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 § 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 18 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 18 recites “the sides” which lacks proper antecedent basis in the claims.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 6, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dodds et al. (US 2017/0341860 A1), hereafter referred to as Dodds.
Consider claims 1 and 6. Dodds teaches an electrified refuse vehicle comprising: a chassis (12); a cab (16) coupled to the chassis; a body (14) coupled to the chassis; an on-vehicle electrical power source (see paragraph [0020], lines 23-32); and a lift assembly (40) coupled to the body and extending in front of the cab, the lift assembly including: a first lift arm (one 42); a second lift arm (other 42); and two lift actuators (46) powered by the on-vehicle electrical power source, the two lift actuators coupled to the lift arms and positioned to pivot the lift arms (see fig. 1 and paragraph [0022], lines 9-12).
Dodds does not explicitly teach that the lift actuators are electric lift actuators. Dodds teaches that pneumatic actuators, hydraulic actuators, and electric actuators are interchangeable (see paragraph [0025], lines 9-10). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the lift actuators of Dodds to be electric lift actuators in order to reduce moving parts to improve serviceability and reliability.
Consider claim 2. Dodds teaches a controller (510) configured to at least one of (a) perform a loadsense function to determine a weight of a refuse container being lifted by or coupled to the lift assembly or (b) perform an object impact detection function (via accelerometer; see paragraph [0030], lines 1-3) to determine that a component or portion of the lift assembly has encountered or run into an object based on a signal acquired from the one or more electric lift actuators.
Consider claim 16. Dodds teaches an electrified refuse vehicle comprising: a chassis (12); a cab (16) coupled to the chassis; a body (14) coupled to the chassis; a battery pack (see paragraph [0020], lines 23-32); and a lift assembly (40) coupled to the body and extending in front of the cab, the lift assembly including: a first lift arm (one 42); a second lift arm (other 42); a first lift actuator (one 46) powered by the battery pack, the first lift actuator coupled to the body and the first lift arm; and a second lift actuator (other 46) powered by the battery pack, the second electric lift actuator coupled to the body and the second lift arm.
Dodds does not explicitly teach that the lift actuators are electric lift actuators. Dodds teaches that pneumatic actuators, hydraulic actuators, and electric actuators are interchangeable (see paragraph [0025], lines 9-10). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the lift actuators of Dodds to be electric lift actuators in order to reduce moving parts to improve serviceability and reliability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 7-15, and 17 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.
Claim 18 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 19 and 20 are allowable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN D SNELTING whose telephone number is (571)270-7015. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:30 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Saul Rodriguez can be reached at (571)272-7097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN SNELTING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3652
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