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 .
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) 1, 3-11, 13-21, and 23-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schoonmaker et al. (US 20130013251; hereinafter Schoonmaker) in view of Wu (US 20210002859).
Regarding claim 1, Schoonmaker discloses a method for preventing and mitigating collisions between an apparatus and an exclusionary zone that is taught to a machine (see abstract and 0040), the method comprising:
moving the apparatus to a plurality of positions to establish data points defining the exclusionary zone (see para 0039, 0050, 0057 and 00287, more specifically as the movement occurs those points of movements are used to establish how the boundardy is defined, the BRI of the establishment is not that the dipper moves to an extreme position or safe position, rather that the establishment is done based on some amount of movement);
generating, a virtual model of the exclusionary zone by extrapolating virtual boundaries of the exclusionary zone from the data points (0057-0058, 0060-0065, as the exclusionary zone is defined it’s a virtual model because it is in memory);
receiving apparatus position data indicative of a position of the apparatus (0060-0065); setting, based on the dipper position data, a motion command limit for a apparatus motion (0057-0063), the dipper motion being selected from a group of a swing motion, a crowd motion, and a hoist motion (0042-0043, 0057,0059); comparing an apparatus motion command input to the motion command limit (0057, 0059, 0318, the examiner notes that the art teaches controlling the motion which may include slowing, stopping, and/or altering direction of the motion); and controlling the motion according to a motion command limited by the motion command limit (0057, 0059, 0318, the examiner notes that the art teaches controlling the motion which may include slowing, stopping, and/or altering direction of the motion).
Schoonmaker fails to teach … a dipper … a mining machine
… moving the dipper to a plurality of positions to establish data points defining the exclusionary zone, … the dipper
… receiving during operation of the mining machine, dipper indicative of a position of the dipper;
… dipper … dipper
… a dipper motion … the dipper motion … the dipper motion … a dipper motion command
However, in the same field of endeavor of mitigating collisions, Wu does teach a dipper … a mining machine (Wu: Fig. 1A, ¶ 23)
… moving the dipper to a plurality of positions to establish data points defining the exclusionary zone, … the dipper (Wu: Fig. 4 100R, 100L, ¶ 101, 102, 152)
… receiving during operation of the mining machine, dipper indicative of a position of the dipper; (Wu: ¶ 139, 146)
… dipper … dipper (Wu: Fig. 4 100R, 100L, ¶ 101, 102, 152)
… a dipper motion … the dipper motion … the dipper motion … a dipper motion command (Wu: Fig. 4 100R, 100L, ¶ 45, 101, 102, 152)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and with reasonable likelihood of success, to have modified Schoonmaker with the dipper as taught by Wu. In doing so would aid in operating efficiently while avoiding collision. (Wu: ¶ 22)
Regarding claim 3, Schoonmaker teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
moving … to a second plurality of positions to establish data points defining a second exclusionary zone, (Schoonmaker: ¶ 318) the second exclusionary zone including a power supply line for the mining machine; (Schoonmaker: ¶ 55, Note: The examiner notes that the prior art teaches a secondary exclusion zone where sections of the machine are included in the exclusionary zone, and may include power lines.)
determining, by the electronic processor, further data points for the second
generating a second virtual model of the second exclusionary zone by extrapolating virtual boundaries of the second exclusionary zone from the further data points; (Schoonmaker: ¶ 55, 57, 58, 63, 65)
receiving during operation of …, further … position data indicative of an updated position of the …; (Schoonmaker)
inferring from the … position data, a distance between the … and the exclusionary zone of the …; (Schoonmaker: ¶ 69, 281, 318)
updating the motion command limit for … motion based on the distance; (Schoonmaker: ¶ 57, 59, 318) and
controlling the … motion according to a further … motion command limited by the motion command limit that was updated based on the distance between … and the second exclusionary zone. (Schoonmaker: ¶ 57, 59, 318, Note: The prior art shows that the motion of the machine may be controlled when it approaches an exclusion zone potentially by slowing, stopping, and/or altering the motion.)
Schoonmaker fails to teach … the dipper
… the mining machine … dipper …
However, in the same field of endeavor of mitigating collisions, Wu does teach … the dipper
… the mining machine … dipper … (Wu: Fig. 4 100R, 100L, ¶ 101, 102, 152)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and with reasonable likelihood of success, to have modified Schoonmaker with the dipper as taught by Wu. In doing so would aid in operating efficiently while avoiding collision. (Wu: ¶ 22)
Regarding claim 4, Schoonmaker teaches the method of claim 3, wherein setting the motion command limit for … motion based on the distance includes reducing the motion command limit (Schoonmaker: ¶ 318) from an initial value to a reduced value according to a first function that adjusts the motion command limit to be lower as the distance is reduced, and (Schoonmaker: ¶ 70, 71, 318)
wherein updating the motion command limit for … motion based on the distance includes reducing the motion command limit from an initial value to a reduced value according to a second function adjusts the motion command limit as the distance is reduced (Schoonmaker: ¶ 70, 71, 318), wherein the second function is more restrictive to motion than the first function. (Schoonmaker: ¶ 318)
Schoonmaker fails to teach … the dipper …
However, in the same field of endeavor of mitigating collisions, Wu does teach … the dipper … (Wu: Fig. 4 100R, 100L, ¶ 101, 102, 152)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and with reasonable likelihood of success, to have modified Schoonmaker with the dipper as taught by Wu. In doing so would aid in operating efficiently while avoiding collision. (Wu: ¶ 22)
Regarding claim 5, Schoonmaker teaches the method of claim 1, wherein, to set the motion command limit for … motion based on the distance between the dipper and the exclusionary zone inferred from … position data, the method further comprises at least one selected from the group of: (Schoonmaker: ¶ 299, 318)
calculating the distance and using the distance as an input to a distance-based function that defines the motion command limit based on the distance, and (Schoonmaker: ¶ 69)
using … position data as an input to a position-based function that defines the motion command limit based on … position data, where the position-based function is defined based on relationships between potential … positions and associated distances between the potential … positions and the exclusionary zone. (Schoonmaker: ¶ 103, Equations 2-1 to 2-9)
Schoonmaker fails to teach ... the dipper ...
However, in the same field of endeavor of mitigating collisions, Wu does teach ... the dipper … (Wu: Fig. 4 100R, 100L, ¶ 101, 102, 152)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and with reasonable likelihood of success, to have modified Schoonmaker with the dipper as taught by Wu. In doing so would aid in operating efficiently while avoiding collision. (Wu: ¶ 22)
Regarding claim 6, Schoonmaker teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a position of a three-dimensional virtual ... model in a three-dimensional coordinate system for the mining machine based on the dipper position data; (Schoonmaker: ¶ 129)
Schoonmaker fails to teach ... dipper ...
However, in the same field of endeavor of mitigating collisions, Wu does teach ... dipper ...
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and with reasonable likelihood of success, to have modified Schoonmaker with the dipper as taught by Wu. In doing so would aid in operating efficiently while avoiding collision. (Wu: ¶ 22)
Regarding claim 7, Schoonmaker teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the distance is a three-dimensional distance indicating a length across three dimensions of space. (Schoonmaker: ¶ 129)
Regarding claim 8, Schoonmaker teaches the method of claim 1, wherein setting the motion command limit for ... motion based on the distance comprises:
when the distance is below a stop region threshold, setting the motion command limit according to a stop region function, and (Schoonmaker: ¶ 318)
when the distance is above the stop region threshold and below a slow region threshold, setting the motion command limit according to a slow region function. (Schoonmaker: ¶ 70, 71, 318)
Schoonmaker fails to teach ... the dipper
However, in the same field of endeavor of mitigating collisions, Wu does teach ... the dipper ...
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and with reasonable likelihood of success, to have modified Schoonmaker with the dipper as taught by Wu. In doing so would aid in operating efficiently while avoiding collision. (Wu: ¶ 22)
Regarding claim 9, Schoonmaker teaches the method of claim 1, wherein ... motion is the crowd motion and motion command limit is a crowd motion command limit, the method further comprising:
setting a hoist motion command limit for the hoist motion based on the distance; and (Schoonmaker: ¶ 42-43, 163, 164, 318)
setting, by the electronic processor, a swing motion command limit for the swing motion based on the distance. (Schoonmaker: ¶ 42-43, 163, 164, 318)
Schoonmaker fails to teach ... the dipper ...
However, in the same field of endeavor of mitigating collisions, Wu does teach ... the dipper ...
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and with reasonable likelihood of success, to have modified Schoonmaker with the dipper as taught by Wu. In doing so would aid in operating efficiently while avoiding collision. (Wu: ¶ 22)
Regarding claim 10, Schoonmaker teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
repeatedly receiving ... position data indicative of the position of the dipper over time as the dipper moves; and (Schoonmaker: ¶ 61, 68)
updating the motion command limit based on the dipper position data as ... position data is repeatedly determined. (Schoonmaker: ¶ 61, 68, 301, 302)
Schoonmaker fails to teach ... the dipper ...
However, in the same field of endeavor of mitigating collisions, Wu does teach ... the dipper ...
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and with reasonable likelihood of success, to have modified Schoonmaker with the dipper as taught by Wu. In doing so would aid in operating efficiently while avoiding collision. (Wu: ¶ 22)
In regards to claims 11, 13-20, 21, and 23-30, the claims recite analogous limitations to claims 1, 3-10, and are therefore rejected under the same premise.
Claim(s) 2, 12, and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schoonmaker in view of Wu as applied to claims 1, 3-11, 13-21, and 23-30 above, and further in view of Duca (US 20190102712).
Regarding claim 2, Schoonmaker teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the exclusionary zone is based on a physical structure of at least one selected from the group of (Schoonmaker: ¶ 57, 70, 299): … a power cable reel of the mining machine; a power supply station; (Schoonmaker: ¶ 55, 57) ... and a truck configured to receive a load from the dipper, (Schoonmaker: ¶ 55) and wherein the data points defining the exclusionary zone are established by a one of contacting a surface of ... to the physical structure and positioning ... at a position offset by a desired distance from the physical structure. (Schoonmaker: ¶ 69, 281, 318)
Schoonmaker fails to teach … tracks of the mining machine ... the dipper ...
Schoonmaker fails to teach ... a hopper configured to receive a load from the dipper; ...
In regards to claims 12, and 22, the claims recite analogous limitations to claim 2, and are therefore rejected under the same premise.
Conclusion
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HUNTER B. LONSBERRY
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3665
/HUNTER B LONSBERRY/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3665
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