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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Maeda et al. (WO2019/009198A1).
With respect to claim 1, Maeda et al. disclose an excavator comprising: a traveling lower body (1) including a crawler (Fig 1); a revolving upper body (3) installed on the traveling lower body, and configured to be capable of revolving (via 2); a hydraulic motor (20L, 20R) for traveling configured to drive the crawler; a traveling operation device (26L, 26R) corresponding to the hydraulic motor for traveling; a hydraulic pump (14L, 14R) configured to supply hydraulic oil to the hydraulic motor for traveling; and a detector (29L, 29R) configured to detect an operation state of the traveling operation device, wherein the crawler includes a left crawler and a right crawler (page 1, line 23 of attached translation), wherein the traveling operation device includes a left traveling operation device (26L) corresponding to the left crawler and a right traveling operation device (26R) corresponding to the right crawler, and wherein the detector detects whether there is a predetermined difference between an amount of operation of the left traveling operation device and an amount of operation of the right traveling operation device (page 7, lines 26-38 of attached translation), and upon detecting the predetermined difference between the amount of operation of the left traveling operation device and the amount of operation of the right traveling operation device, suppresses an amount of change in a command value related to a flow rate of the hydraulic oil discharged by the hydraulic pump (page 10, lines 20-50 of attached translation).
With respect to claim 2, wherein the detector detects whether a hunting occurs in a pilot pressure (fluctuation caused by the pressure difference between 26L and 26R that exceeds a threshold TH1), and upon detecting the hunting occurring in the pilot pressure, suppresses the change in the flow rate of the hydraulic oil discharged by the hydraulic pump (page 10, lines 20-50 of attached translation).
With respect to claim 3, wherein the excavator determines that the traveling lower body is turning upon detecting the predetermined difference between the amount of operation of the left traveling operation device and the amount of operation of the right traveling operation device, and suppresses the change in the flow rate of the hydraulic oil discharged by the hydraulic pump (bending operation; page 10, lines 41-45).
With respect to claim 4, wherein the predetermined difference occurs in a case where, with respect to operation amounts of the left traveling operation device and the right traveling operation device, one of the operation amounts is increased; one of the operation amounts is decreased; both of the operation amounts are increased; or both of the operation amounts are decreased (the pressure difference is calculated in accordance with the difference between PL and PR, which could occur from an increase or reduction of one or both of the left and right travel operation apparatuses 26L and 26R).
With respect to claim 5, wherein the excavator suppresses the amount of change in the command value related to the flow rate of the hydraulic oil discharged by the hydraulic pump, based on a pressure of the hydraulic oil flowing through a hydraulic circuit or an amount of operation of the traveling operation device (a command is output to pump regulators 13L, 13R for adjusting swash plate tilt angles of the main pumps 14L, 14R on the basis of the amounts of operation of the left and right travel operation apparatuses 26L, 26R, and thus it can be found that the amount of change in a command value pertaining to the flow rates of hydraulic oil discharged by the main pumps 14L, 14R is suppressed; page 5, lines 54-59)).
With respect to claim 6, wherein at least one of an upper limit or a lower limit is set for the amount of change in the command value (swash plates can only tilt so far, so there is naturally an upper and lower limit).
With respect to claim 7, wherein the hydraulic pump is an electronically-controlled variable-capacity hydraulic pump (page 2, lines 14-16).
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 8-11, 14, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maeda et al. in view of Tajima (JPH10299034A).
With respect to claim 8, Maeda et al. disclose an excavator as discussed above but does not disclose wherein the detector determines whether a hunting occurs in the amount of operation for the traveling operation device during a traveling operation, and wherein a controller changes driving force of the hydraulic motor for traveling according to the hunting. Tajima, however, disclose that the detector determines whether a hunting occurs in the amount of operation for the traveling operation device during a traveling operation ([0008] of attached translation; a controller (34) that calculates a current value increase amount on the basis of a signal from the pressure sensor (35) and outputs a command current value (I2) resulting from adding a transient characteristic when the absolute value of the current value increase amount is greater than the absolute value of a delay-time-ratio current value and if a state in which a current time command current value I1 is greater than a previous time command current value I0 has been entered, which corresponds to), and wherein a controller changes driving force of the hydraulic motor for traveling according to the hunting ([0018] of attached translation; because a command current to which the transient characteristic has been added is outputted from the controller (34) to a solenoid (37) of an electromagnetic proportional pressure reducing valve (32) connected to a regulator (23) of the hydraulic pump (22), it is possible to reduce sudden fluctuation of the pump swash plate tilt and constrain a sudden bleed off operation by a cut valve (21)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to modify the invention of Maeda et al. in view of the teachings of Tajima to determine whether a hunting occurs in the amount of operation for the traveling operation device and change a driving force of the hydraulic motor according to the hunting in order to ensure smooth running of the crawlers.
With respect to claim 9, wherein the controller controls at least one of the main pump (22) or the hydraulic motor for traveling according to a determination result ([0018] of attached translation).
With respect to claim 10, wherein the controller controls an operation control valve (10) arranged in a pilot port according to a determination result ([0009] of attached translation).
With respect to claim 11, wherein the driving force is a maximum displacement volume of the main pump or a maximum displacement volume of the hydraulic motor for traveling ([0018] of attached translation).
With respect to claim 14, wherein change in the driving force executed by the controller includes decrease of the driving force and increase of the driving force (pump flow rate increases and decreases; [0018] of attached translation).
With respect to claim 15, wherein the traveling operation device is a pedal device (26) installed on a floor surface of a cab.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-13 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DREW J BROWN whose telephone number is (571)272-1362. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday.
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DREW BROWN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3616
/DREW J BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3614