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 .
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.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by the Japan ‘987A reference (Japanese Reference No. JP 2013-88987A).
4. Regarding claim 5, the Japan ‘987A reference discloses:
a transport system comprising:
a transport vehicle ([Paragraph 0043]: guided vehicles 200) to transport an article by traveling along a track (para [0044]: route 140); and
a controller (para [0049]: computer system) configured or programmed to control the transport vehicle;
wherein a destination of the transport vehicle includes a processing position (para [0073]: processing device β), which is a position for delivering the article to a processor (para
[0051]: processing device 300), and a storage position, which is a position for delivering the article to a storage shelf (para [0108]: placement table 310) for temporary storage of the article; and
the controller is configured or programmed to executes: when shutting down a target route (para [0063]: no-entry section), which is a route selected from a plurality of routes on the track,
a pre-processing (para [0097]-[0112]) including at least one of the following processes:
(1) to allow only some of the transport vehicles to pass through the target route (para [0110]),
(2) to evacuate the article located in a closed area, which is an area that is scheduled to be closed due to the shutting-down of the target route, to an effective area, which is an area that is not closed before or after the shutting-down of the target route, using the transport vehicle, or
(3) to permit the transport destined for the processing position in the closed area to prohibit the transport destined for the storage position in the closed area; and
a route shut down processing (para [0081]: entry prohibition measure), which is a process performed after the pre-processing to prohibit the transport vehicle from traveling on the target route.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6-8 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 CHARLES J BRAUCH whose telephone number is (313)446-6511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM to 6 PM.
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/CHARLES JOSEPH BRAUCH/
Examiner
Art Unit 3747
/LINDSAY M LOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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