Do 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 .
Status of Claims
This communication is a Final Office Action in response to Applicant’s amendment for application number 18/693,553 received on 01/29/2026.
In accordance with Applicant’s amendment, claims 12 and 18 have been canceled. Claims 11, 13-16, and 20-21 are amended, currently pending, and have been examined.
Priority
Applicants claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119 and/or 35 U.S.C. 120 is acknowledged.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 01/29/2026 has been entered.
Applicant’s amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection set forth in this Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Response to §103 arguments – Applicant’s arguments (Remarks at pgs. 23-29) with respect to the §103 rejections previously applied to the original claims are primarily raised in support of the amendments to independent claim 11, which are believed to be fully addressed in the updated §103 rejections of the instant office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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) 11, 13, 15-16, and 20-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Angle et al. (US 20140207282 A1, hereinafter “Angle”), in view of Savey (US 3705422 A, hereinafter “Savey”).
Regarding Claim 11: Angle teaches a method ([0002] The present invention relates to mobile robots and, more particularly, to systems and methods including the same.) with the following limitations:
specifying, via a user, on a portable additional device at least one cleaning task to be executed in at least one predetermined time window, ([0188] With reference to the flowchart of FIG. 20, a computer-implemented method according to some embodiments of the present invention, or according to an invention disclosed herein, for receiving user commands for a remote cleaning robot and sending the user commands to the remote cleaning robot (the remote cleaning robot including a drive motor and a cleaning motor) is represented therein.; [0192] When activated, the scheduling button 514 will initiate a scheduling screen 502 as shown in FIG. 16. The user can use the control elements 502A-F therein to schedule a single cleaning operation/session or a periodic (e.g., weekly) cleaning operation/session by the robot 200.);
specifying a number of executions to be performed in the at least one predetermined time window and specifying further cleaning parameters and/or boundary conditions, ([0192] schedule a single cleaning operation/session or a periodic (e.g., weekly) cleaning operation/session by the robot 200.; [0252] The system may further be configured to provide operational messages to the user based on conditions sensed by the robot 200 and/or data collected or derived by the application. For example: Would you like to schedule a deep clean? When? You are not normally at home Tuesdays at 11--how about tomorrow at 11?);
the portable additional device including at least one of a cell phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a computer or a laptop; ([0077] A local user terminal 142, 300 (e.g., a PC, smartphone, or tablet computer) may be connected (wired or wirelessly) to the private network 160.);
generating in a self-acting manner, via the mobile, self-propelled floor- cleaning appliance a task allocation when which cleaning tasks are to be performed in the at least one predetermined time window using specified cleaning parameters and/or boundary conditions; ([0045] The mobile robot therefore compares time available in a schedule and based on the available time, selects which room or rooms to clean from a set of those with an expected cleaning duration less than the time available, in some embodiments, or in an invention disclosed herein and preceding, based on a score of which room or rooms dirtier than others, including the dirtiest.).
creating the task allocation with a scheduling algorithm and/or an optimization algorithm, the scheduling algorithm and/or optimization algorithm allocating cleaning jobs in the same rooms over the at least one predetermined time window automatically and without user intervention ([0045] The mobile robot therefore compares time available in a schedule and based on the available time, selects which room or rooms to clean from a set of those with an expected cleaning duration less than the time available; [0180] (1) Requesting the system (hub 110, robot 200, or either) to advantageously schedule household cleaning automatically in the best times available.; [0122] Path planning may be substantially direct (e.g., the shortest or fastest path, optionally using path planning algorithms such as variants of Dijkstra's, A* or D* algorithms). One of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret the path planning algorithms as optimization algorithms used to increase the efficiency and productivity of the mobile robot, and the times available, as a predetermined time window. One of ordinary skill in the art would also reasonably interpret “advantageously schedule household cleaning automatically in the best times available” as equivalent to the scheduling being done automatically and without user intervention.);
and automatically operating the mobile, self-propelled floor-cleaning appliance according to the created task allocation. ([0100] the system 100 uses data from one or more of the networked stationary sensors 120, 122, 124 to control or enhance operation of the mobile robot 200.).
usinq, by the schedulinq alqorithm and/or an optimization alqorithm, stored loq data from previous cleaninq iobs relatinq to a required and/or used battery chargeper room for predetermined cleaninq parameters and necessary times for recharqinq the battery when creatinq the task allocation ([0038] In addition or in the alternative, because the mobile robot may make multiple runs throughout a space and complete a same or similar room coverage mission more than once, covering one or more room or rooms in each run, the mobile robot is able to heuristically compare and aggregate readings over time, correct outlier readings, determine and improve confidence scores, e.g., "learn" how long it takes to clean each room on an individual sortie and how long it takes to clean multiple rooms in the space, including transition times therebetween and battery charging times between multi-sortie missions.; [0110] In some embodiments, cleaning readiness is a battery charge of the mobile robot 200, the corresponding cleaning readiness sensor relying on electronic coulometry and/or other battery charge state sensor, for example. Examiner notes that one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret electronic coulometry as the analysis of breaking down battery charge usage per cleaning job, including room by room analysis in order to be considered (through learning) by the system when creating the task allocation.).
the mobile, self-propelled appliance allocatinq the cleaninq tasks into different time windows of a weekday in advance in order to take battery recharqinq into account (([0252] The system may further be configured to provide operational messages to the user based on conditions sensed by the robot 200 and/or data collected or derived by the application (e.g., messages 528 and 506C in FIGS. 15 and 17). The operational messages may include robot status messages and/or inquiry messages. For example, the system may display on the device 300 "You should do a deep clean soon; quick shows that the amount of dirt is higher than average. Would you like to schedule a deep clean? When? You are not normally at home Tuesdays at 11--how about tomorrow at 11?"; [0110] In some embodiments, cleaning readiness is a battery charge of the mobile robot 200, the corresponding cleaning readiness sensor relying on electronic coulometry and/or other battery charge state sensor, for example. Examiner notes that one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret electronic coulometry as the analysis of breaking down battery charge usage per cleaning job, including room by room analysis in order to be considered by the system when creating the task allocation.).
Angle doesn’t explicitly teach:
such that duplication of tasks is avoided by having the scheduling algorithm and/or optimization algorithm check during scheduling or postponing tasks whether there are cleaning jobs for the same rooms in the corresponding time windows or on the corresponding day, and by ensuring that cleaning jobs for the same rooms are not executed on the same days;
Savey teaches:
such that duplication of tasks is avoided by having the scheduling algorithm and/or optimization algorithm check during scheduling or postponing tasks whether there are cleaning jobs for the same rooms in the corresponding time windows or on the corresponding day, and by ensuring that cleaning jobs for the same rooms are not executed on the same days; ([Column 8, Lines 42-58] This indication prevents uneconomic duplication of cleaning of the same room and also prevents failure to clean a room which has been vacated. At the end of each day, the housekeeper is enabled to look at panel 16 to observe which rooms have been cleaned that day, which have not been cleaned that day, which have not been cleaned that day, and which require cleaning because of check-out.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of applicant’s invention, to combine Angle with Savey’s features listed above. One would’ve been motivated to do so in order to provide for the housekeeper as well as for the registration clerk and up-to-the moment indication of the status of every room in the system with respect to cleanliness (Savey; [Column 8, Lines 39-43). By incorporating the teachings of Savey, one would’ve been able to avoid duplication of tasks.
Regarding Claim 13: Angle further teaches:
wherein a cleaning task that was scheduled by the user ([0192] The user can use the control elements 502A-F therein to schedule a single cleaning operation/session or a periodic (e.g., weekly) cleaning operation/session by the robot 200.);
but partially executed or prevented is rescheduled by the mobile, self-propelled floor-cleaning appliance itself. ([0100] the system 100 uses data from one or more of the networked stationary sensors 120, 122, 124 to control or enhance operation of the mobile robot 200. In some embodiments, or in an invention disclosed herein, the sensors 120, 122, 124, are occupancy sensors (e.g., passive IR motion detectors). When the sensors 122 detect a person P in a given zone A-C, the system 100 will cause the robot 200 to alter its operation to adapt to the occupancy.; [0180] (1) Requesting the system (hub 110, robot 200, or either) to advantageously schedule household cleaning automatically in the best times available.).
Regarding Claim 15: Angle further teaches:
which further comprises specifying a common time window and/or at least partially different time windows for the cleaning tasks to be executed. ([0252] The system may further be configured to provide operational messages to the user based on conditions sensed by the robot 200 and/or data collected or derived by the application (e.g., messages 528 and 506C in FIGS. 15 and 17). The operational messages may include robot status messages and/or inquiry messages. For example, the system may display on the device 300 "You should do a deep clean soon; quick shows that the amount of dirt is higher than average. Would you like to schedule a deep clean? When? You are not normally at home Tuesdays at 11--how about tomorrow at 11?").
Regarding Claim 16: Angle further teaches:
wherein the at least one predetermined time window includes specific days of a week and/or times of day. (Fig. 10 discloses an occupancy analysis where the schedule is visible by day of the week and includes the times of the day where there is a scheduled task; [0185] As depicted in FIGS. 10 and 11, when the end user activates the user interface element on a mobile device 300, the application executes a graphical representation of the occupancy database 400 and displays the same.).
Regarding Claim 20: Angle further teaches:
which further comprises showing the user unavailable time windows as warning notifications and/or information notifications regarding an improved task allocation on the portable additional device. ([0186] an end user may wish to be notified when the robot 200, hub 110, or combination of the two intend to launch a cleaning mission, even when the schedule has been approved (or the robot 200 is self-launching according to other criteria). This request notification 410 may be presented to the user on a remote user terminal 144, such as a remote mobile device 300; [0180] advantageously schedule household cleaning automatically in the best times available. One of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret the robot 200 self-launching according to other criteria as equivalent to an improved task allocation.).
Regarding Claim 21: Angle further teaches:
wherein the mobile, self-propelled floor-cleaning appliance is a robot vacuum cleaner and/or a sweeping robot and/or a mopping robot. ([0119] a household mobile robot 200 for "coverage" missions (sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, spreading fluid, and/or any combination of these).;
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Angle et al. (US 20140207282 A1, hereinafter “Angle”), in view of Savey (US 3705422 A, hereinafter “Savey”) as applied in 35 USC 103 rejection of claim 11 above, in further view of Ebrahimi et al. (US 20210089040 A1, hereinafter “Ebrahimi”).
Regarding Claim 14: Angle further teaches:
wherein the further cleaning parameters and/or boundary conditions are selected from the group consisting of:
a cleaning mode, ([0191] The cleaning strategy button 516 can be used to select from a plurality of different available cleaning modes);
a cleaning performance, ([0199] the robot can either go longer or repeat passes, or can increase motor power, or can otherwise do "more" (standard) or "less" (quick) cleaning.);
a maximum volume, ([0187] Using a known bin volume, the robot 200 may extrapolate the capacity occupied or remaining in the collection bin based on the amount and/or frequency of matter passing by the debris sensor. One of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret the robot 200’s known bin volume as a measure specifying the maximum volume capacity of robot 200.);
However, Angle doesn’t teach:
and a quantity of water.
Ebrahimi teaches:
and a quantity of water. ([0264 In some instances, the dustbin is emptied or the water tank is refilled when the dustbin or the water tank reaches a particular volume, after a certain amount of surface coverage by the robot, after a certain number of operational hours, after a predetermined amount of time, after a predetermined number of working sessions, or based on another metric.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of applicant’s invention, to combine modified Angle with Ebrahimi’s features listed above. One would’ve been motivated to do so in order to include a mopping module including at least a reservoir and a water pump driven by a motor for delivering water from the reservoir indirectly or directly to the driving surface (Ebrahimi; [0264]). By incorporating the teachings of Ebrahimi, one would’ve been able to use quantity of water as a cleaning parameter.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GABRIEL J TORRES CHANZA whose telephone number is (571)272-3701. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8am - 5pm ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Epstein can be reached on (571)270-5389. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/G.J.T./Examiner, Art Unit 3625
/BRIAN M EPSTEIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3625
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