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 .
Note: claim 1 recites that there is a camera or a sensor. It also recites that either the actuator or the primary driver aligns the lift fork with the fork pocket. This means that for claims 2, 5, 6, 7, and 10 which use a sensor or a combination of primary driver and actuator, that these limitations do not necessarily have to be addressed if the camera or the other of the actuator or primary driver is selected in claim 1. For the purposes of expediting compact prosecution, the Examiner has used the Kai reference to address these limitations anyway.
Contents of this rejection:
35 U.S.C. 101 interpretation
35 U.S.C. 102 rejections
35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections
Relevant prior art section
Claim Interpretation - 35 USC § 101
The claims are compliant with 35 U.S.C. 101 because there is no abstract idea. The claims are directed towards operating a work machine.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 18-20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Specifically, claim 18 is directed toward a work machine system, but there is no hardware claimed, only a non-transitory computer-readable medium, so it is unclear if this is supposed to be a system or medium claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
(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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kai US20240217792A1.
Regarding claims 1, 11, and 18, Kai discloses a work machine (Abstract discloses a vehicle control apparatus that can accurately control autonomous driving of a vehicle using images. A vehicle control apparatus (10) according to the present disclosure includes a camera image acquisition unit (11) configured to acquire an image from a camera included in a forklift; an image recognition unit (12) configured to recognize a pallet and an insertion opening provided in the pallet from the acquired image; and a movement control unit (13) configured to determine a direction in which the forklift is present with respect to the insertion opening according to a relative size of the insertion opening relative to a size of the pallet in the image and control movement of the forklift so as to move a fork of the forklift to a position where the fork of the forklift can be inserted into the insertion opening) comprising:
a chassis (Fig. 3 shows a chassis);
a lift assembly coupled to the chassis comprising a lift fork, the lift fork configured to be inserted into a fork pocket to removably couple a container with the lift fork (P24 discloses a fork lift and P36 discloses fork pockets);
a primary driver configured to move the chassis (P74 discloses a driver’s seat as well as a travel control lever with steering for moving the chassis. P75 shows it is attachable and detachable);
a actuator configured to move the lift fork relative to the chassis (P75 discloses The steering drive mechanism 45 rotates the steering 43 clockwise or counterclockwise according to the operation command of the vehicle control apparatus 20. For example, the steering drive mechanism 45 rotates the steering 43 by combining the forward or backward movement of the forklift 40 and the horizontal movement thereof);
at least one of a camera or a sensor (P77 discloses an RGB-D camera to capture the surroundings of the forklift to generate images), and
processing circuitry configured to:
receive at least one of (a) image data from the camera, or (b) sensor data from the sensor (P77 discloses an RGB-D camera to capture the surroundings of the forklift to generate images);
determine, based on the image data or the sensor data, a position of the fork pocket;
determine, based on the image data or the sensor data, a position of the lift fork; and
(For the above two limitations P78 discloses the movement control unit 23 uses a result of the image recognition in the image recognition unit 22 to determine the direction in which the forklift is present relative to the front direction of the fork pockets 31 and 32 (S13));
operate, based on a comparison of the position of the fork pocket and the position of the lift fork, at least one of (a) the actuator to align the lift fork with the fork pocket or (b) the primary driver to align the lift fork with the fork pocket (P79 discloses when the movement control unit 23 determines that the forklift is present in the front direction of the fork pockets 31 and 32, it generates a control command to align the x-coordinate of the center coordinate of the pallet in the image with the x-coordinate of the center coordinate of the image (Step S15). If the movement control unit 23 determines that the forklift is not present in the front direction of the fork pocket 31 and the fork pocket 32, it generates a control command to perform a turnaround operation (Step S16)).
Regarding claims 2, 12, and 20, Kai discloses determine, based on the image data, an elevation of the fork pocket; and responsive to a determination, based on the sensor data, that the elevation of the lift fork differs from the elevation of the fork pocket, operate the actuator to adjust an elevation of the lift assembly to match the elevation of the lift fork to the elevation of the fork pocket (P61 discloses control commands when the forklift is present in the oblique direction of the fork pockets 31 and 32 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 . FIG. 7 shows rectangles FP1 and FP2 and the fork pocket 31 and fork pocket 32 included in the rectangles as regions on the XY plane. P62 discloses the coordinates (FP1 x, FP1 y) and (FP2 x, FP2 y) are values identified in the image recognition unit 22. FP1_p indicates the top left vertex of the fork pocket 31. The coordinates of FP1_p are FP1_p (FP1_px, FP1_py). FP2_p indicates the top right vertex of the fork pocket 32. The coordinates of FP2_p are FP2_p (FP2_px, FP2_py). H indicates the height of the fork pockets 31 and 32. The y-coordinate is elevation. P63 discloses movement control based on these).
Regarding claims 3 and 4, Kai discloses wherein the lift fork is a first lift fork and the fork pocket is a first fork pocket, wherein the lift assembly comprises a second lift fork configured to be inserted into a second fork pocket (P27 discloses when the movement control unit 13 determines the direction in which the forklift is present, it controls the movement of the forklift so as to move the forks of the forklift to a position where they can be inserted into the insertion openings. This shows a plurality of forks. P34 discloses a plurality of fork pockets). For claims 4, please see the rejection to claim 2 which discusses using the actuator to adjust position based on elevation.
Regarding claims 5 and 6, Kai discloses
determine, based on the sensor data, the elevation of the first lift fork and the elevation of the second lift fork;
determine, based on the image data, an elevation of the first fork pocket and an elevation of the second fork pocket;
operate the first actuator to adjust the elevation of the first lift fork such that the elevation of the first lift fork matches the elevation of the first fork pocket; and
operate the second actuator to adjust the elevation of the second lift fork such that the elevation of the second lift fork matches the elevation of the second fork pocket.
These limitations amount to using x, y coordinates to align the forks with the fork pockets, which are addressed in claims 1-4. Further, the limitations of claim 6 are interpreted as conveying the same information.
Regarding claims 7 and 19, Kai discloses determine, base on the sensor data and the image data, an operating procedure for operating the actuator to insert the lift fork pocket, the operating procedure comprising a plurality of steps for movement of the lift fork such that the lift fork is aligned with and inserted into the fork pocket (P27 discloses when the movement control unit 13 determines the direction in which the forklift is present, it controls the movement of the forklift so as to move the forks of the forklift to a position where they can be inserted into the insertion openings. This shows a plurality of forks. P34 discloses a plurality of fork pockets).
Regarding claims 8, 16, and 17 Kai discloses an interface (P85 discloses an I/O interface. An interface can display messages). Regarding claim 17, an I/O interface is “configured” to indicate any information.
Regarding claim 9, please see the rejection to claim 7.
Regarding claim 10, please see the rejections to claims 1-4.
Regarding claims 13 and 14,
(for claim 13) wherein the operating procedure comprises one or more instructions for inserting the lift fork into the fork pocket based on a lateral distance between the lift fork and a second lift fork of the lift assembly (the rejection to claim 3 explains that there are a plurality of forks and plurality of pockets. The rejection to claim 2 discloses x, y coordinates (i.e. lateral distances) for insertion into the pockets);
(for claim 14) wherein the operating procedure comprises one or more instructions for inserting the lift fork into the fork pocket based on a difference between a position of an edge of the lift fork and a position of the edge of the fork pocket (Again, the rejection to claim 3, as well as claim 1, shows alignment based on x, y coordinates which take into account the edges of the pockets).
Regarding claim 15, as disclosed above, the fork is inserted into the fork pocket, which is based on the front portion of the lift fork which is the part that approaches the fork pocket.
Relevant Prior Art
US20220100195 directed to a transport vehicle, such as a vision guided vehicle, can comprise a drive portion constructed to facilitate movement of the transport vehicle and a load portion constructed to engage an object of interest. The load portion can comprise an object engagement apparatus and at least one sensor coupled to or disposed within a distal end of the object engagement apparatus, wherein the sensor can be at least a 2D sensor. The engagement apparatus can comprise forks, at least one fork having sensor coupled to or disposed within a fork tip. The 2D sensor can comprise a scanning LIDAR sensor arranged to collect information to identify a pickable pallet, for example.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARYAN E WEISENFELD whose telephone number is (571)272-6602. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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ARYAN E. WEISENFELD
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3689
/ARYAN E WEISENFELD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3663
Prosecution Insights