DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Application
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to Application Serial 18/990,212. Claim(s) 1-5 are examined below.
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 . 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on December 20, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim(s) 1-3 are machine.
Claims 4 is process.
Clam 5 is manufacture.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim 1 [and similarly claim 4 and claim 5] recite, “…, wherein … acquires arrival schedule information that indicates an arrival schedule time and an arrival schedule location of a conveying target …specifies … a kind that is able to perform conveyance of the conveying target to be arrived based on the arrival schedule information, and … updates a schedule … and a schedule … such that … is able to execute reception at the arrival schedule location in accordance with the arrival schedule time of the conveying target. .…” Claims 1-5 in view of the claim limitations, are an abstract idea of scheduling equipment, the claims are commercial or legal interactions and managing personal behavior, so the claims recite certain methods of organizing human activity and are directed to a judicial exception under the first prong of Step 2A.
This judicial exception are not integrated into a practical application under the second prong of Step 2A. In particular, the claims recite the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea of, “A management system comprising a server that manages a schedule including a conveying task using a plurality of autonomous mobile robots in a facility”, “the server”, “an autonomous mobile robot of a kind”, “the specified autonomous robot”, “another autonomous mobile robot”, in claim 1; “A management method that manages a schedule including a conveying task using a plurality of autonomous mobile robots in a facility by using a computer, the management method comprising”, “an autonomous mobile robot” , “of the specified autonomous mobile robot”, “of another autonomous mobile robot such that the specified autonomous mobile robot”, in claim 4; “A non-transitory storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a management method”, “a plurality of autonomous mobile robots in a facility”, “an autonomous mobile robot”, “ of the specified autonomous mobile robot”, “ of another autonomous mobile robot such that the specified autonomous mobile robot”, in claim 5; however, when viewed as an ordered combination, and pursuant to the broadest reasonable interpretation, each of the additional elements are computing elements recite adding the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea – see MPEP 2106.05 (f).
The dependent claims recite the additional elements:
Claim 2: “a medical welfare facility”, “one or more of a stretcher conveying robot, a stretcher conveying assistance robot, a wheelchair robot, and a walking assistance robot”.
Claim 3: “The management system according to claim 1, wherein at least one autonomous mobile robot of the autonomous mobile robots includes a main subject robot that operates autonomously”.
Claim 4: “A management method that manages a schedule including a conveying task using a plurality of autonomous mobile robots in a facility by using a computer, the management method comprising”, “of the specified autonomous mobile robot”, “of another autonomous mobile robot such that the specified autonomous mobile robot”.
Accordingly, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claims also fail to recite any improvements to another technology or technical field, improvements to the functioning of the computer itself, use of a particular machine, effecting transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above, the additional elements when considered both individually and as an ordered combination do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea.
A
t step 2B, it is MPEP 2106.05 (d) – Receiving or transmitting data over a network, e.g., using the Internet to gather data, Symantec, 838 F.3d at 1321, 120 USPQ2d at 1362 (utilizing an intermediary computer to forward information).
Dependent claims 2-3 further narrow the abstract idea of independent claim 1. The claims 1-5 are not patent eligible.
Moreover, aside from the aforementioned additional elements, the remaining elements of dependent claims 2-3 do not transform the recited abstract idea into a patent eligible invention because these claims merely recite further limitations that provide no more than simply narrowing the recited abstract idea.
Since there are no limitations in these claims that transform the exception into a patent eligible application such that these claims amount to significantly more than the exception itself, claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of MORIGUCHI (JP 2020193077A) in view of Coulter (US 2010/0,305,966 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, [and similarly claim 4 and claim 5]
A management system comprising a server that manages a schedule including a conveying task using a plurality of autonomous mobile robots in a facility, wherein the server acquires arrival schedule information that indicates an arrival schedule time and an arrival schedule location of a conveying target to the facility, the server specifies an autonomous mobile robot of a kind that is able to perform conveyance of the conveying target to be arrived based on the arrival schedule information,
MORIGUCHI Teaches an in-hospital transport system. … discloses Hospital H, to which the in-hospital transport system 100 is introduced, is a large-scale hospital in which, for example, many hospital staff (doctors, nurses, etc.) and patients exist, and an unspecified number of these people come and go, and thus, MORIGUCHI teaches a facility. ; MORIGUCHI teaches the traveling carriage can be appropriately autonomously driven (a plurality of autonomous mobile robots in a facility)., MORIGUCHI [p.3]
MORIGUCHI discloses the storage unit 171a is a part of a storage area of a storage device of a computer system constituting the control unit 17, and stores settings and the like necessary for controlling the traveling carriage 1 (an autonomous mobile robot). Specifically, the storage unit 171a stores the environmental map data M1, the local map data M2, and the transport schedule SC, and thus, MORIGUCHI teaches a management system. … The transport schedule SC is data relating to transport from the transport start point to the transport end point of the traveling carriage 1. In the present embodiment, the transport schedule SC is data representing a transport route as a set of a plurality of target points set at predetermined intervals from a transport start point to a transport end point. … The transfer schedule SC may be transmitted from the host controller 3 together with the transfer command, or may be instructed at the time of planning the transfer route and stored in the storage unit 171a in advance. MORIGUCHI [p. 12 -13].
MORIGUCHI teaches the transport command transmitted by the host controller 3 includes information on the transport route (transport schedule SC or information on the transport start point and transport end point), an identification number of a specific cart 2 to be held, and the like. MORIGUCHI [p. 17].
MORIGUCHI discloses the in-hospital transport system 100, each of the … articles (e.g., prescription drugs, specimens, medical materials, or medical equipment) is transported by, for example, the transport route. MORIGUCHI [p.6]
and the server updates a schedule of the specified autonomous mobile robot and a schedule of another autonomous mobile robot such that the specified autonomous mobile robot is able to execute reception at the arrival schedule location in accordance with the arrival schedule time of the conveying target.
MORIGUCHI discloses the transport schedule SC is data relating to transport from the transport start point to the transport end point of the traveling carriage 1. In the present embodiment, the transport schedule SC is data representing a transport route as a set of a plurality of target points set at predetermined intervals (schedule) from a transport start point to a transport end point. MORIGUCHI [p. 12]
MORIGUCHI discloses the host controller 3 further includes the identification number of the cart 2 (a specified autonomous robot) to be transported included in the transport request and the position of the cart 2 in the station ST (identification number of the station ST) in the transport command. … It is possible to generate a transport command for holding the stored cart 2 (specified autonomous mobile robot) and then instructing the traveling carriage 1 (another autonomous mobile robot) to transport the cart 2 to a specific place (the packing station SR on the 5th floor FL5). MORIGUCHI [p.20].
Coulter further teaches:
and the server updates a schedule … at the arrival schedule location in accordance with the arrival schedule time of the conveying target.
Coulter [0123 ] teaches Dynamic Patient Scheduling--The system automates the creation of logistically realistic patient schedules, dynamically updating such schedules as disturbances force changes to those schedules., Coulter [0123]
MORIGUCHI teaches a traveling carriage autonomously driven through a hospital. Coulter determines logistics of patients, medications, and other healthcare objects. It would have been obvious to combine before the effective date, scheduling travel carriages within a hospital, as taught by MORIGUCHI , with coordinating the physical movement of patients, charts, medications, lab samples, and other healthcare "objects" through the physical structure of a hospital, as taught by Coulter, to improve by the efficiency of the hospital's logistics system., Coulter [013].
Regarding Claim 2,
The management system according to claim 1, wherein when the facility is a medical welfare facility and the conveying target indicated by the arrival schedule information is a person, the autonomous mobile robot of the kind that is able to perform conveyance of the conveying target to be arrived is one or more of a stretcher conveying robot, a stretcher conveying assistance robot, a wheelchair robot, and a walking assistance robot.
In MORIGUCHI , the traveling carriage 1(at least one autonomous mobile robot). MORIGUCHI [p.20].
MORIGUCHI discloses the in-hospital transport system 100, each of the … articles (e.g., prescription drugs, specimens, medical materials, or medical equipment) is transported by, for example, the transport route. MORIGUCHI [p.6] and MORIGUCHI teaches the transport schedule SC is data representing a transport route as a set of a plurality of target points set at predetermined intervals (schedule) from a transport start point to a transport end point. MORIGUCHI [p.6]
Although highly suggested, MORIGUCHI does not explicitly teach:
… is one or more of a stretcher conveying robot, a stretcher conveying assistance robot, a wheelchair robot, and a walking assistance robot. …
Coulter teaches:
by the arrival schedule information is a person, …is one or more of a stretcher conveying robot, a stretcher conveying assistance robot, a wheelchair robot, and a walking assistance robot.
Coulter [0122] discloses Dynamic Resource Scheduling--The system automates the process of scheduling resources, including but not limited to rooms, (e.g. OR's, gastro labs, cardiac catheterization labs, in-patient bed space etc.), equipment (e.g. MRI machines, CAT scanners, respirators, wheelchairs & gurneys, etc.) and other physical objects required to deliver patient care.; Coulter [018] discloses coordinating the physical movement of patients, charts, medications, lab samples, and other healthcare "objects" through the physical structure of a hospital., Coulter [018].
MORIGUCHI teaches a traveling carriage autonomously driven through a hospital. Coulter determines logistics of patients, medications, and other healthcare objects. It would have been obvious to combine before the effective date, scheduling travel carriages within a hospital, as taught by MORIGUCHI , with coordinating the physical movement of patients, charts, medications, lab samples, and other healthcare "objects" through the physical structure of a hospital, as taught by Coulter, to improve by the efficiency of the hospital's logistics system., Coulter [013].
Regarding Claim 3,
The management system according to claim 1, wherein at least one autonomous mobile robot of the autonomous mobile robots includes a main subject robot that operates autonomously as a main subject, and an accessory unit used in combination with the main subject robot such that the main subject robot executes conveyance of the conveying target of a predetermined kind.
In MORIGUCHI , the traveling carriage 1(at least one autonomous mobile robot) that has received the transport command can determine which cart 2 (a main subject robot) placed in the station ST should be transported. MORIGUCHI [p.20].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Amthor (WO 2020/244,946 A1) discloses hospital asset logistics optimization method includes: identifying and/or receive, from a plurality of RTLS devices dispersed throughout a medical facility, identification of items of medical equipment to be transported and destinations for the respective items of medical equipment to be transported.
Wang (CN111687852B) teaches a medical emergency robot device that responds to emergency assistance needs in a timely manner.
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/THEA LABOGIN/Examiner, Art Unit 3624
/HAMZEH OBAID/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3624