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
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent No. 11,690,493 to Weis et al. (Weis).
Regarding Claim 1: Weis discloses a robot cleaner station comprising: a base (13); a pad cleaner (16 and 18) provided in an upper surface of the base and configured to place and clean a mop pad (6); a pad moving device (10) configured to move a used mop pad (6) from the pad cleaner and place a cleaned mop pad (6) on the pad cleaner; and one or more processors (inherently disclosed in the autonomous configuration of the robot and base station – See Col. 2, lines 17-22), wherein, by executing one or more instructions stored on at least one memory (inherently disclosed in the autonomous configuration of the robot and base station – See Col. 2, lines 17-22), the one or more processors are configured to: control the pad moving device to move the used mop pad to the pad cleaner (See Col. 5, lines 65-67), and control the pad cleaner to clean the used mop pad based on a robot cleaner obtaining the cleaned mop pad and moving away from the base (See Col. 4, lines 44-50 and Col. 6, lines 31-37).
Regarding Claim 13: Weis discloses a robot cleaner system comprising: a robot cleaner (1) configured to mop a surface using a cleaned mop pad (6); and a robot cleaner station (13) configured to: supply the cleaned mop pad (6) to the robot cleaner (See Col. 5, lines 2-3), replace, based on a mopping operation of the robot cleaner being completed such that the cleaned mop pad becomes a used mop pad, the used mop pad with a second cleaned mop pad (See Col. 5, lines 4-5), and clean the used mop pad based on the robot cleaner performing the mopping operation (See Col. 4, lines 44-50 and Col. 6, lines 31-37), wherein the robot cleaner station comprises: a base (13); a pad cleaner (16 and 18) provided in an upper surface of the base and configured to place the cleaned mop pad and clean the used mop pad; a pad moving device (10) configured to move the used mop pad from the pad cleaner and place the cleaned mop pad on the pad cleaner; and one or more processors (inherently disclosed in the autonomous configuration of the robot and base station – See Col. 2, lines 17-22), wherein, by executing one or more instructions stored on at least one memory (inherently disclosed in the autonomous configuration of the robot and base station – See Col. 2, lines 17-22), the one or more processors are configured to: control the pad moving device to move the used mop pad to the pad cleaner (See Col. 5, lines 65-67), and control the pad cleaner to clean the used mop pad based on the robot cleaner obtaining the cleaned mop pad and leaving the base to perform the mopping operation (See Col. 4, lines 44-50 and Col. 6, lines 31-37).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-20 are allowed.
Claims 2-12 and 14-17 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.
Reasons for Allowable Subject Matter
None of the cited prior art, considered alone or in combination, discloses or teaches a robot cleaning system that cleans a used mop pad and moves the mop pad with a moving device that includes a lifting frame with stop grooves and a rotating plate with protrusions.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. In addition to the references used in this rejection and those cited in the PTO-892, the following references are very relevant to the claimed invention: US 12419479.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERET C MCNICHOLS whose telephone number is (571)270-7363. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 9:00 - 5:00 (Eastern).
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ERET C. MCNICHOLS
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3632
/ERET C MCNICHOLS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3632
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