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)(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 1-6, 10 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Keller. Keller discloses in the Figures and specification a carrier vehicle comprising a vehicle body 10 having an opening formed thereon which is sized to receive at least one object (see arrow B in Fig. 2), a storage region 16 for storing the at least one object, an input member 30 which is rotatably connected to the vehicle body for rotating about a first axis, and a plurality of object guide members 32 that are rotatably connected to the input member. As shown in Figure 3, each of the object guide members has at least one lateral side. Keller further discloses at col. 2, lines 18-28 that the object guide members are “fabricated of resilient spongy material to provide friction and give or yieldability as the paddle wheel rotates to engage an object so as to deposit the object in the truck receptacle or bed 16”. The object guide members are thus configured to laterally form around at least one object to capture the object for guiding toward the storage region as recited.
With respect to claim 2, Keller further discloses a drive member 18 configured to drive the input member as recited. With respect to claims 3 & 4, As shown in Fig. 3, the input guide members of Keller have mutually facing lateral sides such that the opposing lateral sides frictionally engage an object as recited. With respect to claim 5, Keller also shows in Fig. 3 that the input guide members have first and second lateral sides as recited. With respect to claims 6 and 10, the four paddles 32 disposed about each object guide member 32 are considered to be “teeth” under the broadest reasonable interpretation of that term. With respect to claims 14 and 15, Keller discloses a first set of wheels 18 which are rotatably connected to the body, such that the input members is driven to rotate independently of the first set of wheels. With respect to claims 14 and 16, wheels 14 can also be said to be a “first set of wheels”, such that the first set of wheels is rotationally connected to the input member via the drive member as recited. With respect to claim 17, the device of Keller is configured as a push vehicle. With respect to claim 18, Keller further discloses a plurality of objects 42 configured for use with the vehicle. With respect to claim 19, the device of Keller is a toy vehicle (see e.g. the abstract). With respect to claim 20, the width of the toy vehicle is greater than the distance of the mutually facing lateral sides of the object guide members as shown in Fig. 3.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9 and 11-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KURT FERNSTROM whose telephone number is (571)272-4422. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6.
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/KURT FERNSTROM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
February 23, 2026