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 .
The present application is a 371 of PCT/JP2023/008958 filed on March 9, 2023.
A preliminary amendment was filed by the applicant on September 5, 2024.
Claim 10 has been cancelled.
Drawings
The drawings were received on September 5, 2024. These drawings are acceptable.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on September 5, 2024 and February 11, 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 5 and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gonring et al. (US 7,561,886).
Gonring et al. discloses the same information processing device as claimed, as shown in Figures 1-8, which is comprised of an acquisition unit in the form of a microprocessor, defined as Part #26, which is configured to acquire measurement data that is generated by first and second position sensors, defined as Parts #21 and 22, as shown in Figure 3, that are provided on a marine vessel or ship, defined as Part #10, said data including a position in both a horizontal and vertical direction, an extraction unit in the form of said microprocessor, which is configured to extract horizontal position data that represents a nearest neighbor point, defined as Part #16, of a dock or berthing place, defined as Part #12, that is nearest to said marine vessel or ship, as shown in Figures 2 and 4, and a straight line calculation unit in the form of said microprocessor, which is configured to calculate a straight line, defined as Part X, along said dock or berthing place, as shown in Figure 4, that is based on a neighbor point set that represents said nearest neighbor point (16). Said microprocessor is also configured to update said straight line (X) based on said neighbor point set after exclusion of a nearest neighbor point which is far from said straight line (X) by a predetermined distance, as shown in Figures 4 and 7. A quay distance calculation unit in the form of said microprocessor is also configured to calculate a quay distance between said marine vessel or ship and said dock or berthing place based on a length of a perpendicular line to said straight line (X), defined as Part A, as shown in Figure 4.
Gonring et al. also discloses the same control method and program that is executed by a computer as claimed, as shown in Figures 1-8, said method being comprised of the steps of acquiring measurement data from first and second position sensors, defined as Parts #21 and 22, with a microprocessor or computer having a stored program, defined as Part #26, said data representing a position in both a horizontal and vertical direction, extracting data with said microprocessor or computer and said stored program representing a nearest neighbor point, defined as Part #16, that is nearest to a marine vessel or ship, defined as Part #10, among data that represents measured points of a dock or berthing place, defined as Part #12, as shown in Figure 4, and calculating a straight line, defined as Part X, with said microprocessor or computer and said stored program along said dock or berthing place based on a neighbor point set that represents said nearest neighbor point (16).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 and 6-7 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 LARS A OLSON whose telephone number is (571) 272-6685. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 8:00am - 4:00pm.
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August 24, 2026
/LARS A OLSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615B
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