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 statement (IDS) submitted on 1/18/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-5, 11-12 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Peng et al. (PG Pub U.S 2021/0369069).
Regarding claim 1, Peng teaches a method for exploring a ground material, applied to a cleaning robot (100), wherein the method comprises: obtaining status information of the cleaning robot (para 0032) and selecting an edge exploration mode based on the status information when the cleaning robot detects a preset ground material, wherein the edge exploration mode comprises an inner edge exploration mode and an outer edge
exploration mode (para 0035-0039); the inner edge exploration mode means the cleaning robot exploring an edge of the preset ground material on an inner side of the preset ground material, and the outer edge exploration mode means the cleaning robot exploring the edge of the preset ground material on an outer side of the preset ground material (para 0035-0039) and performing edge exploration on the preset ground material according to the edge exploration mode and obtaining a contour of the preset ground material (para 0040).
Regarding claim 2, Peng teaches wherein the obtaining status information of the cleaning robot and selecting an edge exploration mode based on the status information comprises: obtaining environmental information around the cleaning robot and selecting either one of the inner edge exploration mode and the outer edge exploration mode based on the environmental information (para 0033-0034).
Regarding claim 3, Peng teaches wherein the configuration information comprises a working mode of the cleaning robot and/or a status of a ground material cleaning function (para 0034).
Regarding claim 4, Peng teaches wherein in case the inner edge exploration mode is selected as the edge exploration mode, the performing edge exploration on the preset ground material according to the edge exploration mode and obtaining the contour of the preset ground material. comprises: in response to the preset ground material being detected by the cleaning robot, controlling the cleaning robot to perform an inner edge exploration task to obtain contour points of the preset ground material until the cleaning robot reaches a first contour point position again, wherein the first contour point position is a position where the cleaning robot obtains a first one of the contour points (para 0035-0040; figs 3-4).
Regarding claim 5, Peng teaches wherein the controlling the cleaning robot (100) to perform the inner edge exploration task to obtain contour points of the preset ground material, comprises: controlling the cleaning robot to perform a first preset action until the cleaning robot detects a non-preset ground material; controlling the cleaning robot to rotate in a first direction (see: Fig. 4), and when the cleaning robot detects the preset ground material again, obtaining a current coordinate of the cleaning robot and marking the current coordinate as one of the contour points (para 0035-0040); and controlling the cleaning robot to advance at a preset angular velocity and a preset linear velocity (implicitly taught), and when the cleaning robot detects the non-preset ground material again, repeating a step of controlling the cleaning robot to rotate in the first direction to obtain the contour points (para 0035-0040; figs 3-4).
Regarding claim 11, Peng teaches wherein in case the outer edge exploration mode is selected as the edge exploration mode, the performing edge exploration on the preset ground material according to the edge exploration mode and obtaining the contour of the preset ground material, comprises: marking a current position of the cleaning robot as a first contour point position when the cleaning robot detects the preset ground material for a first time; controlling the cleaning robot to perform an outer edge exploration task in a second direction to obtain contour points of the preset ground material; controlling the cleaning robot to perform a third preset action when the cleaning robot detects an obstacle, and controlling the cleaning robot to perform the outer edge exploration task in a third direction to obtain contour points of the preset ground material, wherein the third direction is opposite to the second direction; and ending the outer edge exploration task when the cleaning robot detects the obstacle again (para 0034-0040).
Regarding claim 12, Peng teaches wherein the third preset action is to turn around in place; or to navigate to the first contour point (para 0034-0040).
Regarding claim 19, Peng teaches a cleaning robot, wherein the cleaning robot comprises a processor, a memory, and computer-exceutable instructions stored on the memory and executable by the processor, wherein when the computer-executable instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the method for exploring the ground material as claimed in claim 1 is implemented (para 0045-0050).
Regarding claim 20, Peng teaches a computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and the computer-executable instructions, when being executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement the method for exploring the ground material as claimed in claim 1 (para 0045-0050).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-10 and 13-18 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement for reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The closest prior art of record is Peng et al. (PG Pub U.S 2021/0369069).
Peng teaches limitations of claims 1, 4, and 5 as detailed above.
Peng fails to teach wherein the controlling the cleaning robot to perform the first preset action until the cleaning robot detects the non-preset ground material, comprises: controlling the cleaning robot to rotate, obtaining in real time a rotation angle of the cleaning robot and a detection result of the cleaning robot on a ground material; determining that the detection result of the cleaning robot on the ground material is that the non-preset ground material is detected and the rotation angle of the cleaning robot obtained is smaller than 180, controlling the cleaning robot to stop rotating; determining that the rotation angle of the cleaning robot reaches 180° and the non-preset ground material is not detected by the cleaning robot, controlling the cleaning robot to stop rotating and controlling the cleaning robot to advance straight along a current direction until the cleaning robot detects the non-preset ground material; and/or a direction of the preset angular velocity is determined according to the first direction, wherein: in case the first direction is clockwise with the cleaning robot as a reference object, the direction of the preset angular velocity is perpendicular to the ground and outward; and in case the first direction is counterclockwise with the cleaning robot as a reference object, the direction of the preset angular velocity is perpendicular to the ground and inward; and/or the angular velocity gradually decreases as recited in claim 6.
Peng fails to teach wherein the cleaning robot is provided with at least one of a brushing member and a mopping member, wherein the brushing member comprises a side brushing member and/or a middle brushing member; determining that the preset ground material is detected by the cleaning robot, the method further comprises at least one of the following operations: controlling the side brushing member to be in a retracted state in case the cleaning robot is provided with the side brushing member; controlling the middle brushing member to be in an off-ground state in case the cleaning robot is provided with the middle brushing member; and controlling the mopping member to be in an off-ground state in case the cleaning robot is provided with the mopping member; and/or the obtaining the contour of the preset ground material, comprises: determining the contour of the preset ground material by connecting, fitting, or graphic matching processing the contour points; and/or the method further comprises: when the cleaning robot performs an outer edge exploration task and the contour of the preset ground material cannot be determined based on the contour points, controlling the cleaning robot to perform an edge exploration of the preset ground material based on the inner edge exploration mode to obtain the contour of the preset ground material as recited in claim 7.
Peng fails to teach wherein in case the outer edge exploration mode is selected as the edge exploration mode, the performing edge exploration on the preset ground material according to the edge exploration mode and obtaining the contour of the preset ground material, comprises: marking a current position of the cleaning robot as a first contour point position when the cleaning robot detects the preset ground material for a first time; and controlling the cleaning robot to perform an outer edge exploration task to obtain contour points of the preset ground material until the cleaning robot reaches the first contour point position again as recited in claim 8.
Peng fails to teach wherein after obtaining the contour of the preset ground material, the method further comprises: determining a first material area according to the contour of the preset ground material and obtaining a second material area closest to the first material area from a pre-constructed clean arca map, wherein a ground material type corresponding to the first material area is the same as a ground material type corresponding to the second material area; and merging the first material area with the second material area in the clean area map when a distance between the first material area and the second material area is less than or equal to a preset spacing distance; and/or the cleaning robot is provided with at least one of a brushing member and a mopping member, and the brushing member comprises a side brushing member and/or a middle brushing member; and after obtaining the contour of the preset ground material, the method further comprises: controlling the cleaning robot to clean the preset ground material in a first boustrophedon path via the side brushing member and/or the middle brushing member according to the contour of the preset ground material; and controlling the cleaning robot to clean the preset ground material in a second boustrophedon path via the side brushing member and/or the middle brushing member according to the contour of the preset ground material, wherein the second boustrophedon path is orthogonal to the first boustrophedon path as recited in claim 13.
Peng fails to teach step S1: determining a starting position, wherein the cleaning robot detects a target ground material at the starting position; step S2: controlling the cleaning robot to perform a preset action; step S3: controlling the cleaning robot to advance at a preset angular velocity and a preset linear velocity until the cleaning robot detects a target signal again, wherein the angular velocity gradually decreases; step S4: repeating steps S2 and S3; and
in a process of the cleaning robot performing step S1 or S2, the method further comprising: obtaining contour points of the preset ground material and marking a contour point of the preset ground material obtained for a first time as a first contour point, wherein the contour points of the preset ground material are coordinates of the cleaning robot when a preset ground material is detected in a process of performing step S1 or S2 as recited in claim 14.
Conclusion
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/P.P/Examiner, Art Unit 1714
/KAJ K OLSEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1714
