DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is sent in response to Applicant’s Communication received on March 25, 2025 for application number 19/115,174. This Office hereby acknowledges receipt of the following and placed of record in file: Specification, Drawings, Abstract, Oath/Declaration, and Claims.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP 2022-156059 filed on September 29, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on March 25, 2025 is noted. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Suzuki (US PG Pub No. 2019/0047786 A1), hereinafter “Suzuki”.
Regarding claim 1, Suzuki discloses a tracked cart system (Abstract), comprising: a track in which a plurality of first rails (Fig. 4 (9)) extending in a first direction and a plurality of second rails (Fig. 4 (11)) extending in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction are disposed in a grid; and a tracked cart configured to move in the first direction when a traveling part travels on a pair of the first rails adjacent to each other in the second direction (paragraphs 47, 48), and to move in the second direction when the traveling part travels on a pair of the second rails adjacent to each other in the first direction (paragraphs 47-51), wherein the tracked cart has a first sensor configured to acquire first information from a first mark indicating the first information (paragraphs 53, 54), and a second sensor configured to acquire second information that is information different from the first information from a second mark indicating the second information (paragraphs 55-59), each of the first rail and the second rail has a first surface that faces the first sensor and on which the first mark is disposed (Fig. 6 (36); paragraphs 53, 54), and a second surface that faces the second sensor and on which the second mark is disposed (Fig. 6 (47, 48); paragraphs 55-59), the second surface having, when viewed from a center of a cell serving as a space enclosed by the pair of first rails and the pair of second rails in plain view (Abstract; paragraphs 47-52), the second surface that is disposed outside the first surface and is inclined on the tracked cart side with respect to the first surface (paragraphs 51-54).
Regarding claim 2, Suzuki discloses the tracked cart system according to claim 1, further comprising a control section configured to control the tracked cart (paragraph 50), wherein either the first mark or the second mark is a position recognition mark indicating position information on the track, either the first sensor or the second sensor configured to face the position recognition mark is disposed to face either the first surfaces or the second surfaces of the pair of first rails where the position recognition mark is disposed when the tracked cart moves in the first direction (paragraphs 53-59), is disposed to face either the first surfaces or the second surfaces of the pair of second rails where the position recognition mark is disposed when the tracked cart moves in the second direction, and is four position recognition sensors configured to acquire the position information from the position recognition mark (paragraphs 47-54), and the control section is configured to, based on the position information acquired by the position recognition sensors, derive a shift amount between a predetermined position in the cell and a stop position of the tracked cart (paragraphs 47-59).
Regarding claim 3, Suzuki discloses the tracked cart system according to claim 2, wherein the tracked cart has a transfer device configured to transfer an object (Abstract; paragraphs 6-10), and the control section controls a drive amount of the transfer device during moving of the object in a horizontal direction based on the shift amount (paragraphs 6-16).
Regarding claim 4, Suzuki discloses the tracked cart system according to claim 2, wherein the tracked cart has a transfer device configured to transfer an object and a horizontal swiveling mechanism configured to horizontally swivel the object around a third direction orthogonal to both the first and the second directions (Abstract; paragraphs 6-16), and the control section controls a drive amount of the horizontal swiveling mechanism during horizontal swiveling of the object based on the shift amount (paragraphs 8-16, 84).
Regarding claim 5, Suzuki discloses the tracked cart system according to claim 1, wherein a control section controls the traveling part so that the tracked cart moves to a predetermined position in the cell based on a shift amount (paragraphs 8-15).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR MORALES whose telephone number is (571)272-5923. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday thru Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lindsay Low can be reached on (571)272-1196. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/O.M/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LINDSAY M LOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747
