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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 8, 11, 14-16, 18, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(1)(a) as being anticipated by Pivac (US 20210370509 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Pivac discloses a robotic construction system (, abstract, “A system for performing interactions within a physical environment including: a robot base”, FIG. 1B) for use in constructing a structure (¶0111, “construction application”), the construction system including:
a) a base (FIG. 1B, 141);
b) a boom extending from the base (FIG. 1B, 142);
c) an articulated delivery head attached proximate an end of the boom (FIG. 1B, 110), the delivery head including a nozzle configured to deliver a construction material (¶0084, “An end effector is a device at the end of a robotic arm designed to interact with the environment. An end effector may include a gripper, nozzle…”, ¶0037, “retrieving objects or material from the environment; and, modifying objects or material in the environment.”); and,
d) a controller (FIG. 1C, control system 130) configured to control movement of the boom (FIG. FIG. 1C, 142) and the delivery head (FIG. 1C 110) to thereby move the nozzle (FIG. 1C 113) and deliver construction material (¶0320, “ The control system can be used for tasks such as automated brick laying, precision mining, machining, robot assembly.. and road construction”), wherein the boom (FIG. 1C, 142) moves with a slower dynamic response over larger distances and the delivery head provides a faster dynamic response over smaller distances (¶0197, “ the robot base moves with a slower dynamic response, whilst the end effector moves with a faster dynamic response, so that movement of the end effector can be used to correct for movement of the robot base away from an expected robot base position.”).
Regarding claim 2, Pivac discloses wherein the controller is
configured to control at least one of:
a) the delivery head to dynamically stabilise the nozzle and thereby correct for
unintentional movement of the end of the boom;
b) the boom and the delivery head to control movement of the nozzle during delivery of
construction material;
c) the boom and the delivery head to deliver construction material along a desired delivery
path: and
d) the boom and delivery head to move the nozzle relative to at least part of the delivery
path as construction material is delivered substantially continuously (¶0252).
Regarding claim 5, Pivac discloses wherein, while
construction material is being delivered, the controller is configured to:
a) control the boom so as to move the end of the boom to thereby provide coarsely guided
movement of the nozzle relative to the delivery path; and,
b) control the delivery head to move the nozzle to thereby provide fine positioning of the
nozzle as the nozzle moves relative to the path (¶0123).
Regarding claim 7, Pivac discloses wherein at least one of
a) the delivery head is articulated on two axes to move the nozzle with two degrees of
freedom to thereby allow for movement of the nozzle in two orthogonal spatial
directions,
b) the delivery head is articulated on three axes to move the nozzle with three degrees of
freedom to thereby allow for movement of the nozzle in orthogonal spatial
directions:
c) the delivery head is further articulated on a further axis to adjust a pitch of the nozzle:
and
d) the delivery head is articulated on another further axis to adjust an orientation of the
nozzle (¶0198).
Regarding claim 8, Pivac discloses
a) the two orthogonal spatial directions are one of:
i) horizontal spatial directions to correct for longitudinal and lateral movement of
the end of the boom;
ii) one horizontal and one vertical direction to correct for longitudinal and vertical
movement of the end of the boom; and-and
iii) one horizontal and one vertical direction to correct for lateral and vertical
movement of the end of the boom (FIG. 5A), and
b) movement of the nozzle in orthogonal spatial directions is used to correct for
longitudinal, lateral and vertical movement of the end of the boom (¶0198).
Regarding claim 11, Pivac discloses wherein the delivery head is articulated with axes to provide one of:
a) pitch, roll, pitch movement;
b) pitch, pitch, roll movement; and
c) pitch, roll and sliding movement (FIG. 1B).
Regarding claim 14, Pivac discloses wherein the delivery head is articulated using at least one of:
a) a rotational actuator;
b) a linear actuator;
c) a hydraulic motor;
d) an electric motor;
e) a hydraulic ram;
f) an electric ram;
g) a hydraulic servo; end,and
h) an electric servo (¶0368).
Regarding claim 15, D2 teaches wherein in one of:
a) the nozzle is arranged substantially vertically to deliver construction material
downwardly onto a surface; end, and
b) the nozzle is arranged substantially horizontally to deliver construction material laterally
onto a surface (FIG. 3).
Regarding claim 16, Pivac discloses wherein at least one of.
a) the delivery head includes a robot arm and end effector, and wherein the nozzle is
supported by the end effector, and
b) the delivery head includes a working member to work the delivered construction
material (¶0368).
Regarding claim 18, Pivac discloses wherein the working
member includes one of:
a) a screed member;
b) a trowel;
c) formwork;
d) a mould; and,
e) a biasing member configured to urge working material;
f) a cutting implement;
g) a grinding head;
h) a polishing head;
i) washer head;
j) a sand blast head; and-and
k) a guillotine (¶0084).
Regarding claim 19, Pivac discloses wherein
the delivery head is at least one of:
a) articulated to at least one of:
i) independently move the working member and the nozzle;
ii) move the working member relative to the nozzle;
iii) allow for rotation of the working member around the nozzle;
iv) control a height of the working member relative to the nozzle; and,
v) control an orientation of the working member (¶0084,¶0214))
b) articulated about three axes to allow the working member to be maintained in a fixed
orientation with a further articulation being provided to allow height and/or
positional adjustment of the working member (¶0084, FIG. 13A, and FIG. 13C), and
c) articulated to allow rotation and horizontal movement of the working member (¶0084, FIG. 13A, and FIG. 13F).
Regarding claim 22, Pivac discloses wherein the system includes a boom actuator configured to move the boom and wherein the boom actuator is configured to at least one of:
slew the boom;
extend or retract the boom.
unfold the boom: and
raise or lower the boom (¶0294).
Regarding claim 24, Pivac discloses wherein the system includes a tracking system configured to measure a position and/or movement of at least one of:
a) the delivery head;
b) the end of the boom;
c) the boom; and,and
d) the nozzle; and
wherein the controller is configured to control the delivery head in accordance with signals
from the tracking system (¶0312-¶0313).
Regarding claim 25, Pivac discloses wherein the tracking
system includes at least one of:
a) a laser guide;
b) a physical guide and corresponding guide sensor;
c) a positioning sensor;
d) a GPS sensor;
e) a movement sensor;
f) an inertial measurement unit;
g) a machine vision system;
h) a laser tracker;
i) a LiDAR;
j) a radar; and,
k) a ranging sensor; and,
i) an ultrasonic ranging sensor;
m) three retroreflectors mounted proximate an end of the boom and corresponding laser
trackers, wherein the tracking system is configured to measure a position and
orientation of the end of the boom based on radiation reflected from the
retroreflectors;
n) a retroreflector movably mounted on the articulated head proximate the nozzle and a
laser tracker wherein the tracking system is configured to measure a position and
orientation of the nozzle based on radiation reflected from the retroreflector; and
o) a laser guide positioned in the environment and a sensor mounted on at least one of the
boom and the delivery head, the sensor being contigured to detect deviation from
the laser guide FIG. 1A-1C, 5A).
Regarding claim 37, Pivac discloses wherein the construction material is at least one of:
a) a viscous fluid;
b) cement based materials;
c) concrete;
d) cement;
e) mortar;
f) shotcrete;
g) a 3D printing material; and,
h) a polymeric material (¶0320).
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 30 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pivac (US 20210370509 A1) in view of Martinez (US 20200048893 A1).
Regarding claim 30, Pivac does not explicitly disclose but, Martinez teaches wherein the system includes a delivery pipe configured to transport the construction material from the base, along the boom, to the nozzle (¶0019).
Accordingly, It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system disclosed in Pivac with the delivery pipe taught in Martinez with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have targeted accurately detect that each holding unit for holding round-shaped farm products has reached a predetermined position, and correctly detect a part to be detected which is located in a preset position.
Claim 31 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pivac (US 20210370509 A1) in view of Martinez (US 20200048893 A1) and further in view of Aldabbagh (US 20210096529 A1).
Regarding claim 31,Pivac does not explicitly disclose but Aldabbagh teaches at least one of:
a) the delivery pipe includes an articulated steel pipe: and
b) at least one of the delivery pipe and the boom are formed through articulation of the
delivery pipe (¶0049).
Accordingly, It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system disclosed in Pivac with the delivery pipe taught in Aldabbagh with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have targeted accurately detect that each holding unit for holding round-shaped farm products has reached a predetermined position, and correctly detect a part to be detected which is located in a preset position.
Claim 39 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pivac (US 20210370509 A1) in view of Mannhart (US 5458470 A).
Regarding claim 39, Pivac does not explicitly disclose but, Mannhart teaches a construction material pump including:
a) two pumping cylinders (FIG. 1, items 1 and 2);
b) an associated swing valve (FIG. 1, item 8) for each cylinder, the position of the swing valve adjusting whether the cylinders are filling or dispensing material (FIG. 1); and,
c) a controller configured to deliver construction material by:
i) partially emptying one cylinder while the other cylinder is filling; and,
ii) transitioning delivery from one cylinder to the other by reducing a delivery rate
from one cylinder while increasing a delivery rate from the other cylinder
to maintain an overall delivery rate (FIG. 5).
Accordingly, It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system disclosed in Pivac with the delivery pipe taught in Mannhart with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have targeted accurately detect that each holding unit for holding round-shaped farm products has reached a predetermined position, and correctly detect a part to be detected which is located in a preset position.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 33, 35, and 36 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REDHWAN K MAWARI whose telephone number is (571)270-1535. The examiner can normally be reached mon-Fri 8-5.
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/REDHWAN K MAWARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3664
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