DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 12/28/2023, 02/20/2026, and 02/23/2026 were considered by the examiner.
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 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Timothy et al. (International Application Publication No. 2019/241816 ) in view of Timothy et al. (German Application Publication No. 102013101659), hereinafter Timothy-2.
Regarding claim 18, Timothy discloses 18 a storage and picking system for picking articles (para. [0186]; Fig. 2. 1b) comprising:
a first subsystem in which articles can be provided (Fig. 2, first subsystem 10);
a second subsystem in which articles can be provided (Fig. 2, second subsystem 12);
an order-processing computer (para. [0186]; Fig. 2, order computer 5);
a first picking station for the loading of an order loading aid assigned to the respective order with the articles of the first order part of the orders (para. [0188], [0193]; Fig. 2, articles 2 shown picked from storage 10 on to loading aid 11 which implies a picking station);
a second picking station for the loading of the order loading aid assigned to the respective order with the articles of the second order part of the orders (para. [0188]; Fig. 2, articles 3 picked from storage 12 on to loading aid 13);
a control device for the definition of a target article sequence in which the articles of the second order parts of the orders are provided at the second picking station of the storage and picking system, wherein the target article sequence specifies a target order sequence in which the orders at the second picking station are processed (para. [0218]);
a sorting device for sorting the articles of the second order parts of the orders according to the target article sequence (para. [0218]; Fig. 2, sorting device 24); and
a second transport system for delivering the articles of the second order parts of the orders to the sorting device and for removing the articles of the second order parts from the sorting device and delivering the articles of the second order parts of the order to the second picking station according to the target article sequence (Fig. 2, second transport 15a from sorting device to second picking station 16).
Timothy does not teach a temporary storage for buffering the order loading aids;
a first transport system for the transportation of the order loading aid from the first picking station to the temporary storage and for the retrieval of the order loading aid from the temporary storage and delivery of the order loading aid to a second picking station.
Timothy-2 teaches a temporary storage for buffering the order loading aids (para. [0055]; Fig. 1, temporary storage 11);
a first transport system for the transportation of the order loading aid from the first picking station to the temporary storage and for the retrieval of the order loading aid from the temporary storage and delivery of the order loading aid to a second picking station (para. [0055]; Fig. 1, transport system 12 delivering items to temporary storage 11 and transport system 13 for removing items from buffer 10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify storage and picking system of Timothy to incorporate the teachings in Timothy-2 of including a temporary storage for buffering the order loading aids and a first transport system for the transportation of the order loading aid from the first picking station to the temporary storage and for the retrieval of the order loading aid from the temporary storage and delivery of the order loading aid to a second picking station in order to improve the picking efficiency by providing a buffer to store fast-moving product groups so they are available in the immediate vicinity of the picking station with no downtime between the processing of picking orders (Timothy-2: para. [0022]).
Regarding claim 19, Timothy in view of Timothy-2 disclose all limitations of claim 18. Timothy further discloses a computer is configured for:
i) the acquisition of a plurality of orders and determination of the articles comprised by the respective order (para. [0168], [0203]), and/or
ii) the determination of a first order part having a first part of the articles comprised by the respective order which are provided in the first subsystem of the storage and picking system for each order of the acquired orders (para. [0204]-[0206]; First order part 6 with items 2 removed from storage area 10 ), and/or
iii) for the determination of a second order part having a second part of the articles comprised by the respective order which are provided in the second subsystem for each order of the acquired orders (para. [0204]-[0206]; Second order part 7 with items 3 removed from storage area 12).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-17 allowed.
Claim 19 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.
Claim 20 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Parrott (US 20200317450) discloses a warehouse order fulfillment system in which a customer orders are received by an order processing computer and divided in to multiple order parts that are processes in parallel across a returns buffer and a warehouse storage. The system further includes transport mechanism for moving items between returns buffer and warehouse storage and a pick workstation. The system further discloses sortation systems a control system that releases the items from their respective sortation systems such that they are transported independently and arrive at the second picking station at the same time (para. [0025]-[0026], [0034], [0038]; Figs. 1, 3)
Jarvis (US 20180127211) discloses a hybrid modular storage fetching system that generates at task list including tasks for a first and second AGV, instruct the first cart AGV to retrieve a first item in the order from a first storage area based on the task list and deliver the first item to a pick-cell station, and also instruct a second picking AGV to retrieve a second item of the order from a second storage area and deliver the second item to the pick-cell station. The system also discloses a buffer queue for the cart AGV to hold picked items in the event of a pick-cell unavailability (para. [0042], [0055],[0098], para. [0120]; Fig. 3A).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TEMESGEN M. MARU whose telephone number is (571)272-0039. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 8:00AM-5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jacob Scott can be reached at (571)270-3415. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TEMESGEN M. MARU/ Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3655
/JACOB S. SCOTT/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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