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
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)(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 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Baxter et al. US PG-PUB 2022/0397224 A1 (hereafter Baxter), prior art of record as indicated on the IDS filed 12 September 2024.
As to claim 8: Baxter discloses a sewer inspection and/or maintenance system (10; see fig. 2 and ¶ 71 and 72) comprising a carrier system (14, 16, and 22; see fig. 2 and ¶ 72), in particular a crawler, wherein a device magazine (1136; see figs. 37 and 38 as well as ¶ 162) for accommodating a number of devices (110; see fig. 38 and ¶ 163-165) is arranged on the carrier system (see fig. 2 regarding the carrier system including the installation tool 22 which includes the device magazine 1136 as disclosed in ¶ 162).
References Cited but not Relied Upon
As to references cited but not relied upon:
Nieding et al. US PG-PUB 2016/0369929 A1 discloses a rehabilitation method and rehabilitation tool and appears pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
Moreau et al. US PG-PUB 2022/0268393 A1 discloses a pipeline inspection device and appears pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As to claim 9: The prior art of record does not disclose or render obvious to the skilled artisan a lifting arm that is movable, with a device attached to the first adapter, into a first device changing position, wherein the first adapter, in the first device changing position, is designed to release the device attached to the first adapter from the first adapter, and that can be moved into a second device changing position without a device attached to the first adapter, wherein the first adapter, in the second device changing position, is designed to attach a device accommodated in the device magazine to the first adapter, when considered with the other limitations of the instant claim and those of parent claim 8.
In particular, while Baxter is considered to disclose a device magazine (1136; see figs. 37 and 38 as well as ¶ 162) with a number of devices (110; see fig. 38 and ¶ 163-165), Baxter appears to be silent regarding a lifting arm that can be moved into a second device changing position without a device attached to a first adapter wherein the first adapter in a second device changing position is designed to attach a device accommodated in the device magazine to the first adapter. In particular, it appears that the plurality of devices 110 are mounted as disclosed in Baxter ¶ 163 and 164 and are manually removed and swapped by a technician such as disclosed in Baxter ¶ 79.
The closest available prior art considered to teach this feature is Pomp US PG-PUB 2015/0114145 A1 (hereafter Pomp). Pomp discloses a quick change system for an inspection or cleaning crawler (10; see fig. 1 and ¶ 51) but appears to disclose this in regard to wheels such as outlined in Pomp ¶ 54-57 and is silent regarding both a linking arm and a device magazine.
Accordingly, there does not appear to be any obvious modification of Baxter (nor the other available cited prior art of record) in light of the teaching of Pomp that arrives at Applicant’s claimed invention as set forth by the limitations of claim 9.
Claims 1-7 are allowed.
As to claim 1: The prior art of record does not disclose or render obvious to the skilled artisan a sewer inspection and/or maintenance system comprising a carrier system comprising a lifting arm, a device magazine for accommodating a number of devices arranged on the carrier system, the lifting arm is movable, with a device attached to the first adapter, into a first device changing position wherein the first adapter in the first device changing position is designed to release the device attached to the first adapter from the first adapter and the lifting arm can be moved into a second device changing position without a device attached to the first adapter in the second device changing position is designed to attach a device accommodated in the device magazine to the first adapter, when considered in combination with the other limitations recited in the instant claim.
In particular, the claim recites features similar to those in claim 9 which was objected to as containing allowable subject matter for the reasons indicated previously above. Accordingly, the instant claim is indicated allowable for reasons similar thereto but not repeated herein for brevity.
As to claims 2-7: Each of said claims depends ultimately from claim 1 and accordingly each is indicated allowable over the cited prior art of record at least by virtue of their respective dependencies upon an allowable independent claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN M ROYSTON whose telephone number is (571)270-7215. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4:30 E.S.T..
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/JOHN M ROYSTON/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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