DETAILED ACTION
Acknowledgements
This Final Office Action is in reply to Applicant’s response filed June 10, 2026.
Claims 1, 8, 13, 14 are currently amended.
Claims 1-21 are currently pending.
Claims 1-21 have been examined.
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 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.
Claims 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10,11, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Madhusudhan (US 20230070389 A1) in view of Wang (machine translation of CN 107157427 A) in view of Tang (US 20120103367 A1) in view of Ghere (US 20230182948 A1).
Regarding claim 1
Madhusudhan teaches:
A method of retail engagement comprising:
[…] adorning the outer surface of the article with one or more adornments, the one or more adornments being selected by the user. {[0058] “The system includes a digital file creation module 204 configured to initiate a camera of the user device and guide a user to create a digital file”; [0059] “The NFC creation module 206 uses digital files and associated metadata to create the NFT. The associated metadata includes a unique identity”; [0076] “In an embodiment, the physical asset 402 may have a QR code [adornment] or NFC tag attached with it to provide its unique identity.”; [0048] “An NFT is minted from digital assets that represent both tangible and intangible commodities, such as art, GIFs, films, sports highlights, Collectibles, virtual avatars, video game skins, designer shoes [article], or music.”}
Madhusudhan does not teach, however Wang teaches:
receiving a worn article from a user in a retail establishment, the worn article including dirt or debris on an outer surface of the article; {Page 4 “system according to different requirements of the customers, a different scheme, generally has the following functional arm selection: a) arm cleaning function is the main function for cleaning the shoe surface dust and so on;”}
robotically cleaning the worn article to at least partially remove the dirt or debris on the outer surface, wherein the cleaning comprises contacting the worn article with a rotating brush […], {Page 1 “in current technology, polisher of the commercial is directly through the high speed rotation of the rotating wheel, driving of the brush which is uniformly wiping leather surface so as to substantially clean leather”} and wherein the worn article is robotically manipulated, by a multi-degree of freedom robotic arm, to cause the contacting; and {Fig. 1 shown below, 3 reads on brush, 22 and 23 read on robotic arm; Page 2 “the image sensor scanning a shoe shape image, the image is sent to the main control board, main control board obtaining leather shape data, thereby controlling the mechanical arm using said function arm according to the leather exterior data wiping leather surface.”}
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It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the cleaning of Wang to the NFT validation and tagging method of Madhusudhan because the steps of Madhusudhan, such as tagging the item, taking a picture of it, etc., would be easier performed on a clean item.
Madhusudhan in view of Wang does not teach, however Tang teaches the following bolded language:
imaging the worn article to determine a structure of the worn article and a location of the dirt or debris on the outer surface of the article; {Abstract “A cleaning robot a dirt recognition device thereof and a cleaning method of the robot are disclosed. The recognition device includes an image collecting module and an image processing module. The image collecting module may be used for collecting the image information of the surface to be treated by the cleaning robot and sending the image information to the image processing module.”}
robotically cleaning the worn article to at least partially remove the dirt or debris on the outer surface, wherein the cleaning comprises contacting the worn article with a rotating brush at the determined location of the dirt or debris {Abstract “The image processing module may divide the collected image information of the surface to be treated into N blocks, extract the image information of each block and process the image information in order to determine the dirtiest surface to be treated that corresponds to one of the N blocks. Through the solution provided by the present invention, the cleaning robot can make an active recognition to the dirt such as dust, so that it can get into the working area accurately and rapidly.”}
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the image processing and active dirt recognition of Tang to the robotic shoe cleaning of Madhusudhan in view of Wang in order to clean the shoe “accurately and rapidly”.
Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang does not teach, however Ghere teaches the following bolded language:
robotically adorning the outer surface of the article with one or more adornments, the one or more adornments being selected by the user. {[0005] “printing an adhesive label with the label information; and receiving the adhesive label on a suction pad or vacuum device attached to a movable end of a robot arm having a plurality of rotatable joints. The method also includes measuring height of the item; determining a first labeling position for the item, the first labeling position determined from the measured height of the item; positioning the robot arm with suction pad or vacuum device at the first labeling position and releasing the adhesive label from the suction pad or vacuum device;”; [0003] “existing units generally lack the ability to be used in-line and with containers and/or pallets of varying sizes and shapes without human intervention.”}
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the adhesive label and robot arm of Ghere to perform the QR code tagging of Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang so that it can be applied to “varying sizes and shapes without human intervention”.
Regarding claim 2
Madhusudhan teaches:
The method of claim 1, wherein the selected adornment includes a digital identifier; the method further comprising: {[0076] “In an embodiment, the physical asset 402 may have a QR code [adornment] or NFC tag attached with it to provide its unique identity [digital identifier].”; [0048] “An NFT is minted from digital assets that represent both tangible and intangible commodities, such as art, GIFs, films, sports highlights, Collectibles, virtual avatars, video game skins, designer shoes [article], or music.”}
receiving the digital identifier from the user; {[0011] “On receiving a request to create the NFT, the system initiates the camera module of the user device to create a media file of the physical asset, reads a unique identity of the physical asset, associates the unique identification with the media file, and creates an NFT using an NFT standard from the media file. The system uses blockchain resources for minting the NFT. The system may help store the NFT in a wallet associated with the creator and allow transferring of the NFT from one owner to another.”}
following the receipt of the digital identifier from the user, transferring or instructing the transfer of a digital collectable to an account or digital wallet of the user. {[0011] “On receiving a request to create the NFT, the system initiates the camera module of the user device to create a media file of the physical asset, reads a unique identity [digital identifier] of the physical asset, associates the unique identification with the media file, and creates an NFT using an NFT standard from the media file. The system uses blockchain resources for minting the NFT. The system may help store the NFT in a wallet associated with the creator and allow transferring of the NFT from one owner to another.”}
Regarding claims 3 and 16
Madhusudhan teaches:
The method of claim 2, wherein the digital collectable includes a digital image or model of the worn article. {[0076] “the system can take a raw image or video of the physical asset, create NFT from the raw image or video”}
Regarding claims 5 and 17
Madhusudhan teaches:
The method of claim 2, wherein the digital collectable includes a digital image or model of the chosen adornment. {[0076] “the system can take a raw image or video of the physical asset, create NFT from the raw image or video”}
Regarding claim 7
Madhusudhan teaches:
The method of claim 2, wherein the digital collectable is cryptographically secured to a digital blockchain ledger as a nonfungible token. {[0011] “On receiving a request to create the NFT, the system initiates the camera module of the user device to create a media file of the physical asset, reads a unique identity of the physical asset, associates the unique identification with the media file, and creates an NFT using an NFT standard from the media file. The system uses blockchain resources for minting the NFT. The system may help store the NFT in a wallet associated with the creator and allow transferring of the NFT from one owner to another. The system maintains transaction reports in the blockchain ledger.”}
Regarding claims 10 and 19
Madhusudhan teaches:
The method of claim 1, wherein the article is an article of footwear. {[0048] “Each NFT contains a digital signature that prevents NFTs from being traded to one another. An NFT is minted from digital assets that represent both tangible and intangible commodities, such as art, GIFs, films, sports highlights, Collectibles, virtual avatars, video game skins, designer shoes [footwear], or music.”}
Regarding claims 11 and 20
Madhusudhan teaches:
The method of claim 1, wherein the article is an article of clothing. {[0048] “Each NFT contains a digital signature that prevents NFTs from being traded to one another. An NFT is minted from digital assets that represent both tangible and intangible commodities, such as art, GIFs, films, sports highlights, Collectibles, virtual avatars, video game skins, designer shoes [clothing], or music.”}
Regarding claim 13
Madhusudhan teaches:
A method of distributing a cryptographically secured digital collectable, the method comprising:
[…] adorning the outer surface of the article with one or more adornments, the one or more adornments being selected by the user and including a digital identifier; {[0058] “The system includes a digital file creation module 204 configured to initiate a camera of the user device and guide a user to create a digital file”; [0059] “The NFC creation module 206 uses digital files and associated metadata to create the NFT. The associated metadata includes a unique identity [digital identifier]”; [0076] “In an embodiment, the physical asset 402 may have a QR code [adornment] or NFC tag attached with it to provide its unique identity.”; [0048] “An NFT is minted from digital assets that represent both tangible and intangible commodities, such as art, GIFs, films, sports highlights, Collectibles, virtual avatars, video game skins, designer shoes [article], or music.”}
subsequent to the adorning,
returning the adorned worn article to the user and {[0013] “The system can enable a user to claim the physical asset and book shipment of the physical asset from the application interface. The proposed system comes in very handy for users who buy the NFT and wish to claim the physical asset associated with the NFT.”}
receiving the digital identifier from the user, the digital identifier being extracted by the user from the one or more adornments on the worn article via a portable computing device of the user; {Abstract “The system displays a set of information associated with the physical asset and initiates a tag reader of a first user device to read an identifier attached with the physical asset.”}
following the receipt of the digital identifier from the user, transferring, or instructing the transfer of a cryptographically secured digital collectable to an account or digital wallet of the user. {[0011] “On receiving a request to create the NFT, the system initiates the camera module of the user device to create a media file of the physical asset, reads a unique identity of the physical asset, associates the unique identification with the media file, and creates an NFT using an NFT standard from the media file. The system uses blockchain resources for minting the NFT. The system may help store [transfer] the NFT in a wallet associated with the creator and allow transferring of the NFT from one owner to another. The system maintains transaction reports in the blockchain ledger.”}
Madhusudhan does not teach, however Wang teaches:
receiving a worn article from a user in a retail establishment;
See same limitation in claim 1.
Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang does not teach, however Ghere teaches:
robotically adorning the outer surface of the article with one or more adornments, the one or more adornments being selected by the user and including a digital identifier;
See similar limitation in claim 1.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Righetti (US 20220392158 A1).
Regarding claim 4
Madhusudhan teaches:
The method of claim 3, further comprising imaging the worn article to generate the digital image or model, wherein the imaging comprises: {[0011] “On receiving a request to create the NFT, the system initiates the camera module of the user device to create a media file of the physical asset, reads a unique identity of the physical asset, associates the unique identification with the media file, and creates an NFT using an NFT standard from the media file.”; [0063] “Module 210 may guide the user to make an image of the physical asset from different angles and compare the same with the digital file created at the time of creating the NFT. If the image taken by the buyer matches the images used for creating NFT, the system can verify the authenticity of the physical asset.”}
imaging the worn article with a visual camera to determine a visual appearance of the article. {[0011] “On receiving a request to create the NFT, the system initiates the camera module of the user device to create a media file of the physical asset, reads a unique identity of the physical asset, associates the unique identification with the media file, and creates an NFT using an NFT standard from the media file.”}
Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere does not teach, however Righetti teaches:
imaging the worn article with a LiDAR system to determine a physical structure of the article; {[0025] “According to the embodiment of the present invention, wherein the ToF cameral includes a 3D scanning module with a LiDAR system for capturing a plurality of digital images of the object and generating respective point cloud for the object.”; [0062] “Furthermore, according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is moreover possible to perform measurements of distances between points and to obtain the real distance calculated by working on the 3D model of the object. It is also possible to calculate the relative heights of the points. The 3D model of the object can also offer the perspective and orthogonal vision, which allows the operations of zoom, pan, rotation and shift to be performed.”}
Since Madhusudhan teaches the purpose of including an image in the NFT is to assist in authenticating that a physical object corresponds to it ([0063]), it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the 3D model of Righetti to the NFT of Madhusudhan because the model is measurable and would therefore aid a user in verifying that a physical object is the authentic physical object represented by the NFT.
Claims 6, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere as applied to claims 2 and 13 above, and further in view of Andon (US 20200273048 A1).
Regarding claims 6 and 18
Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere does not teach, however Andon teaches:
The method of claim 2, wherein following the receipt of the digital identifier from the user, the method comprises:
presenting a plurality of available digital collectables to the user; {[0210] “directing an application or an internet browser running on the computing device to a virtual storefront display comprising a plurality of different displayed cryptographic digital assets;”}
receiving a selection from the user of a desired digital collectable from the plurality of available digital collectables; and {[0210] “receiving an indication of a selection of one of the plurality of different displayed cryptographic digital assets;”}
wherein transferring or instructing the transfer of the digital collectable to the account or digital wallet of the user includes transferring or instructing the transfer of the desired digital collectable to the account or digital wallet of the user. {[0009] “For instance, a first Ethereum Request for Comments (ERC) 721 or ERC1155 token may be granted to authenticate and transact a physical shoe, and a second ERC721/ERC1155 token may be granted to access, breed, and transact a digital shoe.”}
Both Madhusudhan and Andon teach an NFT which is linked to and used to authenticate a physical object. Andon further teaches granting a second token (a digital shoe) selected by the user. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the second token of Andon to the authentication NFT of Madhusudan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere because it is prima facie obvious to combine two compositions each of which is taught by the prior art to be useful for the same purpose, in order to form a third composition to be used for the very same purpose. See MPEP 2144.06 Art Recognized Equivalence for the Same Purpose.
Claims 8, 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere as applied to claims 1 and 13 above, and further in view of Davidson (US 20220245696 A1).
Regarding claims 8 and 14
Madhusudhan teaches:
The method of claim 1, further comprising:
imaging the worn article to generate a digital image or model of the worn article; {[0011] “On receiving a request to create the NFT, the system initiates the camera module of the user device to create a media file of the physical asset, reads a unique identity of the physical asset, associates the unique identification with the media file, and creates an NFT using an NFT standard from the media file.”}
Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere does not teach, however Davidson teaches:
presenting the digital image or model of the worn article to a user via a user interface device; {Figure 3A and 3B}
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receiving, from the user via the user interface device, an indication of a placement location for the one or more adornments on the dimensional model; {[0049] “According to the present invention, a physical article of merchandise 705 may be created with input from a user specifying one or more photos [adornments] (such as a first photo and a second photo) and a physical placement of the one or more photos on the physical article 705.”}
receiving, from the user via the user interface device, a selection of a chosen adornment from a selection of available adornments; and {[0049] “According to the present invention, a physical article of merchandise 705 may be created with input from a user specifying one or more photos [adornments] (such as a first photo and a second photo) and a physical placement of the one or more photos on the physical article 705.”; [0004] “Sometimes, a user must either select an image from a pre-populated list of images the website owner has the rights to use, or upload his own”}
controlling a robotic applicator to apply the chosen adornment to a location on the article that corresponds to the placement location on the digital image or model. {[0008] “Embodiments may also include associate Cartesian Coordinates with specified segregated spatial areas of the first digital photo received from the image capture device and designating an area to apply the first digital photo to the article of merchandise.”}
Davidson teaches applying a digital photo to an article, but not by controlling a robotic applicator. However, this is merely broadly providing a mechanical means to do the applying, and is therefore obvious. See MPEP 2144.04 III. AUTOMATING A MANUAL ACTIVITY “broadly providing an automatic or mechanical means to replace a manual activity which accomplished the same result is not sufficient to distinguish over the prior art.”
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the user interface of Davidson to the tagging a unique ID / QR code of Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere so that the tagging is applied where the user desires.
Claims 9, 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere in view of Davidson as applied to claims 8 and 14 above, and further in view of Righetti.
Regarding claims 9 and 15
Madhusudhan teaches:
The method of claim 8, wherein the imaging comprises:
imaging the worn article with a visual camera to determine a visual appearance of the article; and {[0011] “On receiving a request to create the NFT, the system initiates the camera module of the user device to create a media file of the physical asset, reads a unique identity of the physical asset, associates the unique identification with the media file, and creates an NFT using an NFT standard from the media file.”}
Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere in view of Davidson does not teach, however Righetti teaches:
imaging the worn article with a LiDAR system to determine a physical structure of the article; {[0025] “According to the embodiment of the present invention, wherein the ToF cameral includes a 3D scanning module with a LiDAR system for capturing a plurality of digital images of the object and generating respective point cloud for the object.”; [0062] “Furthermore, according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is moreover possible to perform measurements of distances between points and to obtain the real distance calculated by working on the 3D model of the object. It is also possible to calculate the relative heights of the points. The 3D model of the object can also offer the perspective and orthogonal vision, which allows the operations of zoom, pan, rotation and shift to be performed.”}
merging the physical structure with the visual appearance to generate the digital image or model. {Abstract “The present invention relates to a 3D (three-dimensional) modelling method and system. The 3D modelling method comprises capturing a plurality of digital images of an object, producing respective point cloud for the object, interpreting the plurality of digital images and the point cloud of the object to obtain a data information associated with the object, and generating a 3D model of the object based on [merging] the plurality of digital images, the point cloud, and the data information.”}
Since Madhusudhan teaches the purpose of including an image in the NFT is to assist in authenticating that a physical object corresponds to it ([0063]), it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the 3D model of Righetti to the NFT of Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere in view of Davidson because the model is measurable and would therefore aid a user in verifying that a physical object is the authentic physical object represented by the NFT.
Claims 12, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere as applied to claims 1 and 13 above, and further in view of Matsunaga (US 20190055043 A1).
Regarding claims 12 and 21
Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere does not teach, however Matsunaga teaches:
The method of claim 1, further comprising fusing the adornment to the article via the application of thermal energy or ultraviolet light. {Abstract “The present invention bonds a label to an adherend with a heat-sensitive adhesive layer disposed therebetween, by sufficiently activating the heat-sensitive adhesive layer.”; [0008] “The shrinkable adhesion label is thermally shrunk by heating, and thus can be applied substantially along the outer surface of an adherend in various stereoscopic shapes such as a three-dimensional curved surface. Such a label can be used to provide a package having preferable appearance.”}
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to replace the adhesive label taught by Madhusudhan in view of Wang in view of Tang in view of Ghere with the shrinkable, heat-sensitive adhesive label of Matsunaga in order to allow it to be applied to three-dimensional curved surfaces.
Response to Arguments
35 USC § 103
None of the cited References Teaches That the Adornments Are Selected By the User
The rejection cites to paragraphs [0058-0059] of Madhusudhan, which state:
[0058] The system includes a digital file creation module 204 configured to initiate a camera of the user device and guide a user to create a digital file
[0059] The NFC creation module 206 uses digital files and associated metadata to create the NFT. The associated metadata includes a unique identity
Since the user is creating the digital file whose associated metadata includes a unique identity (the adornment), Madhusudhan teaches this limitation.
Additionally, selecting the one or more adornments by the user is not interpreted as a claimed method step. Claim 1 is “a method of retail engagement” and does not appear to intend to claim actions performed by the user, and the action of selecting is written as a description of the adornment rather than as a step of the claimed method.
Cruz Does Not Teach That the Worn Article Is Robotically Manipulated, By a Multi-Degree of Freedom Robotic Arm, To Cause the Contacting – and Amended Claim 1 Independently Forecloses the Rejection’s Reading of the Cleaning Element
This argument is correct. However, it references newly added claim language. In light of the amendment, reference Cruz has been replaced with references Wang and Tang. Reference Wang teaches a multi-degree of freedom robotic arm, as shown in Fig. 1.
Amended Claim 1 Further Requires Imaging-Based Targeted Brushing That Is Absent From Every Cited Reference
This argument is correct. However, it references newly added claim language. In light of the amendment, reference Cruz has been replaced with references Wang and Tang. Reference Wang teaches imaging-based brushing, and Tang further teaches dirt recognition and targeting.
The Stated Motivations To Combine Three Disparate Systems Lack Articulated Rational Underpinning
Applicant argues the rationale for combining the cleaning of Cruz with the tagging system of Madhusudhan lacks articulated reasoning to support the legal conclusion of obviousness. The stated rationale was that cleaning the item would help to perform the tagging of Madhusudhan. Applicant argues Madhusudhan does not contain any suggestion the item is dirty. While Cruz has now been replaced with Wang and Tang, the rationale for combining is unchanged and therefore this argument is still applicable.
However, the advantages of cleaning something before working on it or applying an adhesive or printing is common knowledge. Madhusudhan gives putting a QR-code on an object as one example of tagging. MPEP 2144 I. states that rationale may be reasoned from common knowledge. The fact that a surface should be cleaned before printing or adhering something to it is common knowledge, and it is not necessary for Madhusudhan to explicitly state this or suggest that the item is dirty.
Applicant further argues the given rationale for using the adhesive-label-applying robot arm of Ghere to apply the QR-code of Madhusudhan is not valid. Applicant states Madhusudhan does not suggest there is any throughput problem, conveyor, or “varying sizes” of items such that it would make sense to apply Ghere’s robot arm. However, a person of ordinary skill in the art attempting to perform the method of Madhusudhan would necessarily look to the prior art for methods of applying the “tag” (e.g. QR-code). The fact that Ghere teaches any method of applying labels is enough motivation to combine the references. See MPEP 2144.06 Art Recognized Equivalence for the Same Purpose.
Amended Claim 13 is Independently Distinguishable: The Cited Art Does Not Teach the Post-Return User Extraction Gate
This refers to newly added claim language. However, this limitation is taught by primary reference Madhusudhan. Madhusudhan teaches a user receiving an item which has been tagged with an identifier. See rejection above and paragraphs [0013], [0057], [0062-0063], [0071].
Cited Art Not Relied Upon
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is listed in the enclosed PTO-892.
Hegemier (US 20110282476 A1) teaches (relevant to claim 13 returning adorned item):
Abstract “Systems and methods are described herein relating to managing an on-demand manufacturing supply chain personalization process. In some embodiments, the management system and method is described in order to manufacturing customized products according to image and customization data with images applied to parts using a post mold image application process. In other embodiments, customized products are defined by electronic orders that specify product manufacturing data including imagery to be applied to the products.”
Schnittman (US 20120169497 A1) teaches (relevant to claim 1 image-guided robotic cleaning):
[0204] “Referring to FIG. 11, in some implementations, the robot 11 includes a camera 1190 disposed toward the forward portion of the robot 11, with a field of view beyond the perimeter of the robot 11. This camera 1190 can be in communication with the microprocessor 245 such that the movement of the robot 11 over the cleaning surface can be based at least in part on the detection of debris and/or an obstacle by the camera 1190. For example, the microprocessor 245 can process the signal from the camera 1190 to recognize debris on the cleaning surface and maneuver the robot 11 toward the debris.”
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.
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/S.M.D./ Examiner, Art Unit 3698
/PATRICK MCATEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3698
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