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 .
Detailed Action
Claims 1-20 are currently pending. Claims 12-18 remains rejected despite Applicant’s arguments filed 06/24/2026. Claims 1-11 and 19-20 are allowed. Amendment necessitated new grounds of rejection presented within this Office action. Claims contain outstanding 112(b) rejections. Response to Applicant arguments can be found at the end of this Office action. This Office action is final.
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 12-18 are 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 12 recites “a first sensor connected to the raceway structure, the raceway structure configured to recognize the traveling device;” within lines 7-8. It is unclear to Examiner how the raceway structure can be configured to recognize the traveling device when, according to the disclosure, the sensors are configured to recognize the traveling device. Examiner recommends amending “the raceway structure configured to recognize the traveling device;” to “the first sensor configured to recognize the traveling device;”.
Claims 13-18 are rejected due to their dependence upon a rejected claim.
Claims 1-11 and 19-20 are allowed.
Claims 12-18 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art fails to teach the combination of limitations recited in claims 1-20.
More specifically, the prior art fails to teach wherein the at least one second sensor and the third sensor are configured to move together with the traveling device in a traveling direction of the traveling device once the first sensor recognizes the traveling device enters the traveling rail as recited within claim 1 and the similar limitations within claims 12 and 19. It would require an improper level of hindsight to combine these features with the prior art since the sensor measurements made with the moving sensors as taught within Kobayashi (JP 2021046287 A) are taken after the travel device is stationary wherein the travel device remains stationary while the sensors move for needed measurements (see EPO translation; Para.[0041]).
Response to Arguments
In response to Applicant’s argument that the prior art fails to teach the second and third sensors moving together with the traveling device once the first sensor recognizes the traveling device enters the traveling rail, Examiner agrees. See discussion of allowable subject matter above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HEAVEN BUFFINGTON whose telephone number is (703)756-1546. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm ET.
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/HEAVEN R BUFFINGTON/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
/S. Joseph Morano/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3615
