DETAILED ACTION
The communication dated 8/2/2024 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 1-14 were amended. Claims 1-14 are currently pending.
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 (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.
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. KR 20200018102 A (henceforth referred to as Kim). Citations to Kim, however, will be made to the English machine translation NPL document.
As for claim 1, Kim teaches a vehicle treatment system (Fig. 1: part 100), in which at least one treatment device (Fig. 1: part 120) and a vehicle to be treated are movable relative to each other in a movement direction within a treatment region, comprising a tactile collision detection device (Fig. 7: part 100a, 100b, 100c) having a collision body supported via at least one connection component (30) on the at least one treatment device and located in a starting position at an outer border of the treatment region of the at least one treatment device, and a sensor unit (Fig. 9: part 350) configured to detect a movement of the collision body relative to the at least one treatment device as a collision risk between the at least one treatment device and the vehicle, the collision body being supported on the at least one treatment device via the at least one connection component such that, in an event of a collision with the vehicle, the collision body is displaced in a direction opposite to and/or in a direction perpendicular to the movement direction of the at least one treatment device until the at least one treatment device stops completely after a collision risk has been detected by the sensor unit (paragraphs [0040]-[0044]; Figs. 7-9).
As for claim 2, Kim further teaches that the sensor unit has at least one sensor which is configured to detect a movement of the collision body and/or of the at least one connection component relative to each other or relative to the at least one treatment device and/or a force transmitted between the collision body and the at least one treatment device (paragraphs [0040]-[0044]; Figs. 7-9).
As for claim 3, Kim further teaches that the at least one sensor is provided at an interface between the at least one connection component and the at least one treatment device and/or at an interface between the at least one connection component and the collision body and/or is accommodated in the at least one connection component (paragraphs [0040]-[0044]; Figs. 7-9).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-14 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEVON J SHAHINIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1384. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30am-6:00pm.
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/LEVON J SHAHINIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711