DETAILED ACTION
This non-final rejection is responsive to the claims filed 13 March 2024. Claims 1-16 are pending. Claims 1 and 15 are independent claims.
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
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.
Claims 1-3, 7-11, and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chitta (US 2020/0047331 A1) hereinafter known as Chitta.
Regarding independent claim 1, Chitta teaches:
A control device for controlling a holding device capable of holding an object, (Chitta: ¶[0004]; Chitta teaches a control system for gripping object using vacuum suction cups.)
the control device being configured to calculate a first position at which a first object is held by the holding device, (Chitta: Fig. 3A and ¶[0032]-¶[0033]; Chitta teaches computing a grasp pose for each candidate box.)
...
...
An embodiment of Chitta does not explicitly teach but another embodiment teaches:
determine whether the holding device is capable of coming into contact with another object when the holding device is present at the first position, and (Chitta: ¶[0021] and ¶[0039]; Chitta teaches determining whether the gripper will come into contact with the neighboring object.)
calculate a second position at which the holding device comes into contact with the first object and does not come into contact with the other object in a case where the holding device is capable of coming into contact with the other object. (Chitta: ¶[0021] and ¶[0039]; Chitta teaches determining whether the gripper will come into contact with the neighboring object. If so, Chitta teaches deactivating the overlapping suction cups. The foregoing teaches the second position.)
Chitta is in the same field of endeavor as the present invention, as it is directed to suction cup holding devices. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art, to combine a holding device utilizing suction cups which detect objects for pickup to further determine a position which prevents an overlap with the neighboring object. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine these teachings because the combination would yield allowing avoiding the neighboring objects, as suggested by Chitta: ¶[0021] and ¶[0039].
Regarding claim 2, Chitta further teaches the device according to claim 1.
Chitta further teaches:
wherein a first measurement result is received from a first measuring instrument configured to measure the object from the first direction, the first measurement result includes a position and a size of the object on a first surface intersecting a first direction, and the first position is calculated using the first measurement result. (Chitta: ¶[0023], ¶[0025], and ¶[0032]-¶[0033]; Chitta teaches using data obtained from the visual sensor mounted above the container to locate the candidate boxes, which have different sizes and heights; and further, computing the grasp poses for each of the candidate boxes.)
Regarding claim 3, Chitta further teaches the device according to claim 2.
Chitta further teaches:
wherein in the determination, it is determined whether the holding device is capable of coming into contact with the other object using the first measurement result and a measurement error on the first surface. (Chitta: ¶[0021] and ¶[0039]; Chitta teaches determining whether the gripper will come into contact with the neighboring object. If so, Chitta teaches deactivating the overlapping suction cups. However, Chitta teaches activating the smallest zone Z for gripping the target box, instead of the available zones. The foregoing is interpreted as an error.)
Regarding claim 7, Chitta further teaches the device according to claim 1.
Chitta further teaches:
wherein in a case where the holding device is capable of coming into contact with the other object, the second position is calculated by changing a position of the holding device from the first position from a contact region between the holding device and the other object toward a contact region between the holding device and the first object. (Chitta: ¶[0021] and ¶[0039]; Chitta teaches determining whether the gripper will come into contact with the neighboring object. If so, Chitta teaches deactivating the overlapping suction cups. The foregoing teaches the second position.)
Regarding claim 8, Chitta further teaches the device according to claim 1.
Chitta further teaches:
wherein it is determined whether the first object is capable of being held by the holding device at the second position, and in a case where the first object is capable of being held, the holding device is caused to hold the first object. (Chitta: Fig. 3A and ¶[0032]-¶[0033]; Chitta teaches computing a grasp pose for each candidate box and picking up the objects.)
Regarding claim 9, Chitta further teaches the device according to claim 8.
Chitta further teaches:
wherein in a case where the holding device is not capable of holding the first object at the second position, another first position at which a second object is held by the holding device is calculated. (Chitta: Fig. 3E and ¶[0034]; Chitta teaches computing multiple offset grasp poses.)
Regarding claim 10, Chitta further teaches the device according to claim 1.
Chitta further teaches:
wherein the holding device includes a plurality of suction pads, and at least a part of the plurality of the suction pads holds an upper surface of the first object. (Chitta: ¶[0033]; Chitta teaches suction pads for holding the object.)
Regarding claim 11, Chitta further teaches:
Chitta further teaches:
A holding system comprising: the control device according to claim 1; and
the holding device including a plurality of suction pads, wherein the control device causes at least a part of the plurality of the suction pads to hold the first object at the first position or the second position. (Chitta: ¶[0026] and ¶[0039]; Chitta teaches using suction cups to pick up an object. Chitta further teaches determining whether the gripper will come into contact with the neighboring object. If so, Chitta teaches deactivating the overlapping suction cups. The foregoing teaches the second position.)
Regarding claim 14, Chitta further teaches:
Chitta further teaches:
A cargo handling device comprising: the control device according to claim 1; the holding device including a plurality of suction pads; and a conveying device on which the first object held by the holding device is placed and which conveys the placed first object. (Chitta: ¶[0026] and ¶[0039]; Chitta teaches using suction cups to pick up and move an object.)
Regarding claims 15 and 16, these claims recite a method and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that performs the function of claim 1; therefore, the same rationale for rejection applies.
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chitta in view of Otsuru (US 2019/0071267 A1) hereinafter known as Otsuru.
Regarding claim 4, Chitta further teaches the device according to claim 2.
Chitta does not explicitly teach but Otsuru further teaches:
wherein a second measurement result is received from a second measuring instrument configured to measure a size of the object from a direction intersecting the first direction, the second measurement result includes a position of the object on the first surface and a size of the object on a second surface crossing the intersecting direction is received, and the first position is calculated using the first measurement result and the second measurement result. (Otsuru: Fig. 4 and ¶[0041]; Otsuru teaches measuring the height of the cargo items.)
Chitta and Otsuru are in the same field of endeavor as the present invention, as the references are directed to picking up cargo items using suction cup holding devices. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art, to combine a holding device that uses measurements to determine objects to pick up as taught in Chitta with using a second measurement, which intersects the first as taught in Otsuru. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Chitta to include teachings of Otsuru, because the combination would allow placing the device based on object heights, as suggested by Otsuru: Fig. 4.
Regarding claim 5, Chitta in view of Otsuru further teaches the device according to claim 4.
Chitta further teaches:
wherein in the determination, it is determined whether the holding device is capable of coming into contact with the other object using the first measurement result, the second measurement result, and a measurement error on the first surface. (Chitta: ¶[0023], ¶[0025], and ¶[0032]-¶[0033]; Chitta teaches using data obtained from the visual sensor mounted above the container to locate the candidate boxes, which have different sizes and heights; and further, computing the grasp poses for each of the candidate boxes. ¶[0021] and ¶[0039] further teach determining whether the gripper will come into contact with the neighboring object, using a measurement error.)
Otsuru further teaches:
... the second measurement result... (Otsuru: Fig. 4 and ¶[0041]; Otsuru teaches measuring the height of the cargo items to determine which cargo item to set to.)
Regarding claim 6, Chitta further teaches the device according to claim 3.
Chitta further teaches:
wherein in the determination, a first region is calculated by adding the measurement error to a holding region capable of holding an article in the holding device, and (Chitta: ¶[0023], ¶[0025], ¶[0032]-¶[0033], and ¶[0039]; Chitta teaches determining whether the gripper will come into contact with the neighboring object. Chitta activates the smallest zone and then activates the rest of the zones. The foregoing teaches adding the measurement error.)
...
Otsuro further teaches:
in a case where the first region is aligned with the other object in the first direction and a distance in the first direction between a first surface of the first object intersecting the first direction and a second surface of the other object intersecting the first direction is less than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the holding device is capable of coming into contact with the other object. (Otsuru: Fig. 4 and ¶[0042]-¶[0043]; Otsuru teaches determining the level difference on the upper surface to distinguish different objects. If there is no level difference, choosing the object that is the closet. If there is a level difference, choosing the object at the highest position. The threshold may be interpreted as being anything above a level difference.)
Chitta and Otsuru are in the same field of endeavor as the present invention, as the references are directed to picking up cargo items using suction cup holding devices. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art, to combine a holding device that uses measurements to determine objects to pick up without disturbing other objects as taught in Chitta with further using a height measurement to determine which object to pickup when there is a level difference between the surfaces as taught in Otsuru. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Chitta to include teachings of Otsuru, because the combination would allow efficiently unloading the objects, as suggested by Otsuru: Fig. 4 and ¶[0043].
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chitta in view of Eto (US 2021/0291366 A1) hereinafter known as Eto.
Regarding claim 12, Chitta further teaches the system according to claim 11.
Chitta does not explicitly teach but Eto further teaches:
wherein the control device causes the holding device to convey the held first object, and a conveying speed when the first object is held at the second position is lower than a conveying speed when the first object is held at the first position. (Eto: Fig. 15 and ¶[0129]-¶[0131]; Eto teaches determining conveying speed based on contact patch.)
Chitta and Eto are in the same field of endeavor as the present invention, as the references are directed to picking up and moving cargo items. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art, to combine a holding device that uses a number of suction cups to pick up items based on the size of the object and whether there are overlapping neighboring objects as taught in Chitta with using determining the conveying speed based on the contact patch to the object as taught in Eto. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Chitta to include teachings of Eto, because the combination would allow efficient movement of the object, as suggested by Eto: ¶[0130]-¶[0131].
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chitta in view of Porras (US 7,000,964 B1) hereinafter known as Porras.
Regarding claim 13, Chitta further teaches the system according to claim 11.
Chitta does not explicitly teach but Porras further teaches:
wherein the holding device includes a plurality of flow paths respectively connected to the plurality of suction pads, and a plurality of throttle joints respectively provided in the plurality of flow paths, and configured to close the flow paths according to an air flow. (Porras: Fig. 1 and col. 2, lines 44-51 and col. 3, lines 42-67; Porras teaches suction cup assembly which contains valves and apertures to control a vacuum.)
Porras is in the same field of endeavor as the present invention, as the references are directed to suction cups. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art, to combine a holding device that uses a number of suction cups to pick up items as taught in Chitta with the suction cups controlling flow paths through throttle joints as taught in Porras. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Chitta to include teachings of Et Porras o, because the combination would allow creating a vacuum, as suggested by Porras: col. 3, lines 42-67.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEX OLSHANNIKOV whose telephone number is (571)270-0667. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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/ALEKSEY OLSHANNIKOV/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2118
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