacement control and the engine speed control).
Kita et al. (US 5123244) discloses a work vehicle comprising: a vehicle body (Col. 3 lines 14-18, “vehicle”); a first traveling device (6) provided on the vehicle body; a first hydraulic motor (2) configured to drive the first traveling device;
a first hydraulic pump (1) configured to supply hydraulic fluid to the first hydraulic motor;
a first oil passage (3) and a second oil passage (4) which connect the first hydraulic pump and the first hydraulic motor and through which the hydraulic fluid is supplied;
a first hydraulic pressure sensor (11, 17) configured to detect a first hydraulic pressure in the first oil passage; a second hydraulic pressure sensor (11, 18) configured to detect a second hydraulic pressure in the second oil passage;
an engine (5) configured to drive the first hydraulic pump; and
control circuitry configured to obtain an absolute value of a first differential pressure (Col. 4 lines 51-67), which is a difference between the first hydraulic pressure and the second hydraulic pressure,
the control circuity being configured to regulate at least one of the first pump pilot pressure and a rotational speed of the engine such that a vehicle speed is controlled to maintain a predetermined target speed according to the absolute value of the first differential pressure (Col. 4 lines 47-69, Col. 5 lines 1-19 discloses using the absolute value of the differential pressure to control the displacement volume of the pump 1 to prevent any creep running when the system is in the neutral operation mode in which the target vehicle speed is 0,
Col. 1 lines 27-43 discloses that creep running is a status in which small errors of cylinder displacement results in pressurized fluid being discharged when the hydraulic transmission is set to a neutral status).
Fukuda et al. (US 11371215) discloses a work vehicle with throttles 95a-95d placed on the conduit between the operation valve 55 and pumps 53L, 53R but they are not controlled such that the vehicle speed is controlled to maintain the target speed, etc.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Dustin T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-0163. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel E. Wiehe can be reached at (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUSTIN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 March 11, 2026
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