Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 16, 2026
Application No. 18/986,500

CRANE

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Dec 18, 2024
Priority
Dec 22, 2023 — JP 2023-216789
Examiner
AZHAR, ARSLAN
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
78%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 1m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 78% — above average
78%
Career Allowance Rate
159 granted / 203 resolved
+18.3% vs TC avg
Strong +20% interview lift
Without
With
+20.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
225
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
15.4%
-24.6% vs TC avg
§103
43.9%
+3.9% vs TC avg
§102
20.6%
-19.4% vs TC avg
§112
15.6%
-24.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 203 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/18/2024 and 05/29/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. 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. Claim(s) 2, 13, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Swodny (US 20040164041) For claim 2, Swodny teaches: A crane (abstract, disclosing a crane) comprising: a boom that suspends a suspended load ([0039] and figure 5, disclosing boom 5 and load 3); and a drive device that drives the boom such that the suspended load moves in a first direction ([0039], disclosing rotating the boom. And hydraulic control circuit) wherein the drive device executes a swing suppression drive in which a jerk of the boom changes in a pattern of a plurality of rectangular waves, to reduce a swing of the suspended load (abstract, disclosing crane or excavator has a computer- controlled regulation for the damping of load swings. [0019], disclosing path planning module generates the path that is provided to the controlled unit in the form of time functions for the load position, speed, acceleration, the jerk and the possibly a derivative of the jerk at the control, from the preset desired speed proportional to the deflection of the handling lever in the case of a semi-automatic operation or of desired points in case of fully automatic operation. Figure 5, disclosing speed increase and decrease. As load is moved, it is necessarily accelerated an decelerated, therefore, maximum jerk is imposed for both acceleration an deceleration and profile of jerk over time will be a plurality of rectangular waves). For claim 13, Swodny teaches: The crane according to claim 2, wherein the swing suppression drive is a drive of changing the jerk of the boom, in a pattern of rectangular waves a plurality of times, to a first value representing the jerk in a first direction and a second value representing the jerk in a direction opposite to the first direction ([0019], disclosing path planning module generates the path that is provided to the controlled unit in the form of time functions for the load position, speed, acceleration, the jerk and the possibly a derivative of the jerk at the control, from the preset desired speed proportional to the deflection of the handling lever in the case of a semi-automatic operation or of desired points in case of fully automatic operation. Figure 5, disclosing speed increase and decrease. As load is moved, it is necessarily accelerated and decelerated, therefore, maximum jerk is imposed for both acceleration and deceleration and profile of jerk over time will be a plurality of rectangular waves. Limiting jerk when acceleration is increasing is first value in one direction and limiting it when deceleration is increasing is second value in opposite direction to first value) For claim 14, Swodny teaches: The crane according to claim 13, wherein the number of times of the plurality of times is three times from a state where the boom is stopped to a state where the boom starts to accelerate to a predetermined constant speed, or from a state where the boom is at the constant speed to a state where the boom starts to decelerate to stop (figure 3, disclosing positive and negative jerk in phase I, and 0 in phase 2. Hence three times). For claim 15, Swodny teaches: The crane according to claim 2, wherein the swing suppression drive is a drive of changing the jerk of the boom from zero, in a pattern of three rectangular waves, to a first value representing the jerk in a first direction, a second value representing the jerk in a direction opposite to the first direction, and a third value representing the jerk in the first direction in order, and returning the jerk of the boom to zero (see figure 3. As boom first accelerates, a jerk will be in positive direction and it necessarily has to come to a stop. In order to come to a stop it has to decelerate and during deceleration phase jerk will be in negative direction and upon end of deceleration phase, jerk will be positive or zero i.e., towards positive direction). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 1 and 3-12 allowed. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Klaus (EP 2636632 ) teaches of compensating for movement of crane load sway. See abstract. Discenzo (US 20070050115) teaches of reducing and eliminating sway of crane load. See [0006]. Wahrburg (US 20230100950 ) teaches of limiting jerk of crane. See column 2. Overton (US 5526946) teaches of reducing sway of lead mover by crane. See abstract. Arvid (WO 2010136586 ) teaches of generating jerk free trajectories of crane load. See abstract and page 2. None of the above cited art teaches of “pattern for swing suppression includes a modified triangular wave including, in consecutive order, a first gradient portion that changes with a predetermined gradient in either a positive or negative direction, an offset portion in which the command value is displaced in a direction opposite to the change in the first gradient portion, and a second gradient portion that changes with a predetermined gradient in the direction opposite to the change in the first gradient portion” as claimed in claim 1. Furthermore, no motivation is provided for modification. Therefore, modification of any of them to teach the limitation will be impermissible hindsight. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARSLAN AZHAR whose telephone number is (571)270-1703. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30 - 5:30. 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, Wade Miles can be reached at (571) 270-7777. 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. /ARSLAN AZHAR/Examiner, Art Unit 3656
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 18, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 03, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12703094
SWING-UP MOTION METHOD AND APPARATUS OF ROBOT, ROBOT, AND STORAGE MEDIUM
2y 3m to grant Granted Aug 11, 2026
Patent 12690739
WATER INGESTION BEHAVIORS OF MOBILE CLEANING ROBOT
3y 10m to grant Granted Jul 28, 2026
Patent 12694730
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATION OF AUTOMATED CONTROL SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS
1y 11m to grant Granted Jul 28, 2026
Patent 12690421
Material-Handling Robot Trajectory Control
8y 5m to grant Granted Jul 21, 2026
Patent 12686127
Apparatus, device, method and computer program for an autonomously acting machine or a computer system
2y 7m to grant Granted Jul 21, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

Strategy Recommendation AI-generated — please review before filing

Get a prosecution strategy drawn from examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Typically takes 5-10 seconds — AI-generated, attorney review required before filing

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
78%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+20.3%)
2y 9m (~1y 1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 203 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month