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 .
Status of the Claims
This action is in response to the applicant’s filing on September 16, 2024. Claims 1-18 are pending and are examined below.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority to Japanese Patent No. JP 2022-061893, filed April 1, 2022.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “a working device to, “an operation device to,” and “a temperature detector,” in claims 1, 7, and 9.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Spangler et al., US 20220032733 A1, in view of Ueta, US 20250129575 A1, hereinafter referred to as Spangler, and Ueta, respectively.
As to claim 1, Spangler discloses a working machine comprising:
an electric motor (Motor – See at least Abstract);
a working device to be driven by power of the electric motor (Motor drives prime mover – See at least Claim 1);
an operation device to operate the working device (Control handle – See at least ¶37 and Fig. 1);
a cooler including an electric cooling fan (Cooling fan – See at least ¶35);
a temperature detector to detect a cooling target temperature that is a temperature of a cooling target to be cooled by the cooler (Temperature sensor – See at least ¶33); and
a controller to control a fan rotational speed that is a rotational speed of the cooling fan in accordance with the cooling target temperature detected by the temperature detector (Controller – See at least ¶32; Adjust cooling fan speed to maintain target oil temperature – See at least ¶35),
Spangler fails to explicitly disclose an operation locker switchable between an enabling position where an operation of the working device by the operation device is enabled and a disabling position where the operation of the working device by the operating device is disabled, and wherein the controller is configured or programmed to change a characteristic of the fan rotational speed with respect to the cooling target temperature depending on whether the operation locker is in the enabling position or in the disabling position. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Spangler and include the feature of the above claimed fan control in response to an operation locker, with a reasonable expectation of success, because Ueta teaches it is well-known and routine to use lockable switches in the heavy work machine arts (See at least ¶8 of Ueta).
As to claim 14, Spangler discloses the cooler is a radiator to cool cooling water that is used to cool equipment including the electric motor, the cooling fan is a radiator fan included in the radiator, and the temperature detector is configured to detect a temperature of the cooling water as the cooling target temperature (Liquid-to-air heat exchanger, i.e., radiator – See at least ¶35; Cooling fan – See at least ¶35; Description applies to each circuit – See at least ¶35; Temperature sensor – See at least ¶33).
As to claim 16, Spangler discloses a hydraulic pump to be driven by the electric motor; and a hydraulic actuator to be driven by a hydraulic pressure of a hydraulic fluid discharged by the hydraulic pump, wherein the cooler is an oil cooler to cool the hydraulic fluid, and the cooling fan is an oil cooler fan included in the oil cooler, and the temperature detector is configured to detect a temperature of the hydraulic fluid as the cooling target temperature (Hydraulic circuit transmits power from prime mover to moving component of work machine – See at least Abstract and Fig. 1; Motor may supply portion of power of prime mover – See at least Abstract; Oil temperature and circuit – See at least ¶33 ).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-13, 15, 17, and 18 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 Lail Kleinman whose telephone number is (571)272-6286. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fadey Jabr can be reached at (571)272-1516. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/LAIL A KLEINMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668
Prosecution Insights