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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 11 recite “follow substantially a straight path”. The term substantially in these claims is considered indefinite because it is unclear what following a straight path substantially refers to in the context of the claim. The term substantially means “to some extent”, and thus “following a straight path to some extent” is considered vague and indefinite in the context of the claim. Therefore, the metes and bounds of the claims are ill-defined. Claims 2-10, and 12-20 depend from claims 1 and 11, include all of their limitations but do not cure their deficiencies, rendering them rejected under the same rationale. For examination purposes, the substantially straight path is broadly interpreted in view of the teachings of the reference cited herein.
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.
Claims 1-9, and 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee (EP3521965A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Lee discloses an autonomous outdoor work vehicle ([0002]: “A typical example of a moving robot used for a home's outdoor environment is a lawn mower robot”) comprising:
a body having a right side and a left side and a front and a rear ([0025]: “a moving robot 100 includes a body 110 that defines an exterior of the moving robot 100”);
a right drive wheel mounted on the right side of the body near the rear of the body, and a left drive wheel mounted on the left side of the body near the rear of the body ([0060]: “The driving wheel 121 may include a first wheel 121 (L) and a second wheel 121 (R), which are provided on the left and right sides and rotatable independently of each other”; “The first wheel 121 (L) and the second wheel 121 (R) are arranged in a lower side at the rear of the body 110”),
the right and left drive wheels being driven by one or more motors configured to apply differential and varying torque to each of the right drive wheel and the left drive wheel in order to move the vehicle in a desired path ([0061]: “when a rotation direction of the first wheel 121 (L) and a rotation direction of the second wheel 121 (R) are different from each other, the body 110 is rotatable against the ground surface”; Note: Independent wheels implies differential driving; [0062]: “A shaft of the first driving motor 123(L) may be fixed to the center of the first wheel 121 (L), and a shaft of the second driving motor 123(R) may be fixed to the center of the second wheel 121”);
at least one pivotable caster wheel mounted near the front of the body such that the body is supported on the ground by at least the left drive wheel, the right drive wheel, and the at least one pivotable caster wheel ([0071]: “The caster supporting a rotation shaft of the auxiliary wheel 125 is coupled to the frame 111 to be rotatable about a vertical axis”);
a sensor connected to the body configured to sense or estimate the direction of gravity relative to the vehicle ([0110]: “The sensing unit 170 includes a tilt information acquisition unit 180 which acquires tilt information on a tilt of a travelling surface (S)”; [0111]: “The gyro sensing module 176a may acquire information on a rotational angular speed of the body 110 relative to the horizontal plane. Specifically, the gyro sensing module 176a may sense a rotational angular speed which is parallel to the horizontal plane about the X and Y axes orthogonal to each other. By merging a rotational angular speed (roll) about the X axis and a rotational angular speed (pitch) about the Y axis with the processing module, it is possible to calculate a rotational angular speed relative to the horizontal plane. By integrating the rotational angular speed relative to the horizontal plane, it is possible calculate a tilt value”);
one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations ([0101]: “The moving robot 100 includes a storage 166 which stores various types of information. The storage 166 stores various types of information necessary to control the moving robot 100”; [0124]: “The moving robot 100 includes the controller 190 which controls autonomous travelling”) comprising:
receiving sensor data from the sensor indicative of the direction of gravity relative to the vehicle ([0136]: “The compensation processing module 193 may receive the tilt information directly from the tilt information acquisition unit 180 or through the inclination mode determination algorithm 191”);
determining with the one or more processors, based at least in part on the sensor data, a set of compensation torques comprising a right compensation torque to be applied to the right drive wheel and a left compensation torque to be applied to the left drive wheel, respectively, the set of compensation torques determined such that when applied to the right drive wheel and to the left drive wheel in combination with additional control input torques the vehicle will follow substantially a straight path when moving on a sloped surface ([0138]: “the compensation processing module 193 may perform a predetermined compensation control (straight movement compensation, rotational movement compensation) to match an actual route Tr and Cr with a target route Tt and Ct as much as possible”; “unless the compensation module 192 performs the compensation control when the moving robot 100 travels on a travelling surface Shaving an inclination equal to or greater than the predetermined reference inclination, it is not possible to offset slipping of the moving robot 100 in a downward inclination direction SL of the travel surface S”); and
driving the one or more motors using the set of compensation torques and the additional control input torques at each respective right drive wheel and left drive wheel ([0125]: “inclination, it is not possible to offset slipping of the moving robot 100 in a downward inclination direction SL of the travel surface S”).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Lee discloses the additional control input torques comprise a set of individual torque commands for each of the right drive wheel and left drive wheel that are determined based on feedback control for linear forward velocity of the vehicle and feedback control for angular velocity of the vehicle ([0143]: “the moving robot 100 may acquire predetermined navigation information NI. The navigation information NI is information about an error between a target route and an actual route”; “As the navigation information NI about such an error is input to the compensation processing module 193, the compensation processing module 193 is capable of learning by itself.”; Note: Route error necessarily represents linear and angular deviation, and is used as feedback to adjust wheel control).
Regarding claim 3, Lee discloses the one or more motors comprise a left drive motor driving the left drive wheel, and a right drive motor driving the right drive wheel, and wherein each of the left drive motor and the right drive motor are electric motors ([0062]: “A shaft of the first driving motor 123(L) may be fixed to the center of the first wheel 121 (L), and a shaft of the second driving motor 123(R) may be fixed to the center of the second wheel 121”).
Regarding claims 4 and 15, Lee discloses the at least one pivotable caster wheel comprises a left caster wheel mounted to the left side of the body near the front of the body and a right caster wheel mounted to the right side of the body near the front of the body ([0071]: “The caster supporting a rotation shaft of the auxiliary wheel 125 is coupled to the frame 111 to be rotatable about a vertical axis. There may be provided a first auxiliary wheel 125(L) arranged on the left side, and a second auxiliary wheel 125(R) arranged on the right side”).
Regarding claim 5, Lee discloses determining the set compensation torques further comprises calculating with the one or more processors a slope force and a slope moment on the body based on the sensed direction of gravity from the sensor ([0137]: “The compensation processing module 193 may
perform a compensation control based on the acquired tilt information”; [0138]: “unless the compensation module 192 performs the compensation control when the moving robot 100 travels on a travelling surface S having an inclination equal to or greater than the predetermined reference it is not possible to offset slipping of the moving robot 100 in a downward inclination direction SL of the travel surface S and there may be a considerable difference between the target route Tt and Ct and the actual route Tr and Cr”; Note: Tilt relative to gravity and downhill slipping implies gravity force component and moment being counteracted).
Regarding claim 6, Lee discloses the slope moment on the body is calculated based at least in part on the actual or estimated mass of the vehicle and the distance from a center between the left drive wheel and the right drive wheel to a center of mass of the vehicle (Fig. 11, referenced in paragraph [0021] and discussed in [0137]-[0141]); Fig. 11 is a conceptual diagram of analysis of forces applied to the moving robot 100 in the case Q where straight movement compensation is performed.”; Note: Force analysis inherently depends on robot mass and geometry, which determine gravitational moment).
Regarding claim 7, Lee discloses the slope force and the slope moment are calculated based at least in part on pitch and roll of the vehicle relative to the direction of gravity ([0111]: “the gyro sensing module 176a may sense a rotational angular speed which is parallel to the horizontal plane about the X and Y axes orthogonal to each other. By merging a rotational angular speed (roll) about the X axis and a rotational angular speed (pitch) about the Y axis with the processing module, it is possible to calculate a rotational angular speed relative to the horizontal plane”; [0137]: “The compensation processing module 193 may perform a compensation control based on the acquired tilt information”).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Lee discloses determining the set compensation torques further comprises retrieving the compensation torques stored in the one or more non-transitory computer readable media based on a current state of the vehicle ([0131]: “The controller 190 may determine whether a predetermined inclination mode condition is satisfied, based on the acquired tilt information.”; [0134]: “the inclination mode condition may be preset to be satisfied when a tilt value Ag corresponding to tilt information acquired at a current position exceeds a predetermined reference value”; [0137]: “The compensation processing module 193 may perform a compensation control based on the acquired tilt information”; [0139]: “Once the activation mode is activated, the compensation processing module 193 performs the compensation control”; Note: Compensation control (and thus compensation values) are selected/retrieved based on the current tilt state of the vehicle).
Regarding claims 9 and 18, Lee discloses wherein determining the set compensation torques further comprises retrieving data stored in the one or more non-transitory computer readable media based on a current position of the vehicle ([0143]: “the moving robot 100 may acquire predetermined navigation information NI”; “if there is a difference between the target route and the actual route, the difference may be recognized as the error”; Note: Navigation error is computed from where the robot currently is relative to where it should be, i.e. position based data retrieval).
Regarding claim 13, Lee discloses the operations include calculating the additional control input torques ([0137]: “The compensation processing module 193 may perform a compensation control based on the acquired tilt information”).
Regarding claim 14, Lee discloses the one or more motors comprise a left drive motor driving the left drive wheel, and a right drive motor driving the right drive wheel, and wherein each of the left drive motor and the right drive motor are electric motors ([0079]: “The moving robot 100 includes a battery… The battery provides power to the first driving motor 123 (L). The battery provides power for the second driving motor 123 (R)”).
Regarding claim 16, Lee discloses determining the set of compensation torques includes calculating the set of compensation torques with the one or more processors ([0124]; [0137]).
Regarding claim 19, Lee discloses the operations include calculating the gravity moment on the vehicle at least based on the received sensor data ([0110]; Fig. 11).
Regarding claim 20, Lee discloses the sensor is configured to determine at least one of a forward velocity of the vehicle or angular velocity of the vehicle, and wherein the operations further include receiving at least one of the forward velocity of the vehicle or angular velocity of the vehicle, and determining the additional control input torques based at least on at least one of the forward velocity of the vehicle or angular velocity of the vehicle ([0116]: “The acceleration sensing module 176b has an acceleration sensing function..”; [0143]: “navigation information NI is information about an error between a target route and an actual route”; [0137]-[0141]: compensation based on this information).
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 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of LEE JAEKWANG (EP-4070168-B1).
Regarding claim 10, Lee does not explicitly state determining the set compensation torques further comprises retrieving the compensation torques stored in the one or more non-transitory computer readable media based on a current position of the vehicle on a stored map and a surface normal stored in the map and associated with the current position of the vehicle.
On the other hand, LEE JAEKWANG teaches determining the set compensation torques further comprises retrieving the compensation torques stored in the one or more non-transitory computer readable media based on a current position of the vehicle on a stored map and a surface normal stored in the map and associated with the current position of the vehicle ([0125]: “The travel map may be updated through a sensor (not shown) provided in the lawn mower robot”; [0126]: “Specifically, the sensor of the lawn mower robot may calculate roll, pitch, and yaw values of the lawn mower robot. Therefore, the lawn mower robot may acquire terrain information such as the location of the lawn mower robot on the travel map, and the height and inclination at the location”; [0127]: “By updating the travel map through the travel of the lawn mower robot, a more precise travel map may be completed”).
It would have been obvious for someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the current application to modify the teachings of the Lee reference and include features from the LEE JAEKWANG reference with a reasonable expectation of success. Retrieving stored compensation values based on surface orientation from a stored map is a straightforward design choice to improve responsiveness and reduce computation.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
PJEVACH (US-20210116911-A1) discloses a robotic lawn mower includes a first wheel driven by a first electric wheel motor, a second wheel driven by a second electric wheel motor, a cutting implement driven by an electric cutting implement motor, a power system for powering the electric wheel motors and the electric cutting implement motor, and a controller configured to control operation of the electric wheel motors and the electric cutting implement motor to autonomously mow a yard. The power system includes multiple removable rechargeable battery modules and multiple receptacles, each receptacle configured to receive one of the battery modules.
Sandin (US-20080109126-A1) discloses a robot lawnmower includes a body and a drive system carried by the body and configured to maneuver the robot across a lawn. The robot also includes a grass cutter and a swath edge detector, both carried by the body. The swath edge detector is configured to detect a swath edge between cut and uncut grass while the drive system maneuvers the robot across the lawn while following a detected swath edge. The swath edge detector includes a calibrator that monitors uncut grass for calibration of the swath edge detector. In some examples, the calibrator comprises a second swath edge detector.
Bergstrom (US-10149430-B2) discloses a robotic work tool (100) configured for improved turning in a slope (S), said robotic work tool comprising a slope detector (190), at least one magnetic field sensor (170), a controller (110), and at least two driving wheels (130″), the robotic work tool (100) being configured to detect a boundary wire (250) and in response thereto determine if the robotic work tool (100) is in a slope (S), and if so, perform a turn by rotating each wheel (130″) at a different speed thereby reducing a risk of the robotic work tool (100) getting stuck.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAHIRA BAAJOUR whose telephone number is (313)446-6602. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 6:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SCOTT BROWNE can be reached at (571) 270-0151. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHAHIRA BAAJOUR/Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/SCOTT A BROWNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666