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 .
Claims 1-2,4,6-9,12,21,23,25-26,28,30-32 and 36-39 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/25/26; 11/13/25; 6/30/25; 9/3/24 have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the order" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the position" in 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
In claim 2, lines 9 and 10, the terms “same type” and “different types” is used, this is unclear as to what is being claimed as the term type makes the claim indefinite.
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.
Claims 1 and 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Italian Patent No. IT201900014622 to Zanotti (A machine translation is included with this action and referred to herein).
Regarding claims 1 and 36, the Zanotti patent teaches a picking and allocating system, comprising: a holder parking area, configured for parking a holder, the holder being configured for storing order receptacles (see claim 1 “pick up said one or more containers (27, 27a, 27b, 27c) from one or more storage areas (26) positioned in said automatic warehouse (11a, 11b, 11c) and positioning them in one or more compartments (30) for final delivery to the user provided in said automatic warehouse (11a, 11b, 11c) in order to compose the purchase order”); an allocating mechanism 50, arranged in the holder parking area, and configured to: receive at least one stock listed in a same order, bring the at least one stock to move from a docking position to an order receptacle corresponding to the order (see claim 7 “at least one second pick-up device (50, 50 ') adapted to pick up said at least one container (27, 27a, 27b, 27c) placed on the temporary parking element (49) and to position it in a tray (57) intended for at least one compartment ( 30)” and page 60 of translation of spec “The automatic magazine 11b provides a second pick-up device 50, 50 ', able to pick up at least one container 27, 27a, 27b, 27c deposited by said first pick-up device 47 and transfer it to a tray 57 or to deposit it directly in a compartment 30 of delivery”), allocate the at least one stock to the order receptacle 30 (claim 1 “pick up said one or more containers (27, 27a, 27b, 27c) from one or more storage areas (26) positioned in said automatic warehouse (11a, 11b, 11c) and positioning them in one or more compartments (30) for final delivery to the user provided in said automatic warehouse (11a, 11b, 11c) in order to compose the purchase order”, and a control server (automatic warehouse 1), communicatively connected with the allocating mechanism, and configured to: obtain position information of the order receptacle on the holder according to the order, and send the position information to the allocating mechanism (claim 1 “at least one selection interface (20, 21) in which the user selects the orders to be executed and sends them to said automatic warehouse (11a, 1 1b, 11c) and / or to said production area (12)”, claim 7 “at least one second pick-up device (50, 50 ') adapted to pick up said at least one container (27, 27a, 27b, 27c) placed on the temporary parking element (49) and to position it in a tray (57) intended for at least one compartment ( 30)” and page 60 of translation of spec “The automatic magazine 11b provides a second pick-up device 50, 50 ', able to pick up at least one container 27, 27a, 27b, 27c deposited by said first pick-up device 47 and transfer it to a tray 57 or to deposit it directly in a compartment 30 of delivery”).
However, the Zanotti patent lacks a specific teaching of the allocating mechanism return to the docking position.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill int the art before the effective filing date of the subject invention to modify the Zanotti patent to have the allocating mechanism return to the docking position, since this is known in the art for robots or vehicles to go back to the original location to pick up another load for greater efficiency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 4,6-9,12,21,23,25-26,28,30-32 and 37-39 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.
U.S. Publication No. 2021/0073722 to Hu et al. teaches allocating tasks for shelving.
Chinese Patent No. CN112598360 to Hao et al. teaches a sorting system.
Canadian Patent No. CA3161682 to Pankratov et al. teaches a storage system with picking.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN HOLMES whose telephone number is (571)272-3448. The examiner can normally be reached 10AM-6PM EST M-F.
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/JUSTIN HOLMES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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