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
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6, 8, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perez (US 20220242668) in view of Palmer (US 20250361086).
Regarding claim 1 Perez teaches an automated cargo storage apparatus comprising:
a cargo storage part including a plurality of storage spaces (200) arranged in a plurality of layers (Fig. 1),
each of the layers being divided into the plurality of storage spaces (200, Fig. 1), each storage space (200, Fig. 1) occupying a predetermined area on a plane along a rail (210, Figs. 1, 4, paragraph 98) arranged in a grid structure (Fig. 1),
a plurality of cargo storage cages (300) loaded with cargo being placed in the plurality of storage spaces (200, paragraph 76) and movable forward, backward, leftward, and rightward along the rail, respectively (paragraph 120, 126);
wherein the control part (600) is configured to: when unloading a first cargo storage cage (300) located in a target layer, temporarily move a second cargo storage cage (300), placed in an adjacent storage space (200) in the target layer, to an upper layer (paragraph 127) to create an empty storage space in the target layer, sequentially move the plurality of cargo storage cages in the target layer to position the first cargo storage cage in the storage space previously occupied by the second cargo storage cage, and unload the first cargo storage cage through the cargo entry/exit part. (Figs. 15 and 17, paragraph 88, 238, 224-235 describes how the controller can execute the sequence of storage cage movement)
Perez doesn’t teach a cargo entry/exit part protruding outward from one side of the cargo storage part and having an elevator structure that moves a cargo storage cage vertically in the elevator structure, the cargo storage cage being loaded or unloaded through the cargo entry/exit part; and a control part configured to move a target cargo storage cage to a storage space at a specified location and control vertical movement of the cargo storage cage within the cargo entry/exit part, wherein the cargo entry/exit part includes one more layer than a number of the layers in the cargo storage part,
Palmer teaches a similar automated storage and retrieval system with a matrix configuration system with a cargo entry/exit part protruding outward from one side of the cargo storage part (30, Fig. 1) and having an elevator structure (10a) that moves a cargo storage cage (4) vertically in the elevator structure (10a), the cargo storage cage (4) being loaded or unloaded through the cargo entry/exit part. (Fig. 1, paragraph 122);
and a control part (paragraph 75) configured to move a target cargo storage cage (4) to a storage space (3) at a specified location and control vertical movement of the cargo storage cage within the cargo entry/exit part (Fig. 1, paragraph 11, 75),
wherein the cargo entry/exit part (10a) includes one more layer than a number of the layers in the cargo storage part (Fig. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the storage system of Perez with the entry/exit/elevator parts of Palmer in order to move the cargo storage cages between layers efficiently and move storage cages between storage spaces and other areas such as an unloading or sorting area.
Regarding claim 2 Perez teaches the automated cargo storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control part (600) is configured to, when moving a targeted cargo storage cage (300) to a desired location, repeatedly perform a process of moving the plurality of cargo storage cages to create an empty storage space (200) in an adjacent storage space in a movement direction of the targeted cargo storage cage, and moving the target cargo storage cage into the empty storage space. (Figs. 15 and 17, paragraph 88, 238, 224-235 describes how the controller executes a sequence of storage cage movement)
Regarding claim 3 Perez teaches the automated cargo storage apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control part (600) is configured to, when moving the targeted cargo storage cage (300) to the desired location, select a looped multiple storage spaces including a current location, the desired location, and the empty storage space, and sequentially moves the cargo storage cages located in the plurality of storage spaces to the looped multiple storage spaces to position the targeted cargo storage cage to the desired location. (Figs. 15 and 17, paragraph 88, 238, 224-235 describes how the controller can execute a sequence of storage cage movement)
Regarding claim 4 Perez teaches the automated cargo storage apparatus of claim 3, wherein the selected multiple storage spaces (200) are selected to have a minimum movement path from the current location of the targeted cargo storage cage to the desired location. (paragraph 238)
Regarding claim 6 Perez teaches the automated cargo storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the rail (210) includes a plurality of rotatable rollers (400/420, Fig, 12, paragraph 107) to enable the cargo storage cages (300) to move forward, backward, leftward, and rightward (paragraph 127), and wherein the control part (600) is configured to control rotation of the plurality of rollers to control the movement of the targeted cargo storage cage (paragraph 89-91).
Regarding claim 8 Palmer further teaches the automated cargo storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cargo entry/exit part includes a plurality of elevator parts (10a/10b) that are movable upward or downward while carrying the cargo storage (4, paragraph 122), wherein the plurality of elevator parts is maintained while being stacked on the ground in an area where a cargo storage cage is loaded and unloaded (Fig. 1), wherein an upper elevator part (Fig. 1 See annotated figure below), loaded with the second cargo storage cage (4), moves vertically to provide a movement space within the cargo entry/exit part, and a lower elevator part (Fig. 1 See annotated figure below) moves through the movement space to transport the first cargo storage cage (4) to an entry/exit area (Fig. 1, paragraph 122).
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Regarding claim 9 Palmer also teaches wherein the plurality of elevator parts (10a/10b, Fig. 1) respectively includes rails (green highlight shown in figure below) connected to a rail formed in the cargo storage part (red highlight shown in figure below) and connected to a rail extending to outside through an entry/exit area (blue highlight shown in figure below).
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Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perez (US 20220242668) and in view of Palmer (US 20250361086) in further view of Ziegler (US 10120370 B2).
Regarding claim 5 Perez and Palmer teach the automated cargo storage apparatus of claim 3 with cargo storage cages (300) moveable between looped multiple storage spaces (200). Perez/Palmer doesn’t teach wherein the selected multiple storage spaces are selected based on weights of cargos loaded in the plurality of cargo storage cages respectively placed in the plurality of storage spaces.
Ziegler teaches an automated storage and retrieval system and control system (146) wherein the selected multiple storage spaces (148) are selected based on weights of cargos loaded in the plurality of cargo storage cages (store units, paragraph 14) respectively placed in the plurality of storage spaces (paragraph 24).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the storage system of Perez/Palmer with cargo being selected and sorted by weight in order to balance loads in the storage system, modify storage layers to accommodate specific weight categories and streamline the process of moving a cargo storage cage.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perez (US 20220242668) and in view of Palmer (US 20250361086) in further view of Herman (US 11866253).
Regarding Claim 7 Perez and Palmer teach the automated cargo storage apparatus of claim 1.
Perez/Palmer doesn’t teach wherein the cargo storage cages include a plurality of rotatable rollers to enable forward and backward and left and right movement to enable the cargo storage cages to move along the rail.
Herman teaches an automated storage and retrieval system including a plurality of storage spaces with storage cages (100) arranged in a plurality of layers (Fig. 11) wherein the cargo storage cages (100) include a plurality of rotatable rollers (102) to enable forward and backward and left and right movement to enable the cargo storage cages to move along the rail (104, column 6 lines 41-44).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the storage cages of Perez/Palmer to include a plurality of rollers in order to facilitate movement of the storage cages along the rails of the storage system.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perez (US 20220242668) and in view of Palmer (US 20250361086) in further view of Xing (WO 2023246513).
Regarding claim 10 Perez and Palmer teach the automated cargo storage apparatus of claim 1.
Perez/Palmer doesn’t teach wherein each of the plurality of storage spaces is fully occupied by the cargo storage cages, and during entry of a cargo storage cage, an empty cargo storage cage is preemptively unloaded to create an empty storage space.
Xing teaches a similar storage and retrieval system wherein each of the plurality of storage spaces (Fig. 6, 61 storage location) is fully occupied by the cargo storage cages (501, Fig. 13, Fig. 6 shows fully occupied spaces), and during entry of a cargo storage cage, an empty cargo storage cage is preemptively unloaded to create an empty storage space. (page 6, lines 21-29, detailed description- "empty containers are removed from the shelves" and "full containers are put on the shelves")
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the storage and retrieval system of Perez/Palmer to remove an empty storage cage in order to create space for a new cargo to maximize the amount of cargo stored.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. HIEGL (DE 102018105614), Majied (US 9315322) and Chen (WO 2020215366) all disclose similar matrix storage and retrieval systems using a “shuffling” sequence to store or retrieve cargo.
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/N.A.S./ Examiner, Art Unit 3655
/KAITLIN S JOERGER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
