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 .
Claim Status
Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 6-9 are withdrawn from consideration. Claims 1-5 and 10-20 are original.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I, Species A, and Species i in the reply filed on 7/7/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 6-9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/7/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Examiner would like to note the latest Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) submittals are extremely long. The Examiner has considered all of the references submitted as part of the Information Disclosure Statements, but has not found any to be particularly relevant. If Applicant is aware of pertinent material in the references, he should so state in a response to this Office action. Applicant is reminded of section 2004, paragraph 13, of the MPEP:
It is desirable to avoid the submission of long lists of documents if it can be avoided. Eliminate clearly irrelevant and marginally pertinent cumulative information. If a long list is submitted, highlight those documents which have been specifically brought to applicant’s attention and/or are known to be of most significance. See Penn Yan Boats, Inc. v. Sea Lark Boats, Inc., 359 F. Supp. 948, 175 USPQ 260 (S.D. Fla. 1972), aff ’d, 479 F.2d 1338, 178 USPQ 577 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 874 (1974). But cf. Molins PLC v. Textron Inc., 48 F.3d 1172, 33 USPQ2d 1823 (Fed. Cir. 1995).
Claim Objections
Claims 3, 10-11, 13-14, and 19 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 3, line 1, “a portion” should be changed to --a first portion--.
In claim 10, line 8, there is no antecedent basis for “the cross-sectional center”.
In claim 11, line 1, there is no antecedent basis for “the shape”.
In claim 13, line 1, there is no antecedent basis for “the cross-sectional layout”.
In claim 13 line 2, there is no antecedent basis for “the entire axial length”.
In claim 14, line 2, there is no antecedent basis for “the entire axial length of the channel”.
In claim 19, line 2, there is no antecedent basis for “the support surface”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SEMPE (WO03015220A1; English machine translation is included with office action) in view of ROSE (Patent No.: US 4,158,802).
Regarding claim 1, SEMPE discloses a charging station (2, Fig. 1a) for use with a robotic tool (1, Fig. 1a; page 1, lines 1-3: ELECTRICAL CONNECTION SYSTEM BETWEEN A VEHICLE AND A CHARGING STATION OR SIMILAR The present invention relates to an assembly comprising a vehicle and a station separate from the vehicle, each equipped with a connector allowing the vehicle to be electrically connected to the station; page 1, lines 18-19: Another goal is to enable its use on autonomous vehicles, that is, vehicles that move without human intervention, such as rolling robots), the charging station comprising:
a core (housing of 2, Figs. 1a-1b) having a first end and a second end, the first end of the core being configured to be supported on a support surface (6; page 3, line 27: Station 2 is placed on the running surface 6), the core defining a core axis (e.g., any line that goes through a center of any face or side of core 2);
a charging terminal (4, Figs. 1a-1b) coupled to the core, wherein the charging terminal includes a disk-shaped body extending radially outwardly from the core (as shown in Fig. 1b; page 4, lines 17-18: female connector 4 has the general shape of a jaw. It comprises two 16,17 superimposed plates spaced apart. Viewed from above, they each have the same semi-circular shape), wherein the charging terminal includes a lateral plane (e.g., a horizontal plane that is between 16 and 17, and that passes through element 18, in Fig. 2a) subdividing the body into a first sub-section and a second sub-section (a first sub-section of the terminal is above the horizontal plane, and the second sub-section is below the horizontal plane; page 4, lines 18-19: They are rigidly connected to each other in their rear part, along the right segment of the semicircles, by a beam 18 of rectangular section), and wherein a [first] electrode (19, Fig. 2a) is positioned on an exterior surface of the first sub-section (exterior surface of 16, Fig. 2a) and wherein a [second] electrode (20, Fig. 2a) is positioned on an exterior surface of the second sub-section (exterior surface of 17, Fig. 2a; page 4, lines 21-24: conductive element 19 is arranged along the inner edge of the semicircle of the upper plate 16 - see the dotted line in figure 2b. This conductive element 19 defines a first terminal of the female connector 4. This could be, for example, a copper braid advantageously resting on a foam strip 21. A second terminal 20 is formed in the same way along the inner edge of the lower plate 17).
SEMPE fails to disclose the first electrode is a positive electrode, and the second electrode is a ground electrode.
ROSE discloses the first electrode (30, Fig. 1) is a positive electrode, and the second electrode (32, Fig. 1) is a ground electrode (col 2, ll. 22-29: operator moves the vehicle forward until wheel 32 touches the upper surface 50 of the vehicle and then continues to move forward until wheel 30 is positioned in contact with insulated surface 54. At this point the vehicle is stopped and a complete circuit is made for recharging the battery 38 through wheel 30 connected to the insulated surface 54 and through wheel 32 connected to the grounded surface 50).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the positive and ground electrodes in order to complete the electrical circuit while preventing shocks and/or protecting from faults.
Regarding claim 2, SEMPE discloses the charging terminal defines a terminal axis oriented normal to the lateral plane, and wherein the charging terminal includes a plurality of axially stacked portions (portions comprising at least 16, 17, and 18 are “axially stacked” as shown in Fig. 2a).
Regarding claim 3, SEMPE discloses the charging terminal includes a portion forming a bottom surface (said portion including 17 and 20, Fig. 2a), a second portion forming a top surface (said portion including 16 and 19, Fig. 2a), and a third portion positioned axially between the first portion and the second portion (18, Fig. 2a).
Regarding claim 4, SEMPE discloses the first sub-section (16, Fig. 2a) forms the top surface (surface where terminal 19 is located) and wherein the second sub-section (17) forms the bottom surface (surface where terminal 20 is located).
Regarding claim 5, SEMPE discloses the first portion and the second portion are formed from a conductive material, and wherein the third portion is formed from an insulating material (page 4, lines 19-20).
Regarding claim 16, SEMPE discloses a robotic tool kit (including station 2 and robot 1 as shown in Fig. 1a), comprising:
a charging station (2, Figs. 1a-1b) including:
a core (e.g., a housing of station 2 as shown in Figs. 1a-1b), and
a charging terminal coupled to the core (page 6, lines 32-33: the connector fitted on robot 1 can be of the female type and that of station 2 is consequently of the male type; although Figure 1a shows the station 2 having a port instead of a terminal, page 6, lines 32-33 discloses an embodiment with the opposite arrangement, wherein the station 2 would have the male type connector, such as the male type connector 3 shown in Figure 2a), wherein the charging terminal includes a [first] electrode (13, Fig. 2a) and a [second] electrode (14, Fig. 2a; page 4, lines 6-8: male connector 3 has the general shape of a spoiler. It includes an insulating support 12 - for example made of plastic or bakelite - having an upper face and an lower face each carrying a respective terminal 13 and 14 of the connector. Terminals 13 and 14 can be made in the form of conductive plates, for example in copper);
a robotic garden tool (1, Figs. 1a-1b; page 7, line 23: the invention can be implemented on any type of robot such as, for example, automatic lawnmowers) including:
a body having a periphery (a body for robot 1 is shown in Figs. 1a-1b),
at least one driven wheel (5, Fig. 1a) mounted to the body (page 3, lines 25-26: Robot 1 has wheels 5 allowing it to move on the rolling surface 6),
a battery (page 3, line 25: a station 2 used to recharge the robot's batteries; a battery is shown in Fig. 1a), and
a charging port (page 6, lines 32-33: the connector fitted on robot 1 can be of the female type and that of station 2 is consequently of the male type; although Figure 1a shows the robot 1 having a terminal instead of a port, page 6, lines 32-33 discloses an embodiment with the opposite arrangement, wherein the robot 1 would have the female type connector, such as the female type connector 4 shown in Figure 2a) including an elongated channel (e.g., channel created between plates 16 and 17 in Fig. 2a) having an open end extending along and open to the periphery of the body (the open end being the end adjacent to terminals 19 and 20 in Figure 2a), wherein the charging port includes a [first] electrode (19, Fig. 2a) at least partially positioned within the channel (as shown in Fig. 2a, the first electrode 19 is within the channel created between plates 16 and 17) and a [second] electrode (20, Fig. 2a) at least partially positioned within the channel (as shown in Fig. 2a, the second electrode 20 is within the channel created between plates 16 and 17); and
wherein the charging terminal is configured so that the charging terminal can be inserted anywhere along the length of the channel and still cause the [first] electrode of the charging terminal to be in electrical communication with the [first] electrode of the charging port and the [second] electrode of the charging terminal be in electrical communication with the [second] electrode of the charging port (page 4, lines 37-42: connector design allows the male connector 3 to be inserted into the female connector 4 within a range of lateral and angular positioning. As an illustration, in figure 2b, the male connector has been represented in dotted lines 3' in a position plugged into the female connector 4 with an angular offset A relative to the ideal plugging direction which coincides with the radius of the plates 16,17 corresponding to the point of meeting of the two connectors. As already indicated, the range of values of angle A allowing insertion between the two connectors is preferably at least 10, more advantageously at least 25).
SEMPE fails to disclose the first electrode of each of the charging terminal and the charging port is a positive electrode, and the second electrode of each of the charging terminal and the charging port is a ground electrode.
ROSE discloses the first electrode (30, Fig. 1) is a positive electrode, and the second electrode (32, Fig. 1) is a ground electrode (col 2, ll. 22-29: operator moves the vehicle forward until wheel 32 touches the upper surface 50 of the vehicle and then continues to move forward until wheel 30 is positioned in contact with insulated surface 54. At this point the vehicle is stopped and a complete circuit is made for recharging the battery 38 through wheel 30 connected to the insulated surface 54 and through wheel 32 connected to the grounded surface 50). It would be obvious to apply the first electrode as a positive electrode and the second electrode as a ground electrode as disclosed in ROSE, for each of the charging terminal and charging port of SEMPE.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the positive and ground electrodes in order to complete the electrical circuit while preventing shocks and/or protecting from faults.
Regarding claim 17, SEMPE as modified by ROSE teaches the charging terminal includes a top surface (19, Fig. 2a) and a bottom surface (20, Fig. 2a), and wherein one of the top surface and the bottom surface forms the positive electrode and the other of the bottom surface and the top surface forms the ground electrode (SEMPE, page 4, lines 21-24; ROSE, col 2, ll. 22-29).
Regarding claim 18, SEMPE as modified by ROSE teaches the charging terminal is configured so that the charging terminal can cause the positive electrode of the charging terminal to be in electrical communication with the positive electrode of the charging port and the ground electrode of the charging terminal be in electrical communication with the ground electrode of the charging port regardless of the relative angular orientations of the charging station and the robotic garden tool (SEMPE, page 4, lines 37-42; ROSE, col 2, ll. 22-29).
Regarding claim 19, SEMPE discloses the charging terminal is positioned a first distance from the support surface, wherein the charging port is positioned a second distance from the support surface, and wherein the first distance is the same as the second distance (page 3, lines 29-30).
Regarding claim 20, SEMPE discloses the open end of the charging port is positioned a second distance from the support surface along the channel's entire axial length (page 3, lines 29-30).
Claim(s) 10-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SEMPE (WO03015220A1; English machine translation is included with office action) in view of ROSE (Patent No.: US 4,158,802) and CHEN (Patent No.: US 9,484,653 B1).
Regarding claim 10, SEMPE discloses a robotic tool (1, Figs. 1a-1b; page 7, line 23: the invention can be implemented on any type of robot such as, for example, automatic lawnmowers) comprising:
a body having a periphery (a body for robot 1 is shown in Figs. 1a-1b);
one or more driven wheels (5, Fig. 1a) mounted to the body (page 3, lines 25-26: Robot 1 has wheels 5 allowing it to move on the rolling surface 6);
a working tool mounted to the body (the robot may be a lawnmower as disclosed in page 7, line 23, which inherently has a “working tool” such as a rotary blade);
a battery (page 3, line 25: a station 2 used to recharge the robot's batteries; a battery is shown in Fig. 1a); and
a charging port (page 6, lines 32-33: the connector fitted on robot 1 can be of the female type and that of station 2 is consequently of the male type; although Figure 1a shows the robotic tool 1 having a terminal instead of a port, page 6, lines 32-33 discloses an embodiment with the opposite arrangement, wherein the robotic tool 1 would have the female type connector, such as the female type connector 4 shown in Figure 2a) including:
an elongated channel (e.g., channel created between plates 16 and 17 in Fig. 2a) having an open end open to the exterior of the body (the open end being the end adjacent to terminals 19 and 20 in Figure 2a), the channel defining a channel axis (e.g., element ‘R’ in Figure 2a could correspond to the channel axis) positioned at the cross-sectional center thereof and extending along the entire length of the channel (e.g., a channel axis is a horizontal axis that is between 16 and 17, and that passes through element 18, in Fig. 2a),
a [first] electrode (19, Fig. 2a) at least partially positioned within the channel (as shown in Fig. 2a, the first electrode 19 is within the channel created between plates 16 and 17),
a [second] electrode (20, Fig. 2a) at least partially positioned within the channel (as shown in Fig. 2a, the second electrode 20 is within the channel created between plates 16 and 17; page 4, lines 21-24: conductive element 19 is arranged along the inner edge of the semicircle of the upper plate 16 - see the dotted line in figure 2b. This conductive element 19 defines a first terminal of the female connector 4. This could be, for example, a copper braid advantageously resting on a foam strip 21. A second terminal 20 is formed in the same way along the inner edge of the lower plate 17).
SEMPE fails to disclose the first electrode is a positive electrode, and the second electrode is a ground electrode.
ROSE discloses the first electrode (30, Fig. 1) is a positive electrode, and the second electrode (32, Fig. 1) is a ground electrode (col 2, ll. 22-29: operator moves the vehicle forward until wheel 32 touches the upper surface 50 of the vehicle and then continues to move forward until wheel 30 is positioned in contact with insulated surface 54. At this point the vehicle is stopped and a complete circuit is made for recharging the battery 38 through wheel 30 connected to the insulated surface 54 and through wheel 32 connected to the grounded surface 50).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the positive and ground electrodes in order to complete the electrical circuit while preventing shocks and/or protecting from faults.
SEMPE fails to disclose the channel axis is curvilinear.
CHEN discloses a charging port (disclosed as “power socket terminal 1” in Figures 2-5) including a channel axis that is curvilinear (this is best shown in Fig. 5, which shows that when a plug 92 is inserted, it makes contact first with contact portion 314 and then with contact portion 214, hence making the channel axis curvilinear; col 3, ll. 14-18: As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the power socket terminal 1 of the present invention includes a base plate 10, a pair of asymmetric elastic arms 20, 30, and a receiving space 40 defined by the base plate 10 and the pair of the asymmetric elastic arms 20, 30; col 4, ll. 51-59: Some second contact portions 314 are higher than the first contact portions 214, and other second contact portions 314 are lower than the first contact portions 214. Using this design, when the plug 92 needs to be inserted into the receiving space 40 and mated with the power socket terminal 1, the plug 92 will first contact with some second contact portions 314, next will contact with the first contact portions 214, and then will electrically contact with other second contact portions 314).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the channel axis is curvilinear in order to reduce insertion force and provide a reliable connection (CHEN, col 4, ll. 60-67).
Regarding claim 11, SEMPE discloses the channel axis corresponds to the shape of at least a portion of the periphery of the body (a robotic tool 1 having a charging port with a channel axis as described above would have said axis which “corresponds to the shape” of the periphery of the body, in order to allow for connection with the station 2).
Regarding claim 12, SEMPE discloses the body includes a front end, a rear end opposite the front end, and a pair of side ends extending between the front end and the rear end, and wherein the channel axis extends along at least the front end and a portion of at least one side end of the pair of side ends (the body of robotic tool 1 is depicted in Figure 1a, with the front end being adjacent to the connector, the rear end on the opposite end of the body, and a side end being adjacent to the connector).
Regarding claim 13, SEMPE discloses the cross-sectional layout of the charging port is constant along the entire axial length thereof (as shown in Fig. 2a, the space between 16 and 17 is constant).
Regarding claim 14, SEMPE discloses the open end of the charging port is positioned at a constant vertical charger height along the entire axial length of the channel (page 3, lines 29-30).
Regarding claim 15, SEMPE discloses the working tool is a rotating blade (page 7, line 23).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record on form PTO-892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANUEL HERNANDEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-7916. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9a-5p ET.
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, Drew Dunn can be reached at (571) 272-2312. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Manuel Hernandez/Examiner, Art Unit 2859 8/30/2026
/DREW A DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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