DETAILED ACTION
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 § 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) 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Price et al. (USP 10661986).
Regarding claim 1, Price et al. discloses a refuse vehicle comprising:
a chassis (fig.1; chassis of vehicle 20);
a body (26) coupled to the chassis;
a lift apparatus (30) coupled to at least one of the chassis or the body and configured engage a refuse container to collect refuse stored within the refuse container (seen in fig.1);
at least one of an electric motor or an electric actuator (actuators of arm 30, including 36, etc) configured to drive the lift apparatus;
one or more sensors (sensors 39, 41, 65, 80, etc) configured to generate sensor data corresponding to movement of the lift apparatus; and
one or more processing circuits (lift controller, col.5, line 32) configured to:
receive a user input (col.6, lines 44+ discuss how a user could operate a joystick for the lift) from an operator of the refuse vehicle indicating a desired operating speed of the lift apparatus;
operate the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply a first torque on a portion of the lift apparatus (col.6, lines 61+ discuss how lifting is initiated thereby reading on an a first torque being applied);
acquire, from the one or more sensors, the sensor data (sensor data is actively being received as evidenced in the disclosure);
determine, based on the first torque and the sensor data, a weight of the refuse container engaged by the lift apparatus (as implied by col.6, lines 62-64; the container is lifted and weighted via sensors thus reading on determining a weight based on the first torque and sensor data);
determine, based on the weight of the refuse container and the desired operating speed, a second torque for the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator (as noted in col.6, lines 65+; when the weight is heavier than a limit, the operating speed is slowed down); and
operate the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply the second torque on the portion of the lift apparatus (col.6, lines 65+).
Regarding claim 4, Price et al. discloses the refuse vehicle of claim 1, wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to operate the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply the first torque on the portion of the lift apparatus prior to receiving the user input from the operator of the refuse vehicle indicating the desired operating speed of the lift apparatus (col.6, lines 63+ discuss that a possible control is that after a preset time the container is lifted and weighed; this means that prior to any operator input the actuators would be automatically actuated accordingly to apply a first torque).
Regarding claim 6, Price et al. discloses the refuse vehicle of claim 1, wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to operate the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply the first torque on the portion of the lift apparatus responsive to the one or more processing circuits receiving the user input (col.6, lines 62-63 discuss how the operator signal could initiate the lifting and weighing which reads on this).
Regarding claim 7, Price et al. discloses the refuse vehicle of claim 1, wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to determine, based on the first torque and the sensor data, a weight of refuse held by the refuse container (as understood from col.5, lines 26-32; in order to determine whether the container is empty using weight the weight of the refuse must be determined; in addition it is common within the art to determine the weight of the actual refuse within the container for billing purposes as evidenced in Cornwell).
Regarding claim 9, Price et al. discloses the refuse vehicle of claim 1, wherein, responsive to the weight of the refuse container exceeding a weight threshold, the one or more processing circuits are configured to limit the second torque such that the lift apparatus is operated at a speed slower than the desired operating speed (as mentioned above, the speed is slowed if the weight exceeds a limit).
Regarding claim 11, Price et al. discloses the refuse vehicle of claim 1, further comprising one or more lift apparatus sensors (39) configured to generate engagement data corresponding to the lift apparatus engaging the refuse container; wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to: acquire, from the one or more lift apparatus sensors, the engagement data; and determine, based on the engagement data, that the lift apparatus has engaged the refuse container; and wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to operate the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply the first torque on the portion of the lift apparatus responsive to determining that the lift apparatus has engaged the refuse container (as understood from col.3, lines 48+; lifting is only initiated after proper engagement is detected/determined based on the sensor data).
Regarding claim 18, Price et al. discloses a method for operating a lift apparatus of a refuse vehicle comprising: receiving a user input from an operator of the refuse vehicle indicating a desired operating speed of the lift apparatus; operating at least one of an electric motor or an electric actuator of the refuse vehicle to apply a first torque on a portion of the lift apparatus; acquiring, from one or more sensors, sensor data corresponding to movement of the lift apparatus; determining, based on the first torque and the sensor data, a weight of a refuse container engaged by the lift apparatus; determining, based on the weight of the refuse container and the desired operating speed, a second torque for the at least one of the electric motor of the electric actuator, the second torque higher than the first torque; and operating the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply the second torque on the portion of the lift apparatus (please see the rejection of claim 1 and also claim 14; Price et al. discloses controlling the lift operating speed based on the weight and desired operating speed or user input and if the weight is lighter, it will operate faster or rapidly and if its heavier, it will operate or limit the speed to be slower).
Regarding claim 19, Price et al. discloses the method of claim 18, wherein, responsive to the weight of the refuse container exceeding a weight threshold, the second torque is limited such that the lift apparatus is operated at a speed slower than the desired operating speed (as discussed in col.3, lines 54-65; if dealing with a lightweight container, the operating speed will be increased or rapid and if it’s slow it will be decreased)..
Regarding claim 20, Price et al. discloses the method of claim 18, further comprising: acquiring, from one or more lift apparatus sensors configured to generate engagement data corresponding to the lift apparatus engaging the refuse container; and determining, based on the engagement data, that the lift apparatus has engaged the refuse container; wherein the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator are operated to apply the first torque on the portion of the lift apparatus responsive to determining that the lift apparatus has engaged the refuse container (as understood from col.3, lines 48+; lifting is only initiated after proper engagement is detected/determined based on the sensor data).
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) 2, 3, 8, 12-15, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Price et al. (USP 10661986) in view of Cornwell et al. (USP 5837945).
Regarding claim 2, Price et al. discusses that while the container is lifted the weight is more precisely calculated but does not explicitly state how (even though this likely implies a dynamic weight calculation).
Thus, Price et al. fails to explicitly disclose the refuse vehicle of claim 1, wherein: the one or more processing circuits are configured to determine, based on the sensor data, an acceleration of a component of the lift apparatus; and the one or more processing circuits utilize the acceleration of the component of the lift apparatus to determine the weight of the refuse container.
Cornwell et al. teaches the concept of dynamically determining weight of the refuse container wherein one or more processing circuits are configured to determine, based on the sensor data, an acceleration of a component of the lift apparatus; and the one or more processing circuits utilize the acceleration of the component of the lift apparatus to determine the weight of the refuse container (as shown in fig.6 and discussed throughout the specification and in part in col.6, lines 45+; the acceleration is in part utilized to determine weight).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified and/or improved the weight calculation disclosed in Price et al. according to the controls as taught by Cornwell et al. in order to provide a more accurate weight for the refuse container and consequently allow a more accurate control of the lifting apparatus according to the teachings of Price et al.
Regarding claim 3, the combination discloses the refuse vehicle of claim 2, wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to utilize kinematic relationships associated with the lift apparatus to determine the weight of the refuse container (as discussed in Cornwell et al., see the citation provided for claim 2, kinematics are considered as part of the calculation; this is also evident in fig.6).
Regarding claim 8, Cornwell further teaches as part of the dynamic weight calculation the refuse vehicle of claim 1, wherein when the one or more processing circuits determine the weight of the refuse container, the one or more processing circuits are configured to apply a torque offset to the first torque, the torque offset corresponding to inefficiencies associated with the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator (col.10, lines 24+ discuss how compensations, which reads on offsets, are made for the forces/torques involved in order to compute the weight accurately).
Regarding claim 12, Price et al. discloses a refuse vehicle comprising:
a chassis (fig.1; chassis of vehicle 20);
a body (26) coupled to the chassis;
a lift apparatus (30) coupled to at least one of the chassis or the body and configured engage a refuse container to collect refuse stored within the refuse container (seen in fig.1);
at least one of an electric motor or an electric actuator (actuators of arm 30, including 36, etc) configured to drive the lift apparatus;
one or more first sensors (39, etc) configured to generate first sensor data corresponding to the lift apparatus engaging the refuse container;
one or more second sensors (41, etc) configured to generate second sensor data; and
one or more processing circuits configured to:
acquire, from the one or more first sensors, the first sensor data;
determine, based on the first sensor data, that the lift apparatus has engaged the refuse container (see rejection of claim 11);
operate the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply a first torque on a portion of the lift apparatus (see rejection of claim 11);
acquire, from the one or more second sensors, the second sensor data; and
determine, based on the first torque and the second sensor data, a weight of the refuse container (weight is in part determined by the load cell 41).
While the load cell could arguably be read on sensor data corresponding to movement of the lift apparatus, it is going to be assumed that Applicant is referring to acceleration.
Thus, Price et al. fails to explicitly disclose the refuse vehicle of claim 1, wherein: the one or more processing circuits are configured to determine, based on the sensor data, an acceleration of a component of the lift apparatus; and the one or more processing circuits utilize the acceleration of the component of the lift apparatus to determine the weight of the refuse container.
Cornwell et al. teaches the concept of dynamically determining weight of the refuse container wherein one or more processing circuits are configured to determine, based on the sensor data, an acceleration of a component of the lift apparatus; and the one or more processing circuits utilize the acceleration of the component of the lift apparatus to determine the weight of the refuse container (as shown in fig.6 and discussed throughout the specification and in part in col.6, lines 45+; the acceleration is in part utilized to determine weight).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified and/or improved the weight calculation disclosed in Price et al. according to the controls as taught by Cornwell et al. in order to provide a more accurate weight for the refuse container and consequently allow a more accurate control of the lifting apparatus according to the teachings of Price et al.
Regarding claim 13, Price et al. fails to explicitly disclose the refuse vehicle of claim 12, further comprising a display; wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to control the display to provide the weight of the refuse container to an operator of the refuse vehicle.
Cornwell et al. teaches the concept of utilizing a display to display the weight of the refuse container (col.3, lines 42-44).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the vehicle in Price et al. to make use of a display to show the weight among other useful information in order to allow the user or operator to more accurately and safely operate the vehicle.
Regarding claim 14, Price et al. discloses the refuse vehicle of claim 12, wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to: receive a user input from an operator of the refuse vehicle indicating a desired operating speed of the lift apparatus; determine, based on the weight of the refuse container and the desired operating speed, a second torque for the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply on the portion of the lift apparatus, the second torque higher than the first torque; and operate the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply the second torque on the portion of the lift apparatus (as discussed in col.3, lines 54-65; if dealing with a lightweight container, the operating speed will be increased or rapid and if it’s slow it will be decreased).
Regarding claim 15, Price et al. discloses the refuse vehicle of claim 14, wherein, responsive to the weight of the refuse container exceeding a weight threshold, the one or more processing circuits are configured to limit the second torque such that the lift apparatus is operated at a speed slower than the desired operating speed (as discussed in col.3, lines 54-65; if dealing with a lightweight container, the operating speed will be increased or rapid and if it’s slow it will be decreased).
Regarding claim 17, Price et al. discloses the refuse vehicle of claim 12, wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to operate the at least one of the electric motor or the electric actuator to apply the first torque on the portion of the lift apparatus responsive to determining that the lift apparatus has engaged the refuse container (as understood based on the disclosure, once engagement is detected a first torque may be applied in order to initiate the lifting and weighing step).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 10, 16 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS C DIAZ whose telephone number is (571)270-5461. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-6pm.
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, John Olszewski can be reached at 571-272-2706. 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.
/THOMAS C DIAZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
Prosecution Insights