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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s argument, see pages 1-3, filed March 5, 2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1, 9-18 35 U.S.C. §102, have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of NL-2013611-B1 (hereinafter ‘611).
Allowable Subject Matter
The indicated allowability of claim 19 is withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference(s) to ‘611. Rejections based on the newly cited reference(s) follow.
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.
Claims 1-8, 10, 11, 14 and 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) based upon a public use or sale or other public availability of the invention. Application ‘611 was published October 4, 2016, which was greater than one year before the filing date of the present invention.
Regarding claim 1, ‘611 discloses a method for transporting products(pg. 10, first full paragraph), the method comprising: guiding an endless conveyor mat (Fig. 1, No. 3) provided with product support rollers (Fig. 1, No. 7) forward in a conveying direction (Fig. 1, No. 4) with a conveyor track (Fig. 1, No. 22); guiding, and via stationary rounding elements (Fig. 3, No. 5) adjacent to terminal ends of the conveyor track, the endless conveyor mat with a return track (claim 1); carrying on a conveying part of the conveyor mat, which is located on the conveyor track, products on the product support rollers of the conveyor mat (Abstract); and exerting, at a terminal end of the conveyor track adjacent to the stationary rounding elements, via support rollers of the conveyor mat, a force in conveying direction (Fig. 3, No. 4) on the products wherein the stationary rounding elements includes: a nose-over with a curved rounding surface (Fig. 3, Nos. 56, 57) and strip-shaped contact elements located in a plane (Fig. 3, No. 22), spaced apart with mutual interspace transversely to the conveying direction of the conveyor track, which extend in the conveying direction up to the nose- over: a terminal end adjoining the nose over; and a comb formed by the terminal end and the nose-over (Fig. 3, Nos. 52, 56, 57).
Regarding claim 2, ‘611 inherently discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the exerting the force is configured to cancel a free rotation of the product support rollers. These are both common to conveyors with roller mats.
Regarding claim 3, ‘611 inherently discloses he method according to claim 1, wherein the exerting the force couple onto the product support rollers. Couples causing rotation is common to conveyors with roller mats.
Regarding claim 4, method according to claim 3 wherein the exerting the couple is includes at least one of blocking or braking of rotation of the product support rollers. As the rollers are in contact with the track, they are no longer rotating unrestrained, but are constrained to the rotation that the track and driving element will allow. This is clear in any modular conveyor.
Regarding claim 5, method according to claim 3 wherein the exerting the couple is includes driving of rotation of the product support rollers. This is apparent, as the roller has contact with both the track and the product, exerting an equal, opposite and colinear force on each, i.e. a couple
Regarding claim 6, method according to claim 3 wherein the exerting the couple is includes contacting a contact element of the conveyor track with the circumference of the product support roller (Fig. 1, Nos. 7 and 22).
Regarding claim 7, ‘611 discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising pushing products, near a terminal end located at an end of the conveyor track, with the force exerted via the product support rollers on the products, off the conveying part of the conveyor mat into an adjacent transport zone located, in the conveying direction, beyond the stationary rounding elements. This is clear, as the momentum of the product will cause the product to continue forward, even though the conveyor has ended.
Regarding claim 8, ‘611 discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising pulling the products near a terminal end located at the beginning of the conveyor track, with the aid of the force exerted via the product support rollers on the products, onto the conveying part from an adjacent transport zone located, in the conveying direction, before the stationary rounding elements. This is clear, as with any modular conveyor, the friction between the rollers and the bottom parts of the product gives the product sufficient traction to move along with the conveyor.
Regarding claim 10, ‘611 discloses a conveyor for transporting products, the conveyor comprising; stationary rounding elements comprising: a nose-over with a curved rounding surface and strip-shaped contact elements located in a plane (Fig. 3, Nos. 56, 57), spaced apart with mutual interspace transversely to a conveying direction (Fig. 3, Nos. 59), which extend in the conveying direction up to the nose-over (Fig. 3, Nos. 56, 57); a terminal end adjoining the nose over (Fig. 1); and a comb formed by the terminal end and the nose-over (Fig. 3, Nos. 56, 57); a conveyor track extending between the stationary rounding elements; a return track extending between the stationary rounding elements (claim 1); an endless conveyor mat comprising: product support rollers (Fig. 1, No. 7); which conveyor mat comprises a conveying part in which products to be transported can be carried on the product support rollers of the conveyor mat (Fig. 2, No. 6), which the conveying part is supported on the conveyor track and in a conveying direction can be guided forward over the conveyor track (Fig. 3, No. 4); and, a return part which via the stationary rounding elements can be guided back with a return track (claim 1); extending between the rounding elements, wherein the conveyor track includes: a terminal end of the conveyor track adjacent to the stationary rounding element (Fig. 1); and is provided with engagers cooperating configured to cooperate with the product support rollers (Fig. 3, No.22), which the engagers configured to exert force via the product support rollers of the conveyor mat in the conveying direction on products to be transported (Fig. 3, No. 22).
Regarding claim 11, ‘611 discloses the conveyor according to claim 10, wherein the product support rollers are included in the conveyor mat in a freely rotating manner. This is common to modular conveyor mats.
Regarding claim 14, ‘611 discloses the conveyor according to claim 10, wherein the engagers are in a lying, flat part of the terminal end of the conveyor track (Fig. 3, Nos. 20 and 22).
Regarding claim 19, ‘611 discloses a stationary rounding element for a conveyor for transporting products (Fig. 3, No. 2), the stationary rounding element comprising: a nose-over with a curved rounding surface (Fig. 3, No. 56) and strip-shaped contact elements located in a plane (Fig. 3,Nos. 22 & 52), spaced apart with mutual interspace transversely to a conveying direction of the conveyor (Fig. 3, No. 59), which extend in conveying direction up to the nose-over (Fig. 3, No. 4): terminal end adjoining the nose over (Fig. 1); and a comb adjoining the nose-over is formed by the terminal end and the nose-over (Fig. 3, Nos. 52, 56, 57).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘611 in view of US Patent application 2017/0144843 A1 (hereinafter Pedersen).
Regarding claim 9, ‘611 discloses the method of claim 1, but does not disclose wherein the exerting the force includes exerting the force at [[the]] a location of an end-side transition between successive conveyor tracks, the force configured to cause the products to be transported in order to have the products pass a driveless transition area located between adjacent stationary rounding elements and located in the plane of the conveyor tracks.
Pedersen discloses a multiple conveyor system in which items from one conveyor leave with enough velocity to pass seamlessly through a driveless transition area onto another driven conveyor (Figs. 3A, 3B and 3C).
Claims 13, and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘611 in view of Brazilian Patent Application BR PI0808612 A2 (hereinafter Fourney).
Regarding claim 13, ‘611 discloses the conveyor according to claim 10, but not wherein the engagers in the terminal end of the conveyor track comprise contact elements which make direct contact with the underside of the circumference of the product support roller.
Fourney discloses contact elements that contact the underside circumference of the product support roller (Fig. 1, Nos. 56 and 40). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the conveyor of ‘611 with the roller contact of Fourney. The motivation would be to have a simple way to rotate the rolling elements to move the conveyed product.
Regarding claim 15, ‘611 and Fourney disclose conveyor according to claim 13, wherein transversely to the conveying direction, the width of the contact element corresponds to the width of the product support roller. Fourney discloses an embodiment in Figure 1 in which the contact elements' (40) width approximately corresponds to the width of the rollers (Fig. 1, No. 40). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the conveyor of claim 13 with the rollers and contact elements of equal width of Fourney. Contact elements and rollers of the same width would be cost effective, as there would be no excess width on either part.
Regarding claim 16, ‘611 and Fourney discloses the conveyor according to claim 13, Fourney further discloses wherein the contact element extends in the conveying direction along a single row of product support rollers (Fig. 1, No. 40 and No. 52). Meanwhile, ‘611 discloses wherein transversely to the conveying direction, a plurality of contact elements are spaced apart with mutual interspace (Fig. 3, No. 59).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to space apart the contact elements with mutual interspace, as it makes for the least complicated design, and therefore, the simplest manufacturing.
Regarding claim 17, ‘611 and Fourney disclose the conveyor according to claim 13, ‘611 further disclosing wherein the contact element has a terminal end adjoining the stationary rounding element (Fig. 1, Nos. 20 and 22).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the conveyor of ‘611 with the conveyor of Fourney. The motivation would be that the contact elements need an end, as they cannot extend indefinitely, and a gap between the end of the contact elements and the rounding elements could lead to sagging of the belt, resulting in poor force transfer.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘611 in view of Span Tech Gravity Roller Transfer (Hereinafter Span Tech).
Application ‘611 discloses a first conveyor according to claim 10; but not a second conveyor or a transition area. Span Tech discloses a second conveyor (2) disposed in an end-side transition with the first conveyor (1), the second conveyor including second rounding elements adjacent to the stationary rounding elements (5); and a driveless transition area between the first conveyor and the second conveyor (3), the driveless transition area located in the plane of the conveyor track, wherein in the force is exerted on products is configured to cause the products to pass the driveless transition area (4). While the driveless transition area is not exactly in plane, the bolts 6 can be adjusted to alter the angle of the transition area.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine ‘611 with the conveyor ends of Span Tech. The motivation would be to give conveyed products a smooth transition, as dips between conveyors could cause products with certain shapes to get caught and be damaged, and to transfer them in an efficient manner so as to save on power costs.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMARI JADAN MEDDLING whose telephone number is (571)272-8178. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gene Crawford can be reached at 5712726911. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/AMARI J MEDDLING/ Examiner, Art Unit 3651
/GENE O CRAWFORD/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651
Prosecution Insights