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 § 102In 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 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Van Den Goor U.S. Patent No. 8,297,430.
Claim 1, Van Den Goor teaches a conveyor system 1 for transporting items 11 from a receiving section 19 to an outlet section 5, the conveyor system 1 comprising: an endless guiding rail 220,221 which extends in a transport direction 3 Fig. 2; a plurality of support assemblies 21 for carrying and transporting the items 11 along said guiding rail 220,221; a driving system 41 for moving said plurality of support assemblies 21 in said transport direction 3 from the receiving section 19 to the outlet section 5, wherein said driving system 41 comprises: an endless chain 32 of concatenated driving rods 33 which are hingably connected by means of a hinge shaft at 37, and the hinge shaft at 37 between each pair of driving rods 33 is mounted to said guiding rail 220,221 in such a manner that said hinge shafts at 37 are allowed to move along said guiding rail 220,221 and lateral movement of said hinge shafts at 37 with respect to the guiding rail 220,221 is restricted; wherein each support assembly 21 is connected to a respective rod 51 to be moved thereby in the transport direction 3; and an actuator connected to the guiding rail 220,221 for moving said endless chain 32 of concatenated driving rods 33 in the transport direction 3, wherein said actuator comprises a frame of 41 Fig. 2 with two wheels 24 which engage said endless chain 32 of concatenated driving rods 33 between them, and wherein one of said wheels 34 is a driving wheel 34 driven by a motor; characterized in that said actuator comprising the frame and the wheels 34 is mounted to the conveyor system 1 in such a manner that it is movable substantially transversely to the transport direction 3 C7 L8-25.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 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
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/KAVEL SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651
KS
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