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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-13, and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tassinari (US 2022/0275662).
As to claims 1, 10 and 19, Tassinari discloses an autonomous pile driving system (figure 1), comprising: an end effector (1); a hardware processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by the hardware processor (management and control unit; paragraph 0062), cause the hardware processor to perform steps comprising: autonomously determining, by the autonomous pile driving system located within a first threshold distance of a target location to install a pile (4), a location of a first end of a pile, the pile within a second threshold distance of the end effector (figure 1); autonomously positioning the end effector based on the determined location of the first end of the pile (paragraph 0070 and 0097); autonomously picking up the pile by engaging the positioned end effector with the first end of the pile; autonomously positioning the pile based on the target location; and autonomously driving the pile into ground at the target location by applying a driving force with the end effector to the first end of the pile to cause a second end of the pile to be driven into the ground (paragraph 0093; figures 1-5).
As to claim 2, 11 and 20, Tassinari discloses further comprising: autonomously determining, by the autonomous pile driving system, an orientation of the pile, wherein the autonomous pile driving system autonomously positions the tool based on the determined orientation of the pile (paragraph 0036; figure 1-2).
As to claim 3 and 12, Tassinari discloses further comprising: autonomously navigating, by the autonomous pile driving system and based on a pile plan map, toward the target location to locate the autonomous pile driving system within the first threshold distance of the target location (paragraph 0097).
As to claims 4 and 13, Tassinari discloses further comprising: autonomously distributing, based on a pile plan map, a plurality of piles by placing the plurality of piles on the ground proximal to respective locations where each pile is to be driven, wherein the autonomous pile driving system is configured to autonomously position the tool and autonomously pick up the pile placed on the ground at the target location (paragraph 0070 and 0097).
As to claim 7 and 16, Tassinari discloses wherein the tool of the autonomous pile driving system is one of an electromechanical gripper, a magnetic gripper, a pneumatic gripper, and a hydraulic gripper (see gripper 10; figures 1-5).
As to claim 8 and 17, Tassinari wherein the autonomous pile driving system autonomously determines whether the pile is within the second threshold distance of the tool using an object sensor system of the autonomous pile driving system, wherein the object sensor system includes one or more of a camera, a LIDAR sensor, a radar sensor, a kinematic sensor, and a weight sensor (paragraph 0071-0077).
As to claim 9 and 18, Tassinari discloses wherein the second threshold distance is based on a movable range of the tool provided at a distal end of an articulated arm of the autonomous pile driving system (figure 1; max distance of excavator arm 3).
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(s) 5-6 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tassinari (US 2022/0275662) in view of .
As to claims 5-6 and 14-15, Tassinari discloses the invention substantially as claimed. However, Tassinari is silent about wherein the pile is carried by a vehicle that is separate from the autonomous pile driving system, and wherein the autonomous pile driving system is configured to autonomously determine the location of the first end of the pile carried by the vehicle. Gao et al. teaches a similar method including wherein the pile is carried by a vehicle such as carriage (43) that is separate from the autonomous pile driving system, and wherein the autonomous pile driving system is configured to autonomously detect the location and orientation of the pile carried by the vehicle; and wherein the vehicle is a carriage that is pulled by the autonomous pile driving system (abstract; figures 1-7). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Tassinari to include the vehicle to carry the piles as taught by Gao et al. since it would provide a pile storage device preventing more obstacles at the site.
Conclusion
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/CARIB A OQUENDO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3678
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