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 .
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.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 11-14, 16 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhao (CN109947875A) (cited by applicant).
Regarding claims 1, 13 and 16, Zhao discloses a path planning method for an automatic snow sweeper including a moving machine (11), a snow removal machine (22), a body and one or more control devices comprising a memory (pgpgh 0165), a processor (14) and a path planning program comprising:
A position acquisition module (12) configure for acquiring a snow throwing site (pgph 0014) and a current position of an automatic snow sweeper (abstract “positioning data”) in a snow sweeping map (pgph 0100)
A direction acquisition module configured for determining a snow throwing direction (pgph 0052) of the automatic snow sweeper based on the snow throwing site and the current position (abstract; pgph 0053)
A path acquisition module configured for planning a snow sweeping path conforming to a preset rule in the snow sweeping map based on the snow throwing direction (pgph 0110, 0115)
A move execution module configured for controlling the automatic snow sweeper to move based on the snow sweeping path (pgph 0107)
Regarding claims 2, 14 and 18, Zhao discloses acquiring latitude and longitude coordinates and converting into a map (discloses GPS which inherently uses latitude and longitude – pgph 0101).
Regarding claims 11-12, Zhao discloses adjusting the path based on sensed obstacles/pedestrians (pgph 0130).
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.
Claim(s) 3, 6-10, 15, 17, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao (CN109947875A) (cited by applicant) in view of Official Notice.
Regarding claims 3, 15 and 19, Zhao discloses the invention as described above including a sensing system for obstacle avoidance (pgph 0130) but fails to specifically disclose determining multiple unconnected or interconnected areas. The examiner takes Official Notice that one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized that a processor that can plan a path around obstacles could also plan a path for multiple areas to be cleared/. This does not involve an inventive step as this would be a common technical means in the art.
Regarding claims 6-9, Zhao discloses a processing and memory system for planning a oath for an automatic snow sweeper that updates/adjusts the path based on sensor/environmental changes (pgph 0130) but fails to specifically disclose PID control. It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to utilize PID control, as Applicant has not disclosed that it solves any stated problem of the prior art or is for any particular purpose. It appears that the invention would perform equally well as the invention disclosed by Zhao.
Regarding claim 10, Zhao discloses the invention as described above but fails to disclose adjusting the planned path based on thickness of the snow. The examiner takes Official Notice that it is known in the art to operate snow sweeping devices differently in thicker/deeper snow such as adjusting the machines path to capture a thinner swath of accumulated snow so as not to overload the removal mechanism. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adjust the path based on thickness/depth of snow so as not to overload the removal mechanism.
Regarding claim 17, Zhao discloses visual sensors for detecting obstacles but fails to specifically disclose a camera. It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to utilize a camera as the visual sensor, as Applicant has not disclosed that it solves any stated problem of the prior art or is for any particular purpose. It appears that the invention would perform equally well as the invention disclosed by Zhao.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Gao et al. (10,920,386) also discloses a path planning snow removal device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jamie L McGowan whose telephone number is (571)272-5064. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 9:00-5:00 CST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chris Sebesta can be reached at 571-272-0547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMIE L MCGOWAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671
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