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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-6 and 8 are amended. (before first action)
Claim 15 is cancelled.
16 and 17 are new.
Claims 1-14 and 16-17 are pending.
Objections
Examiner notes that no priority was claimed for WO 2022010684 A1 which appears to be the same application but not the same assignee, only the inventor is named and it is the same as the instant application. Note that the priority date is before the priority date of 09/14/2022 that is indicated on the US application. Is not including this an overcite??
Claim Interpretation
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Under a broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), words of the claim must be given their plain meaning, unless such meaning is inconsistent with the specification. The plain meaning of a term means the ordinary and customary meaning given to the term by those of ordinary skill in the art at the relevant time. The ordinary and customary meaning of a term may be evidenced by a variety of sources, including the words of the claims themselves, the specification, drawings, and prior art. However, the best source for determining the meaning of a claim term is the specification - the greatest clarity is obtained when the specification serves as a glossary for the claim terms. The words of the claim must be given their plain meaning unless the plain meaning is inconsistent with the specification. 2111.01 (I). See also In re Marosi, 710 F.2d 799, 802, 218 USPQ 289, 292 (Fed. Cir. 1983) ("'[C]laims are not to be read in a vacuum, and limitations therein are to be interpreted in light of the specification in giving them their ‘broadest reasonable interpretation.'"2111.01 (II).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-14 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JÄGENSTEDT et al. [WO2016097891, now Jagen] (note copy with paragraph numbers included), with Zhou; et al. [US20190346848, now Zhou].
Claim 1.
Jagen discloses a method, comprising: defining a boundary of a work region in which an autonomous machine is to operate; defining encountering a dead zone in the work region wherein a loss of a wireless geolocation service is determined known or predicted [see at least Jagen, Abstract (discusses general concepts of a similar method and system); ¶ 41 (“the PQA module 80 may be configured to interact with the positioning module 60 to analyze the position information determined thereby”); 53 -54 (discusses Fig. 4 and indicated shadow zones (i.e. dead zone)];
during a traversal through the dead zone, capturing camera images from the autonomous machine and compiling the camera images into a navigation database that comprises geolocated image features from the camera images, the navigation database being used for subsequent image-based localization [see at least Jagen, ¶ 26 (discusses the use of image data for positioning)];
autogenerating a traversal pattern within the boundary [see at least Jagen, ¶ 20 (“utilize the control circuitry 12 to define a path for coverage of the parcel 20 in terms of performing a task over specified portions or the entire parcel 20”)];
causing the autonomous machine to execute the traversal pattern to perform work using the wireless geolocation service to navigate outside of the dead zone [see at least Jagen, ¶ 58 (discusses Fig. 5 and “control flow diagram”)]; and
when encountering the dead zone before, during, or after executing the traversal pattern, prioritizing the image-based localization a localization input that does not rely on the wireless geolocation service to perform the work in the dead zone [see at least Jagen, ¶ 58 (“A determination may then be made as to whether the qualitative assessment indicates that the position information corresponds to an impaired area (or shadow zone) at operation 406. The determination at operation 406 may include a comparison of signal strength values, noise figure values, multipath distortion errors, signal arrival time measurement errors, and/or the like to specified thresholds to determine whether such values are above (or below) the specified thresholds that correspond to impaired area status. However, in some cases, the determination at operation 406 may include a comparison of subsequent signal strength values, noise figure values, multipath distortion errors, signal arrival time measurement errors, and/or the like to each other to determine a change has occurred above (or below) specified thresholds relative to immediately or more distant prior corresponding values to see if the magnitude of the change corresponds to impaired area status. Other possible determining criteria could also be employed.”)].
Examiner Note: Jagen discloses the major concepts of the BRI of the claims. Zhou further teaches the concepts using similar language to the claims. These two fully disclose/teach the claims.
Zhou further teaches defining a boundary of a work region in which an autonomous machine is to operate [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0002 (“recognizing a boundary”); 0244 (discusses contours and boundary determination)];
autogenerating a traversal pattern within the boundary [see at Zhou, ¶ 0178 (“a path of the autonomous lawn mower in each sub-region is planned. A preset path of the autonomous lawn mower in each sub-region may be a regular path such as parallel paths and a spiral path or may be a random path.”); 0197 (“ determining a contour condition of the shaded region; and S540, dividing the working region into a plurality of sub-working regions based on the boundary condition of the working region and the contour condition of the shaded region, a part of the shaded region in any sub-working region being a sub-shaded region, the sub-shaded region having a length direction and a width direction, and the division enabling a length of the sub-shaded region in the width direction to be less than a predetermined threshold. The predetermined threshold is less than 10 meters or 5 meters or 2 meters.”)];
causing the autonomous machine to execute the traversal pattern to perform work using the wireless geolocation service to navigate outside of the dead zone; and when encountering the dead zone before, during, or after executing the traversal pattern, prioritizing the image-based localization a localization input that does not rely on the wireless geolocation service to perform the work in the dead zone [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0009-0010 (“Buildings and obstacles usually exist in a working region of an autonomous lawn mower. Shaded regions with weak navigation signals are easily formed around these buildings and obstacles. Satellite navigation signals usually tend to be blocked by the buildings, the obstacles, and the like and become weaker consequently. For example, an autonomous lawn mower may fail to be located precisely when working in a shaded region due to weak GPS signals. [0010] A problem to be resolved by the embodiments of the present invention is to ensure that a self-moving device can safely and efficiently cover a working region.”); 0168 (discusses “an auxiliary positioning apparatus.”); 0210-0211 (discusses position signals and positioning precision and satellites quantity of signal sources”)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 2
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 1.
Jagen further teaches predicting the dead zone via analysis of digital map data before the autonomous machine traverses the work region, wherein the traversal though the dead zone comprises a user-guided traversal to gather navigation images wherein the localization input comprises image-based localization using a three-dimensional point cloud [see at least Jagen, ¶ 0023 (“remote operator 44 (or user”); 0034 (“user interface”); 0049 (“backup or secondary source of obtaining position information”); 0050 (describes use of camera to gather data)].
Zhou also teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0162 (describes “raster image”),
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 3
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 1.
Jagen further discloses the autonomous machine navigates along a plurality of random paths while in the dead zone [see at least Jagen, ¶ 52 (discusses PQA and path errors and multipath); 58 (describes Fig. 5 and “control flow”)].
Zhou further teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0185 (discusses adjusting mower in poor signal areas)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 4
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 1.
Jagar further discloses the dead zone is encountered while executing the traversal pattern, the method further comprising, when the work in the dead zone is complete, continuing to execute the traversal pattern to perform the work using the wireless geolocation service to navigate [see at least Jagar, ¶ 7 (“method for identifying impairment areas or zones on a parcel based on operation of a robotic vehicle is provided”); 20 (defines a path for coverage of the parcel)].
Zhou also teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0326 (discusses direction through shadow (dead) zones)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 5
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 1.
Jagen further discloses the dead zone is encountered before or after executing the traversal pattern, and wherein the wireless geolocation service is used to navigate to the dead zone before or after completing the traversal pattern [see at least Jagen, ¶ 23 (discusses communication technique)].
Zhou also teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou, Fig. 25a].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 6
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 1.
Jagen further discloses defining the boundary comprises :navigating the autonomous machine along the boundary under user supervision; and defining the boundary based on a path traversed during the navigation of the estimate of the boundary [see at least Jagen, ¶ 23 (discusses Navigation of an autonomous mower); 34 (discusses user interface); 39 (discusses detection module for boundaries)].
Zhou also teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou, 0003 (discusses boundary lines)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 7
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 1.
Jagen further discloses navigating the boundary under user supervision comprises, pushing, driving, or towing the autonomous machine [see at least Jagen, ¶ 31 (discuses processor that controls the autonomous vehicle)].
Zhou further teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0158 (discusses “separation of autonomous lawn mower and the mobile station is placed on a pushable cart.”)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 8
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 1.
Jagen further discloses defining the boundary comprises :facilitating user selection of an estimate of the boundary via an image on an electronic map of the work region; moving the autonomous machine to the work region; autonomously navigating the autonomous machine along the estimate of the boundary under user supervision; and defining the boundary based on a path traversed during the navigation of the estimate of the boundary [see at least Jagen, ¶ 21 (discusses the sensor module); 51 (discusses the “sensor network” and the modules for boundary and shadow zones control)].
Zhou also teaches these limitations [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0002 (“Autonomous lawn mower”); 0003 (discusses boundary lines and control); 0048 (“an autonomous working system”); 0154 (discusses “starting point” and control within boundaries); 0234 (further discusses control)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 9
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 8.
Jagen further discloses autonomously navigating the autonomous machine along the estimate of the boundary under the user supervision involves the user correcting the autonomous machine while the autonomous machine moves along the estimate of the boundary such that the path traversed conforms to an on-site boundary [see at least Jagen, ¶ 51 (discusses sensor network)].
Claim 10
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 8.
Jagen further discloses in response to determining a problem area while autonomously navigating the autonomous machine along the estimate of the boundary, stopping autonomous navigation and facilitating user guidance of the autonomous machine through the problem area [see at least Jagen, ¶ 23 (discusses control circuitry and a communication node)].
Zhou further teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0155 (discusses “positioning precision of the self-moving device”)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 11
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 10.
Jagen further discloses (Original) The method of claim 10, wherein, during the user guidance of the autonomous machine through the problem area, the autonomous machine records camera imagery that is stored on the autonomous machine and used to geolocate features in the camera imagery, the geolocated features being used for subsequent navigation in the local navigation mode when performing the work at or near the problem area [see at least Jagen, ¶ 26 (“positioning precision of the self-moving device.”)].
Zhou also teaches these limitations [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0168 (discusses “auxiliary positioning apparatus”); 0192 (discusses”)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 12
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 10.
Jagen further discloses the problem area is determined based on an inability of the autonomous machine to autonomously navigate through obstacles in the problem area [see at least Jagen, ¶ 51].
Zhou also teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0164 (discusses “offset operation”)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 13
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 10.
Jagen further discloses the problem area is automatically determined based image analysis of the electronic map at an operations center [see at least Jagen, ¶ 60 (discusses degree of impairment and thresholds)].
Claim 14
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 8.
Jagen further discloses facilitating the user selection of the estimate of the boundary via the image on the electronic map of the work region comprises: performing an image analysis of the image to determine workable regions with similar image properties; presenting the workable regions as an overlay on the electronic map; and receiving a user selection of one or more of the workable regions, a geometry of one or more workable regions being used to define the estimate of the boundary, wherein the image analysis further determines a problem area in the work region, the method further comprising, while autonomously navigating the autonomous machine along the estimate of the boundary, stopping autonomous navigation and facilitating user guidance of the autonomous machine through the problem area, wherein the problem area is determined based on determining non- workable regions having features corresponding to known obstacle types [see at least Jagen, Abstract (discloses robotic vehicle); ¶ 6 (discusses more on the robotic vehicle); 17 (more on robotic mowers); 23; 43 (discusses PQA module); 49 (discusses position information)].
Zhou further teaches these limitations [see at least Zhou, ¶0010 (“the embodiments of the present invention is to ensure that a self-moving device can safely and efficiently cover a working region.”); 0155 (to record the map, the mobile station is installed at the housing of the autonomous lawn mower, and the user uses an intelligent terminal device such as a mobile phone and a tablet to remotely control the autonomous lawn mower to move. Similarly, the step of recording the map includes recording the boundary of the working region, an obstacle in the working region, a passage connecting sub-regions or the like. In this embodiment, in the process of recording the map, an inertial navigation apparatus may be turned on. The reason is that the mobile station is installed at the housing of the autonomous lawn mower, and the mobile station moves relatively stably. In this embodiment, in the process of recording the map, the task execution module of the autonomous lawn mower is kept off.”)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
15. (Cancelled)
Claim 16
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 1.
Jagen further teaches the prioritizing of the image-based localization comprises using both the wireless geolocation service and the image-based localization and giving a greater weighting to the image-based localization [see at least Jagen, ¶ 58].
Zhou further taches this limitation [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0168 (shows the details of the mobile station)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Claim 17
Jagen and Zhou teach the method of Claim 1.
Jagen further discloses an autonomous machine comprising a processor operable to perform the method of claim 1 [see at least Jagen 29 (discusses a processor.)].
Zhou also teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou, ¶ 0052 (“processor”)].
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify/combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the “relate to a robotic vehicle that is configurable to operate within an area and identify GPS shadow zones” of Jagen, with the boundary estimating and correction of Zhou. Providing a safer and more effective and efficient [Jagen, ¶ 8; Zhou, ¶ 0006] process to control an autonomous mower.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Coutinho et al. [US 20180014351]
Abstract: Communication network architectures, systems and methods for supporting a network of mobile nodes. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of this disclosure provide communication network architectures, systems, and methods for supporting a dynamically configurable communication network comprising a complex array of both static and moving communication nodes (e.g., the Internet of moving things). For example, systems and method for vehicular positioning based on wireless fingerprinting data in a network of moving things including, for example, autonomous vehicles.
HJELMAKER [US 20250113771]
Abstract: a robotic lawn mower that is adapted to operate within an operation area defined by a boundary and comprises a mower control unit adapted to control the operation of the robotic lawn mower. The mower control unit is adapted to receive data defining at least one boundary part, comprised in the boundary, where the mower control unit is adapted to control the robotic lawn mower to perform boundary cutting along said boundary part, and to perform normal cutting along the rest of the boundary. The boundary cutting is a procedure adapted to enable cutting over the boundary in a pre-defined manner.
Yang et al. [US 20200042009]
Abstract: An unmanned lawn mower includes a mower body, a cutting module, a wheel module, a camera module and a CPU. The cutting module is mounted on the mower body and configured to weed. The wheel module is mounted on the mower body and configured to move the mower body. The camera module is mounted on the mower body and configured to capture images of surroundings of the mower body. The CPU is coupled to the cutting module, the wheel module and the camera module. The central processing unit controls the cutting module and the wheel module to weed within an area according to the images captured by the camera module and control signals from a handheld electronic device, or the central processing unit controls the cutting module and the wheel module to weed within the area according to the images captured by the camera module.
Kandoi, P. Hegade, U. Goel, V. H. Reddy Allu, D. Samiappan and R. Kumar, "Image Enhancement Using Surveillance System for Dead Zone," 2019 International Conference on Communication and Electronics Systems (ICCES), Coimbatore, India, 2019, pp. 796-801.
Abstract: This paper presents a surveillance system that is capable of transmitting its geo location and the information from real time images to a central unit in no network zone. The system is further configured for using image processing and machine learning algorithms to deduce any suspicious object from the captured image. Thereby, the system is helpful in identifying threats in all kind of weather conditions on land and in oceans. The system is very efficient, cost effective and is simple in design. Once the threat is identified, the system transmits the information to the central unit through the LoRa by using certain communication protocols. Compared to existing devices, this system has the potential to reduce causalities by enhancing navigational and observational features in the surveillance sector.
C. Laoudias, A. Moreira, S. Kim, S. Lee, L. Wirola and C. Fischione, "A Survey of Enabling Technologies for Network Localization, Tracking, and Navigation," in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 3607-3644, Fourth quarter 2018.
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/JOAN T GOODBODY/
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(571) 270-7952
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