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 the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claim 1 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Applicant’s disclosure, particularly page 8 which describes the details of the ground-based delivery unit, does not provide details of a first and second tool being attached to the drone.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dahlstrom US 10,011,352 in view of Wang US 2016/00339300.
Regarding claim 1, Dahlstrom teaches a drone attachment system comprising:
a drone for performing work on another object (1414 figure 14);
a ground-based delivery unit (1401) wherein the ground-based delivery unit receives the drone and selectively attaches first tool mechanism and a second tool mechanism to the drone when the drone touches the ground-based delivery unit (1204 in figure 12B shows the ground-based delivery unit comprising multiple interchangeable tools and column 39 lines 26-27 describe the UCAT assist device performing the functions of interchanging the tool(s));
wherein the first tool mechanism and the second tool mechanism are different and wherein the first tool and second tool perform work on the object wherein the other object is not the drone (figures 9A-10I); and
wherein the first tool mechanism or the second tool mechanism becomes attached to the drone when the drone touches the ground-based delivery unit and wherein the first tool mechanism or the second tool mechanism then detaches from the ground-based delivery unit when the drone becomes detached from the ground-based delivery unit (as previously described);
but does not specify wherein the ground-based delivery unit has a rotating wheel and wherein the rotating wheel has a first pallet and a second pallet which rotate and therein the first pallet and the second pallet each temporarily hold the first tool mechanism or the second tool mechanism;
Wang; however, does teach a ground-based delivery unit has a rotating wheel (figure 10) and wherein the rotating wheel has a first pallet and a second pallet (1003’s) which rotate. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide such a rotating wheel tool containment system, in order to provide an efficient and compact storage and delivery system of the interchangeable tools; since all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in the respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's response filed 10/9/25 did not include any arguments.
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 JESSICA WONG whose telephone number is (571)272-7889. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 4:30pm MST.
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/JESSICA B WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3644