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 .
The current application filed Jun. 08, 2023 related to PCT/JP2020/046229 filed Dec. 11, 2020.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/03/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02/03/2026 have been fully considered and are moot in view new grounds of rejection. Applicant's arguments with respect to the claims have been considered. The arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
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.
Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alfaro (20180072212) in view of Serizawa (20170153641).
With regard to claim 1, Alfaro discloses an autonomous traveling apparatus traveling on a floor (an automated guided vehicle (AGV), see [0035]+, Fig. 1), comprising:
a traveling body with a wheel to be driven, wherein the traveling body includes a first wheel portion and a second wheel portion each provided in the traveling body along a traveling direction of the autonomous traveling apparatus with a predetermined space being interposed between the first wheel portion and the second wheel portion, and the second wheel portion has a pair of wheels configured to be movable upward/downward with respect to the autonomous traveling apparatus between a highest point and a lowest point (the AGV includes casters wheels 8a-18d. driven wheel assemblies 20a, 20b space the respective drive wheels 32s. see [0036]-[0037]+. The AGV has a suspension system 22 for the drive wheel assemblies 20a, 20b against the floor which allows the drive wheels 32 to maintain contact with the ground surface when the AGV traverses uneven ground surface, transitions to or from sloped surfaces with upward or downward inclines, see [0038]+ )
the autonomous traveling apparatus further comprising a first laser sensor, wherein the first laser sensor is configured to detect an object around (laser scanners 42 are used for detecting obstacles and navigating the AGV, see [0042] & [0049]+,
Alfaro is silent about the laser sensor is provided at a position on the traveling body, the scanning plane is located lower than the highest point of a range of an upward/downward movement of each of the pair of wheels,
wherein the scanning plane expanding parallel to a floor while rotating the laser light with respect to the first laser sensor and by receiving reflected light of the laser light, and being a range in which the laser light passes while rotating the laser light.
Serizawa discloses an autonomous traveling device (AV) which comprises a laser located on the AV, scanning a plan expanding parallel to a floor while rotating the laser light with respect to the first laser sensor and by receiving reflected light of the laser light, and being a range in which the laser light passes while rotating the laser light, see [0093]-[0097]+.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Alfraro by including a laser located on the AV, scanning a plan expanding parallel to a floor while rotating the laser light with respect to the first laser sensor and by receiving reflected light of the laser light, and being a range in which the laser light passes while rotating the laser light as taught by Serizawa. The combination of Alfraro and Serizawa is an adapted robot system for the navigating performance accuracy.
With regard to claim 2, Serizawa teaches that the autonomous traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first laser sensor is provided between the pair of wheels in a top view of the traveling body (a laser ranging sensor 15 located on the vehicle, see [0094]+ & [0174]+).
With regard to claim 3, Alfaro teaches that the autonomous traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first wheel portion has a first front wheel and a second front wheel, and the pair of wheels are a first rear wheel and a second rear wheel (the two front casters 18, and two rear casters 18, see [0037]+).
With regard to claims 4-5, Alfaro teaches that the AGV comprises a sensor system which includes multiple sensors (laser, gyroscopes, and etc.) are disposed at opposing ends of the base frame, see [0003, [0007]-0009]+ & [0037]-[0040]+ which meet the scope of the claim.
With regard to claim 6, Serizawa teaches that the autonomous traveling apparatus stores map information of the entire use area into the map memory, information of the obstacles, and setting the height of the laser plane, see [0140]+) which meets the scope of the claims. Where the design choice of “a height from a ground at the maximum reach point is 200 mm or more, and a height of the scanning plane from the ground is 200 mm or less” in an expected way of implementing of Serizawa with no new or unexpected result.
.
With regard to claim 7, Serizawa teaches that the autonomous traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein configuring the pair of wheels to be movable upward/downward includes configuring the pair of wheels to be swingable in a plane orthogonal to the traveling direction of the autonomous traveling apparatus (the inclination of the mirror 151 is changed to swing the light emitting direction of the reflection laser light upwardly from the foot area, the robot can climb over, see [0222]+).
With regard to claim 9, Serizawa teaches that the autonomous traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pair of wheels are movable between the highest and lowest points in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction (the autonomous traveling robot 1 enables to climb over the obstacle 301, and moving downward the recess 302, see [0093]-[0094]+).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alfraro and Serizawa as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Rosenstein (20120185096).
With regard to claim 8, Alfraro and Serizawa disclose the claim subject matter by fail to teach each of the pair of wheels is an omni-wheel.
Zerizawa discloses a robot as shown in Fig.1 which includes traveling wheels that each of the wheels is an omni-wheel (see [0127]+).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Alfraro by including a laser located on the AV, scanning a plan expanding parallel to a floor while rotating the laser light with respect to the first laser sensor and by receiving reflected light of the laser light, and being a range in which the laser light passes while rotating the laser light, and the driving wheels are omni-wheels as taught by Serizawa. The combination of Alfraro and Serizawa is an adapted robot system for improving traveling performance.
Conclusion
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NGA X. NGUYEN
Examiner
Art Unit 3662
/NGA X NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662