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 1-16, 19-22 are pending.
Claim 1-11 are amended.
Claims 21 and 22 are new.
Claims 12-16, 17-18, and 19-20 were previously withdrawn.
Claims 17 and 18 are cancelled.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-11, 16-20 are allowable (see paragraphs 9 and 11-12 of this document). Claims 12-16 and 19-20, previously withdrawn from consideration as a result of a restriction requirement, require all the limitations of an allowable claim. Pursuant to the procedures set forth in MPEP § 821.04(a), the restriction requirement between inventions Group I (claims 1-11) and Group II (claims 1, 12-20; [of which claims 17-18 are cancelled], as set forth in the Office action mailed on 08/21/2025, is hereby withdrawn and claims 12-16, and 19-20 are hereby rejoined and fully examined for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104. In view of the withdrawal of the restriction requirement, applicant(s) are advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application. Once the restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 12-16 and 19-20 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 12-16 and 19-20 recite the limitation ”A robotic mower" in line 1, for which there is prior antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims 1. It is suggested by the examiner to change the recitations to “The robotic mower” for greater clarity.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 02/11/2026 , with respect to rejection of Claims 2-11 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been fully considered in light of claim amendments and are persuasive. The rejection of Claims 2-11 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to rejection of Claim(s) 1-11 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of resulting from claim amendments.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-11, and 21-22 are allowed.
Claims 12-16, and 19-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The prior art fails to disclose, teach or make obvious the following limits of Claims 1.
Regarding Claim 1, the primary references applied do not teach a structure analogous to: a robotic mower comprising: a housing; a walking assembly configured for driving the robotic mower, the walking assembly further including at least one walking wheel; at least one universal wheel disposed on the housing by a wheel shaft; the walking wheel including a wheel hub, a wheel cover and a wheel cover trim; wherein the wheel cover trim detachably mounted on the wheel cover, wherein the wheel cover trim includes a middle portion and more than one protrusions extending outward from the middle portion, the middle portion, the protrusions and the wheel cover trim are an integrally-constructed structure, the protrusions include a decorative block, and a rear side of the decorative block is formed with a weight reduction groove to reduce a weight of the decorative block.
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.”
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Van Houten (US-20020153763-A1), and Chase (US-20020093242-A1) disclose wheel trim having protrusions connecting to wheel openings.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EVA LYNN COMINO whose telephone number is (571)270-5839. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:30.
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, Joe Morano can be reached at 571-272-6684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EVA L COMINO/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
/S. Joseph Morano/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3615
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