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 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 54-57 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.
Regarding claim 54, the phrase "such as" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claim 57, line 1 recites “a hook” – however claim 54, line 2 already set forth “a hook” – therefore it is unclear if the second recitation is meant to refer to the first recitation or introduce an additional hook. For purposes of examination, the second recitation is being interpreted as “the hook”.
Claim 57, line 1 recites “a crane” – however claim 31 already set forth “a crane” – therefore it is unclear if the second recitation is meant to refer to the first recitation or introduce an additional crane. For purposes of examination, the second recitation is being interpreted as “the crane”.
Claim 57, line 2 recites “a hoist chain” – however claim 31 already set forth “a hoist chain” – therefore it is unclear if the second recitation is meant to refer to the first recitation or introduce an additional hoist chain. For purposes of examination, the second recitation is being interpreted as “the hoist chain”.
Claims 55-57 are rejected because they are dependents of claim 54.
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) 31, 38-40, 44-49, 51-54, and 56 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beaulieu (US9269255B2) in view of Hernandez (US20200031635A1).
Regarding claim 31, Beaulieu discloses a device (110; Figures 1A-2D) mountable to a crane (120) for monitoring a construction site, the device (110) comprising a housing (201) for containing monitoring equipment (214-217); and a mounting arrangement (202; column 7, lines 40-55, housing 201 couples about load line 112) for releasably securing the housing (201) to a hoist chain (112; column 4, lines 26-29, load line may be a chain) of the crane (120) above an object (104) to be lifted such that the housing (201) is positionable about the hoist chain (112) to provide line-of-sight along the hoist chain (112) to the object (104), wherein, in use, housing (201) is supported on the hoist chain (112) by the mounting arrangement (202) while a weight of the object (104) is transferred through the hoist chain (112) directly to the crane (120), bypassing the housing (201), and wherein the mounting arrangement (202) includes first and second elements (201A, 201B) configured to engage with each other and the hoist chain (112), the first and second elements (201A, 201B) configured to define an aperture (A; see Beaulieu annotated Figure 2A below) for receiving the hoist chain (112), the aperture (A) being a slot (S) configured to receive a chain link of the hoist chain (112), but fails to teach the slot oriented to prevent an adjacent chain link of the hoist chain from passing therethrough.
Hernandez teaches a similar chain mountable device and further teaches the slot (340; Figure 3C) oriented to prevent an adjacent chain link (362; 360) of the hoist chain (312) from passing therethrough. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Beaulieu to include the slot as taught by Hernandez in order to secure the device to the chain and prevent vertical movement of the device in relation to the chain.
Regarding claim 38-40, Beaulieu discloses
wherein the housing (201) comprises an outer shell (201A, 201B) that is releasably secured to the mounting arrangement (202);
wherein the outer shell (201A, 201B) covers the mounting arrangement (202);
wherein the outer shell (201A, 201B) is made from a polymeric material (column 7, lines 40-45).
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Beaulieu, Annotated Figure 2A
Regarding claims 44-45 and 53, Beaulieu discloses wherein the housing (201) comprises at least one internal platform (MP; see Beaulieu annotated Figure 2A above) for supporting the monitoring equipment (213-217);
wherein the monitoring equipment (214-217) comprises an electronic component selected from at least one of: an environmental sensor (213-214); a battery (217); a controller (216, 320; Figures 1-3); a transmitter and a receiver (215, transceiver).
Regarding claims 46-48, Beaulieu discloses wherein the electronic component includes the environmental sensor (213-214) selected from at least one of: a noise sensor (934; Figure 9); a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor (column 17, line 11 – column 18, line 12); an accelerometer (column 8, line 15); and a camera (214A, 214B);
wherein the environmental sensor (213-214) is a camera (214A, 214B; column 8, lines 10-13);
wherein the camera (214A, 214B; Figure 2A) is downward facing thereby, in use, providing a view of an area directly below the device (110).
Regarding claims 49 and 51, Beaulieu discloses wherein the electronic component includes the battery (217), the battery (217) comprising a plurality of discrete units (217A, 218B);
wherein each discrete unit (217A, 218B) is removable from the device (110; electrical components are removable and replaceable).
Regarding claim 52, Beaulieu discloses the above device, but fails to teach wherein the slot is rotationally orientated to be out of phase with a profile of the adjacent chain link such that the adjacent chain link is prevented from passing through the slot.
Hernandez teaches a similar chain mountable device and further teaches wherein the slot (340) is rotationally orientated to be out of phase with a profile of the adjacent chain link (362; 360) such that the adjacent chain link (362; 360) is prevented from passing through the slot (340; Figure 3C). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Beaulieu to include the slot as taught by Hernandez in order to secure the device to the chain and prevent vertical movement of the device in relation to the chain.
Regarding claim 54, Beaulieu discloses wherein the electronic component is a controller (216, 320) that is in data communication with a hook camera (column 8, lines 8-56, plurality of cameras that face downward from the device 110 towards the load hook 111) positioned for viewing a hook (111; Figure 1A) of the crane (120), such as to control the hook camera to obtain image data captured by the hook camera (column 9, lines 9-37, images displayed on a display unit 113).
Regarding claim 56, Beaulieu discloses wherein the controller (216, 320) is configured to communicate the image data captured by the hook camera (column 8, lines 8-56, plurality of cameras that face downward from the device 110 towards the load hook 111) to a wireless data receiver (113; column 9, lines 9-37).
Claim(s) 55 and 57 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beaulieu, in view of Hernandez, and in further view of Furuguchi (JP2014237504A).
Regarding claim 55, modified Beaulieu discloses wherein the controller (216, 320) is in wireless data communication with a wireless data receiver (113A, 113B; Figure 1A), but fails to teach wherein the wireless data receiver is located at a distal end of a jib of the crane.
Furuguchi teaches a similar device and further teaches wherein the wireless data receiver (63; Figures 1-2) is located at a distal end (13a) of a jib (13) of the crane (11). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Beaulieu to include the wireless data receiver location as taught by Furuguchi in order to prevent or reduce interference and/or obstruction of signals between the receiver and device to obtain clear and precise data.
Regarding claim 57, modified Beaulieu discloses a visualising system for providing a view of an area underneath a hook (111) of a crane (120), the crane (120) comprising a cab (121; Figure 1A) and a jib (119) extending away from the cab (121), and a hoist (hoist mounted to crane 120) comprising a hoist chain (112) for hoisting a load (104) located below a distal end of the jib (119), wherein the hook (111) is located at an end of the hoist chain (112) distal to the jib (119), wherein the system comprises: the device (110) as claimed in claim 54; the hook camera (column 8, lines 8-56, plurality of cameras that face downward from the device 110 towards the load hook 111 to attain a field of view that includes the load 104 and surrounding area), positioned for viewing the area under the hook (111) of the crane (120); and a receiver unit (113A) located in or proximal to the cab (121), wherein the receiver unit (113A) receives images captured by the hook camera via data communication between the hook camera and the controller (216, 320), and wherein the receiver unit (113A) is configured to display to a crane operator (102C) within the cab (121) the images captured by the hook camera and communicated to the receiver unit (113A) by the controller (216, 320), but fails to teach a wireless data receiver positioned at or near the distal end of the jib; and a receiver unit in wired data communication with the wireless data receiver, the data communication including a wireless data communication between the controller and the wireless data receiver and a wired data communication between the wireless data receiver and the receiver unit.
Furuguchi teaches a similar device and further teaches a wireless data receiver (63) positioned at or near the distal end (13a) of the jib (13); and a receiver unit (3, 33c; Figure 1) in wired data communication (solid straight lines from receiver 3,33c to wireless receiver 63 indicate wired connection) with the wireless data receiver (63), the data communication including a wireless data communication between the controller (62) and the wireless data receiver (63) and a wired data communication between the wireless data receiver (63) and the receiver unit (3, 33c). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Beaulieu to include the data communication receiver arrangement as taught by Furuguchi in order to prevent or reduce interference and/or obstruction of signals between the device and receivers to obtain clear and precise data.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/29/2026 with respect to claim 31 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 31, in the last two paragraphs of page 6, in page 7, and first two lines of page 8, the applicant argued that the disclosure of Beaulieu fails to teach first and second elements configured to engage with each other and the hoist chain, with the first and second elements configured to define an aperture for receiving the hoist chain, the aperture being a slot configured to receive a chain link of the hoist chain and oriented to prevent an adjacent chain link of the hoist chain from passing therethrough.
The examiner construed that the disclosure of Beaulieu teaches first and second elements 201A,201B defined by the housing 201 are configured to engage with each other and removably coupled with the hoist chain (column 4, lines 26-29, load line may be a chain), with the first and second elements configured to define an aperture A for receiving the hoist chain, the aperture A being a slot S that runs through the first and second elements configured to receive a chain link of the hoist chain. After further review, the examiner agrees that the disclosure of Beaulieu fails to teach the slot oriented to prevent an adjacent chain link of the hoist chain from passing therethrough. However, the disclosure of Hernandez teaches the limitation as described above. Thus, contradicting to applicant’s assertions, such argument does not overcome the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Additional references listed on form PTO-892 are cited for their relevance to the disclosed invention and demonstration of the state of the art.
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/HENRIX SOTO/ Examiner, Art Unit 3654
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