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 .
Pursuant to communications filed on 06/19//2025, this is a First Action Non-Final Rejection on the Merits wherein claims 1-14 are currently pending in the instant application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/19/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the Examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Examiner's Note
Examiner has cited particular paragraphs and/or columns / lines numbers or figures in the reference(s) as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner. Applicant is reminded that the Examiner is entitled to give the broadest reasonable interpretation to the language of the claims. Examiner has also cited references in PTO-892 but not relied on, which are relevant and pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure, and may also be reading (anticipatory/obvious) on the claims and claimed limitations. Applicants are advised to consider the references in preparing the response/amendments in-order to expedite the prosecution.
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 and 13 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 and 13 recite the phrase the phrase: "...to account for the moment of inertia of the swing apparatus...". The term "moment of inertia" is introduced using the definite article "the" without being previously introduced with "a" or "an". It should be changed to "...to account for a moment of inertia of the swing apparatus..." or integrated into the physical description of the vehicle if it refers to a specific, calculated value.
Accordingly, appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1, 6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tohji et al (US 5,950,430 – from IDS), “Tohji”.
Regarding claims 1, 13 and 14, Tohji discloses a method of operating a work vehicle / the associated controller / the associated work vehicle - comprising a swing apparatus rotatable about a swing axis (see figure 1 showing a hydraulic excavator equipped with a control circuit and an upper rotating structure 14), the swing apparatus (upper rotating structure 14) comprising:
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an arm arrangement comprising a boom and a stick (see figure 1- boom 18 and arm 19);
a boom actuator for controlling the boom (see figure 1 – boom cylinder 21 to control boom 18); and
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at least one boom head pressure sensor (see figure 2 - pressure sensor 42L and 42R) for generating boom head pressure data indicative of a boom head pressure of the boom actuator (see at least col.7, line 34 to col. 8, line 30 disclosing FIG. 8 is a graph showing a relation between a pilot 35 numerals as in FIGS. 1 and 2. pressure Pie for the boom acting on the pilot ports 51L and 51R of the boom direction control valve 50 and an operation command pilot pressure P cc derived from an electromagnetic proportional pressure reducing valve 35. Given that the internal pressure of the bottom-side oil chamber 53 in the 40 boom cylinder 21 is Ps, the internal pressure of the rod-side oil chamber 54 is PR, a bottom-side pressure receiving area of a piston 55 in the boom cylinder 21 is As, and a rod-side pressure receiving area of the same piston is AR, a boom load pressure, W, acting on the boom cylinder 21 during work is 45 calculated by the controller 16b),
the method comprising, by a control system (see figure 1- controller 16 and see figure 2 showing a control circuit):
determining a maximum allowable swing speed of the swing apparatus rotating about the swing axis, to account for the moment of inertia of the swing apparatus, based on: boom head pressure data; and a map linking boom head pressure data with the maximum allowable swing speed (see col. 5, lines 19-25 disclosing by controlling the bleed-off of the cut-off valve 33 so as not to be fully closed, it is made possible to suppress the maximum rotating speed. To be more specific, a low maximum rotating speed results in the braking inertia being also small, and it is possible to improve the operability and safety at a small reach and at a total of acceleration and deceleration…..see also col. 2, lines 47-56 Disclosing the unloading valve may be operated in accordance with a detected load pressure of a hydraulic cylinder for rotating a boom. In this case, control may be made in such a manner that, with a decrease of the load pressure, the bleed-off of the cut-off valve is controlled to permit opening in response to the operation of the rotating direction control valve to suppress the rotative acceleration of the upper rotating structure and that the bleed-off of the cut-off valve is controlled so as not to be fully closed, thereby suppressing the maximum rotating speed.); and
limiting a maximum operational swing speed of the swing apparatus to the maximum allowable swing speed (see claim 1 disclosing rotative acceleration suppressing means for suppressing a rotative acceleration of said upper rotating structure when the working radius is found to be small by said working radius detecting means; and maximum rotating speed suppressing means for suppressing a maximum rotating speed of said upper rotating structure when the working radius is found to be small by said working radius detecting means, wherein said rotative acceleration suppressing means and said maximum rotating speed suppressing means include an unloading valve connected to a rotating direction control valve used for controlling rotation of said upper rotating structure, said unloading valve controlling bleed-off of said rotating direction control valve in accordance with the working radius detected by said working radius detecting means. ).
Regarding claim 6, Tohji discloses, wherein the boom head pressure used to determine the maximum allowable swing speed is a maximum boom head pressure for a current configuration of the work vehicle (see col. 2, lines 47-56 disclosing the unloading valve may be operated in accordance with a detected load pressure of a hydraulic cylinder for rotating a boom. In this case, control may be made in such a manner that, with a decrease of the load pressure, the bleed-off of the cut-off valve is controlled to permit opening in response to the operation of the rotating direction control valve to suppress the rotative acceleration of the upper rotating structure and that the bleed-off of the cut-off valve is controlled so as not to be fully closed, thereby suppressing the maximum rotating speed.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, and 8-12 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record does not disclose the combination of limitations found in independent claims 2-5, and 8-12. The combination of the claimed limitations are novel and found to be allowable over the prior art. The cited references taken singly or in combination do not anticipate or make obvious the Applicant's claimed invention. A hypothetical prior art rejection would require impermissible hindsight reasoning.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached form PTO-892.
-. US 202002083 to Nakamura et al – directed to a work machine including a controller that calculates a load value of a work target object being transported to a position above a transporting machine by a work implement.
-. US 6170681 to Yoshimatsu – directed to a swing type work machine such as a crane having a swing member provided with a boom or the like, as well as a method for setting a safe work area and a rated load according to a working state of the machine.
-. US 6209321 to Ikari – directed to a hydraulic controller for a working machine, capable of reducing a dead zone of a lever of the working machine and improving the manipulation handling thereof. The hydraulic controller is provided with a back pressure metering valve disposed in a bleed-off line and connecting a bleed-off opening and a tank for adding back pressure to the bleed-off opening.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jaime Figueroa whose telephone number is (571)270-7620. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9-5.
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, Wade Miles can be reached on 571-270-7777. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAIME FIGUEROA/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3656
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