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 .
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) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dudde (US Publication 2019/0119071).
Claims 1, 9, and 17-20, Dudde teaches a system or method for monitoring wear of a tension member, comprising: a hoistway (paragraph 0042) providing service to a plurality of floors in a building (paragraph 0057); a car 36 within the hoistway, the car is coupled to a tension member 4; a hoist motor connected to a sheave 40 and tension member 4 for moving the car (paragraph 0058); an elevator system controller 44; an elevator car controller 44; and belt monitoring controller 42, wherein the controller 42 is configured to access historical data related to at least usage of tension member 4 (see paragraphs 0064), tracks real time data indicative of bends of the tension member (paragraph 0065), determines a condition of the tension member by using comparator 52 which compares the historical data and the real time data, and issues a service alert in response to the comparison (paragraph 0066).
Dudde does not specify how the maintenance personnel will inspect the elevator system. However, Dudde teaches for example in paragraph 0068 how maintenance personnel uses the information from the belt monitoring controller 42 as well as other elevator systems in order to determine when the tension member 4 needs to be replaced.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to use the findings from the tension member monitoring system to guide maintenance personnel of elevator systems to assess the health of the tension member.
Claims 2 and 10, Dudde describes in fig. 7 and corresponding description that the monitoring controller 42 of the tension member 4 communicates with other elevator systems 39/62. Additionally, Dude describes in paragraph 0005 that the entire length of the tension member 4 is monitored (the entire tension member covers all the floors in a building).
Claims 3 and 11, Dudde describes elevators car 36 moving in various directions within a building (see paragraph 0057).
Claims 4 and 12, Dudde et al describes for example in figures 4 and 5 tension member 4 connected to elevator car 36 at one end and to a counterweight 38 on the other end passing through multiple sheaves (see paragraph 0058).
Claims 5-7 and 13-15, Dudde describes, paragraph 0065, a number of bending cycles and other emergency operating conditions are considered.
Claims 6 and 14, Dudde, describes, paragraph 0042, the elevator tension member 4 being a coated belt.
Claims 8 and 16, the specific method used to detect the wear of the tension member is considered a design choice and is not given any patentable weight.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 17 indirectly depends from claim 9 which has already recited the step of controlling the elevator car to transport an elevator inspect to one or more locations. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The attached PTO-892 lists other elevator systems that monitor the health of suspension members.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Rina I Duda whose telephone number is (571)272-2062. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eduardo Colon Santana can be reached at (571) 272-2060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RINA I DUDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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