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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/31/2025.The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgement is made of applicants claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) and (f). The certified copy has been filed in parent application JP2023-013448 filed on 01/31/2023 and JP2023-177060 filed on 10/12/2023.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-8, 10, 12, 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Griffin (US20210232136) in view of Mene (US20240103519) and Chen (US20220300011).
Regarding claim 1, Griffin teaches an information processing device, comprising:
a display ([0057], [0058]-[0069] disclosing a display of a user interface output devices);
an input unit configured to receive an input from a user ([0057] disclosing an input device to receive input, [0068]-[0069]);
an interface configured to communicate with a plurality of robots and a server ([0057]-[0059] disclosing the communication between the user interface to allow the user to control the robots via server), the server including a plurality of pieces of robot identification information for identifying the plurality of robots ([0059] disclosing the server communicates and receives the data, status and commands from the robot); and
a controller configured to obtain, through the interface, the plurality of pieces of robot identification information of the plurality of robots with the server ([0121]-[0124] disclosing the user interface displaying the robot information i.e., controller that receives at the input device the information to display it to the user), and
cause the display to display the plurality of pieces of robot identification information and the communication connection status in a viewable manner to allow selection of, through the input unit at least one robot of the plurality of robots to perform at least one target task selected by the user from a plurality of tasks indicated by a plurality of pieces of task information ([0121]-[0124] disclosing displaying the robot information to the user to select the robot to perform the task through the user interface).
Griffin does not teach a to select a robot based on communication connection status and displaying communication status for the user.
Mene teaches to select a robot based on communication status ([0040], [0054]-[0060] disclosing the selection of a robot based on the latency and status of network).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Mene of selecting a robot based on a communication status in order to allow the successful accomplishment of a mission yielding predictable results.
Chen teaches a communication connection status and displaying communication status for the user ([0235] disclosing obtaining and displaying a communication status).
generated using a robot of the plurality of robots ([0210] disclosing the robot generates feedback that discloses which parts the robot cannot perform).
Since, Griffin as modified by Mene teaches a user selecting robots and selecting a robot based on the communication status, thus It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Chen of displaying the status to a user in order to allow the user to select a robot based on the status yielding predictable results in order to allow a good communication with a robot thus improving the success of a mission and avoiding a failure or safety issue and to allow the user to use the dashboard to modify mission based on the statuses.
Regarding claim 2, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen teaches the information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of pieces of robot identification information includes identification information of a robot, of the plurality of robots, to which another information processing device is connectable to perform communication ([0121]-[0124] and table 900 in Fig. 9 disclosing the connected robots and their identification information, Robot 1, robot2 ,,,).
Regarding claim 3, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen teaches the information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display types of the plurality of robots (Fig. 9 disclosing the type of the robot such as forklift).
Regarding claim 4, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen further teaches the information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display an operating status of the plurality of robots.
Specifically, Chen teaches wherein the display is configured to display an operating status of the plurality of robots ([0011], Fig. 15 and [0235] disclosing the operating status disclosing the display of the battery life).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Chen of displaying an operating status of the robot yielding predictable results in order to allow the user to modify the mission selection if a battery of the selected robot is drained thus improving robot selection and mission accomplishment and avoiding failures.
Regarding claim 5, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen further teaches the information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display progress of a task performed by each of the plurality of robots based on an instruction provided in a past.
Specifically, Chen teaches wherein the display is configured to display progress of a task performed by each of the plurality of robots based on an instruction provided in a past ([0276] and Fig. 14 disclosing the display of the mission history which includes the success rate and success of a robot in performing the task).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Chen of displaying a success in the past in order to allow the modification or confirmation of the mission based on success previous completion thus increasing the success rate of a mission.
Regarding claim 6, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen teaches the information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display a result of a task performed by each of the plurality of robots based on an instruction provided in a past.
Specifically, Chen teaches wherein the display is configured to display a result of a task performed by each of the plurality of robots based on an instruction provided in a past ([0276] and Fig. 14 disclosing the display of the mission history which includes the success rate and success of a robot in performing the task).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Chen of displaying a success in the past in order to allow the modification or confirmation of the mission based on success previous completion thus increasing the success rate of a mission.
Regarding claim 7, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen teaches the information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display a capability of each of the plurality of robots (Griffin Fig. 9 disclosing the speed and processor power of the robot).
Regarding claim 8, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen further teaches the information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display a past failure of each of the plurality of robots in a target task of the plurality of tasks.
Specifically, Chen teaches wherein the display is configured to display a past failure of each of the plurality of robots in a target task of the plurality of tasks ([0276]-[0286] and figure 14 disclosing the mission history to include the success and failure).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Chen of displaying a success and failure in the past in order to allow the modification or confirmation of the mission based on success previous completion thus increasing the success rate of a mission.
Regarding claim 10, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen teaches the information processing device according to claim 1, to wherein the display is configured to display incapability of each of the plurality of robots to perform a target task of the plurality of tasks.
Specifically, Chen teaches wherein the display is configured to display incapability of each of the plurality of robots to perform a target task of the plurality of tasks (Fig. 15 disclosing the display of the ability or inability to provide video streaming).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Chen of displaying a capability or incapability of the robot to perform a task thus enabling the user to confirm a mission or modifying it based on the presentation.
Regarding claim 12, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen teaches information processing device according to claim 1 wherein the display is configured to sort the plurality of pieces of robot identification information (fig. 9 and [0124] discloses a sorted list).
Regarding claim15, information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display, for a task selectable as the at least one target task, a status of the task performed by a robot of the plurality of robots based on an instruction provided in a past [0276]-[0286] and figure 14 disclosing the mission history to include the success and failure).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Chen of displaying a success and failure in the past in order to allow the modification or confirmation of the mission based on success previous completion thus increasing the success rate of a mission.
Regarding claim 16, information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display, for a task selectable as the at least one target task, a result of the task performed by a robot of the plurality of robots based on an instruction provided in a past [0276]-[0286] and figure 14 disclosing the mission history to include the success and failure).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Chen of displaying a success and failure in the past in order to allow the modification or confirmation of the mission based on success previous completion thus increasing the success rate of a mission.
Regarding claim 17, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen teaches a non-transitory readable recording medium storing a program causing a computer to function as the information processing device according to claim 1 (Griffin [0011] disclosing a computer and non transitory computer readable medium).
Claims 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Griffin (US20210232136) in view of Mene (US20240103519) and Chen (US20220300011) and Kishikawa (US20250296529).
Regarding claim 9, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen further teaches the information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display identification information of software installed in each of the plurality of robots.
Kishikawa teaches wherein the display is configured to display identification information of software installed in each of the plurality of robots ([0035]-[0037] and figures 24-26 disclosing the warning to the user to update the software, i.e., the information displayed inform about the outdated version of the software as identification information of the software).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Kishikawa of informing the user of a version in order to warn the user that capabilities of a robot may not be available based on the software installed thus to avoid an older software that could cause damage.
Claim 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Griffin (US20210232136) in view of Mene US20240103519) and Chen (US20220300011) and Kalouche (US20230069565).
Regarding claim 11, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen does not teach the information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to cause, of the plurality of robots, a robot incapable of performing a target task of the plurality of tasks to be unelectable.
Kalouche teaches wherein the controller is configured to cause, of the plurality of robots, a robot incapable of performing a target task of the plurality of tasks to be unelectable ([0075]\ disclosing the graying out the icons for the robots that cannot perform the function based on capability).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Kalouche of making an incapable robot unelectable thus allowing the user to quickly and efficiently select a robot that can perform the function thus improving the success of the task.
Claims 13, 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Griffin (US20210232136) in view of Mene US20240103519) and Chen (US20220300011) and Yuan (US20220219329).
Regarding claim 13, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to (Griffin table 1000 disclosing the plurality of tasks presented to the automation system for selecting the robots to perform the task).
Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen does not disclose display the tasks to allow selection of the at least one target task through the input unit.
Yuan teaches display the tasks to allow selection of the at least one target task through the input unit ([0020]-[0030] disclosing a user selecting a task from an ordered queue of tasks).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Yuan thus yielding predictable results allowing the user to have control of an order and control of the robot thus increasing the human selectability to finish the tasks they want first.
Regarding claim 14, Griffin as modified by Mene and Chen and Yuan teaches information processing device according to claim 13, wherein the display is configured to sort the plurality of pieces of task identification information.
Specifically, Yuan teaches wherein the display is configured to sort the plurality of pieces of task identification information ([0020]-[0030] disclosing the queue of tasks in an order).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Yuan of sorting the tasks in order to perform the tasks in an order allowing the robot to know and complete a task after another thus improving efficiency.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure. The prior art cited in PTO-892 and not mentioned above disclose related devices and methods.
US10933531 disclosing a robot selection based on task and capability.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMAD O EL SAYAH whose telephone number is (571)270-7734. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th 6:30-4:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ramon Mercado can be reached on (571) 270-5744. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMAD O EL SAYAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3658B
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