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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-8 are currently pending in the application.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers filed on 11/25/2025 as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/04/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Analysis - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-8 are eligible under 35 U.S.C. 101 at step 2A prong 2 because the additional elements recited at claim 1 lines 1-10 apply the recited mental processes in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception - see MPEP 2106.05(e) and Vanda Memo.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OTSUKA (JP 2023-091616, provided by Applicant on 11/04/2025 IDS, English language equivalent in US 12,565,244) in view of TSUCHIYA (US 8,170,769).
Regarding claim 1, OTSUKA discloses an article transport facility (col. 13 line 6), comprising:
a plurality of transport vehicles configured to travel along a travel path and transport articles (coll. 2 lines 44-45, col. 13 lines 7-8); and
a control system (controller, col. 13 line 9) configured to control the plurality of transport vehicles (i.a. col. 3 lines 43-50, col. 13 lines 23-29),
each of the plurality of transport vehicles comprising:
a speed detector configured to detect a current speed that is a current travel speed of the transport vehicle (col. 13 lines 14-15), and
a distance detector configured to detect an inter-vehicle distance index that is an index corresponding to a distance from a transport vehicle, among the plurality of transport vehicles, located ahead in a travel direction (col. 13 lines 16-19),
wherein the control system is configured to perform a first target-speed determination process for determining, based on a distance-based target speed (target speed corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance, col. 13 lines 25-27), the current speed (traveling speed, col. 13 lines 27-28), and the inter-vehicle distance index (inter-vehicle distance, col. 13 lines 28-29), a control target speed that is a target value in controlling the travel speed (the accelerating target speed is reached, col. 13 lines 49-50, is a control target speed because it is the target speed of the acceleration process, col. 13 lines 46-50), where the distance-based target speed is a target value for the travel speed and is preset to be greater for a greater inter-vehicle distance index (col. 13 lines 57-59),
wherein the first target-speed determination process comprises an acceleration determination process for determining whether to perform an acceleration process for setting the control target speed to the distance-based target speed (accelerating target speed, col. 13 line 47) higher than the current speed (col. 13 lines 46-47), and
wherein in the acceleration determination process, the control system is configured to determine to perform the acceleration process (cause the vehicle body to accelerate, col. 13 line 48) in response to a relationship between the current speed (traveling speed, col. 13 line 46) and the distance-based target speed (target speed, col. 13 line 47) reaching an accelerable state (implied) satisfying a preset acceleration condition (the traveling speed being lower than the target speed, col. 13 lines 46-47).
OTSUKA is not relied upon to teach determining to perform the acceleration process in response to the accelerable state continuing for a preset determination duration or longer as claimed.
TSUCHIYA teaches an acceleration determination process (col. 15 lines 12-17) in which a control system (control system, i.a. col. 15 line 11) is configured to determine to perform an acceleration process (accelerate the host vehicle, col. 15 line 13) in response to an accelerable state satisfying a preset acceleration condition (the condition, col. 15 lines 13-15) continuing for a preset determination duration or longer (continued for more than a predetermined period of time, col. 15 lines 16-17).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adapt the acceleration condition of OTSUKA to require the accelerable state to continue for a preset determination duration as taught by TSUCHIYA to prevent the control system from responding to fleeting erroneous distance measurements from the distance detector thereby reducing wear on the transport vehicles and increase system stability.
Regarding claim 2, OTSUKA as modified teaches the article transport facility according to claim 1.
OTSUKA further teaches a speed maintaining process for setting the control target speed to the current speed (implied) if the acceleration condition (col. 13 lines 46-48) is not met (col. 13 lines 42-45).
TSUCHIYA is relied upon to teach the acceleration determination process (col. 15 lines 12-17) in which the control system (control system, i.a. col. 15 line 11) is configured to determine to perform the acceleration process (accelerate the host vehicle, col. 15 line 13) in response to the accelerable state satisfying the preset acceleration condition (the condition, col. 15 lines 13-14) continuing for the preset determination duration or longer (continued for more than a predetermined period of time, col. 15 lines 16-17).
TSUCHIYA further discloses the acceleration determination process (col. 15 lines 12-17) comprises determining whether to perform a speed maintaining process (not to accelerate the host vehicle, col. 15 line 13), and in the acceleration determination process, the control system determines, in response to the accelerable state (the condition, col. 15 lines 13-15) continuing for less than the determination duration (implied, whether or not, col. 15 line 13), to perform the speed maintaining process without performing the acceleration process (implied, whether or not, col. 15 line 13).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adapt the acceleration condition of OTSUKA to require the accelerable state to continue for a preset determination duration as taught by TSUCHIYA to prevent the control system from responding to fleeting erroneous distance measurements from the distance detector thereby reducing wear on the transport vehicles and increase system stability.
OTSUKA as modified teaches the acceleration determination process comprises determining whether to perform a speed maintaining process for setting the control target speed to the current speed, and in the acceleration determination process, the control system determines, in response to the accelerable state continuing for less than the determination duration, to perform the speed maintaining process without performing the acceleration process.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 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:
Regarding claim 3, the prior art fails to teach at least an increase in the inter-vehicle distance index per predefined time as claimed.
Regarding claims 4-8, the claims are indicated as containing allowable subject matter due to their dependence upon claim 3.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
LI (CN 111506087) discloses an article transport facility, comprising:
a plurality of transport vehicles (at least the autonomous host vehicle and the front vehicle, i.a. 0105 line 5) configured to travel along a travel path (implied); and
each of the plurality of transport vehicles comprising:
a speed detector configured to detect a current speed that is a current travel speed of the transport vehicle (implied, i.a. 0004 lines 3-4), and
a distance detector configured to detect an inter-vehicle distance index (obstacle distance, 0063 lines 1-end, 0143 line 14) that is an index corresponding to a distance from a transport vehicle, among the plurality of transport vehicles, located ahead in a travel direction (obstacle distance, 0063 lines 1-end, 0143 line 14),
wherein the control system is configured to perform a first target-speed determination process for determining, based on a distance-based target speed (expected vehicle speed, 0143 line 13), the current speed (0143 line 16), and the inter-vehicle distance index (obstacle distance, 0143 line 14), where the distance-based target speed is a target value for the travel speed and is preset to be greater for a greater inter-vehicle distance index (self-evident, equation at 0078 of original text; as best understood the obstacle distance is substituted for the safe following distance r per 0143).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK L. GREENE whose telephone number is (571)270-7555. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-4:30 PM.
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, Logan Kraft can be reached at (571) 270-5065. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARK L. GREENE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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