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.
Claims 5-6 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 5 recites the limitation "said storage space" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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) s 1-4, 7-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ichikawa (JP11285109).
Referring to claims 1-4. Ichikawa discloses an “Automated Guided Vehicle has connectors coupled to batter for connecting automatic guided vehicle to another automatic guided vehicle”. See Figs. 1-8 and respective portions of the specification. Ichikawa further discloses a multi-line handling area (production line) comprising a plurality of stations ( positions within the multi-line); and a plurality of trolleys (1a-1e), each of which comprises a first connector (2, See Fig. 5); wherein the plurality of stations comprises at least one workstation adapted for carrying out an associated one of successive steps (stations can be arbitrarily defined to perform tasks/steps) and at least one charging station (15) comprising a second connector (7) for providing a commodity (electric power) to one of said trolleys (1a-1e) when connected to the first connector of said trolley (See at least Sect. 0021, See Fig. 3); wherein at least one of said trolleys comprises a second connector that communicates with the first connector (See at least Fig. 1). It should be noted as either disclosed in Fig. 1 or broadly construed that trolley (1b) is connected to trolley (1a) and that connectors of the trolley are identical to connectors of the charging station . If applicant disagrees that Ichikawa discloses stations/workstations for carrying out associated steps, it should be noted that the trolleys (1a-1e) operate in a multi-line configuration and travel from location to location and are instructed by control means (5). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the AGV/trolleys of Ichikawa in a production line environment so that trolleys could be used to carry out successive steps in a production line while being able to charge at charging stations and charge other trolleys while carrying out successive steps and to have identical connectors on the trolleys as on the charging station, which would increase efficiency, decrease downtime and increase throughput.
Referring to claim 7. Ichikawa discloses a trolley comprising: a motorized steerable undercarriage (See at least Fig. 5); a storage space (9) for a work piece; a first connector (2) for receiving a commodity from an external source (15); and a second connector (2) for outputting said commodity to an external sink. (It should be noted that trolleys comprise (first connector 2, and second connector 2, See Fig. 1 and Ichikawa discloses connector (2) for outputting electric power to a secondary trolley (See at least Sect. 0021, Figs. 1,5).
Referring to claim 8. Ichikawa discloses wherein the trolleys are AGV (See at least Sect. 0021).
Referring to claims 9-10. Ichikawa discloses wherein the first connector (2) and second connector (2) are located on opposite sides of the undercarriage and further wherein the first connector is located on a front side of the undercarriage in a normal displacement direction, and the second connector is located on a rear side (See Figs. 1, 5).
Referring to claims 11-12. Ichikawa discloses wherein the first connector of the trolley is adapted to be connected to the second connector of a second, identical trolley and wherein connectors are hermaphroditic as they are structurally identical and capable of both mating roles (See at least Sect. 0021 & at least Figs, 1, 5).
Referring to claim 13. Ichikawa discloses a storage space (9) which is capable of storing a battery/electric power for communication with the first connector.
Referring to claim 14. Ichikawa doesn’t disclose wherein the storage space is a dust-proof compartment. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the storage space so that it was a dust-proof compartment so that stored materials / batteries were kept clean and untampered, which would prevent contamination and improve reliability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 15 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. Additionally, claims 5-6 need to be 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
Conclusion
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/TERRELL H MATTHEWS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653