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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 06/03/2025, 09/05/2025 and 10/01/2025 was filed before the first action on the merits of the application. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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 1-8 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.
Regarding claim 1, it is directed to “A materials handling vehicle…”; however the body of the claim then goes on to positively recite a “remotely locating computing device that… to perform the following:…”
The issue with this limitation and subsequent recited functions is that this “remotely located” computing device is not part of the vehicle (from the “remotely”) thus it is unclear if infringement of the applicant’s claims occur when a materials handling vehicle is created that is capable of performing the recited functions (i.e. has a first and second positioning system) but is not necessarily in communication with a remote computing device which contains the various programming/software to perform/generate the commands as recited in the claims or if infringement occurs only when an accompanying remote computing device is provided.
Put another way the “remote computing device”, and by extension the memory with instructions to perform the various functions as recited in the claims, is not part of the vehicle and as claim 1 is directed to the vehicle itself it is unclear if and by how much the limitations of this external device (remote computing device) affect the scope of protection of the vehicle itself, and by extension the bounds of claim 1 is unclear.
As an example it is unclear if a materials handling vehicle with onboard first and second positioning systems (the systems which function/record position as recited in claim 1) in which all the computation for command and control occurs offboard (in this hypothetical example the corresponding remote computing device controls/navigates the vehicle differently than the recited functioning of the “remote computing device” of the claims) would infringe on the claim 1;
On one hand the vehicle alone does have the two positioning systems as positively recited in claim 1 and would be capable of performing the recited functions of the claims should it receive the proper commands; on the other hand though the necessary programming (on a remote computing device) does not exist and the hypothetical vehicle is currently being cause to function differently thus it could be argued to not infringe as it currently lacks the proper “to perform the following: …”; as such the point at which a vehicle would infringe on the applicant’s claim 1 is unclear to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claims 2-8 all depend on claim 1 and inherit this issue.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: No prior art was found to teach or render obvious the functioning of the functioning of the navigation systems as recited in the independent claims 9 and 16.
As no prior art rejections are provided above a comparison to the found prior art is proper in order to better illustrate the differences between the claimed invention and the found art.
The closest found prior art in the examiners opinion is US 20230375697 A1; it teaches a materials handling vehicle ([0028]) which includes determination when/if the vehicle has entered an aisle ([0029]) which when within the aisle causes the vehicle to make use of an additional localization system to aid in determining the position of the vehicle ([0024])
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20180306587 A1; US 20230375697 A1; US 12394312 B2;
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNETH MICHAEL DUNNE whose telephone number is (571)270-7392. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs 8:30-6:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Navid Z Mehdizadeh can be reached at (571) 272-7691. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KENNETH M DUNNE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669
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