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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis 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.
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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2003/208222A to Egawa (Egawa) (as best understood by machine translation provided in IDS). For claim 1, Egawa discloses an article transport facility, comprising:
a plurality of transport vehicles (1, 2, 3 … n) configured to travel along a travel path (R0) to transport articles, the plurality of transport vehicles comprising a target transport vehicle (3, 4, 5, 6) and at least one subsequent transport vehicle (1) subsequent to the target vehicle (see ¶¶ [0008] & [0019] for providing a plurality of automated guided vehicles (AGV’s) that travel along a route); and
a control system (12) configured to control the plurality of transport vehicles (see ¶ [0019] for providing a transport controller for controlling the AGV’s), and
wherein:
the travel path comprises a branch at which a pre-branching section of the travel path branches into a plurality of post-branching sections of the travel path, the plurality of post-branching sections comprising a first post-branching section (R1) and a second post-branching section (R2), the second post-branching section being different from the first post-branching section (see Fig. 3 depicting a travel path with a plurality of branches wherein each branch comprises a processing station), and
the control system is configured to perform subsequent-vehicle prioritization if the plurality of transport vehicles satisfy a condition that the target transport vehicle proceeding to the first post-branching section is expected to stop in the pre-branching section based on traffic in the first post-branching section and the at least one subsequent transport vehicle is proceeding to the second post-branching section, the subsequent-vehicle prioritization being a process of causing the target transport vehicle to change a course and proceed to a post-branching section different from the first post-branching section and included in the plurality of post-branching sections to allow the at least one subsequent transport vehicle to travel into the second post-branching section (see ¶¶ [0032-0035] for describing a process of controlling the travel of AGV’s along the transport path by changing the route of a first AGV that is stopped and restricted from moving in the direction of a planned movement route just before a branch point in order to allow a second AGV to bypass the first AGV and continue moving downstream to a processing station different than the one intended for the first AGV).
In regards to claim 2, Egawa further discloses that the control system performs the subsequent-vehicle prioritization if the plurality of transport vehicles further satisfy an additional condition that the at least one subsequent transport vehicle subsequent to the target vehicle comprises N or more transport vehicles, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2. See ¶¶ [0015-0018] & [0033] (changing the movement route of multiple AGV’s whether they are target or subsequent AGV’s so long as all of the target AGV’s are headed to the same processing station (ST2) and all of the subsequent AGV’s are headed to the same processing station (ST1)).
In regards to claim 3, Egawa further discloses that the control system performs the subsequent-vehicle prioritization if the plurality of transport vehicles further satisfy an additional condition that the target transport vehicle has been stationary in the pre-branching section for a period longer than or equal to a preset determination period. See ¶¶ [0029-0030] (waiting for a predetermined period of time before rerouting AGV’s to free up congestion at a pre-branching section).
In regards to claim 4, Egawa further discloses that the control system calculates an estimated time for the target transport vehicle to reach a destination, and performs the subsequent-vehicle prioritization if the plurality of transport vehicles further satisfy an additional condition that an estimated time for the target transport vehicle to reach the destination after traveling through the post-branching section different from the first post-branching section is longer than an estimated time for the target transport vehicle to reach the destination after traveling through the first post-branching section by an amount less than or equal to a preset determination threshold. See ¶¶ [0050-0059].
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Egawa, supra, as applied to claim 1, in view of JP 2022-167634A to Kono et al. (Kono) (as best understood by machine translation provided in IDS). For claim 5, Egawa further discloses that a destination of the plurality of transport vehicles comprises a processing station (ST), at which the articles are transferred from or to a processing device to process the articles. See ¶ [0033] (providing a plurality of stations along the transport path).
Although Hsieh does not explicitly disclose that the destination further comprises a storage device station, such a feature is found in in the prior art. In fact, Kono teaches an article transport facility wherein a destination of the plurality of transport vehicles comprises: a processing device station (P), at which the articles are transferred from or to a processing device configured to process the articles, and a storage device station (R), at which the articles are transferred from or to a storage device configured to store the articles, and the control system performs the subsequent-vehicle prioritization if the plurality of transport vehicles further satisfy an additional condition that the destination of the at least one subsequent transport vehicle is the processing device station. See ¶ [0066].
Thus, it would have been obvious at the time filing to modify the system of Egawa with the processing device and storage device stations of Kono in order to help facilitate the transport of articles to be processed and the storage of articles having just been processed.
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Pub. No. 2016/0174453 to Matsuzaki et al. discloses a work vehicle coordinating system includes a main vehicle position detection module for detecting a position of a main work vehicle, a sub vehicle position detection module for detecting a position of a sub work vehicle, a central work land path calculation section for calculating a central work land traveling path to be used by the sub work vehicle in an unmanned steered work traveling in a central work land, a first steering control section for unmanned-steering the sub work vehicle ahead of the main work vehicle based on the position of the sub work vehicle detected by the sub vehicle position detection module and the central work land traveling path, a headland path calculation section for calculating a headland traveling path and a second steering control section for unmanned-steering the sub work vehicle to follow the main work vehicle.
US Pub. No. 2014/0358338 to Harasaki discloses a traveling vehicle system includes a track network including tracks, a plurality of traveling vehicles, and a traveling vehicle controller. The controller is programmed and configured to include an abnormality detecting unit configured to detect an abnormality in a track on the downstream side of a diverging section including at least the track; and an entry determining unit configured to, in a case that a traveling vehicle that has just passed through the diverging section enters the track and a traveling vehicle that has immediately thereafter passed through the diverging section is about to consecutively enter the track, when the abnormality detecting unit has detected no abnormality, skip determination of whether the traveling vehicle is allowed to enter the track and, when the abnormality detecting unit has detected an abnormality, determine whether the traveling vehicle is allowed to enter the track.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYLE LOGAN whose telephone number is (571) 270-7769. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9-5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JACOB SCOTT can be reached at (571) 270-3415. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYLE O LOGAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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