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
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mathi U.S. Patent No. 11,186,437.
Claim 1, Mathi teaches a station Fig. 1 for managing the load of transport units 8 of a conveyor system 1, comprising: a first conveyor 15 and a second conveyor 15 with a plurality of transport units 8; at least one transfer station 4,6, arranged for receiving units of goods 2,3, wherein the at least one transfer station 4,6 has a third conveyor 16 for conveying units of goods 2,3; a retrieval station 12 for retrieving units of goods 2,3 from a transport unit 8 of the first conveyor 15 and for transferring the retrieved units of goods 2,3 to the transfer station 4,6; a transfer station 4,6 for transferring units of goods 2,3 from the transfer station 4,6 to a transport unit 8 of the second conveyor 15, and a conveyor system 13 which functionally connects the first conveyor 15 and the second conveyor 15 Fig. 1 C4 L20-65; C5 L1-50; C9 L40-65.
Claims 2 and 26, Mathi teaches the first conveyor 15 and the second conveyor 15 are part of a joint conveyor system 1 Fig. 1.
Claim 3, Mathi teaches the retrieval station 12 is set up to retrieve all units of goods 2,3 from a transport unit 8 of the first conveyor 15 and to transfer them to the transfer station 4,6, thereby completely emptying said transport unit 8 via 6.
Claim 4, Mathi teaches the transfer station 4,6 comprises at least one actuator for the selective movement of individual units of goods C7 L60-67; C8 L1-10.
Claim 5, Mathi teaches the transport units 8 can be conveyed on the second conveyor 15 along a conveyor route 7, in particular along a conveying path of 7 via 20.
Claim 6, Mathi teaches the first conveyor 15 and/or the second conveyor 15 comprises at least one of a belt conveyor, tray conveyor, tilting tray conveyor, plate chain conveyor, modular belt conveyor, cam chain conveyor, cross-belt conveyor, an overhead conveyor system, a rail-guided conveyor system and a conveyor chain system, with which transport units can be transported suspended along a conveyor route, or a conveying path, respectively Figs. 1,2 C4 L20-40.
Claim 7, Mathi teaches the transport units 8 of the first conveyor 15 and/or of the second conveyor 15 has a container that is open at the top in the filled state for receiving units of goods 2,3, for example an overhead conveyor pouch, a pouch, a tray, a transport box, a basket, a crate or a cardboard box Fig. 2.
Claim 8, Mathi teaches the first conveyor 15 and/or the second conveyor 15 comprises an actively driven conveyor device Figs. 1,2 C4 L20-40.
Claim 9, Mathi teaches the third conveyor 16 comprises a device for horizontally conveying units of goods including at least one of a belt conveyor, tray conveyor, tilting tray conveyor, plate chain conveyor, modular belt conveyor, cross belt conveyor, vibration conveyor, cam chain conveyor, drop flap conveyor and a carousel conveyor Figs. 1,2 C4 L20-40.
Claim 10, Mathi teaches the transfer station 4,6 comprises a device 20 for diverting units of goods 2,3 on the horizontal conveying device of the third conveyor 16.
Claim 11, Mathi teaches the third conveyor 16 comprises a device 20 for vertically conveying units of goods 2,3, for example a circulating paternoster conveyor Fig. 1.
Claim 12, Mathi teaches the transfer station 4,6 comprises one or more transfer points Fig. 1.
Claim 13, Mathi teaches a device 20 adapted to sort and/or group and/or separate units of goods in the transfer station 4,6.
Claim 14, Mathi teaches the load management station Fig. 1 comprises at least one or more further conveying devices 12,13,15,16, passive conveying devices, chutes, and drop chutes Fig. 1.
Claim 15, Mathi teaches a detection device 26,28 for determining the position of units of goods in the transfer station 4,6.
Claim 16, Mathi teaches an identification device 23 for determining the identity of units of goods 2,3 in the transfer station 4,6 C7 L5-20.
Claim 17, Mathi teaches a marking device 23 for marking the position of units of goods 2,3 in the transfer station 4,6 C7 L5-20.
Claim 18, Mathi teaches a weighing device 28 for determining the weight of one or more units of goods 2,3 C7 L49-55.
Claim 19, Mathi teaches the transfer station 4,6 comprises a device 12,13 for intermediate storage of units of goods 2,3.
Claim 20, Mathi teaches at least one drop-off station 4,6,12,13 for temporarily receiving and providing a group of units 2,3 of goods for subsequent use, for example the packaging of the group of units of goods 2,3 in a container 8.
Claim 21, Mathi teaches a retrieval handling module 4,6 to which the units of goods 2,3 are transferred from the at least one drop-off station 12,13,15,16, wherein the retrieval handling module 4,6 comprises at least one goods receiving element (robot) and at least one moving element of 8 for transferring the units of goods 2,3 to a downstream conveying unit 15.
Claim 22, Mathi teaches the conveyor unit 1 comprises one or more autonomous vehicles 8 Abstract.
Claims 23 and 24. A conveyor system comprising a load management station according to claim 1 Abstract.
Claim 25, Mathi teaches a method for managing the loading of transport units 8 of a conveyor system 1, comprising the steps of: retrieving at least one unit of goods 2,3 from at least one transport unit 8 of a first conveyor 15; transferring the retrieved at least one unit of goods 2,3 to a transfer station 4,6, which comprises a third conveyor 16; conveying at least one unit of goods 2,3 in the transfer station 4,6 with the third conveyor 16 along a conveying path 7; and transferring at least one unit of goods 2,3 from said transfer station 4,6 to at least one transport unit of a second conveyor 15, wherein the first conveyor 14 and the second conveyor 15 are functionally connected by a conveyor system 1 Fig 1.
Claim 27, Mathi teaches all units of goods 2,3 are retrieved from the transport unit 8 of the first conveyor 15 and transferred to the transfer station 4,6, thereby completely emptying said transport unit at 6.
Claim 28, Mathi teaches a subset of the units of goods 2,3 is retrieved from the transfer station 4,6 and is not transferred to a transport unit of the second conveyor 15 via 20.
Claim 29, Mathi teaches a group of units of goods 2,3 is transferred to a transport unit 8 of the second conveyor 15.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAVEL SINGH whose telephone number is (571)272-2362. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8am-6pm.
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/KAVEL SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651
KS