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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being Anticipated by Hafner et al. (US 20200400698 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Hafner discloses:
A distribution system, comprising:
a transport plane (110) comprising logical positions (ni & nj & nk);
a plurality of carriers (140) for transporting objects (145);
a drive system for moving the carriers on the transport plane between the logical positions [0089]; and
a control system (150) configured for controlling the carriers to move on a planned route from a start position to a final destination position on the transport plane [0082 & 0092 & 0094], wherein the planned route comprises partial routes [0107 & 0108 & 0109 & 0110 & 0111 & 0112], wherein the control system comprises a routing system configured for calculating routing plans for carriers on the transport plane by modeling the transport plane with graphs of nodes (Fig. 8 & Fig. 9 & Fig. 10) [0003 & 0019 & 0038 & 0041 & 0042 & 0062 & 0104], wherein the routing system is configured for calculating the routing plans considering moving time periods and waiting time periods [0049 & 0065 & 0127 & 0128], wherein the routing system is configured for assigning waiting time periods for carriers depending on a reservation of logical positions of the partial routes of other carriers [0065 & 0128 & 0129], wherein, if a carrier experiences a time delay during execution of a move, the routing system is configured for shifting the experienced time delay to at least one upcoming waiting time period of a carrier [0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Regarding Claim 2, Hafner discloses:
the routing system is configured for determining if the delay of the carrier affects at least one further carrier, wherein the routing system is configured for shifting the time delay to at least one waiting time of the at least one further affected carrier [0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Regarding Claim 3, Hafner discloses:
the routing system is configured for recursively resolving the routing plans of carriers which are directly and/or indirectly affected by the delay of the carrier [0043 & 0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Regarding Claim 4, Hafner discloses:
the routing system is configured for compensating the time delay at least partially by shortening the at least one upcoming waiting time period of a carrier depending on the time delay [0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Regarding Claim 5, Hafner discloses:
in case of a residual time delay, the routing system is configured for at least partially shifting the residual time delay to second upcoming waiting time period [0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Regarding Claim 6, Hafner discloses:
the first upcoming waiting time period is followed in time by the second upcoming waiting time period [0005 & 0065 & 0093 & 0094].
Regarding Claim 7, Hafner discloses:
the routing system is configured for calculating routing plans considering a constraint of a maximal number of simultaneous moves per transport plane or per area of the transport plane, wherein the moves allowed to be performed simultaneously form a simultaneous moves group, wherein the total transport surface is divided into one or multiple areas and an allowed maximum number of simultaneous moves is different per area [0003 & 0019 & 0038 & 0041 & 0042 & 0062 & 0104].
Regarding Claim 8, Hafner discloses:
the routing system is configured for adapting originally planned routing plans of the carriers that would violate the constraint of maximal number of simultaneous moves [0058 & 0059 & 0099].
Regarding Claim 9, Hafner discloses:
the control system comprises at least one executing unit configured for executing the routing plans for transporting the carriers from their respective start position to their respective final position [0070 & 0071 & 0074 & 0093].
Regarding Claim 10, Hafner discloses:
the routing system is configured for using a cooperative path finding algorithm for calculating the routing plans, specifically a Windowed Hierarchical Cooperative A*-algorithm (WHCA*) [0039 & 0040 & 0041 & 0042 & 0061 & 0062 & 0106].
Regarding Claim 11, Hafner discloses:
A method for distributing a plurality of carriers using a distribution system according to claim 1 [see rejection of Claim 1 above], wherein the method comprises moving the plurality of carriers on the transport plane of the distribution system between the logical positions by using the drive system [0089], wherein the method comprises controlling the carriers to move on a planned route from the start position to the final destination position on the transport plane by using the control system [0082 & 0092 & 0094], wherein the planned route comprises partial routes [0107 & 0108 & 0109 & 0110 & 0111 & 0112], wherein the method comprises calculating routing plans for carriers on the transport plane by modeling the transport plane with graphs of nodes by using the routing system (Fig. 8 & Fig. 9 & Fig. 10) [0003 & 0019 & 0038 & 0041 & 0042 & 0062 & 0104], wherein the calculated routing plans comprise moving time periods and waiting time periods [0049 & 0065 & 0127 & 0128], wherein the calculating comprises assigning waiting time periods for carriers depending on a reservation of logical positions of the partial routes of other carriers [0065 & 0128 & 0129], wherein the calculating comprises, if a carrier experiences a time delay during execution of a move, shifting the experienced time delay to at least one upcoming waiting time period of a carrier [0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Regarding Claim 12, Hafner discloses:
the method further comprises determining if the delay of the carrier affects at least one further carrier and shifting the time delay to at least one waiting time of the at least one further affected carrier [0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Regarding Claim 13, Hafner discloses:
the method further comprises recursively resolving the routing plans of carriers which are directly and/or indirectly affected by the delay of the carrier [0043 & 0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Regarding Claim 14, Hafner discloses:
the method comprises compensating the time delay at least partially by shortening the at least one upcoming waiting time period of a carrier depending on the time delay [0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Regarding Claim 15, Hafner discloses:
in case of a residual time delay, the method comprises at least partially shifting the residual time delay to at least one second upcoming waiting time period, wherein the first upcoming waiting time period is followed in time by the second upcoming waiting time period [0064 & 0065 & 0066 & 0131].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Patent publications US 20070293978 A1, US 20080275582 A1, US 20100175943 A1, US 20140202829 A1, US 20160341751 A1, and US 20190152057 A1 have been cited by the examiner as pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure because they teach: transfer systems utilizing magnetic levitation systems.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDAN P TIGHE whose telephone number is 571-272-4872. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday, 7:00-5:30 EST
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SAUL RODRIGUEZ can be reached on 571-272-7097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRENDAN P TIGHE/Examiner, Art Unit 3652
/SAUL RODRIGUEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3652
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