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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-19 were originally filed on 12/12/2024 and claimed priority on KR10-2023-0180336, which was filed on 12/13/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement filed on 01/29/2026 has been considered. An initialed copy of the Form 1449 is enclosed herewith.
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 1-4, 8-14, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higashi (US 20220281106 A1) in view of Seo et al (US 20210122049 A1) (Hereinafter referred to as Higashi and Seo respectively)
Regarding Claims 1, 10, and 11, Higashi teaches a cooperation control method of a multi-robot performed by a control device (See at least Higashi Paragraph 0016 and Figure 5), one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0092-0093, the memory is interpreted as a non-transitory computer readable medium)…, a cooperative control device of a multi-robot (See at least Higashi Paragraph 0016 and Figure 1) comprising:
a communication unit (See at least Higashi Paragraph 0094)…, and
a processing unit…that control a plurality of robots to provide a service necessary for the user (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0092 and 0103-0105, the control platform, which includes a processor, controls the plurality of robot groups to provide a service), wherein the processing unit is further configured to…
recognizing an intention or a situational context of the user (See at least Higashi Paragraph 0104, the service desired by the user, which is interpreted as the intent, is recognized)…;
selecting a task that a plurality of robots are able to cooperatively perform in response to the recognized intention or situational context of the user (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0016, 0046, 0105, 0125-0126, and Figure 5, the tasks/jobs for the plurality of robots to cooperatively perform in response to the recognized intention/service are selected); and
requesting a service provision to each of the plurality of robots that are able to cooperatively perform the selected task (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0128, 0132, 0136, 0141, 0145 and Figure 5, the command signals, which are interpreted as service provisions, are sent to each of the plurality of robots).
Higashi fails to explicitly disclose the non-transitory computer readable medium…storing one or more instructions, wherein the one or more instructions executable by one or more processors,
the communication unit is…configured to receive information on a user or information on surroundings of the user detected using at least one sensor;
the processing unit is…configured to execute instructions,
detecting information on a user or information on surroundings of the user using at least one sensor; and
recognizing an intention or a situational context of the user…based on the detected information.
However, Seo teaches the non-transitory computer readable medium…storing one or more instructions, wherein the one or more instructions executable by one or more processors (See at least Seo Paragraph 0044, the processor executes programs/instructions stored in the memory),
the communication unit is…configured to receive information on a user or information on surroundings of the user detected using at least one sensor (See at least Seo Paragraphs 0030-0032, 0036, and 0103-0104, sensor information is received, which is information on a user and information on a surrounding of the user);
the processing unit is…configured to execute instructions (See at least Seo Paragraph 0044, the processor executes programs/instructions stored in the memory),
detecting information on a user or information on surroundings of the user using at least one sensor (See at least Seo Paragraphs 0032, 0036, and 0104, information on a user and the surrounding environment is detected using the sensor); and
recognizing an intention or a situational context of the user…based on the detected information (See at least Seo Paragraph 0064, the intention is determined based on the detected information of the user).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the teachings disclosed in Higashi with Seo to have the processor execute instructions stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium, and to recognize an intention based on the detected information on a user or surrounding of the user. Having a processor execute instructions stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium, as taught by Seo, is routine and well-understood in the art, and allows for the processor to execute the application programs necessary to control components of the system (See at least Seo Paragraph 0044). By using the sensor information on the user or surrounding of the user to recognize an intention of the user, as taught by Seo, the robot may obtain intention information by simply detecting the user’s behavior or voice input and perform operations accordingly (See at least Seo Paragraphs 0032, 0036, 0064, and 0104), which would increase the autonomy of the system.
Regarding Claims 2 and 12, modified Higashi teaches registering at least one unit function that is able to be provided from each of the plurality of robots (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0104-0106, and 0123-0126, a unit function/job that is able to be provided from each of the plurality of robots is assigned/registered) and pre-generating a cooperative executable task of the plurality of robots from a combination of the registered unit functions (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0126-0127, a transmission schedule of the command signal for the five jobs using the three robots is determined, which is interpreted as pre-generating a cooperative executable task).
Regarding Claims 3 and 13, modified Higashi teaches wherein the unit function is either a unique function corresponding to an action that a robot is able to perform, or a plurality of functions that are able to be applied as different roles depending on the intention or situational context of the user for an action that a robot is able to perform (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0123-0126, the unit function is a unique function/job that corresponds to an action that the robot is able to perform).
Regarding Claims 4 and 14, modified Higashi teaches wherein the task includes a plurality of unit functions that process a complex action required to achieve a purpose (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0124-0125, the task/jobs include a plurality of unit functions for the robots to perform in order to achieve a purpose), wherein each of the plurality of unit functions is matched to a robot capable of providing the corresponding unit function (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0125-0126, each function/job is matched to a robot capable of performing the function/job), and wherein an order of action execution and a target of communication between the plurality of robots cooperating to achieve the purpose are set (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0127-0137 and Figure 5, a schedule/order of action execution and target of communication between the plurality of cooperating robots are set/determined using the control platform).
Regarding Claims 8-9 and 18-19, modified Higashi teaches identifying a plurality of unit functions matched to the selected task (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0125-0126, a plurality of unit functions/jobs are identified); and instructing each of the plurality of robots capable of performing the identified unit functions to mutually perform the corresponding unit function in time series (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0126-0128, 0132, 0136, 0141, 0145 and Figure 5, the robots are instructed to mutually perform the unit functions in time series),
wherein requesting the service provision further comprises: controlling an exchange of information on an execution order and an execution process between the robots (See at least Higashi Paragraphs 0127-0137 and Figure 5, the control platform controls an exchange of information on the execution order and process between the robots).
Claims 5-6, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higashi in view of Seo, and in further view of Yamada (US 20150274421 A1) (Hereinafter referred to as Yamada)
Regarding Claims 5-6 and 15-16, modified Higashi fails to disclose wherein recognizing the intention or situational context of the user comprises: receiving additional information related to a prearranged behavior of the user; and selecting a most similar candidate among candidates for the intention or situational context of the user based on the received additional information and the detected information,
wherein selecting the most similar candidate comprises: pre-configuring multiple candidates with respect to the intention or situational context of the user based on at least two combinations of information on physical characteristics of the user, the information on the surroundings of the user, environmental information on a space where the user is located, and information related to a behavior of the user; and
determining a candidate with a highest degree of matching among the multiple candidates using the received additional information and the detected information.
However, Yamada teaches wherein recognizing the intention or situational context of the user comprises: receiving additional information related to a prearranged behavior of the user (See at least Yamada Paragraphs 0092-0093, 0166-0167, and Figure 6, the request history database is interpreted as additional information related to a prearranged behavior of the user); and selecting a most similar candidate among candidates for the intention or situational context of the user based on the received additional information and the detected information (See at least Yamada Paragraphs 0092-0093, 0165-0169, and Figure 6, the most similar condition from among the candidates in the request history DB is selected/extracted based on the additional and detected information),
wherein selecting the most similar candidate comprises: pre-configuring multiple candidates with respect to the intention or situational context of the user based on at least two combinations of information on physical characteristics of the user, the information on the surroundings of the user, environmental information on a space where the user is located, and information related to a behavior of the user (See at least Yamada Paragraphs 0092-0093, 0165-0169, and Figure 6, there are multiple candidates in the request history DB based on the space where the user is located, and the behavior/posture of the user); and
determining a candidate with a highest degree of matching among the multiple candidates using the received additional information and the detected information (See at least Yamada Paragraphs 0092-0093, 0165-0169, and Figure 6, the candidate that is most similar is extracted using the additional and detected information).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the teachings disclosed in modified Higashi with Yamada to determine a candidate with a highest degree of matching among the multiple candidates using the received additional information and the detected information. This modification, as taught by Yamada, allows the system to determine the user’s intention by comparing the current user’s state to a user state stored in a database, thus, allowing the system to notify the robot about the request/intent in advance, which would reduce the time taken for the robot to perform the task (See at least Yamada Paragraphs 0092-0093, 0165-0169, and Figure 6).
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higashi in view of Seo, and in further view of Yang et al (CN113268331A) (Hereinafter referred to as Yang)
Regarding Claims 7 and 17, even though modified Higashi teaches a task corresponding to the recognized intention or situational context of the user, modified Higashi fails to disclose selecting a top priority task corresponding to the recognized intention or situational context of the user and checking whether a robot for cooperatively performing the top priority task is in an idle state; and
when the robot for cooperatively performing the top priority task is not in the idle state, selecting a next priority task corresponding to the recognized intention or situational context of the user and in which a robot for cooperatively performing the next priority task is in the idle state.
However, Yang teaches selecting a top priority task and checking whether a robot for cooperatively performing the top priority task is in an idle state (See at least Yang Page 5 Paragraphs 2-3 and Table 1, and Page 7 Paragraphs 3-5 and Table 3, job 3 is the top priority task, and there is no idle robot for performing job 3); and
when the robot for cooperatively performing the top priority task is not in the idle state, selecting a next priority task and in which a robot for cooperatively performing the next priority task is in the idle state (See at least Yang Page 5 Paragraphs 2-3 and Table 1, and Page 7 Paragraphs 3-5 and Table 3, job 1 is a next top priority task, and the idle robot 1 can perform job 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the teachings disclosed in modified Higashi with Yang to select a next priority task corresponding to the recognized intention or situational context of the user and in which a robot for cooperatively performing the next priority task is in the idle state when the robot for cooperatively performing the top priority task is not in the idle state. This modification, as taught by Yang, would ensure that only the suitable robots that are idle and are capable of performing a task are called to perform the task (See at least Yang Page 7 Paragraphs 3-5 and Table 3), thus, improving the coordination of the system.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kohara et al (US 20230330861 A1) teaches controlling a robot and cooperating devices based on user detection information
Suzuki et al (US 20220088788 A1) teaches controlling a plurality of robots based on the state of a person
Yim et al (US 20210174370 A1) teaches cooperating robots in a restaurant setting
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