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 .
Claims 1 – 18 remain pending in the application and have been fully considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 – 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 9, and 10 contain the phrase “a correspondence between a failure type and a control strategy” in which a previous allusion to the “target control strategy” and “target failure type” is made, which according to the Applicant’s specification, is in reference to the target control strategy and failure type. The claimed should be amended to recite -- a correspondence between the target failure type and the target control strategy -- for clarity.
Claims 2 – 9 and 11 – 18 are rejected for being dependent on a rejected base claim.
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 – 2, 9 – 11, 18, as best understood, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cooper et al. (US 2014/0094998).
Regarding Claim 1:
Cooper et al. teaches a method for controlling a train (31), comprising: detecting whether a communication failure (paragraph 0324) occurs to a target train (3902); in response to detecting that the communication failure occurs to the target train, determining a target failure type (paragraph 0324, based on interruption vs broken communication, and length of time) of the communication failure; determining a target control strategy (Fig 46, via autonomous or remote control, see also paragraph 0259) of the target train according to the target failure type and a correspondence between a failure type and a control strategy; and controlling traveling of the target train according to the target control strategy (Figs 44 – 46, paragraphs 0324 – 0334, and via 4420).
Regarding Claim 2:
Cooper et al. teaches wherein the determining the target control strategy of the target train according to the target failure type and the correspondence between a failure type and a control strategy comprises: in response to that the target failure type indicates that a communication between the target train and an object controller is interrupted, a communication between the target train and an automatic train supervision system is normal, and a communication between the automatic train supervision system and the object controller is normal, determining that the target control strategy of the target train is a remote control strategy, the remote control strategy indicating that the traveling of the target train is controlled according to a remote control instruction delivered by the automatic train supervision system; or in response to that the target failure type indicates that a communication between the target train and an object controller is interrupted and a communication between the target train and an automatic train supervision system is interrupted, or the target failure type indicates that the communication between the target train and the object controller is interrupted and the communication between the automatic train supervision system and the object controller is interrupted, determining that the target control strategy of the target train is an autonomous control strategy, the autonomous control strategy indicating that the traveling of the target train is controlled according to a preset traveling plan (paragraph 0259).
Regarding Claim 9:
See rejection of Claim 1 above.
Regarding Claim 10:
See rejection of Claim 1 above.
Regarding Claim 11:
See rejection of Claim 2 above.
Regarding Claim 18:
See rejection of Claim 1 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 8, 12 – 17 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 LONG T TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1899. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 9:00 - 5:00.
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/LONG T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747