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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 15 January 2025 and 11 August 2025 are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “environment map includes a first portion generated in a first space of the surrounding environment, and a second portion generated in a second space of the surrounding environment, the second space being different from the first space” of claim 5 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Interpretation
Claims 1, 9 and 10 each similarly recite “mobile body” which is only described in the specification as being a forklift. Thus, “mobile body” will be interpreted as being a forklift.
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.
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.
Claims 1-4 and 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kimura (JP 2023-137739 A) in view of Shinichi Goto et al. (“3D environment measurement using binocular stereo and motion stereo by mobile robot with omnidirectional stereo camera”).
Regarding claim 1, Kimura discloses an information processing system comprising circuitry (Figures 2 and 4) configured to:
read from a memory (Figure 4, memory 58) an environment map (Paragraph [0051]) depicting a surrounding environment in which a mobile body moves, the mobile body on which a first imaging device to capture monocular images are mounted (Figure 2, imaging device 20.);
determine a first position of the first imaging device on the environment map based on a monocular image captured by the first imaging device and the environment map (Paragraph [0061].);
determine a second position of the first imaging device on the environment map based on a monocular image captured by the first imaging device and the environment map (Paragraph [0061].);
generate correction information for correcting a scale of the environment map based on a distance between the first position and the second position on the environment map and a reference distance between the first imaging device when capturing the images (Paragraph [0061] and paragraphs [0063]-[0065], distance between A and B is a reference distance.); and
determine a position of the mobile body using the environment map and the correction information (Paragraph [0065].).
Kimura fails to teach a second imaging device used to determine the second position.
Shinichi Goto et al. disclose a mobile body on which a first imaging device and a second imaging device to capture monocular images are mounted (See the abstract and Figures 2, 3 and 5, and section 1: binocular stereo images are obtained by using a first and second monocular images.).
Thus, Kimura and Shinichi Goto et al. each disclose obtaining images at two different locations. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized that the first and second cameras of Shinichi Goto et al. could have been substituted for the single camera of Kimura because both result in obtaining images of the surrounding environment. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the substitution. Finally, the substitution achieves the predictable result of providing images at the first and second positions.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the first and second cameras of Shinichi Goto et al. for the single camera of Kimura according to known methods to yield the predictable result of providing monocular images captured at the first and second imaging devices and determining first and second positions based on the images.
Regarding claim 2, Kimura and Shinichi Goto et al. disclose the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to generate the environment map based on multiple monocular images captured by either the first imaging device or the second imaging device while the mobile body moves along a route (Kimura: Paragraph [0056].).
Regarding claim 3, Kimura and Shinichi Goto et al. disclose the information processing system according to claim 2, wherein, after the environment map is generated, the circuitry determines the first position and the second position, respectively, and generates the correction information (Kimura: Figure 6 and paragraphs [0062]-[0065].).
Regarding claim 4, Kimura and Shinichi Goto et al. disclose the information processing system according to claim 2, wherein, parallel to generation of the environment map, the circuitry determines the first position and the second position, and generates the correction information (Kimura: Paragraph [0017]: “simultaneously”).
Regarding claim 6, Kimura and Shinichi Goto et al. disclose the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the first imaging device is at a first end of the mobile body, and the second imaging device is at a second end of the mobile body separated apart from the first end (Shinichi Goto et al.: Figure 2: “baseline” and Figure 5 [in the combination].).
Regarding claim 7, Kimura and Shinichi Goto et al. disclose the information processing system according to claim 6, wherein the first imaging device and the second imaging device are at an interval from each other in a direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the mobile body (Shinichi Goto et al.: Figure 2: “baseline” and Figure 5 [in the combination].).
Regarding claim 8, Kimura and Shinichi Goto et al. disclose the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein each of the first imaging device and the second imaging device is a spherical camera (Kimura: Paragraphs [0010] and [0020], for example.).
Regarding claim 9, this claim is rejected under the same rationale as claim 1.
Regarding claim 10, this claim is rejected under the same rationale as claim 1, where also disclose a non-transitory recording medium storing a plurality of program codes (Kimura: Figure 3 and paragraphs [0034] and [0036].).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The primary reasons for indicating allowable subject matter is the inclusion of the limitations reciting “wherein: the environment map includes a first portion generated in a first space of the surrounding environment, and a second portion generated in a second space of the surrounding environment, the second space being different from the first space, and the circuitry corrects a scale of the first portion and a scale of the second portion to be consistent with each other based on a determination that the distance between the first position of the first imaging device and the second position of the second imaging device is equal between the first portion and the second portion” which, in combination with the other recited features, is not taught and/or suggested either singularly or in combination within the prior art.
See page 20, lines 6-30 of the present specification which explains that the first space is a first room and the second space is a second room.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jiang et al. (US 2021/0350576) disclose a non-rigid stereo vision camera system for a forklift (See Figures 12A-12C and 13, for example.).
Kojima (US 2021/0312661) discloses a positioning apparatus capable of measuring position of moving body [forklift] using image capturing apparatus (Figure 1).
Fujimori et al. (WO 2019/163378 A1) disclose a forklift image processing device and control program (Figures 1-2).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN G SHERMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-2941. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4pm ET.
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/STEPHEN G SHERMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
5 October 2026
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