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 § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 9 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 6231311 in view of Zhou et al. (CN 110980273).
JP 6231311 shows a system for moving a container 5 which has a lid 7 in which a plate 20 is held over a conveyor system using a control unit and there is a removal device best shown in Figures 15 and 16. The removal device is not a gripping member which grips a circumferential edge of the plate. However, shown by Zhou et al. is a gripping device 21 which grips a circumferential edge of a plate 50 (see Figure 6). To include this gripping device in place of the pulling device shown by the JP patent would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as it is merely an alternate equivalent plate removal device which is well known in the art.
Re claim 2, rotation about a vertical axis is possible.
Re claim 4, linear movement is shown in the Figures relative to a conveying system.
Re claim 9, each reference shows collecting areas for plates which are removed.
Re claim 13, see Figures 3, 7, 13 and 14 of the JP reference which show a lid opening member.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5-8, 10-12 and 14-17 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Conclusion
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/JAMES R BIDWELL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651 01/06/2026