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 1-20 are pending.
Claims 9-20 were withdrawn from consideration.
Claims 1 and 4 were amended.
This FINAL Office Action is in response to the “Amendments and Remarks” received on 01/02/2026.
Response to Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks
Amendments and Remarks filed on 01/02/2026 have been fully considered and are addressed as follow:
Regarding the drawings objection: Applicant has filed corrected replacement drawings. Therefore, the objections to the drawings are withdrawn.
Regarding the Claim Rejections Under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b): Claim 1 and 4 have been amended and applicant’s arguments are persuasive. Therefore, the 112(b) rejections for claims 1-8 are withdrawn.
Regarding the Claim Rejections Under 35 U.S.C. § 102 and 103: Applicants “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered. Applicant has amended the independent claim and these amendments have changed the scope of the original application and the Office has supplied new grounds for rejection attached below in the FINAL office action and therefore the prior arguments are considered moot.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1-2 and 4-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Skrinde (WO 2012/112835) in view of Du (US PGPub 2021/0062954).
With respect to claim 1: Skrinde discloses An unmanned vehicle comprising [Skrinde ¶ 0117 “A robotically operable vehicle incorporates an end-to-end automation suite”]:
a vehicle body having a central axis, wherein the vehicle body is configured to be at least partially submerged within liquid inside a conduit [Skrinde ¶ 0070 and Figure 3 element 1300];
at least one testing probe coupled to the vehicle body, wherein the at least one testing probe is an ultrasonic or microwave testing probe [Skrinde ¶ 00173 "Types of sensors well-known in the art and easily adapted for use in … the SROV include … ultra sonic." And Figure 6 elements 660 and 670];
a camera coupled to the vehicle [Skrinde ¶ 0198 "For example, a previously acquired and loaded visual image of the work area may be overlaid with schematics, plots, and identification of obstacles, deviations, or other data. This data may be acquired, for example, by separate inspection or by the SROV during operation." and ¶ 0174 "video"].
Skrinde does not teach an acoustic emission probe coupled to the vehicle body, wherein the acoustic emission probe is configured to detect an acoustic emission inside the conduit.
However, in a related field of invention, Du does teach an acoustic emission probe coupled to the vehicle body, wherein the acoustic emission probe is configured to detect an acoustic emission inside the conduit [Du ¶ 0068 “The extremely sensitive acoustic sensors 501 are mounted in the detecting head 201 and are configured to detect sounds indicating leakage or product loss while the robotic detector 200 traverses the pipeline. The acoustic sensors 501 may directly detect even a tiny or pinhole leak.”].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the testing probes as taught by Skrinde with using an acoustic sensor as taught by Du in order to more accurately determine the presence of a leak in the pipe.
With respect to claim 2: Skrinde as modified by Du discloses the unmanned vehicle of claim 1. Skrinde further teaches further comprising:
at least one propeller coupled to the vehicle body [Skrinde ¶ 0244 “In an alternative of the preferred embodiment, traction and propulsion achieved by tracked wheels or propellers is replaced by other locomotion means.”];
an actuator configured to effect movement of the at least one propeller to control motion of the unmanned vehicle within the liquid inside the conduit [Skrinde ¶ 0120 “Each assembly and module capable of articulation uses actuators to control power and movement”]
With respect to claim 4: Skrinde as modified by Du discloses the unmanned vehicle of claim 1. Skrinde further teaches further comprising:
at least one arm associated with the vehicle body and configured to be selectively deployed away from the vehicle body and toward an inner diameter of the conduit [Skrinde ¶ 0075 “The SROV is able to utilize its sensors and obstacle avoiding or obstacle following programs to be able to negotiate a changing environment (Fig. 8) including the ability to retract its Extensible Arm Unit (1500) or to be able to angle its Wrist Unit (1520) in order to position Tools in contour with changing surface angles or conditions.” And Figure 15D],
wherein each arm of the at least one arm comprises a distal end portion having a testing probe that is configured to contact the inner diameter of the conduit [Skrinde ¶ 0173 “Types of sensors well- known in the art and easily adapted for use in the Inspection Tool or elsewhere in the SROV include, for example, video, infrared, ultra sonic, sonar imaging, and eddy- current.” And Figure 6 elements 660 and 670].
With respect to claim 5: Skrinde as modified by Du discloses the unmanned vehicle of claim 4. Skrinde further teaches further comprising at least one actuator that is operatively coupled to a respective arm of the at least one arm [Skrinde ¶ 0166 “The Extensible Arm Unit (1500) includes a powered extension and retraction capability”], wherein the at least one actuator is configured to move the respective arm about and between a retracted position and a deployed position in which the at least one testing probe is in contact with the inner diameter of the conduit [Skrinde ¶ 0075 “The SROV is able to utilize its sensors and obstacle avoiding or obstacle following programs to be able to negotiate a changing environment (Fig. 8) including the ability to retract its Extensible Arm Unit (1500) or to be able to angle its Wrist Unit (1520) in order to position Tools in contour with changing surface angles or conditions.” And Figure 15D and ¶ 0173 “Types of sensors well- known in the art and easily adapted for use in the Inspection Tool or elsewhere in the SROV include, for example, video, infrared, ultra sonic, sonar imaging, and eddy- current.” And Figure 6 elements 660 and 670].
With respect to claim 6: Skrinde as modified by Du discloses the unmanned vehicle of claim 5. Skrinde further teaches wherein the at least one actuator comprises a linear actuator that is configured to move the at least one arm radially outwardly from the central axis [Skrinde ¶ 0146 “In response, the Track Tool MCU (527) generates a signal onto the Bus requesting forward extension. This signal is decoded by MCU (517) located within the Extensible Arm Unit (1500). In response, MCU (517) activates Linear Actuator (513) to begin a powered forward extension (515).”].
With respect to claim 7: Skrinde as modified by Du discloses the unmanned vehicle of claim 1. Skrinde further teaches wherein the vehicle body has a length along the central axis, wherein the length of the vehicle body is greater than a maximum width of the vehicle body wherein the maximum width of the vehicle body is measured relative to any axis that is perpendicular to the central axis [Skrinde, Figure 6 The length of the vehicle body shown in Figure 6 is longer than the maximum width of the vehicle body.].
With respect to claim 8: Skrinde as modified by Du teaches the unmanned vehicle of claim 1. Skrinde does suggest the unmanned while further comprising of a global positioning framework. [Skrinde ¶ 0241 “Other embodiments may utilize additional methods and means for determining position, including satellite or other global positioning frameworks”]. Skrinde does not explicitly teach further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) module.
However, in a related field of invention, Du does teach further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) module [Du ¶ 0054 “The companioning device 404 tracks the robotic detector 402 in the pipeline 401 using the magnetic fields signals 405 and determines its geo-positions with the GPS 423.”].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to substitute the global positioning framework as taught by Skrinde with using GPS as taught by Du in order to more accurately determine the position of the unmanned vehicle.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Skrinde in view of Du and in further view of Ghorbel (US PGPub 2004/0173116).
With respect to claim 3: Skrinde as modified by Du teaches the unmanned vehicle of claim 2. Skrinde and Du do not teach wherein the at least one propeller is coaxial with the central axis of the vehicle body.
However, in a related field of invention, Ghorbel does teach wherein the at least one propeller is coaxial with the central axis of the vehicle body [Ghorbel ¶ 0052 “Turbine system 82 is preferably driven by air blown through the conduit (not shown), but may alternatively be powered by any fluid flow. Mechanical power extracted from the fluid flow as it spins the turbine is converted into electrical power by generator 86. This power can be transmitted directly to motor 56 (FIG. 1) so as to propel the robot, or it can be stored in battery 59, or any combination of these.”].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the maintenance and inspection robot system using propellers to move as taught by Skrinde and Du with using propellers that are coaxial with the central axis of the body as taught by Ghorbel in order to more effectively move with or against the flow of fluid through the conduit [Ghorbel ¶ 0015].
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/J.E.R./Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/SCOTT A BROWNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666