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 .
Response to Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks
Amendments and Remarks filed on 04/03/2026 have been fully considered and are addressed as follow:
Regarding the title objection: Applicant’s new title is accepted. Therefore, the objection to the title is withdrawn.
Regarding the claim interpretations under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f): Applicant’s amendments recite sufficient structure. Therefore, claim 5 no longer invokes the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112(f).
Regarding the claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 101: Applicant’s amendments and remarks have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the 101 rejection of claim 5 is withdrawn.
Regarding the claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103: Applicants “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered. Applicant has amended the independent claim and these amendments have changed the scope of the original application and the Office has supplied new grounds for rejection attached below in the FINAL office action and therefore the prior arguments are considered moot.
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.
Claims 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gariepy (US PGPub 2018/0275681).
Regarding claim 5, Gariepy discloses A system that, in a factory for manufacturing a plurality of moving bodies in a mixed manner, controls operation of at least part of the moving bodies, the system comprising [Gariepy ¶ 0027 "In one aspect, there is a system for flexible conveyance in an assembly process. The system comprises a plurality of workstations, a fleet-management system, and at least one self-driving material-transport vehicle carrying an assembly."]:
a first moving processor installed in a first-type moving body among the moving bodies, the first-type moving body including a first driving device having a first actuator [Gariepy ¶ 0036 "there is shown a self-driving material-transport vehicle 100 according to some embodiments. The vehicle comprises a drive system 102, a control system 104, and one or more sensors 106, 108a, and 108b." and ¶ 0049 "An example is illustrated in FIG. 2 using two vehicles 224a and 224b transporting, in sequence, workpieces 222a and 222b through respective sequences of workstations." and ¶ 0052 "Each of the workpieces 222a and 222b is to be assembled according to its own sequence of operations." Each self-driving material-transport vehicle 100 holds a workpiece 222a/222b that requires different work.],
a second moving processor installed in a second-type moving body among the moving bodies, the second-type moving body including a second driving device having a second actuator [Gariepy ¶ 0036 "there is shown a self-driving material-transport vehicle 100 according to some embodiments. The vehicle comprises a drive system 102, a control system 104, and one or more sensors 106, 108a, and 108b." and ¶ 0049 "An example is illustrated in FIG. 2 using two vehicles 224a and 224b transporting, in sequence, workpieces 222a and 222b through respective sequences of workstations." and ¶ 0052 "Each of the workpieces 222a and 222b is to be assembled according to its own sequence of operations." Each self-driving material-transport vehicle 100 holds a workpiece 222a/222b that requires different work.],
a server that includes a server processor configured to create a control instruction for instructing control content and to send the control instruction to each of the first moving processor and the second moving processor [Gariepy ¶ 0065 "For each workpiece, the fleet-management system 226 may select or assign a particular vehicle (e.g. from within a fleet of vehicles) to convey the workpiece. Then, for each workpiece, the fleet-management system 226 generates a mission for the corresponding vehicle in order to convey the workpiece through the necessary sequence of workstations in order to satisfy the necessary sequence of operations to be performed on the workpiece."], wherein time required for a process of the second-type moving body which is set in advance in the factory is longer than that of the first-type moving body [Gariepy ¶ 0050 "According to some embodiments, a work period associated with the operation being performed at the workstation 210 can be used as an estimate for the time expected for the vehicle 224a to remain at the workstation 210."],
in a case where a preceding moving body is the second-type moving body and a succeeding moving body following the preceding moving body is the first- type moving body in a process before entering the process set in advance, the server processor is configured to create an acceleration instruction and send the acceleration instruction to the second moving processor of the preceding moving body, the acceleration instruction instructing the preceding moving body to travel at a speed higher than a speed of the succeeding moving body [Gariepy ¶ 0081-0082 "Rather, the buffer station 320 may merely represent a delay that can be achieved by reducing the speed of the vehicle 324b from the workstation 310 to the workstation 316."], and
the second moving processor is configured to control the second actuator of the second driving device to accelerate the preceding moving body in response to receiving the acceleration instruction [Gariepy ¶ 0081 "the fleet-management system 226 can generate a mission for the vehicle 324b that specifies a speed between the workstation 310 and the workstation 316 that will maintain the proper sequence of finished assemblies, and will prevent the vehicle 324b from arriving at the workstation 318 before the vehicle 324a has vacated."].
Regarding claim 6, Gariepy discloses The system according to claim 5, wherein the server processor is further configured to generate a numerical value indicating a degree of acceleration, and transmit the numerical value together with the acceleration instruction [Gariepy ¶ 0081 "the fleet-management system 226 can generate a mission for the vehicle 324b that specifies a speed between the workstation 310 and the workstation 316 that will maintain the proper sequence of finished assemblies, and will prevent the vehicle 324b from arriving at the workstation 318 before the vehicle 324a has vacated." Speed is a numerical value indicated a degree of acceleration.].
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/J.E.R./Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/SCOTT A BROWNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666
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