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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/21/2026 has been entered.
Amendment of Claim 1 is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1 to 4, 7 to 9, 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokota (US 2019/0263545) in view of Nishitsuji (US 2020/0361650).
Regarding Claims 1, 2, 7 and 11:
Yokota discloses an article-transfer apparatus (Figure 2b, packing system 1), comprising:
a first conveyor that conveys articles in a first direction (Figure 2B, product feeding unit 21 will be considered the first conveyor, conveying articles G);
a second conveyor that lines up in a predetermined state a plurality of the articles fed thereto from the first conveyor to form an article group and that simultaneously conveys the articles fed thereto in a second direction (Figures 3 and 4A to 4G, first aligning conveyor 221, second aligning conveyor 222 and third aligning conveyor 223 will be considered the second conveyor conveying the articles on a second direction, that intersects and is orthogonal to the first direction, Figures 4A to 4C show the formation of an article group while the articles are being conveyed); and
a transport mechanism that transports the article group to a predetermined position (Figures 2B and 5B, product inserting unit 23, formed by stand-up conveyor 231, a push-toward plate 233, and an insertion plate 235 places the group of articles G into cardboard boxes B, considered the predetermined position),
wherein a plurality of the article groups are formed on the second conveyor (Figures 4E to 4G show a group formed and another upstream being formed),
wherein each time the second conveyor catches one of the articles fed thereto from the
first conveyor, it conveys that article a predetermined distance in the second direction to thereby
line up a plurality of the articles in the predetermined state (Figures 4A to 4G show that conveyor 221 conveys the articles received from the first conveyor a little distance to form the group shown on 4B and the one being formed on 4G, Figure 11, paragraph 0168 to 0172, the first aligning conveyor 221 performs an intermittent conveyance at pitch L each time one to four products G of a first group of products lands on the first aligning conveyor 221 and after the fifth product G lands on the first aligning conveyor 221, the first aligning conveyor 221 conveys at pitch La, which is greater than pitch L), and
wherein the plural articles line up in the predetermined state in which after a first article of the plural articles lands flat on the second conveyor, a part of a trailing article contacts the upper surface of
the second conveyor and the remaining part inclines against a preceding article to form the
article group (Figures 4A to 4D show a first article G that landed flat on the second conveyor and subsequent articles, not numbered, inclined against a preceding article, with the trailing end contacting the upper surface of the second conveyor and remaining part inclines against a preceding article to form the article group in this case formed by a total of five articles).
Yokota does not disclose wherein the plurality of articles in the article group line up in the predetermined state when the article group is transported by the transport mechanism, (the transport mechanism of Yokota changes the orientation of the articles before transport); that the transport mechanism includes a robot that sucks and holds the article group formed by the second conveyor. and that the transport mechanism collectively grips and transports to the predetermined position the plurality of articles comprising the article group.
Nishitsuji teaches a transport mechanism for a box packing apparatus for similar articles wherein the plurality of articles in the article group line up in the same predetermined state (Paragraph 0089, Figure 8b show a plurality of the articles A forming an article group G where the first article A lies on the conveyor and subsequent articles, are inclined against a preceding article, with the trailing end contacting the upper surface of the conveyor and remaining part inclines against a preceding article to form the article group); wherein the plurality of articles in the article group line up in the predetermined state when the article group is transported by the transport mechanism (Paragraph 0064 to 0066, Figures 4 and 6, packing mechanism 50 will be considered the transport mechanism and comprises a translating robot that sucks and holds the article group formed by the second conveyor, packing mechanism 50 uses a non-illustrated pump connected to the hose 56 to suck air through the contactors 52 of the head 51. Because of this suction, the head 51 can grip en bloc the article group G contacting the contactors 52); that the transport mechanism collectively grips and transports to the predetermined position the plurality of articles comprising the article group (Paragraph 0064, Figure 6, Packing box B would be the predetermined position, similar as Yokota, and the packing mechanism 50 grips in bloc the article group G placed on the second conveyor 22 and moves it into the packing box B placed in the packing station 34), the articles are placed in the bag in the same “predetermined position” they were when picked from the conveyor.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate to Yokota the teachings of Nishitsuji and use a transport mechanism as described to pick up groups of articles and place them inside a box in the same predetermined position instead of changing the orientation to vertical as in Yokota.
Regarding Claim 3:
Yokota discloses that a first article group transported first by the transport mechanism and a second article group transported by the transport mechanism after the first article group has been transported are formed on the second conveyor as the article groups (Figures 4E to 4G show a first group of articles being moved to conveyor 223 to be transported to a box B while a second is being formed on conveyor 221 to be completed and moved to conveyor 223 and transported to a box B after the first group is transported).
Regarding Claim 4:
Yokota discloses that a gap along the second direction is formed between the first article group and the second article group (Figures 4E to 4G show a gap formed between the groups in the second direction).
Regarding Claim 8:
Yokota discloses the first conveyor and the second conveyor are arranged such that the first direction and the second direction are orthogonal to each other (Figure 3), and
a conveyance surface of the first conveyor is inclined relative to a horizontal plane (Figure 3) such that, when the articles switch from the first conveyor to the second conveyor, a plane including longitudinal and transverse directions of the articles is inclined about an axis of rotation along the first direction relative to a conveyance surface of the second conveyor, so that after a first of the articles of the article group lands flat on the second conveyor the orientation of subsequent ones of the articles of the article group, when switching from the first conveyor to the second conveyor are inclined such that a part of the article that lands on an article already placed on the second conveyor is up and a part of an article that lands directly on the second conveyor is down (Figures 3, 4A, 4B, 4E and 4F show that after the first article of a group, the articles land partially on an article already placed on the second conveyor, so the part of the article that lands on the article already placed on the second conveyor is up and a part of an article that lands directly on the second conveyor is down).
Regarding Claim 9:
Yokota discloses further comprising an orientation-changing unit which, by contacting the articles, changes to a predetermined orientation the orientation of the articles as they are being conveyed on the first conveyor (Figure 3, Paragraph 0071, support wall 213 will be considered an orientation-changing unit that prevents the products G from falling off and guides the products G in the conveyance direction, changing the orientation of the products G sliding due to the incline on conveyor 212).
Regarding Claim 12:
As discussed for Claim 1 above, Yokota discloses the invention as claimed.
Yokota does not disclose a plurality of article-transfer apparatuses.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have a plurality of article-transfer apparatuses since it has been held that mere duplication of parts has no patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is produced.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokota (US 2019/0263545) in view of Nishitsuji (US 2020/0361650) as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Iwasa (US 2017/0073097).
Regarding Claim 6:
Yokota discloses a control unit that controls operations of the first conveyor and the second conveyor (Figure 1, Controller 40).
Yokota does not disclose wherein a leading end portion of the first conveyor in the first direction extends and retracts parallel to the first direction, and when the articles switch from a first position on the first conveyor to the second conveyor, the control unit changes the leading end portion of the first conveyor to a state in which it is retracted upstream of the first position in the first direction.
Iwasa teaches a similar article-transfer apparatus comprising a first conveyor 110 that transfer articles O to a second conveyor 20 to form groups of articles to be transported to a predetermined position on the accumulation surface of the shutter 41 (Figures 12 and 13), the first conveyor including a leading end capable of being extended and contracted to drop packages O from the first conveyor to the second to allow for packages O of different sizes to be received by the second conveyor 20 without having to employ a configuration that changes the height position of the second conveyor 20 (Paragraph 119).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate to Yokota the teachings of Iwasa and modify the first conveyor so the leading end is capable of being extended and contracted to drop packages from the first conveyor to the second to allow for packages of different sizes to be received by the second conveyor without having to employ a configuration that changes the height position of the second conveyor.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokota (US 2019/0263545) in view of Nishitsuji (US 2020/0361650) as applied to Claim 7 above, and further in view of Gu (CN 106185183).
Regarding Claim 10:
As discussed for Claim 7 above, Yokota discloses the invention as claimed.
Yokota does not disclose a third conveyor, wherein the third conveyor is disposed in a substantially vertical orientation, so as to oppose a terminal end of the first conveyor, along a side surface of the second conveyor that is positioned farther downstream in the conveyance direction of the first conveyor among side surfaces of the second conveyor, and a conveyance surface of the third conveyor advances synchronously with the second conveyor in the same direction as the second direction.
Gu teaches a Synchronous Conveyor to transfer a product that needs to be retained in the container by sidewall baffles to avoid crumbs (small pieces of the product) of the product contaminating the conveyor or the rest of the equipment, the sidewalls comprise belt conveyors along both side surfaces of the main conveyor (Figure 2, conveying belt 1 and two transmitting belts 2) to avoid friction and formation of crumbs of the product when contacting the sidewall.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate to Yokota the teachings of Gu and add sidewalls which comprise belt conveyors, that will be considered third conveyors, the belt conveyors advancing synchronously with the second conveyor in the same direction as the second direction along both side surfaces of the second conveyor, one of them would be located downstream in the conveyance direction of the first conveyor; to transfer a product that needs to be retained in the container by sidewall baffles to avoid friction and formation of crumbs of the product when contacting the sidewall contaminating the conveyor or the rest of the equipment.
.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejection of Claim 1 under Yokota (US 2019/0263545) claim have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. The teachings of Nishitsuji (US 2020/0361650) were added for the teachings of a robotic suction gripper transferring the plurality of articles in the article group in the predetermined state when the article group is transported by the transport mechanism.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. In particular Prakken (US 4611458) and (US 5605031), and Takeda (US 5507134) disclose robotic suction grippers transporting a plurality of articles in the same predetermined state when the article group is transported by the transport mechanism. Also, rejections of the independent Claim and several depended could have been made using Jones (US 2003/0196871), Claim 9 could have been rejected using Cabell (US 2970360) Sjogren (US 2012/0228085) or Stanford (US 3598227) and Claim 10 could have been rejected with Battles (US 11584593) or Garbagnati (US 10994939) just to name some
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/EDUARDO R FERRERO/Examiner, Art Unit 3731
/ROBERT F LONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3731
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