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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12-24-2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1 and 8 have been amended.
Claims 6-7 has been cancelled.
No new claims have been introduced.
Claims 1-5 and 8 are currently pending.
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 (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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takagi (US 20180265222 A1) in view of Wang (US 20210041896 A1).
REGARDING CLAIM 1, as best understood, Takagi discloses, an acquisition unit (Takagi: [0023]) configured to acquire position information of a transported object (Takagi: [0023]) transported by an unmanned aircraft (Takagi: [0028]); a storage unit configured to store movement range information (Takagi: [0038]) indicating a movement range of an installation portion (Takagi: [0038]), the transported object being installed on the installation portion (Takagi: [0038]), and the installation condition further includes that the transported object is allowed to be loaded and unloaded with respect to the installation portion by moving the unmanned aircraft in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction (Takagi: [0022] plural unmanned aerial vehicles 12 such as drones, flying space three-dimensionally by autopilot ... Those unmanned aerial vehicles 12 can fly in attaching a container 20 for respectively containing package to be transported, and the container 20 is carried from a shipping source 24 such as a factory or a warehouse, via plural relay bases 18, to a delivery destination (examiner: implies vertical or horizontal movement)).
Takagi does not explicitly recite the terminology "moving the unmanned aircraft in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction". However, Takagi does disclose maneuvering a UAV three-dimensionally. In considering the disclosure of a reference, it is proper to take into account not only specific teachings of the reference but also the inferences which one skilled in the art would reasonably be expected to draw therefrom. In this case, maneuvering three-dimensionally at least suggests or implies "moving the unmanned aircraft in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction".
Takagi does not explicitly disclose, determining whether a position where an installation condition for installing the transported object on the installation portion is satisfied is present within the movement range, wherein the installation condition includes while the unmanned aircraft is hovering, the installation portion being moved to position (i) a center of the transported object and a center of the installation portion on a same vertical line or horizontal line, and (ii) a gripped portion of the transported object and a gripping portion of the installation portion in a parallel state; and in response to determining that the position where the installation condition is satisfied is present within the movement range, calculating a movement amount of the installation portion when the installation portion is moved to the position where the installation condition is satisfied.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang discloses, determining whether a position where an installation condition for installing the transported object on the installation portion is satisfied is present within the movement range (Wang: [0083] when neither a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction nor a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfies a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to maintain its flight height unchanged and continuing to track the moving platform; [0084] when both a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction and a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfy a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to turn off a motor and complete the landing operation), wherein the installation condition includes while the unmanned aircraft is hovering (Wang: [0038] It should be noted here that the ground image collected by the drone during hovering may not contain the moving platform, that is, the moving platform has not entered the field of view of the drone. At this point, the drone may further maintain the hovering state until the moving platform enters the field of view of the drone, and then the method according to the present embodiment restarts), the installation portion being moved to position (Wang: [0038] detect the position of the moving platform relative to the drone based on visual inspection techniques. Generally speaking, in order to increase the recognizability, the moving platform either has a specific shape structure or has a specific positioning mark (as shown in FIG. 2). For example, when a positioning mark is provided on the moving platform, the visual inspection module of the drone can determine the position of the moving platform relative to the drone by identifying the positioning mark in the field-of-view image and detecting the coordinates of the position of the center of the positioning mark in the image) (i) a center of the transported object and a center of the installation portion on a same vertical line or horizontal line (Wang: [0038] center of the positioning mark in the image), and (ii) a gripped portion of the transported object and a gripping portion of the installation portion in a parallel state (Wang: see at least [0038], [0073], and [0078-0080] for drone and moving platform alignment); and in response to determining that the position where the installation condition is satisfied is present within the movement range (Wang: [0083] when neither a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction nor a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfies a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to maintain its flight height unchanged and continuing to track the moving platform; [0084] when both a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction and a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfy a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to turn off a motor and complete the landing operation), calculating a movement amount of the installation portion when the installation portion is moved to the position where the installation condition is satisfied (Wang: [0083] when neither a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction nor a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfies a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to maintain its flight height unchanged and continuing to track the moving platform; [0084] when both a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction and a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfy a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to turn off a motor and complete the landing operation), for the benefit of having a high landing accuracy when performing a landing operation according to a relative position of the moving platform.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Takagi to include monitoring movement, alignment, and determining a position condition being satisfied taught by Wang. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to have a high landing accuracy when performing a landing operation according to a relative position of the moving platform.
REGARDING CLAIM 2, Takagi, as modified, remains as applied above to claim 1, and further, Takagi also discloses, generate a control command for moving the installation portion according to the movement amount (Takagi: [0022]; [0024]; [0035]).
REGARDING CLAIM 3, Takagi, as modified, remains as applied above to claim 1, acquire the position information in real time (Takagi: [0037-0038] The relay base 18 may be movable as sending the position information).
REGARDING CLAIM 5, Takagi, as modified, remains as applied above to claim 1, and further, Wang also discloses, in response to determining that the position where the installation condition is satisfied is not present within the movement range (Wang: see at least [0038] for drone hovering and waiting for alignment), generate a flight command for moving the unmanned aircraft (Wang: see at least [0038] for drone hovering and waiting for alignment).
REGARDING CLAIM 8, Takagi discloses, acquiring position information of a transported object transported by an unmanned aircraft (Takagi: [0023]; [0028]); storing movement range information (Takagi: [0038]) indicating a movement range of an installation portion (Takagi: [0038]), the transported object being installed on the installation portion (Takagi: [0038]), the installation condition further includes that the transported object is allowed to be loaded and unloaded with respect to the installation portion by moving the unmanned aircraft in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction (Takagi: [0022] plural unmanned aerial vehicles 12 such as drones, flying space three-dimensionally by autopilot ... Those unmanned aerial vehicles 12 can fly in attaching a container 20 for respectively containing package to be transported, and the container 20 is carried from a shipping source 24 such as a factory or a warehouse, via plural relay bases 18, to a delivery destination (examiner: implies vertical or horizontal movement)).
Takagi does not explicitly disclose, determining whether a position where an installation condition for installing the transported object on the installation portion is satisfied is present within the movement range, wherein the installation condition includes while the unmanned aircraft is hovering, the installation portion being moved to position (i) a center of the transported object and a center of the installation portion on a same vertical line or horizontal line, and (ii) a gripped portion of the transported object and a gripping portion of the installation portion in a parallel state; and in response to determining that the position where the installation condition is satisfied is present within the movement range, calculating a movement amount of the installation portion when the installation portion is moved to the position where the installation condition is satisfied.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang discloses, determining whether a position where an installation condition for installing the transported object on the installation portion is satisfied is present within the movement range (Wang: [0083] when neither a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction nor a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfies a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to maintain its flight height unchanged and continuing to track the moving platform; [0084] when both a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction and a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfy a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to turn off a motor and complete the landing operation), wherein the installation condition includes while the unmanned aircraft is hovering (Wang: [0038] It should be noted here that the ground image collected by the drone during hovering may not contain the moving platform, that is, the moving platform has not entered the field of view of the drone. At this point, the drone may further maintain the hovering state until the moving platform enters the field of view of the drone, and then the method according to the present embodiment restarts), the installation portion being moved to position (Wang: [0038] detect the position of the moving platform relative to the drone based on visual inspection techniques. Generally speaking, in order to increase the recognizability, the moving platform either has a specific shape structure or has a specific positioning mark (as shown in FIG. 2). For example, when a positioning mark is provided on the moving platform, the visual inspection module of the drone can determine the position of the moving platform relative to the drone by identifying the positioning mark in the field-of-view image and detecting the coordinates of the position of the center of the positioning mark in the image) (i) a center of the transported object and a center of the installation portion on a same vertical line or horizontal line (Wang: [0038] center of the positioning mark in the image), and (ii) a gripped portion of the transported object and a gripping portion of the installation portion in a parallel state (Wang: see at least [0038], [0073], and [0078-0080] for drone and moving platform alignment); and in response to determining that the position where the installation condition is satisfied is present within the movement range (Wang: [0083] when neither a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction nor a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfies a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to maintain its flight height unchanged and continuing to track the moving platform; [0084] when both a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction and a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfy a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to turn off a motor and complete the landing operation), calculating a movement amount of the installation portion when the installation portion is moved to the position where the installation condition is satisfied (Wang: [0083] when neither a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction nor a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfies a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to maintain its flight height unchanged and continuing to track the moving platform; [0084] when both a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction and a relative position of the moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction satisfy a predefined landing condition, controlling the drone to turn off a motor and complete the landing operation), for the benefit of having a high landing accuracy when performing a landing operation according to a relative position of the moving platform.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Takagi to include monitoring movement, alignment, and determining a position condition being satisfied taught by Wang. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to have a high landing accuracy when performing a landing operation according to a relative position of the moving platform.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takagi (US 20180265222 A1) in view of Wang (US 20210041896 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Winkle (US 20180033315 A1).
REGARDING CLAIM 4, Takagi in view of Wang remains as applied above to claim 1, and further, Takagi as modified does not explicitly disclose, the installation portion is being moved to position by at least one of moving the installation portion along a predetermined axial direction to the position where the installation condition is satisfied and rotating the installation portion around a predetermined axis.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Winkle discloses, the installation portion is being moved to position by at least one of moving the installation portion along a predetermined axial direction to the position where the installation condition is satisfied and rotating the installation portion around a predetermined axis (Winkle: [0035] the mobile relay station 160a-c is a mobile device that is configured to be moved and/or to independently move into a position on a flight route predetermined by the central computing device; see [ABS] for predetermined route; Paragraph [0062] discloses GPS tracking a UAV and dispatching a mobile relay station based upon UAV location and predetermined path. The examiner respectfully submits, use of GPS also discloses longitude and latitude axis’s), for the benefit of moving a mobile station into a position on the predetermined route of the unmanned aerial vehicle to permit the unmanned aerial vehicle to land on the mobile relay station that is moved into the predetermined route of the unmanned aerial vehicle for charging or delivery.
Winkle does not explicitly recite the terminology “predetermined axial direction … predetermined axis”. However, Winkle discloses a moving a relay station into a predetermined path, and paragraph [0062] discloses GPS tracking a UAV and dispatching a mobile relay station based upon UAV location and predetermined path. The examiner respectfully submits, use of GPS also discloses longitude and latitude axis.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by a modified Takagi to include moving stations to predetermined location taught by Winkle. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to move a mobile station into a position on the predetermined route of the unmanned aerial vehicle to permit the unmanned aerial vehicle to land on the mobile relay station that is moved into the predetermined route of the unmanned aerial vehicle for charging or delivery.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11-12-2025, beginning on page 6, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. To the examiner’s best understanding, the applicant has contended that the prior art of Takagi (US 20180265222 A1) in view of Wang (US 20210041896 A1) fails to disclose “the installation condition further includes that the transported object is allowed to be loaded and unloaded with respect to the installation portion by moving the unmanned aircraft in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction”.
Further, to the examiner’s best understanding, the applicant has provided emphasis on a portion of the cited reference not relied upon for disclosing the contentious limitation. The examiner respectfully disagrees. As cited above, Takagi discloses, “[0022] plural unmanned aerial vehicles 12 such as drones, flying space three-dimensionally by autopilot ... Those unmanned aerial vehicles 12 can fly in attaching a container 20 for respectively containing package to be transported, and the container 20 is carried from a shipping source 24 such as a factory or a warehouse, via plural relay bases 18, to a delivery destination”. Takagi does not explicitly recite the terminology "moving the unmanned aircraft in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction". However, Takagi does disclose maneuvering a UAV three-dimensionally. In considering the disclosure of a reference, it is proper to take into account not only specific teachings of the reference but also the inferences which one skilled in the art would reasonably be expected to draw therefrom. In this case, maneuvering three-dimensionally at least suggests or implies "moving the unmanned aircraft in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction". Wang also discloses that which is claimed regarding the contentious limitation (Wang: [0084] moving platform and the drone in a horizontal direction ... moving platform and the drone in a vertical direction).
Because Takagi (US 20180265222 A1) in view of Wang (US 20210041896 A1) discloses that which is claimed, the examiner respectfully maintains the rejection of the independent claims under 35 USC §103, obviousness.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Newell (US 20200202293 A1)
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/A.S./Examiner, Art Unit 3663
/ANGELA Y ORTIZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3663