DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-7 are pending.
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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for priority of U.S provisional application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements provided complies with the provisions of MPEP § 609. It has been placed in the application file, and the information referred to therein has been considered as to the merits. A signed copy of the form is attached.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, line 14, pronoun should not be used rather than being referred to by “it” should be set forth.
Dependent claims not specifically rejected are rejected as being dependent upon a rejected base claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 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 of this title, 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2) (see Figs. 1-4)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) (see Figs. 1-4) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brouwers (US20230309775).
As per claim 1, Brouwers teaches a self-propelled floor (see Figs. 3 and 4) processing device (1) (see par. [0001]) comprising: a base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4), a driving device and an obstacle (see abs., pars. [0005, 0014, 0036 and 0050]) detection device (3) (see pars. [0035, 0054, 0050 and 0051]) configured for detecting a collision (see pars. [0003 and 0082], wherein preventing a collision covers detection as well) between the floor (see Figs. 3 and 4) processing device (1) (see par. [0001]) and an obstacle (see abs., pars. [0005, 0014, 0036 and 0050]), wherein the obstacle (see abs., pars. [0005, 0014, 0036 and 0050]) detection device (3) (see pars. [0035, 0054, 0050 and 0051]) has a bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) arranged in a protruding position on the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4), as well as at least one impact sensor (5) (see par. [0053]) allocated to the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]), wherein the impact sensor (5) (see par. [0053]) is configured to detect a displacement of the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) relative to the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4), wherein the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) is mounted to the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4) via at least one swivel joint (6) (see par. [0087]), wherein the swivel joint (6) (see par. [0087]) has a joint axis (7) (see Fig. 4)oriented substantially perpendicular to s surface to be processed in a state of the floor (see Figs. 3 and 4) processing device (1) (see par. [0001]) where it is traveling on the surface to be processed, wherein the swivel joint (6) (see par. [0087]) has two connecting areas (8, 9) lying radially opposite each other in relation to the joint axis (7), of which a first connecting area (8) is rotatably arranged on the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4), and of which a second connecting area (9) is rotatably arranged on the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]), and wherein the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) is arranged on the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4) via a carrier body (12) (see Fig. 4) having a recess (13) configured for accommodating the swivel joint (6) (see par. [0087]). Although, the above limitations are disclosed from different embodiments.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of different embodiments of Brouwers into the intended end result, thereby improving the airport demand management as a whole.
As per claim 2, Brouwers teaches wherein each connecting area (8, 9) is connected with the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4) or the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) via a connecting means (see Figs. 3) (10, 11) that forms a rotational axis (see Figs. 3 and 4), wherein the connecting means (see Figs. 3) (10, 11) is oriented parallel to the joint axis (7) (see Fig. 4) of the swivel joint (6) (see par. [0087]).
As per claim 3, Brouwers teaches wherein the connecting means (see Figs. 3) (10, 11) is a screw, a cylinder pin or a rivet (see Figs. 2, 3 and 4).
As per claim 4, Brouwers teaches wherein the recess (13) is bordered by the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) with the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) connected with the carrier body (12) (see Fig. 4).
As per claim 5, Brouwers teaches wherein the swivel joint (6) (see par. [0087]) is connected with the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4) with the carrier body (12) interspersed (see Fig. 4), wherein a connecting means (10) (see Figs. 3) that connects a first connecting area (8) of the swivel joint (6) (see par. [0087]) with the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4) simultaneously connects the carrier body (12) (see Fig. 4) with the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4).
As per claim 6, Brouwers teaches wherein at least the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) or at least the carrier body (12) (see Fig. 4) is U-shaped in design (see Fig. 2), and encloses a base body front (14) and at least partial areas of two base body sides (15) (see Fig. 2) adjoining the base body front (14) in a respective corner area (16) (see Fig. 2) of the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4) in relation to a usual direction of movement (r) of the floor (see Figs. 3 and 4) processing device (1) (see par. [0001]), and wherein the at least one swivel joint (6) (see par. [0087]) comprises two swivel joints allocated one each to the corner areas (16) of the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4), so that the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) can be displaced in a single plane oriented parallel to the surface to be processed, both parallel to the usual direction of movement (r) (see fig. 3), and also transversely thereto relative to the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4) or the carrier body (12) (see Fig. 4).
As per claim 7, Brouwers teaches wherein at least one of the group of base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4), bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) or carrier body (12) (see Fig. 4) has at least one spring element (17), a reset force (see par. [0018], wherein returning to a docking station has been interpreted as reset/recharge) of which tries to space the bumper (4) (see par. [0062]) apart from the base body (2) (see Figs. 1-4).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MCDIEUNEL MARC whose telephone number is (571) 272-6964. The examiner can normally be reached on Work 9:00 AM to 7:30.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, WADE MILES can be reached on (571) 270-7777. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)-273-3976.
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/McDieunel Marc/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3665