CTNF 18/928,712 CTNF 94976 DETAILED ACTION Remarks This non-final office action is in response to the RCE filled on 05/13/2026. Claims 1-20 are canceled. Claims 21-40 are newly added. Claims 21-40 are pending and examined below. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114 07-42-04 AIA A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/13/2026 has been entered. Information Disclosure Statement As of date of this action, IDS filled has been annotated and considered. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 21, 29 and 37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US2017/0312916 (Williams”), and in view of US2025/0121499 (“Cho”), and further in view of US2025/0004468 (“Saha”) . Regarding claim 21 (and similarly claim 29 and 37) , Williams discloses a computer-implemented method, comprising: determining a surface profile of a transportation area (see at least fig 1, where two different service areas are shown. See also [0023], where “surface characteristics”) ; and adapting the transportation route based on the surface profile of the transportation area (see at least [0030], where “the robotic platform 100 may adapt a service plan sequence based on conditions encountered during service treatment. For instance, the robotic platform 100 may, during the cleaning of service area 140B, encounter a special treatment area 144 (e.g., a detected stain on the floor, a user-marked or spot-treated area on a floor, a high level of soiling requiring special treatment).”; a detected stain on the floor, a user-marked or spot-treated area on a floor, a high level of soiling requiring special treatment are interpreted as surface profile ) . Williams does not disclose the following limitations: determining, based at least in part on a characteristic of a material to be transported through the transportation area, that a transportation route through the transportation area is to be adapted; and deploying a plurality of swarm robots to generate a hybrid material movement path along the adapted transportation route. However, Cho discloses a method wherein determining, based at least in part on a characteristic of a material to be transported through the transportation area, that a transportation route through the transportation area is to be adapted (see at least [0086], where “when it carries food that is likely to spill, such as soup, the serving robot may be controlled to safely move by decreasing the speed.”; see also fig 6 and fig 7) . Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Williams to incorporate the teachings of Cho by including the above feature for reducing spill and damage by adapting movement based on the characteristics of object being transferred. Williams in view of Cho does not disclose the following limitation: deploying a plurality of swarm robots to generate a hybrid material movement path along the adapted transportation route. However, Saha discloses a method wherein deploying a plurality of swarm robots to generate a hybrid material movement path along the adapted transportation route (see at least fig 4 where drone is assisting vehicle to reach destination. See also [0032]) . Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Williams in view of Cho to incorporate the teachings of Saha by including the above feature for transporting objects faster with the assistant from another robot . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 22-28, 30-36 and 38-40 is/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 SOHANA TANJU KHAYER whose telephone number is (408)918-7597. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday, 7 am-5.30 pm, PT. 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, Abby Lin can be reached on 571-270-3976. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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 https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. 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. /SOHANA TANJU KHAYER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3657 Application/Control Number: 18/928,712 Page 2 Art Unit: 3657 Application/Control Number: 18/928,712 Page 4 Art Unit: 3657 Application/Control Number: 18/928,712 Page 5 Art Unit: 3657 Application/Control Number: 18/928,712 Page 6 Art Unit: 3657
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