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 § 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 1-10 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.
The claims are generally narrative and indefinite, failing to conform with current U.S. practice. They appear to be a literal translation into English from a foreign document and are replete with grammatical and idiomatic errors.
Claims 1-10 lack consistent use of ‘a’ and ‘the’ when introducing new elements and refering back to previously introduced elements.
Claims 1-10 do not clearly refer to the lock pins in a consistent manner making it unclear if all references are to the same lock pins or various different lock pins.
Claims 1,2,7,10
lack antecedent basis for “the information transmitted” it is unclear if this refer to the “terminal operation information”, the “information of containers” or the “lock pin information”.
Claim 2 lacks antecedent basis for “the source of assembling”, “the destination of disassembling”, and “the disassembled lock pins”.
Claim 3 lacks antecedent basis for “the switched lock pins”.
Claim 4, it is unclear if “lock pin information provided by the terminal operating system” refers back to the “lock pin information” introduced in claim 1.
Claim 6 lacks antecedent basis for “the pin locks”.
Claim 6, it is unclear if “information of containers”, “lock pin information”, and “a source and a destination of each type of lock pins” refer back to “information of containers”, “lock pin information” and “a source and a destination of lock pins” introduced in claim 1.
Claim 7, it is unclear if “a classified calculation” refers back to the “classified calculation” introduced in claim 6.
Claim 7 lacks antecedent basis for “the PC host”, “the quantity of each type of lock pins” and the PLC controller.
Claim 8 lacks antecedent basis for “the disassembled lock pins” and “the servo crane”.
Claim 9 lacks antecedent basis for “the visual recognition device”, and “the HMI touch screen”.
Claim 10, it is unclear if “a type of lock pins” refers back to “each type of lock pins” or “said type of lock pins” introduced in claims 6 and 7.
Claim 10 lacks antecedent basis for “the current quantity”.
Correcting the claim dependence for the claims will correct some of the antecedent basis issues. The remaining issues are a result of the direct machine translation. Please rewrite the claims to be in line with US practice.
Allowable Subject Matter
No prior art was found which would support a 102 or 103 rejection.
CN 214490596 U is considered to be the closest prior art of record. CN 214490596 U discloses a guiding system, a robot system, a feeding/discharging device, and a stacked storage unit. CN 214490596 U does not disclose the integration with the terminal operating system and the transmitting of container information and lock pin information.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. CN 208932130 U and CN 215035038 U disclose a similar lock pin system. US 2022/0194694 is considered to be the closest US prior art of record.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY R WAGGONER whose telephone number is (571)272-8204. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs 5am-330pm.
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TIMOTHY R. WAGGONER
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3655 B
/TIMOTHY R WAGGONER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655