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 .
Summary
This Final Office Action is in response to the communication received on July 1, 2026.
Claims 1, 3, 11, and 13 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
The earliest priority date of the claimed invention is November 13, 2023.
Response to Amendment
Amendments to Claims 1, 3, 11, and 13 are acknowledged. Amendments to Claims 1 and 11 are sufficient to overcome the Claim Objections and 35 USC § 112 rejection of Claims 1-20. Amendments to Claim 11 are sufficient to overcome the 35 USC § 101 rejection of Claims 11-20.
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pat Pub 2022/0138214 “Hattabaugh”, in view of US Pat Pub 2018/0075402 “Stadie”, in view of US Pat Pub 2018/0273298 “Wagner”.
As per Claims 1 and 11, Hattabaugh discloses an inspection logistics system and an inspection logistics optimization scheduling method, comprising:
a plurality of inspection facilities (Hattabaugh: [0033] The analytics system includes a data collection system for receiving real time data regarding processing at each of the plurality of object processing systems, each of the plurality of object processing systems including a programmable motion device that is programmed to process objects independent of other of the plurality of processing systems);
a linear motion system including a plurality of coils that move an inspection object disposed on a carrier to the plurality of inspection facilities (Hattabaugh: [0042] The analytics processing system 122 is also in communication with an in-feed conveyor controller 150 (that separately controls each of the in-feed conveyor speeds) as well as a destination conveyor controller 151 (that separately controls each of the destination conveyor speeds), as well as the a plurality of object processing systems 132, 134, 136, 138, each of which includes a data collection unit 142, 144, 146, 148 as well as a programmable motion device 152, 154, 156, 158.); and
a controller that controls movement of the carrier, the controller comprising a computer including a processor and a memory (Hattabaugh: [0042] The analytics processing system 122 is also in communication with an in-feed conveyor controller 150 (that separately controls each of the in-feed conveyor speeds) as well as a destination conveyor controller 151 (that separately controls each of the destination conveyor speeds), as well as the a plurality of object processing systems 132, 134, 136, 138, each of which includes a data collection unit 142, 144, 146, 148 as well as a programmable motion device 152, 154, 156, 158.), wherein the computer of the controller comprises:
a facility status updating unit that updates a status of the plurality of inspection facilities (Hattabaugh: [0045] At each processing station (step 1006) the system may then monitor any issues with regard to picking (step 1008), and may use motion rate detection as discussed above to monitor an down-time (starvation) at each processing station step 1010), as well as any backlogs (step 1012) at each processing station. The system may also monitor an instances of items being damaged (step 1014) as well as any issued with regard to identifying items (step 1016).);
updates information obtained from a search start point to all reachable inspection facilities, (Hattabaugh: [0021] a data collection system for receiving real time data regarding processing at each of the plurality of object processing systems); and
a weight determination unit that selects an inspection facility to which the carrier will move based on a facility status updated by the facility status update unit and information updated by the node recursive search unit (Hattabaugh: [0052] the reporting may involve non-metric image/video data, including for example, queryable images of products handled by the central system (returns), and queryable video of products handled by central system (returns). The reporting may also involve real-time anomaly detection, such as SKU changes involving packaging changes: graphics changes, dimensional changes, weight changes, and ganging (attaching other products together). In accordance with further aspects, the systems may provide facility insights (possibly from the WMS system or central system), and product velocity and destinations.);
characterized in that the controller is configured to control the carrier on which the inspection object is placed to move the inspection object to the selected inspection facility through at least one coil of the plurality of coils (Hattabaugh: [0046] With further reference to FIG. 7B, the system may then enable adjustment of all overall processing at the processing stations (step 1018). The system then conducts an iterative process of, while motion rate detection monitoring all flows (step 1020), reroute bins and boxes to steer them away areas of significant congestion/blockage (step 1022). More subtly however, the system makes small incremental changes to speeds of conveyors, both incrementally decreasing speeds of some conveyors for areas of blockages (step 1024), areas of identification issues (step 1026), areas of gripping issues (step 1028), and/or incrementally increasing speeds of other conveyors at areas of starvation (step 1030), all while monitoring by motion rate detection movement of all conveyors and PMDs.).
Hattabaugh fails to disclose Hattabaugh discloses an inspection logistics system and an inspection logistics optimization scheduling method, comprising:
a node recursive search unit that depth-first searches for nodes composed of connections between the plurality of coils, the search unit configured to determine a status and a quantity of all carriers disposed between the search start point and the reachable inspection facilities.
Stadie teaches an inspection logistics system and an inspection logistics optimization scheduling method, comprising:
a node recursive search unit that depth-first searches for nodes composed of connections between the plurality of coils (Stadie: [0208] A number of different algorithms and techniques may be used in determining a preferential path for a robot to take, including, but not limited to: branch and bound algorithms, constraint programming, local search, heuristics, graph-traversal, dynamic path learning advisor techniques, pruning techniques and Bayesian graph searching techniques, Dijikstra's algorithm, Bellman-Ford algorithm, Floyd-Warshall algorithm, Johnson's algorithm, breadth-first recursive searches and depth-first recursive searches, weighted paths, A* search algorithm, variants on A* search algorithm).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hattabaugh to include a recursive search unit as taught by Stadie, with the inspection logistics optimization as taught by Hattabaugh with the motivation to provide deliberate container placement that may be optimized in the horizontal and the vertical domains based on different criteria such as traffic flows, frequency of access (historic, current and forecast), specific container groupings, access time, fire-resistance and or other environmental partitions (Stadie: [0011]).
Hattabaugh and Stadie fail to disclose Hattabaugh discloses an inspection logistics system and an inspection logistics optimization scheduling method, comprising:
the search unit configured to determine a status and a quantity of all carriers disposed between the search start point and the reachable inspection facilities.
Wagner teaches an inspection logistics system and an inspection logistics optimization scheduling method, comprising:
the search unit configured to determine a status and a quantity of all carriers disposed between the search start point and the reachable inspection facilities (Wagner: [0042] The conveyor 34 may be motion controlled so that both the speed and the direction of the conveyor (e.g., rollers or belt) may be controlled. In certain embodiments, the conveyors 48 may be gravity biased to cause any destination container 46 on a conveyor 48 to be delivered to an output end without active control of the conveyors 48. Sensors 33 may track each of the supply bins 32 as they travel along the conveyor 34, and the system may thereby know where each supply bin 32 is located at all times.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hattabaugh and Stadie to include determining a status and a quantity of all carriers as taught by Wagner, with the inspection logistics optimization as taught by Hattabaugh and Stadie with the motivation of a more efficient and more cost effective object processing system that processes objects of a variety of sizes and weights into appropriate collection bins or trays of fixed sizes, yet is efficient in handling objects of varying sizes and weights (Wagner: [0011]).
As per Claims 2 and 12, Hattabaugh discloses a system and method, wherein the facility status update unit updates an operation status of the plurality of inspection facilities, and a remaining inspection process time when an inspection object is disposed in the plurality of inspection facilities (Hattabaugh: [0041]).
As per Claims 3 and 13, Hattabaugh discloses a system and method, wherein
the node recursive search unit calculates a movement weight between the nodes (Hattabaugh: [0027]).
As per Claims 4 and 14, Hattabaugh discloses a system and method, wherein the node recursive search unit configures a relationship between the plurality of coils as the nodes, configures a relationship between the nodes as a node list, and searches an entire section through a recursive search (Hattabaugh: [0046]).
As per Claims 5 and 15, Hattabaugh discloses a system and method, wherein the node recursive search unit checks a carrier status of a starting node in the node list, obtains a child node list of the starting node, checks a carrier status of a selected node selected in the child node list, and obtains a child node list of the selected node (Hattabaugh: [0044]).
As per Claims 6 and 16, Hattabaugh discloses a system and method, wherein the node recursive search unit skips searching for the nodes when there is no inspection object disposed on the carrier or when an inspection process of the inspection object is completed (Hattabaugh: [0043]).
As per Claims 7 and 17, Hattabaugh discloses a system and method, wherein the facility status update unit causes the carrier to stand by in a stopped state without selecting an inspection facility from the plurality of inspection facilities when the plurality of inspection facilities are unavailable (Hattabaugh: [0044]).
As per Claims 8 and 18, Hattabaugh discloses a system and method, wherein the weight determination unit imposes a weight based on a number of carriers existing between the search start point and the reachable inspection facility (Hattabaugh: [0027]).
As per Claims 9 and 19, Hattabaugh discloses a system and method, wherein the weight determination unit imposes a weight based on a remaining inspection time of the inspection object when there is an inspection object being inspected in the plurality of inspection facilities (Hattabaugh: [0027]).
As per Claims 10 and 20, Hattabaugh discloses a system and method, wherein the weight determination unit terminates a weight calculation when a carrier has stopped between the search staring point and the reachable inspection facility, when a number of carriers moving from the search starting point to the reachable inspection facility and the number of carriers present in the reachable inspection facilities exceeds a specified range, or when the reachable inspection facility is inoperable (Hattabaugh: [0027] and [044])).
Response to Arguments
35 USC 101
Step 1 – Statutory Categories
As indicated in the preamble of the claim, the examiner finds the claim is directed to a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.(Claims 11-20 are processes). Accordingly, step 1 is satisfied.
Step 2A – Prong 1: was there a Judicial Exception Recited
Claim 11 is directed to a series of steps for selecting an inspection facility to which a carrier will move, which are mental processes. The mere nominal recitation of inspection facilities, a plurality of coils, inspection objects, and carriers, does not take the claim out of the mental processes. Thus, Claim 11 recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A – Prong 2: Can the Judicial Exception Recited be integrated into a practical application
Limitations that are indicative of integration into a practical application:
Improvements to the functioning of a computer, or to any other technology or technical field - see MPEP 2106.05(a)
Applying or using a judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition – see Vanda Memo
Applying the judicial exception with, or by use of, a particular machine - see MPEP 2106.05(b)
Effecting a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing - see MPEP 2106.05(c)
Applying or using the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception - see MPEP 2106.05(e) and Vanda Memo
Limitations that are not indicative of integration into a practical application:
Adding the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea - see MPEP 2106.05(f)
Adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception - see MPEP 2106.05(g)
Generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h)
The steps for selecting an inspection facility to which a carrier will move and controlling the carrier on which the inspection object is placed to move the inspection object to the selected inspection facility through at least one coil of the plurality of coils integrates the abstract idea into a practical application, because of the controlling of the coils to move the inspection object to the selected inspection facility. This step requires a tangible result from technical implementation.
Accordingly, alone and in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Claim 11 is ELIGIBLE.
35 USC 103
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant Arguments/Remarks Made in an Amendment, filed July 1, 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of US Pat Pub 2022/0138214 “Hattabaugh”, in view of US Pat Pub 2018/0075402 “Stadie”, in view of US Pat Pub 2018/0273298 “Wagner”.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 REVA R MOORE whose telephone number is (571)270-7942. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 9:00-6:00.
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/REVA R MOORE/Examiner, Art Unit 3627
/FAHD A OBEID/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3627
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