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 . In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Buschmann et al. US 2012/0263530. Buschmann et al. disclose a method for dynamically controlling a paving speed, tamper speed and other operating parameters of a paving machine (7) during a paving process, the method comprising:
Receiving and Storing in a memory (18) all relevant parameters of a paving process for
a specified portion of a roadway (2). [0041].
Transmitting request commands from a control (17) of the paving machine (7) to a
central server (9) requesting a supply of HMA from the mix plant (3) or a supply
truck (6). [0042-43, 0053].]
Receive said supply of HMA and begin the paving process.
Create an HMA demand forecast based on progress of the paving process. [0014-20].
Receive from said mix plant (3) or said supply truck (6) a change in the expected
delivery time or temperature of the HMA based on the previously created
demand forecast.
Adjust the paving speed of the paving machine based on said received changes to the
demand forecast. [0023-25].
Adjust the tamper speed based on the adjusted paving speed. [0019].
Claim(s) 2-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Buschmann et al. ‘530.
Buschmann et al. discloses the additional method steps of:
Receiving by said control (17) of the paving machine (7) HMA data from the
mix plant or a supply truck such as temperature, amount and time of arrival
at said paving machine.
Receiving on a display device (21) from the control device (17) processed HMA data.
Automatically by control device (17) or manually by an operator, adjust the paving
speed of the paving machine (7). [0053].
Although Buschmann et al. do not explicitly recite entering a maximum paving speed, it would be obvious if not inherent to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was made, “adjust the operating parameters of the road finishing machine (7), in particular its laying speed, automatically, or the operator cand do this manually”,
includes setting a maximum paving speed in order to prevent running the hopper empty waiting for the supply truck (6) to arrive. [0053].
With respect to claims 3-9 Buschmann et al. discloses including the HMA thickness and width being produced by the paving machine (7) when determining operating parameters such as paving and tamper speed. [0014-25, 53]. As well as storing paving parameters in said memory and accessing said memory with said control (17) when determining the paving/tamper speed as well as other operating parameters of the paving machine and managing the supply chain (5) including multiple mix plants (3) in order to prevent a “failure of trucks (6) along the supply chain (5), or a failure or production choke points in mixing plants (3) to avoid interruptions of the laying process, which would deteriorate quality”. [0041-43, 53-54].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under
35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 10-12, 19-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buschmann et al. US 2012/0263530 in view of EP 2325392 (Buschmann et al.) Buschmann et al. disclose a method for dynamically controlling operating parameters of a paving machine (7) during a paving process, the method comprising:
Receiving and Storing in a memory (18) all relevant parameters of a paving process for
a specified portion of a roadway (2). [0041].
Controlling a tamper speed based on the stored data.
But do not disclose controlling the tamper stroke. However, Buschmann et al. teach a method of paving HMA comprising the steps of:
Receiving real time pre-compaction data from the tampers (14).
Receiving real time HMA thickness data.
Comparing the real time data to a stored data.
Creating a correction factor and correcting the tamper stroke/frequency, machine speed
and screed angle of attack in order to maximize quality and strength of the HMA.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the method of Buschmann et al. with the tamper control method taught by Buschmann et al. in order to control the compaction force applied by the tampers.
Claim(s) 13, 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buschmann et al. US 2012/0263530 in view of Chambers et al. US 2020/0292348. Buschmann et al. disclose a method for dynamically controlling a paving speed, tamper speed and other operating parameters of a paving machine (7) during a paving process, the method comprising:
Receiving and Storing in a memory (18) all relevant parameters of a paving process for
a specified portion of a roadway (2). [0041].
Transmitting request commands from a control (17) of the paving machine (7) to a
central server (9) requesting a supply of HMA from the mix plant (3) or a supply
truck (6). [0042-43, 0053].
Receive said supply of HMA and begin the paving process.
Create an HMA demand forecast based on progress of the paving process. [0014-20].
Receive from said mix plant (3) or said supply truck (6) a change in the expected
delivery time or temperature of the HMA based on the previously created
demand forecast.
Adjust the paving speed of the paving machine based on said received changes to the
demand forecast. [0023-25].
Adjust the tamper speed based on the adjusted paving speed. [0019].
What Buschmann et al. do not disclose is the use of a cloud based application.
However, Chambers et al. teach a pavement data tracking a mapping system
comprising a computer based mapping system configured to generate a digital map of a paved road area and a digital reconstruction of said paved road area that is overlaid on to the map. The system including a servers, processors, programmable controllers, networked controllers, data base servers, the internet and “the cloud”. [0009, 0051].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the road paving method of Buschmann et al. with the pavement data tracking and mapping system taught by Chambers et al. in order to provide a way of storing and making readily available, pre and post paving data to the operator in concise terms. [0047-0048].
Conclusion
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAYMOND W ADDIE whose telephone number is (571)272-6986. The examiner can normally be reached on m-f 7:30-12:30, then 6-9pm.
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/RAYMOND W ADDIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671 6/23/2026
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