DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Prosecutorial Standing
2. This communication is in response to the Application filed on 08.22.2024 and the Preliminary Amendment filed on 09.19.2024. Applicant has amended the drawings to comply with the Office regulations and guidelines. Claims 1-20 are currently pending in this application. Claims 1-20 will be subject to further examination and evaluation in due course, and will be presented for examination, as detailed below.
Oath/Declaration
3. The Applicant’s oath/declaration has been reviewed by the Examiner and is found to conform to the requirements prescribed in 37 C.F.R. 1.63.
Priority/Filing Date
4. Applicant's claim for priority of the PRO 63/578,087 filed on 08.22.2023 is acknowledged. The Examiner takes the US Application date of 08.22.2023 into consideration.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
7. Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Galluzzo, Pub. No.: US 2023/0219237 in view of Meister, Pub. No.: US 2025/0162146.
As per claim 1, Galluzzo discloses a computerized warehouse management system for managing a warehouse with a human-autonomous mobile robot order picking system the computerized warehouse management system comprising: at least one processor and memory in communication with the at least one processor [see at least ¶0205 (e.g., FIG. 15 shows a typical warehouse or distribution center utilizing a manipulation robot system 700 according to certain aspects of the presently disclosed invention. Shown are human pickers 780 in a pack and ship area 720 as well as manipulation robots 600 pulling totes from and returning totes to shelving in a storage area 710. The storage area may contain standard shelving, and may be part of any logistics facility), and see FIG. 15 below],
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wherein the computerized warehouse management system is programmed to perform operations including determining how many items should be collected in each tour of the at least one autonomous mobile robot [see at least ¶0206 (e.g., the central server 200 may be responsible for receiving orders from the WMS 201. The order may contain information such as, for example, UPC, product description, location in the warehouse (which rack, which shelf, which slot on the shelf), order number and quantity of each product to be shipped. This information may be processed by software running on the central server 200, and with reference to FIGS. 10, 11 (see below) and 15 (see above)],
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assigning batches to the at least one autonomous mobile robot [see at least ¶0206 (e.g., and the best transport robots(s) 900 and/or manipulation robot(s) 600 to retrieve the tote(s) based on current location or availability may be determined))], and
develop coordinated routing of the at least one autonomous mobile robot and the associated human picker [see at least ¶0208 (e.g., the manipulation robot 600 may autonomously navigate to a retrieval queue 722 in front of the human picker 780 that is to complete the order), and as illustrated in FIG. 15 above] that is then followed by:
(a) directing at least one autonomous mobile robot of a plurality of autonomous mobile robots to a location of a first item in a batch of items from an initial location [see at least ¶0207 (e.g., Once the robot(s) (600, 900) is selected, it will autonomously move to the location of the tote on the specific shelf. Once there, the manipulation robot 600 may be able to detect the tote via image processing techniques, which might identify the tote or read a barcode to verify that it is the correct tote)];
(b) determining if a human picker has arrived at that location [see at least ¶0208 (e.g., manipulation robot 600 may autonomously navigate to a retrieval queue 722 in front of the human picker 780 that is to complete the order), and as illustrated in FGIG. 15];
(c) receiving an item from the human picker by the at least one autonomous mobile robot, and determining if all programmed tours of the at least one autonomous mobile robot have been completed and if not, then repeat steps [see at least ¶0004 (e.g., warehouse or retail facilities follow a standard process for put-away and picking of goods. Items arrive into the facility at a receiving area, typically in cases or pallets, and are registered into an Inventory Management System (IMS) or Warehouse Management System (WMS). The IMS or WMS is a software database that stores information about the items, such as size, weight, inventory count, storage location, etc. After the items are received into the warehouse or retail facility, they are put-away into their storage locations, generally open shelving or racks. When an order for items is received and registered with the WMS, a work order is created, commonly known as a pick list. The pick list instructs the human worker, or “picker”, about the items to be retrieved, i.e., identities, quantities, and locations within the facility. The picker then finds the items and physically transfers them to a shipping container associated with the order), illustrated in FIG. 20, and presented below];
FIG. 20 illustrates an exemplary periodic function used to generate markers in a repeating pattern of integer indices.
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(d) directing the at least one autonomous mobile robot to move to the location of the next item in the batch and repeat steps [see at least ¶0015 (e.g., methods for accurate order fulfillment that include redundant pick locations, wherein a manipulation robot may be directed to second and third pick locations when unable to pick an item at a first location. Alternatively, or in addition, the manipulation robot may send an image of the pick location to a human operator when unable to pick an item, wherein the image displays one or more possible items, and the human operator may select a correct item from the one or more possible items)].
Galluzzo discloses all elements per claimed invention as explained above. Galluzzo, also discloses in ¶0205, as the manipulation robots 600 pulling totes from and returning totes to shelving in a storage area 710 (as illustrated in FIG. 5). Furthermore, Galluzzo is directed to systems, devices, and methods useful for the purpose of autonomously picking items or bins from, and replacing items or bins to, storage locations within a logistics facility [¶0002]. Galluzzo does not expressly disclose directing at least one autonomous mobile robot to return to the initial location upon completion of step. However, Meister discloses directing at least one autonomous mobile robot to return to the initial location upon completion of step [see at least ¶0041 (e.g., beginning from an initial location such as a pick start area 408 (although the initial location can also be a selected one of the item locations). As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, determining such a path can be performed by implementing any one of a variety of suitable Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) solutions, e.g., removing the requirement to return to the starting location (which does not alter the computational complexity of the solution)), as illustrated in FIG. 4, and shown below].
FIG. 4 illustrates an overhead view of a portion of the facility 100, including aisles 112-0, 112-1, 112-2, 112-3, and 112-4.
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teaching of Meister in order to provide autonomous mobile robots in facilities such as warehouses, manufacturing facilities, healthcare facilities, or the like, e.g., to transport items within the relevant facility. Items transported by the robots may be retrieved by other entities, such as human pickers, and placed on the robots for transport [Meister: ¶0001].
As per claims 2 and 3, Galluzzo discloses wherein a number of items for pickup by the at least one autonomous mobile robot is optimized for a tour for each batch with the at least one processor, and wherein each batch assignment for each autonomous mobile robot is optimized with the at least one processor [see at least ¶0005 (e.g., optimizing and automating various aspects of the process)].
As per claim 4, Galluzzo discloses wherein the routing of the at least one autonomous mobile robot and the associated human picker minimizes picking time with the at least one processor.
As per claim 5, Galluzzo discloses wherein a speed of the at least one autonomous mobile robot is determined by the processor to optimize efficiency with the at least one processor [see at least ¶0153 (e.g., unique design allows the manipulation robot 100 to navigate while driving both forwards and backwards, which in certain picking scenarios, eliminates the need for the manipulation robot 100 to turn around, thus reducing travel time and increasing picking efficiency)].
As per claim 6, Galluzzo discloses wherein an item holding capacity of the at least one autonomous mobile robot is determined by the processor to optimize efficiency with the at least one processor [see at least ¶0186 (e.g., The manipulation robots 100 have a mobile base 160 that is controlled by the onboard computer processor 218 ….. mobile base 160 may also use passive wheels, such as casters 165, for stability and weight distribution)].
As per claims 7 and 8, Galluzzo discloses wherein a combination of the at least one autonomous mobile robot and associated human picker is evaluated by the processor to optimize efficiency with the at least one processor [see at least ¶0208 (e.g., system may optimize the overall performance such that for each order, the items are delivered to the retrieval queue in a timely fashion so that the human picker 780 can close out that order and send it to shipping for delivery to the customer), and ¶0214 (e.g., system may manage this optimization automatically and handle the condensing of multiple totes of the same product when situations change concerning the speed at which the product is moving)].
As per claim 10, Galluzzo discloses wherein order batching, assignment, sequencing, and routing is performed utilizing the at least one processor utilizing restarted simulated annealing with adaptive neighborhood search mechanism [see at least the rejection of claim 1 above. Similar rationale is noticed for the combination of Galluzzo and Meister as noted in claim 1 above. In light of the preceding examination, claim 10 is hereby rejected on grounds substantially similar to those articulated in the rejection of claim 1. As detailed in the prior rejection, the rationale and basis for rejecting claim 1 are applicable to claim 10. For a comprehensive understanding of the rejection grounds, reference is made to the detailed explanation provided in the rejection of claim 1, which is incorporated herein by reference].
8. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Galluzzo in view of Meister, and further in view of Galluzzo, Pub. No.: US 2024/0004391.
As per claim 9, the combination of Galluzzo 237’ and Meister does not explicitly disclose wherein multiple items from a same order can be split among autonomous mobile robot and associated human picker teams with the at least one processor. However, Galluzzo 391’ discloses wherein multiple items from a same order can be split among autonomous mobile robot and associated human picker teams with the at least one processor [see at least ¶0140 (e.g., central server then generates a robot task list comprising a list of stop locations 320 within the facility and a first picker task list 325a comprising an item 326a and number thereof, a location of the item within the facility, and an identity of the robot, wherein the first picker task list includes the item to be picked at the first stop location [1]. Thus, in general, the central server provides an AMR task list comprising instructions for fulfillment of one or more orders and individual task lists for a plurality of pickers), also ¶0141 (e.g., the central server may generate a task list for more than one AMR, i.e., an order may be split among two or more AMRs. The picker, however, is tasked with picking items that will fulfill a broad range of orders and providing those picks to a number of different AMRs.), as illustrated in FIG. 19 and shown below].
FIG. 19 illustrates an exemplary path of an autonomous mobile robot through a logistics facility during induction, pick, and drop off activities.
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teaching of Galluzzo 391’ in order to provide systems and methods for picking inventory items via orchestrated interaction among a central server, a user device of a human picker, and an autonomous mobile robot [Galluzzo 391’: ¶0002].
9. Claims 11-20, which is parallel to claims 1-10 in terms of scope,
limitations, and share similar characteristics, as discussed and examined
above. Consequently, they are rejected based on the same logical and
underlying reasoning, and justification that apply to claims 1-10. The
similarity between these claims necessitates the same grounds for rejection, as explained in detail above [note the discussion of claims 1-10].
Conclusion
10. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2020/0246978, Johnson: discloses Systems and methods for robot assisted personnel routing including a plurality of autonomous robots operating within a navigational space, each robot including a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the autonomous robot to detect completion of a task operation by a human operator …. .
US 2024/0391697, Sayilar: discloses a material handling system having autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for retrieving, transporting, and delivering items to and from locations within a facility.
US 2024/0199333, Zizka: discloses a method for fulfillment of an order includes receiving, at a master server, a specification of the order including a set of items.
US 11,107,174, Lisso: discloses robotic systems can autonomously pick a particular desired item from a mixed inventory storage location that includes multiple differing types of items. The autonomous robotic system can thereby facilitate order fulfillment and inventory management processes in an efficient manner. In particular, the systems and methods described herein can greatly reduce the amount of time required for a human worker to pick orders.
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Garcia Ade whose telephone number is (571)272-5586. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday.
12. 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, Florian Zeender can be reached on 517-272-6790. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
13. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Garcia Ade/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627
GARCIA ADE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3687
/GA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627
Prosecution Insights