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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
The indicated allowability of claims 1, 5, 13, and 16 are withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference to Lego Technic tracked vehicle Non-Patent Literature and Weight Transferring Mechanism Non-Patent Literature cited by the Applicant on March 13, 2026. Rejections based on the newly cited reference(s) follow.
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 5 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 5, line 3, recites “equally-spaced features” which is indefinite because it is unclear how the equally-spaced features from claim 5 are different from or related to the equally-spaced features from claim 1, line 10.
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.
Claims 1, 5, 13, and 16, as best understood, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lego Technic tracked vehicle Non-Patent Literature (hereinafter referred to as Lego Technic).
Regarding claim 1, Lego Technic discloses a modular apparatus for supporting wheels of a tracked vehicle, comprising:
a rail (see the figure below) that extends lengthwise along a side of the vehicle; and
a plurality of wheel assemblies (see the figure below) attached to the rail at a set of user-selected locations (see the locations of the wheel assemblies as shown below) along the rail,
wherein the wheel assemblies are constructed and arranged to guide a track (shown below) in a loop around the wheel assemblies on the side of the vehicle, wherein the rail is an indexed rail that defines discrete locations (the holes in the rail as shown below) at which the plurality of wheel assembles can be attached, wherein the indexed rail includes a plurality of equally-spaced features (the holes in the rail as shown below) that define the discrete locations, and wherein each wheel assembly of the plurality of wheel assemblies attaches to the rail via at least two of the equally-spaced features (each wheel assembly connects to the rail at two positions as shown below; each wheel assembly has a post that extends from the wheel and connects to one hole and a spring member that extends from the wheel and connects to another hole).
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Annotated image taken at 2:29 of the Lego Technic Non-Patent Literature cited by the Applicant
Regarding claim 5, Lego Technic discloses that the rail includes first and second spaced-apart rail segments that run parallel to each other and have equally-spaced features that are transversely aligned (shown above).
Regarding claim 13, Lego Technic discloses a method of configuring a tracked vehicle, comprising:
providing a rail (see the figure below) that extends lengthwise along a side of the tracked vehicle;
selecting a plurality of wheel assemblies (see the figure below) for attaching to the rail;
selecting a set of locations (see the locations of the wheel assemblies as shown below) along the rail at which to attach the plurality of wheel assemblies; and
attaching the plurality of wheel assemblies at the selected locations (wheel assemblies are attached at selected locations along the rail as shown below),
wherein selecting the plurality of wheel assemblies for attaching to the rail includes selecting between a first wheel assembly having suspension (the wheel assemblies have spring members attached to them thus constituting wheel assemblies with suspensions) and a second wheel assembly not having suspension (the limitation does not require there to be wheel assemblies without a suspension to meet the claim limitation; Lego Technic chose to use wheel assemblies with suspensions thus meeting the claim limitation).
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Annotated image taken at 2:29 of the Lego Technic Non-Patent Literature cited by the Applicant
Regarding claim 16, Lego Technic discloses that a particular wheel assembly of the plurality of wheel assemblies is configured to attach to the rail in both a forward-facing direction (the direction when the spring faces northwest as shown at 0:09 in the video) and a reverse-facing direction (the direction when the spring faces northeast as shown at 0:09 in the video), and wherein the method further comprises selecting one of the forward-facing direction or the reverse-facing direction when attaching the particular wheel assembly to the rail (the user chooses which was to orient one of the wheel assemblies when assembling the vehicle thus meeting the claim limitation in light of the structure shown at 0:09 of the video; the wheel assemblies appear to be identical in structure thus it is viewed that the wheel assemblies are interchangeable in the forward and reverse facing directions).
Claims 1, 5, 13, and 16, as best understood, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Weight Transferring Mechanism Non-Patent Literature (hereinafter referred to as Weight Transferring Mechanism).
Regarding claim 1, Weight Transferring Mechanism discloses a modular apparatus for supporting wheels of a tracked vehicle (see 0:02 of the video), comprising:
a rail (the black and white section that connect to each other which the wheel assemblies connect to as shown at 0:21 of the video) that extends lengthwise along a side of the vehicle; and
a plurality of wheel assemblies (the wheel assemblies that attach to the rail as shown at 0:21 of the video) attached to the rail at a set of user-selected locations (see the locations of the wheel assemblies at 0:21 of the video) along the rail,
wherein the wheel assemblies are constructed and arranged to guide a track (the member that the wheels of the wheel assemblies directly engage) in a loop around the wheel assemblies on the side of the vehicle, wherein the rail is an indexed rail that defines discrete locations (the holes in the rail as shown below) at which the plurality of wheel assembles can be attached, wherein the indexed rail includes a plurality of equally-spaced features (the holes in the rail which the wheel assemblies fasten to) that define the discrete locations, and wherein each wheel assembly of the plurality of wheel assemblies attaches to the rail via at least two of the equally-spaced features (each wheel assembly connects to the rail at two positions as shown at 0:21 of the video; each wheel assembly has a post that extends from the wheel and connects to one hole and a spring member that extends from the wheel and connects to another hole).
Regarding claim 5, Weight Transferring Mechanism discloses that the rail includes first and second spaced-apart rail segments (the black and white segments of the rail at 0:21 of the video) that run parallel to each other and have equally-spaced features (the holes in the rail segments that the wheel assemblies mount to) that are transversely aligned.
Regarding claim 13, Weight Transferring Mechanism discloses a method of configuring a tracked vehicle (see 0:02 of the video), comprising:
providing a rail (the black and white section that connect to each other which the wheel assemblies connect to as shown at 0:21 of the video) that extends lengthwise along a side of the tracked vehicle;
selecting a plurality of wheel assemblies (the wheel assemblies that attach to the rail as shown at 0:21 of the video) for attaching to the rail;
selecting a set of locations (see the locations of the wheel assemblies at 0:21 of the video) along the rail at which to attach the plurality of wheel assemblies; and
attaching the plurality of wheel assemblies at the selected locations (wheel assemblies are attached at selected locations along the rail as shown at 0:21 of the video),
wherein selecting the plurality of wheel assemblies for attaching to the rail includes selecting between a first wheel assembly having suspension (the wheel assemblies have spring members attached to them thus constituting wheel assemblies with suspensions) and a second wheel assembly not having suspension (the limitation does not require there to be wheel assemblies without a suspension to meet the claim limitation; Weight Transferring Mechanism chose to use wheel assemblies with suspensions thus meeting the claim limitation).
Regarding claim 16, Weight Transferring Mechanism discloses that a particular wheel assembly (the wheel assembly that is second to the left at 0:21 of the video) of the plurality of wheel assemblies is configured to attach to the rail in both a forward-facing direction (the direction when the spring faces northwest as shown at 0:21 in the video) and a reverse-facing direction (the direction when the spring would face the northeast direction (i.e. opposite direction)), and wherein the method further comprises selecting one of the forward-facing direction or the reverse-facing direction when attaching the particular wheel assembly to the rail (the user chooses which was to orient one of the wheel assemblies when assembling the vehicle thus meeting the claim limitation in light of the structure shown at 0:21 of the video; the wheel assemblies appear to be identical in structure thus it is viewed that one of the wheel assemblies is interchangeable in the forward and reverse facing directions).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9, 11, and 12 are allowed over the prior art of record.
Claims 6, 14, 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 5, 13, and 16 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM D ROGERS whose telephone number is (571)272-6561. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 6AM-2:00PM EST.
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/ADAM D ROGERS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
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