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 CORRESPONDENCE
This is the first Office action on the merits for Application No. 18/820,470, filed 08/30/2024. Claims 1-4 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) received on 08/30/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claims contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
The limitation “the hydraulic pump control unit is configured to control, in a case where one of a right-side crawler traveling speed and a left-side crawler traveling speed of the crawler is not more than a predetermined traveling reference speed and the other of the right-side crawler traveling speed and the left-side crawler traveling speed is not less than the predetermined traveling reference speed” in lines 11-17, which is not enabled by the disclosure. The broadest reasonable interpretation of the hydraulic pump control unit is determined includes: in a case where either a right-crawler traveling speed or a left-side crawler traveling speed is not more than a predetermined traveling reference speed; and either one of the other of the left-side crawler traveling speed or the right-side crawler traveling speed is not less than the predetermined traveling reference speed. However, the specification does not disclose enough information for one of ordinary skill in the art to use and make the claimed conditions mentioned above.
The disclosure, particularly at step S104 of Figure 4, it appears that the condition in either three (3) or four (4) requires two different predetermined thresholds, i.e., a left-side traveling reference speed and a right-side traveling reference speed, to satisfy a valid condition. Further, in paragraph [0028], which describes that:
“the determination unit 131 determines whether or not the right-side traveling speed (the traveling speed of the right-side crawler 11b) detected by the first speed sensor 24 is not more than the preset right-side traveling reference speed (for example, 1km/h (ultra-low speed)) and determines whether or not the left-side traveling speed (the traveling speed of the left-side crawler 11a) detected by the speed sensor 26 is not less than the preset left-side traveling reference speed (for example, 2km/h (low speed))” or
“the determination unit 131 determines whether or not the left-side traveling speed (the traveling speed of the left-side crawler 11a) detected by the second speed sensor 26 is not more than the preset left-side traveling reference speed (for example, 1km/h (ultra-low speed)) and determines whether or not the right-side traveling speed (the traveling speed of the right-side crawler 11b) detected by the speed sensor 24 is not less than the preset right-side traveling reference speed (for example, 2km/h (low speed))”.
The portions of the specification above show that under ultra-low speed condition(s), the first preset right-side traveling reference speed is approximately 1khm/h and under the low speed condition, the preset left-side traveling reference speed is about 2km/h. These two predetermined traveling reference speeds for the two traveling conditions are not the same.
Based on the state of the art or the current record at the time of filing, it is unknown what ways may be used, or whether it is possible, and it is not predictable, to have the hydraulic pump control unit configured to control the traveling operation of the working vehicle to include the condition “in a case where one of a right-side crawler traveling speed and a left-side crawler traveling speed of the crawler is not more than a predetermined traveling reference speed and the other of the right-side crawler traveling speed and the left-side crawler traveling speed is not less than the predetermined traveling reference speed” as claimed.
Taking these factors into account, undue experimentation would be required by one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the full scope of claim 1. Accordingly, the claim is not enabled by the disclosure. See MPEP 2164.04.
Claims 2-4 are rejected upon being dependent from a rejected base claim and they inherit its deficiencies.
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.
Claims 1-4 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.
Claim 1, the limitation:
“in a case where one of a right-side crawler traveling speed and a left-side crawler traveling speed of the crawler is not more than a predetermined traveling reference speed and the other of the right-side crawler traveling speed and the left-side crawler traveling speed is not less than the predetermined traveling reference speed” in lines 11-17 is unclear.
Figure 4 (step S104) and Paragraph [0028] appear to show that under either condition (3) or (4), the controller configured to determine whether the right-side travel speed is less than or equal to a right-side travelling reference speed and left-side travelling speed is greater or equal to a left-side traveling reference speed under condition (3), OR
under condition (4), the left-side traveling speed is less than or equal to the left-side traveling reference speed and the right-side travelling-speed is greater than or equal to the right-side traveling reference speed. The condition in either three (3) or four (4) requires two different predetermined thresholds, i.e., left-side and right-side traveling reference speeds, to satisfy a valid condition at step S104 (fig. 4). Accordingly, it is unclear whether the right/left side crawler traveling speed is equal to or less/more than one or two traveling reference speeds. Further explanation is necessary.
Claims 2-4 are rejected upon depending from a rejected base claim and they inherit its deficiencies.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Fukuda et al. (US 2022/0049459 A1) discloses a similar a working vehicle operation control system 1 for controlling a traveling operation of a working vehicle that includes a main controller 60 includes the operation conditions when the first rotation speed of the left traveling motor 36L is equal to or higher than a predetermined rotation speed, or when the second rotation speed of the right traveling motor 36R is equal to or higher than a predetermined rotation speed, see Paragraphs [0132], [0152], [0161] and Figures 1-9;
Abe et al. (US 2022/0049470 A1) discloses a controller for a working machine configured to control a rapid drop of the traveling pressure by minimizing a drop in engine speed in order to prevent engine stalling, See Figures 4, 9 and 14;
Fukuda et al. (US 2022/0049468 A1) discloses a controller configured to determine a straight-traveling threshold serving as a deceleration threshold for judging whether to perform an automatic deceleration based on a rotation difference or rotation ratio between the first rotation speed and the second rotation speed during a straight travelling, See Figures 10 and 11;
Ishibashi et al. (US 2011/0196585 A1) discloses a control device for a hydraulic transmission vehicle includes a controller configured to control the respective displacements of variable displacement pump and the variable displacement hydraulic motor based on a vehicle speed limit in order to prevent occurrence of hunting phenomenon in the motor range that the vehicle speed limit is set after the displacement of the variable displacement pump reaches a maximum displacement, See Figure 5; and
Yamada et al. (US 2009/0057049 A1) discloses a hydraulic traveling vehicle includes a controller configured to switch between a sharp turning and a gentle turning or vice versa by having one of right/right-travels being stopped and the other being driven or reducing drops in oil pressure when a gentle turning is carried out while a merging/diverging valve being in a merging/diverging state, respectively, in order to suppress an occurrence of under and over turnings, See Figures 9-11.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tinh T Dang whose telephone number is (571)270-1776. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9AM - 5PM.
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/TINH T DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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