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 .
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.
Background
The Amendments to the Claims in the Applicant’s Preliminary Amendment, filed on 11/30/23, have been entered.
According to the Amendments, claims 1-15 were pending. Claims 3-14 have been amended. No claims have been added or canceled. Thus, claims 1-15 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Pat. No. 5,040,056 to Sager et al. (Sager). For claim 1, Sager discloses a controller, comprising:
a decision unit (104) configured to determine whether or not a workpiece being conveyed is picked up or is taken out to a workpiece container being conveyed (see col. 6, ll. 33-66 for providing a robot motion controller configured to receive an output queue from the image processing unit upstream, the output queue containing the locations of objects that have not been picked up from the conveyor belt for one reason or another); and
a control unit (104) configured to control a machine by generating a command for collectively picking up a specified number of the workpieces, based on the determination whether or not the workpiece is picked up, or generating a command for collectively taking out a specified number of the workpieces, based on the determination whether or not the workpiece is taken out to the workpiece container (see 8:50-61 for configuring the robot motion controller to instruct the robot to pick up as many objects as it can within its work area).
In regards to claim 2, Sager further discloses that the decision unit determines whether or not the workpiece is picked up, based on a status or a current position included in conveyance information of the workpiece, or determines whether or not the workpiece is taken out to the workpiece container, based on a status or a current position included in conveyance information of the workpiece container. See 6:52 to 7:17 (determining whether an object can be picked up based on its location relative to the reach of the robot or its location relative to the boundaries of the robot’s work area).
In regards to claim 3, Sager further discloses that the control unit generates, based on conveyance information of a workpiece located upstream of the workpiece determined not to be picked up, a command for collectively picking up the specified number of the workpieces, or generates a command for collectively taking out the specified number of the workpieces, based on conveyance information of a workpiece container located upstream of the workpiece container determining that the workpiece is not taken out to the workpiece container. See 7:48-58 (directing, via the robot motion controller, the robot to collectively pick up and deposit objects at the appropriate destination site that may be a stationary position or moving position such as another conveyor belt).
In regards to claim 4, Sager further discloses that the controller further comprises a threshold value setting unit configured to set a threshold value of a distance between current positions included in conveyance information of the workpieces adjacent to each other or the workpiece containers adjacent to each other. See 8:34-49 (inferring minimum distance requirement from the robot motion controller declining to identify and pick up overlapping objects because of the robot’s inability to determine which object is on top and should be picked up first).
In regards to claim 5, Sager further discloses that controller further comprises a specified number setting unit configured to set the specified number of the workpieces being collectively picked up or collectively taken out. See 4:1-5 and 4:29-40 (determining the optimum number of objects to identify and pick up within the robot’s work area based on object type, belt speed, and other variables).
In regards to claim 6, Sager further discloses that the controller further comprises a conveyance information generation unit configured to generate, for one workpiece or one workpiece container, one piece of conveyance information including a current position or a status of the workpiece or the workpiece container. See 6:33-46 (generating an object location queue for picking up objects within the robot’s work area based on the output queue of the upstream imaging processing unit or additional pick-and-place robot).
In regards to claim 7, Sager further discloses that the controller further comprises a conveyance information generation unit configured to generate, for the specified number of the workpieces or the specified number of the workpiece containers, one piece of conveyance information including a current position or a status of a group of the specified number of workpieces or a group of the specified number of workpiece containers. See 6:33-46.
In regards to claim 8, Sager further discloses that the controller further comprises a storage part configured to store conveyance information including a current position or a status of the workpiece or the workpiece group or conveyance information including a current position or a status of the workpiece container or the workpiece container group, in an order of conveyance of the workpieces or the workpiece containers. See 1:50-60 (inferring a storage means from the robot motion controller being configured to record the identity, position, and orientation of objects travelling along the conveyor belt and transmit such data in the form of an output queue to the robots downstream).
In regards to claim 9, Sager further discloses that the system further comprises a conveyance information updating unit configured to update conveyance information including a current position of the workpiece or the workpiece group or conveyance information including a current position of the workpiece container or the workpiece container group, based on a movement amount of a conveyance device that conveys the workpieces or the workpiece containers. See 3:1-12 & 6:33-46 (generating an object location queue for picking up objects within the robot’s work area and continuously adjusting the queue as items are conveyed downstream to coordinate pick-and-place operations with the robot).
In regards to claim 10, Sager further discloses that the controller further comprises a conveyance information updating unit configured to update conveyance information including a status of the workpiece or the workpiece group or conveyance information including a status of the workpiece container or the workpiece container group, based on a work performance of the machine, or a type of the workpiece or a type of the workpiece container, which is picked up by the machine. See 8:1-24 (generating an object location queue for picking up objects within the robot’s work area and continuously adjusting the queue as items are picked up and removed from the conveyor belt upstream).
In regards to claim 11, Sager further discloses that the decision unit includes: a distance calculation unit (104) configured to calculate a distance between current positions included in conveyance information of the workpieces adjacent to each other or the workpiece group adjacent to each other or a distance between current positions included in conveyance information of the workpiece containers adjacent to each other or the workpiece container group adjacent to each other; and a determination unit (104) configured to determine whether or not the workpiece is picked up or is taken out to the workpiece container, based on the calculated distance. See 8:34-39 (declining to pick up overlapping objects because of the robot’s inability to determine which object is on top and should be picked up first).
In regards to claim 12, Sager further discloses that the decision unit includes a determination unit (104) configured to determine whether or not the workpiece is picked up or is taken out to the workpiece container, based on a status included in conveyance information of the workpiece or the workpiece group or conveyance information of the workpiece container or the workpiece container group. See 6:33-46 (determining whether an object can be picked up based the object being within reach of the robot and not too close to the robot’s work area boundaries).
In regards to claim 13, Sager further discloses that the control unit generates a command for taking out one workpiece to one workpiece container, or generates a command for taking out the specified number of workpieces to one workpiece container. See 7:14-57 (directing the robot to collectively pick and place objects based on a predefined optimum number of objects to be picked at one time).
In regards to claim 14, Sager further discloses that the machine includes an extendable hand (114), and the control unit generates a command for extending or retracting the hand, based on a current position included in conveyance information of the workpiece determined to be picked up or a current position included in the conveyance information of the workpiece container determining that the workpiece is taken out to the workpiece container. See 2:31-48 & 7:48-56 (directing the robot to collectively pick and place objects based on a predefined optimum number of objects to be picked at one time).
Claim 15 is rejected under § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sager, supra. For claim 15, Sager discloses a mechanical system comprising:
a plurality of machines (100, 101, 102, and 103); and
a decision unit (104, 105, 106, and 107) configured to determine, for each of the plurality of machines, whether or not a workpiece being conveyed is picked up or is taken out to a workpiece container (see col. 6, ll. 33-66 for providing a robot motion controller configured to receive an output queue from the image processing unit upstream, the output queue containing the locations of objects that have not been picked up from the conveyor belt for one reason or another); and
a control unit (104, 105, 106, and 107) configured to control the machine by generating, for each of the plurality of machines, a command for collectively picking up a specified number of the workpieces or a command for collectively taking out the specified number of the workpieces, based on the determination whether or not the workpiece is picked up or taken out (see col. 6, ll. 33-66 for providing a robot motion controller configured to receive an output queue from the image processing unit upstream, the output queue containing the locations of objects that have not been picked up from the conveyor belt for one reason or another).
Relevant Prior Art
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Pub. No. 2010/0094453 to Nishihara et al. discloses a handling system able to efficiently process information relating to a plurality of conveyed articles, the handling system provided with a conveyer for conveying workpieces, a visual sensor for detecting positions of workpieces by acquiring images of a plurality of tracking ranges obtained by dividing a belt into sections, an encoder for detecting an amount of movement of the belt, a tracking manager for monitoring amounts of movement of the plurality of tracking ranges based on the amount of movement detected by the encoder and specifying the tracking range passing through a workpiece detection area, a workpiece manager for selecting the article in the tracking range specified by the tracking manager, and a controller for controlling operations of robots so as to hold the workpiece selected by the workpiece manager.
US Pub. No. 2015/0151430 to Koyanagi et al. discloses a robot system comprising an information acquisition unit, a plurality of robots, and an information providing unit. The information acquisition unit acquires information related to articles conveyed on a conveyance path. The plurality of robots transfers the articles from the conveyance path. The information providing unit provides information related to transfer target articles to a robot that transfers articles on the immediately downstream side of an acquisition position of the information on the conveyance path, and for a robot that transfers articles on the downstream side of the aforementioned robot, the information providing unit provides information related to articles that are not transferred by a robot on the immediately upstream side of the robot.
US Pub. No. 2020/0156236 to Lager et al. a method for controlling movement sequences of a robot, the method including predicting values of at least one parameter related to the execution of alternative movement sequences by the robot, where each movement sequence includes at least one movement segment associated with a handling location; selecting a movement sequence based on the predicted values of the at least one parameter; and executing the selected movement sequence by the robot. A control system for controlling movement sequences of a robot is also provided.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYLE LOGAN whose telephone number is 571.270.7769. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 9-5 PM.
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/KYLE O LOGAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655