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 .
This is in response to Applicant’s communication filed on 8/10/26, wherein:
Claims 1-20 are currently pending;
Claims 1, 4, 12, 17 have been amended.
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.
(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) 12-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KEARNEY-FISCHER (US 2023/0005378).
As for claim 12, KEARNEY-FISCHER discloses generating, by a module in a processor in a mission management system (MMS) of a robot, a nominal trajectory and one or more contingency trajectories for the robot, wherein generating the nominal trajectory and the one or more contingency trajectories comprise generating a computational result; and sending the computation result {see at least figures 2-3, 4, 5 10 (steps 1002, 1006, 1008, 1010) pars. 0031-0032, 0036-0039, 0045, 0056-0057 }
For example, {figure 4. Pars. 0036-0037, 0039 discloses the nominal trajectory (path 402, trajectory 406, 408}, the robot may take a path, and this path may be described by a series of waypoints that define a route the robot will travel;
{figure 5, par. 0045 discloses sending the computation result to a component
{figure 10, at least pars 0056 discloses determining trajectories of the robot and a nearby moving object forward in time from respective current positions of the robot and the nearby moving object; par. 0057 discloses determining a plurality of angles that describe the conflict, as shown at block 1008. The plurality of angles includes a first angle at which the robot observes the moving object, and either a second angle at which the moving object observes the robot, or a third angle between the trajectories at a crossing point of the trajectories. Selecting the maneuver also includes evaluating the plurality of angles to select the maneuver to avoid the conflict and outputting an indication of the maneuver for use in at least one of guidance, navigation or control of the robot to avoid the conflict};
sending by the MMS, the nominal trajectory and the one or more contingency trajectories to a robot management system of the robot {see at least figure 10, steps 1012 and at least par. 0057 e.g. outputting an indication of the maneuver for use in at least one of guidance, navigation or control of the robot to avoid the conflict}.
Noted: As for the feature ‘a comparison component”, this is merely a name of a source of where the MMS is sending the information to and does not seem to impact the manipulative step of sending the information/computation result and thus is given little patentable weight. In other word, there no indication of “comparing the computational result with other computational result as recited after the step of sending.
As for claim 13, KEARNEY-FISCHER discloses wherein the conflict detection and resolution module is further configured to: obtain alert information; determine, based on the alert information, a conflict associated with the robot; determine, based on the conflict, a conflict resolution; and send, to the behavior management module, information indicating the conflict and the conflict resolution {see at least figures 4-5, par. 0041}.
As for claim 14, KEARNEY-FISCHER discloses wherein the mission update module is further configured to: obtain, from the supervisor system via the communication module, mission information; validate the mission information; and generate the nominal trajectory and the one or more contingency trajectories based on at least some of the validated mission information {see at least pars. 0030-0036, 0043, 0056-0057}.
As for claim 15, KEARNEY-FISCHER discloses wherein each processor further includes one or more data structures that respectively include navigation data, ground hazard data, or terrain data, and wherein the mission update module, to generate the nominal trajectory and the one or more contingency trajectories, is further configured to: generate the nominal trajectory and the one or more contingency trajectories based on information obtained from the one or more data structures {see at least figure 5, pars. 0045, 0055, 0057, 0081, 0094, 0107}.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-11, 17-20 are allowed.
Claim 16 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 8/10/26 with respect to claim 12 has been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that KEARNEY-FISCHER does not teach “generating a nominal trajectory and one or more contingency trajectories comprises generating a computational result and send the computation result to a comparison component”.
However, this is not persuasive because KEARNEY-FISCHER at least figures 4, 10 and the related text as indicated above discloses this limitation {see the above rejection}. Further, as for the feature “a comparison component”, this is merely a name of a source of where the MMS is sending the information to and does not seem to impact the manipulative step of sending the information/computation result and thus is given little patentable weight. In other word, there no indication of “comparing the computational result with other computational result as recited after the step of sending.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kira Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-1614. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday 9:00-5:00 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khoi Tran can be reached on 571-272-6919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KIRA NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3656
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