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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Within claim 1, line 11: “sections, which cost increases” should be “sections, in which cost increases”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takahara et al. (US 20180222686 A1).
Regarding claim 1: Takahara discloses an article transport facility, comprising: a plurality of transport vehicles each configured to move along a predetermined path and transport an article (Fig.1); and a control system configured to control the plurality of transport vehicles (H; Fig.6), and wherein: the path comprises a junction (Fig.17) at which two pre-junction sections (E2 of P3 and P4; Fig.5) are merged into one post-junction section (P6; Fig.5), and the control system is configured to perform an entry permission issuing process of giving an entry permission to allow the plurality of transport vehicles to enter the junction based on a cost calculated as a factor influencing a travel time of the transport vehicles in each of the two pre-junction sections, which cost increases as the travel time is longer (Para.[0106]), and in such a manner as to give the entry permission to more entry-waiting transport vehicles in a first pre-junction section for which the cost is larger out of the two pre-junction sections than in a second pre-junction section for which the cost is smaller out of the two pre-junction sections (Para.[0106] and Fig.16-17), the entry-waiting transport vehicles comprising transport vehicles waiting for entering the junction (vehicles 3 within sections E2 of Fig.17).
Regarding claim 2:Takahara further discloses the article transport facility according to claim 1, wherein: the control system gives the entry permission to the entry-waiting transport vehicles in the first pre-junction section and the entry-waiting transport vehicles in the second pre-junction section at a vehicle-number ratio corresponding to C1:C2, where C1 is a first cost as the larger cost, and C2 is a second cost as the smaller cost (Para.[0132], lines 1-7).
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.
Claims 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahara in view of Harasaki (US 20110178657 A1).
Regarding claim 3: Takahara does not teach wherein the control system calculates the cost based on at least one of: a length of a corresponding pre-junction section, an upper limit for the number of transport vehicles allowable to wait in the corresponding pre-junction section, an upper limit of traveling speed for the transport vehicles in the corresponding pre-junction section, an average value of traveling speeds of the transport vehicles in the corresponding pre-junction section, the number of transport vehicles currently in the corresponding pre-junction section, or the number of transport vehicles expected in the corresponding pre-junction section.
However, Harasaki teaches wherein: the control system calculates the cost based on at least one of: a length of a corresponding pre-junction section (length determining maximum limit of waiting vehicles, Para.[0050], lines 1-10 and Figs.3,4), an upper limit for the number of transport vehicles allowable to wait in the corresponding pre-junction section (Para.[0017], lines 7-16), or the number of transport vehicles currently in the corresponding pre-junction section (Para.[0017], lines 7-16). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Takahara with the control parameters as taught within Harasaki to provide additional junction priority control to prevent long waiting times of vehicles at path junctions with a reasonable expectation of success.
Conclusion
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/HEAVEN R BUFFINGTON/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
/S. Joseph Morano/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3615
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