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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/06/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. US 2021/0072761 (hereinafter Lee).
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses a charging cart (Abstract: an electric cart) for charging an electric vehicle (¶¶ 0033-0036; the cart 100 of the inventive concept is a cart to charge the electric vehicle), the charging cart comprising:
a body (fig. 1, element 110; the body and ¶ 0035);
a sensor unit connected to the body (¶¶ 0040-0041; the operating unit 130 may be a member disposed on an upper end of the body 110 to make contact with a body of the user; the operating unit 130 is embedded therein with a sensor) and configured to collect external force sensing information (¶ 0041; the operating unit 130 is embedded therein with a sensor to sense at least one of the intensity and the direction of external force applied through the contact with a user body);
a handle (¶ 0040; the operating unit 130 may be provided in the form of a handle) connected to (directly or indirectly connected to) the sensor unit (¶ 0041);
a detection unit configured to acquire traveling state information of the body (¶¶ 0046-0048; the obstacle sensor 140 may generate information on an obstacle and an obstacle stop signal by sensing the obstacle);
a traveling unit (¶¶ 0037-0038; the wheel 120 may be provided at a lower portion
of the body 110 for the movement of the body 110) connected to the body;
a driving unit (motor 160) configured to apply a driving force to the traveling unit (¶¶ 0037, 0051; the wheel 120 may receive driving force from the motor 160 to drive; the motor 160 may apply driving force to the wheel 120); and
a control unit configured to control whether to move the body based on the external force sensing information and the traveling state information (¶¶ 0053-0058 and claim 1; ECU 190 may electronically control components of the cart 100; the electronic control unit is configured to: drive and stop the cart by driving the motor in response to the user driving signal and the user stop signal, perform at least one of stopping the cart and controlling a moving direction of the cart by controlling the motor in preference to the user driving signal, when the obstacle stop signal is generated during driving of the cart).
Regarding claim 2, Lee discloses wherein the control unit controls the driving unit by reflecting the driving state information with preference over the external force sensing information (¶¶ 0013-0014, 0032; the electronic control unit may drive and stop the cart by driving the motor in response to the user driving signal and the user stop signal; the cart 100 of the inventive concept may drive through at least one of user control and autonomous driving).
Regarding claim 3, Lee discloses wherein the sensor unit includes a first sensor unit and a second sensor unit (¶¶ 0040-0041; Various sensors may be used as the sensor of the operating unit 130) that are individually connected to (directly or indirectly connected to the handle) both ends of the handle, and
the external force sensing information includes rotation calculation information generated based on a size difference between first sensing information acquired through the first sensor unit (¶¶ 0043-0044; when the user uniformly forward
applies force to the operating unit 130 with both hands, a driving signal may be generated for forward-driving at a specific speed. In this case, the two front wheels of the wheels 120 may drive with the same torque at the same RPM, and the RPM and the torque may be determined depending on force applied by the user) and second sensing information acquired through the second sensor unit and speed calculation information generated based on a size of each piece of sensing information (¶¶ 0041-0044; the left wheel of two front wheels of the wheel 120 may have an RPM and torque higher than an RPM and torque of the right wheel, and the RPM and the torque may be determined depending on force applied by the user; the operating unit 130 may generate a user driving signal and a user stop signal corresponding to the at least one of the intensity and the direction of the external force).
Regarding claim 4, Lee discloses wherein the control unit controls the driving unit or the traveling unit based on the rotation calculation information and the speed calculation information (¶¶ 0042-0044, 0051, 0057-0060; the two front wheels of the
wheels 120 may drive with the same torque at the same RPM, and the RPM and the torque may be determined depending on force applied by the user; the motor 160 may apply driving force to the wheel 120. In this case, the RPM and the torque of the motor 160 may be controlled by the electronic control unit 190; The ECU 190 may drive and stop the cart 100 by driving the motor 160 depending on the user driving signal and the user stop signal).
Regarding claim 5, Lee discloses wherein the traveling unit includes a first traveling unit and a second traveling unit configured to allow traveling related to each of a left side and a right side of the body (¶¶ 0037-0038; the cart 100 of the inventive concept may have four wheels 120, two of the four wheels 120), and
the control unit controls the driving unit based on the rotation calculation such that power applied to the first traveling unit is different from power applied to the second traveling unit (¶¶ 0044, 0051-0052, 0057-0060).
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Regarding claim 7, Lee discloses wherein the detection unit includes a camera module that acquires image information related to a user and generates the traveling state information based on the acquired image information (¶¶ 0048, 0110).
Regarding claim 8, Lee discloses the charging cart further comprising a traveling image acquisition unit configured to acquire traveling image information related to movement of the body (¶¶ 0046-0048; the obstacle sensor 140 may generate information on an obstacle and an obstacle stop signal by sensing the obstacle. The three-dimensional information on the obstacle may be depth information on the distance between the cart 100 and the obstacle, and the shape or the size of the obstacle… a 3D camera module, an RGBD camera module, and a Kinect may be used as the obstacle sensor 140),
wherein the control unit generates risk detection information by analyzing an image of the driving image information (¶¶ 0057-0064 and claim 1; the electronic control unit is configured to: control the motor to move the cart such that rebound stimulation is provided to the user, when the user driving signal is generated within a specific time after the obstacle stop signal is generated during the driving of the cart).
Regarding claim 9, Lee discloses wherein the control unit controls the driving unit or the traveling unit by reflecting the risk detection information (¶¶ 0046-0048; obstacle sensor 140 may generate information on an obstacle and an obstacle stop signal by sensing the obstacle) with preference over the traveling state information (claim 1 and ¶¶ 0014, 0032, 0062-0064; ECU 190 may control at least one of the motor
160 and the brake 160-1 for the automatic stop in preference to the user driving signal, when the obstacle stop signal and/or the impact stop signal is generated during the driving of the cart 100).
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.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. US 2021/0072761 (hereinafter Lee) in view of Seo (KR102376537B1).
Regarding claim 6, Lee fails to disclose wherein the detection unit includes a piezoelectric sensor module provided in the handle to detect a physical pressure, and a proximity sensor module provided in the handle or outside the handle to detect electromagnetic waves reflected after being emitted toward a user.
However, Seo further discloses wherein the detection unit includes a piezoelectric sensor module provided in the handle to detect a physical pressure (¶ 0007; a handle part connected to the body part and having a structure that a user can hold by hand; a piezoelectric sensing unit provided in the handle portion to sense the pressure applied by the user's hand to the handle portion), and a proximity sensor module provided in the handle or outside the handle to detect electromagnetic waves reflected after being emitted toward a user (¶ 0068; the obstacle sensing unit 230 may sense an ultrasonic wave or electromagnetic wave that is reflected back from an obstacle in front of the body unit 110 by emitting an ultrasonic wave or electromagnetic wave).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee to incorporate with the teaching of Seo by including piezoelectric sensing unit and the obstacle sensing unit in the system, because it would be advantageous to improve the accuracy of user-contact information and further reduce unintended-motion.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 10, the prior art fails to teach or suggest further inclusion of when the external force sensing information is continuously detected from the sensor unit but a signal detected from the piezoelectric sensor module or the proximity sensor module disappears, the control unit stops an operation of the driving unit or the traveling unit or lowers power.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZIXUAN ZHOU whose telephone number is (571)272-6739. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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/ZIXUAN ZHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 08/12/2026
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