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
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 –
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 –
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 1-9, 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Mizutani (US 20140046515 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system comprising: a bow thruster (bow thruster, paragraph 100) at a bow of a hull to generate a propulsive force laterally of the hull; a propulsion device on the hull to generate a propulsive force anteroposteriorly of the hull (outboard motor, paragraph 100); a steering to change a course of the hull; and a controller (ECU, Element 10) configured or programmed, in response to a lateral movement command, to set two parallel reference lines extending laterally of the hull and spaced a distance apart from each other anteroposteriorly of the hull, and to control the bow thruster, the propulsion device, and the steering to cause the hull to move in a zig-zag pattern in a direction indicated by the lateral movement command between the two reference lines while maintaining an azimuth of the hull. (This functional description of the controller is satisfied by Fig p65 where the bow and transom are parallel and have set lines that are parallel because two points determine how a line is set.)
Regarding Claim 2, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system according to claim 1, wherein the zig-zag pattern of the hull includes a first movement which is a diagonal movement including a lateral movement component indicated by the lateral movement command and one of forward and rearward movement components, and a second movement including the other of the forward and rearward movement components, the first movement and the second movement being each carried out at least once. (paragraph 100)
Regarding Claim 3, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured or programmed to control the bow thruster, the propulsion device, and the steering to cause the hull to alternately repeat a first movement and a second movement between the two reference lines, the first movement being a diagonally forward movement including a lateral movement component indicated by the lateral movement command, the second movement being a diagonally rearward movement including a lateral movement component indicated by the lateral movement command. (paragraph 100)
Regarding Claim 4, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system according to claim 2, wherein the controller is configured or programmed to perform an azimuth holding control operation to maintain the azimuth of the hull during a switching period in which switching between the first movement and the second movement occurs. (The controller has this configuration because it achieves this result, necessarily, over some period of time.)
Regarding Claim 5, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system according to claim 1, wherein the two reference lines are located forward and rearward, respectively, of a gravity center of the hull. (Two reference lines are also necessarily also formed forward and rearward of the center of gravity because all the lines formed by the positions of the ship are parallel.)
Regarding Claim 6, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system according to claim 1, wherein the two reference lines are both located forward or rearward of a gravity center of the hull. (Two reference lines are also necessarily also formed both forward and both rearward of the center of gravity because all the lines formed by the positions of the ship are parallel.)
Regarding Claim 7, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system according to claim 1, wherein the propulsion device includes only one single propulsion device on a stern of the hull (See Fig. 6), or a plurality of propulsion devices on the stern of the hull and steerable at a same steering angle.
Regarding Claim 8, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system according to claim 1, further comprising a lateral movement operator operable by a user to input the lateral movement command to the controller. (Element 102)
Regarding Claim 9, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system according to claim 8, wherein the controller is configured or programmed to control the bow thruster, the propulsion device, and the steering to change a propulsive force to be generated in a lateral direction indicated by the lateral movement command according to an operation amount of the lateral movement operator. (paragraph 100, “The thrust forces generated by the bow thruster and outboard motor may be determined according to the tilt amount from the neutral position of the lateral lever 102.”)
Regarding Claim 13, Mizutani discloses a watercraft propulsion system according to claim 1, wherein the bow thruster is fixed to the hull in an unsteerable manner. (This is suggested by the totality of the disclosure because it is always in the same position: it’s never moved even though it would be clearly advantageous if it did. Fig 1 also depicts a tunnel that further suggests a fixed thruster.)
Claims 14-16 are rejected by Claim 1 in conjunction with Fig. 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-12 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. Bjorkman (US 20230195117 A1) discloses the setting of reference lines for steering.
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/ANDREW POLAY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615 7 August 2026
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