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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1, 3, 7-8, 12-15, and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hanson (“Pregrasp Object Material Classification by a Novel Gripper Design with Integrated Spectroscopy”).
As per claim 1, Hanson discloses an article identification and/or sorting apparatus, said apparatus including:
at least one automated arm member (see section IV.C. for UR3e collaborative robot arm);
said arm member having a first, proximal end and a second, opposing distal end (see at least Fig. 1 for robot arm with two ends);
the distal end comprising an article gripping portion (see section IV.B. for Robotiq 2F-85 parallel plate gripper); and
said gripping portion including at least one gripping member (see at least Fig. 2 for gripper with two fingers);
wherein said at least one gripping member includes spectrometric identification means provided associated therewith, or sensing means of spectrometric identification means provided associated therewith (see at least Fig. 2 for left finger having VNIR fiber optic probe; see also section IV.A. for fiber optic cable connecting StellarNet BLUE-Wave miniature spectrometer to probe).
As per claim 3, Hanson further discloses wherein said at least one gripping member includes at least one light source provided therewith, said at least one light source located adjacent sensing means of the spectrometric identification means (see at least section IV.A. for seven strand fiber optic cable wherein the single central fiber is used to measure reflectance and the other six fibers provide illumination).
As per claim 7, Hanson further discloses wherein sensing means of said spectrometric identification means include one or more fibre-optic wires, or a fibre-optic wire bundle, connected at proximal ends to at least one light source and the spectrometric identification means, and distal ends of the one or more fibre-optic wires, or fibre-optic wire bundle, are provided associated with the at least one gripping member (see at least section IV.A. for seven strand fiber optic cable connecting StellarNet BLUE-Wave miniature spectrometer to probe wherein the single central fiber is used to measure reflectance and the other six fibers provide illumination; see at least Fig. 2 for left finger having VNIR fiber optic probe).
As per claim 8, Hanson further discloses wherein said gripping member includes an aperture in a gripping surface thereof, through which the spectrometric identification means or sensing means thereof, are located, and directed outwardly from the gripping surface towards, in use, an article to be gripped and identified (see at least Fig. 2 and section IV.B. for probe inserted at an angle into circular slots in the finger to ensure good coverage of grasped materials).
As per claim 12, Hanson further discloses wherein said gripping portion includes at least two gripping members, and at least one of said gripping members includes spectrometric identification means, or sensing means thereof, provided associated with a gripping surface thereof (see at least Fig. 2 and section IV.B. for two finger gripper with the left finger having VNIR fiber optic probe).
As per claim 13, Hanson further discloses wherein said at least two gripping members are arranged to form a finger- or vice-like grip on an article to be analysed, in use (see at least Fig. 2 and section IV.B. for two finger gripper providing vice grip).
As per claim 14, Hanson further discloses wherein said spectrometric identification means, or sensing means thereof, are provided integrally with or incorporated into said gripping member, and provided associated with a gripping surface thereof (see at least Fig. 2 for left finger having VNIR fiber optic probe; see also section IV.A. for fiber optic cable connecting StellarNet BLUE-Wave miniature spectrometer to probe).
As per claim 15, Hanson further discloses wherein said gripping member includes an aperture through which sensing means of the spectrometric identification means are located, and directed outwardly from the gripping surface towards, in use, an article to be gripped (see at least Fig. 2 and section IV.B. for probe inserted at an angle into circular slots in the finger to ensure good coverage of grasped materials).
As per claim 18, Hanson further discloses wherein computing means are provided associated with the apparatus and in communication with the spectrometric identification means and at least one arm member said computing means including processing means provided to resolve and analyse spectra obtained by the spectrometric identification means, in use (see at least section IV.A. for desktop computer connected to spectrometer for processing of data).
As per claim 19, Hanson further discloses wherein said computing means include machine learning algorithms provided to identify, based on the obtained spectral data, the composition of an article gripped by the gripping portion, in use (see at least section V.C. for observation model is modeled using machine learning methods).
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.
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hanson (“Pregrasp Object Material Classification by a Novel Gripper Design with Integrated Spectroscopy”) in view of Horowitz (US 2023/0191608).
As per claim 20, Hanson is silent regarding, however Horowitz teaches wherein said at least one automated arm member is arranged to be movable, as determined by computing means and based on composition identification of an article gripped by the gripping portion, to deposit said article in a predetermined location, in use (see at least para. 111 for actuating robotic arm to place objects into either receptacle 524 or 526 based on material type; see at least para. 41 for using a NIR sensor to identify object material characteristic; compute node 508).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of Hanson with the features of Horowitz because it accurately identifies materials to harvest to achieve a high recovery rate as well as a high purity rate among the harvested items and separates them into like materials to prevent contamination for further processing.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hanson (“Pregrasp Object Material Classification by a Novel Gripper Design with Integrated Spectroscopy”) in view of Diankov (US 2020/0376659).
As per claim 21, Hanson is silent regarding, however Diankov teaches wherein said at least one automated arm member includes further sensing means provided to determine an optimal pick-up point of an article, in use (see at least para. 123 for generating scan image 504 from sensor unit 230; see at least para. 129 for identification of grip points 518 based on scan image 504).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of Hanson with the features of Diankov because it allows for identification of grip points at the center of mass of the object or identification of grip points that are not blocked by other objects to increase the chances of a successful grasp.
Claim(s) 23, 26, and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hanson (“Pregrasp Object Material Classification by a Novel Gripper Design with Integrated Spectroscopy”) in view of Horowitz (US 2023/0191608) and further in view of Edwards (US 2022/0327480).
As per claims 23 and 26, Hanson further discloses an article identification and/or sorting system, said system including:
an article identification and/or sorting apparatus according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above);
wherein at least one gripping member of said apparatus includes spectrometric identification means, or sensing means thereof, provided associated therewith (see rejection of claim 1).
Hanson is silent regarding, but Horowitz teaches:
at least two destination containers (receptacles 524 and 526);
wherein the gripping portion of the apparatus is arranged, in use, to grip and remove an article from the at least one sourceat least para. 111 for actuating robotic arm grip objects from conveyor to place objects into either receptacle 524 or 526 based on material type; see at least para. 41 for using a NIR sensor to identify object material characteristic).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Hanson with the features of Horowitz because it accurately identifies materials to harvest to achieve a high recovery rate as well as a high purity rate among the harvested items and separates them into like materials to prevent contamination for further processing.
Modified Horowitz is silent regarding, however Edwards teaches removing an article from the at least one source container (see at least para. 33 for removing items from a parent tote that is moved to a robot via a conveyor into a customer tote).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of modified Hanson with the features of Edward because it increases the versatility of the robotic system by allowing the robot to pick not just objects directly on a conveyor belt but also objects within containers on the conveyor so that the containers do not need to be emptied in order for the objects to be picked.
As per claim 28, Hanson further discloses the gripping portion includes at least two gripping members, the gripping surfaces of which are arranged to form a finger- or vice- like grip on an article to be analysed (see at least Fig. 2 and section IV.B. for two finger gripper providing vice grip).
Modified Hanson is silent regarding wherein said articles to be identified are articles formed from varying fabric materials.
However, Hanson teaches a human robot scanning household objects and differentiating between metal, plastic, wood, paper, and fabric (see at least section II.B.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the method of modified Hanson with Hanson to identify different types of household objects with varying material compositions.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hanson (“Pregrasp Object Material Classification by a Novel Gripper Design with Integrated Spectroscopy”) in view of Horowitz (US 2023/0191608) in view of Edwards (US 2022/0327480) and further in view of Whitiker (US 2022/0016758) and De La Rosa (US 11,666,944).
As per claim 24, modified Hanson is silent regarding, but Whitiker teaches wherein the system includes at least one camera means provided associated with each of the source
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of modified Hanson with the features of Whitiker because it allows the robotic system to determine when a source container is empty of objects and in response trigger the robot to move to a full container, replacing the empty container with a full container, or refilling the empty container to reduce downtime.
Modified Hanson is silent regarding, but De La Rosa teaches also having a sensors at each destination container to determine how full said container is (see at least col. 3, ln. 36-49 for using depth sensors, camera, three-dimensional camera, or other sensors to determine when a container is full).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of modified Hanson with the features of De La Rosa because it allows the robotic system to determine when a destination container is full of objects and in response trigger replacing the full container with an empty container or prevent delivery of items to full containers so that containers are not overfilled.
While De La Rosa is not explicit regarding the sensor being a stereo camera, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system to incorporate a stereo camera as a stereo camera is a well-known type of three-dimensional camera.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 and 27 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 a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art is regarded to be CN 114193487 which is directed towards a flexible mechanical hand that has a spectrometer and uses a vacuum pump to drive the flexible mechanical hand.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4838. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM - 4PM ET.
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/ROBERT T NGUYEN/PRIMARY EXAMINER, Art Unit 3619
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