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 8/27/25, wherein:
Claims 1-10 are currently pending;
Claims 1-8, 10 have been amended;
Claims 5-7 over come the prior art of record
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 1-8 are 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.
Claim 1 recite in the 5th limitation “outputting based on a result of determination by the second processing means, plan information for executing the objective task”. The term “the second processing means”, the in insufficient antecedent and basis for this limitation in the claim. Noted that previous steps do not recite a first or a second processing means.
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) 1-3, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by ATOHIRA ET AL (US 2015/0209963). Herein after ATOIHIRA
As for claim 1, ATOHIRA discloses a control system comprising: at least one memory storing instructions; and at least one processer configured to execute the instructions {see at least figure 1-2, pars. 0045-0046} to perform:
determining, based on at least one piece of information of information about an objective task input by an input device, observation device (image pick up device 50) information about an observation device that achieves an objective task, object model information about a workpiece to be subject of the objective task, controlled device information about a controlled device that changes a relation in position and posture between the observation device and the workpiece, and constraint condition information to be satisfied for achieving the objective task, whether to change a relation in position and posture between the observation device and the workpiece
{see at least figure 5, pars. 0055-0056, 0073 discloses at least information about an observation device (image pick up device 50) e.g. information including a focal length, a size (number of pixel) of an image to be captured; figure 4B, par. 0057 e.g. the position of the image pickup device 50 is determined, for example, so that the center of the visual field area VA coincides with the target portion X. When the target portion X is a plane (see FIG. 4C), the position of the image pickup device 50 is determined, for example, so that the center of the visual field area VA coincides with a center of the target portion X. In this manner, the position determination unit 20 is configured to be able to determine the position of the image pickup device 50 with respect to the target portion X by designating a distance between the target portion X and the image pickup device 50
Figure 3, 4B-4C, par. 0056 discloses object model information about a workpiece e.g. information on the shape of the workpiece 60 and determines a position distant by the height of the visual field from the start point of the target portion in the acquired normal line direction, as the position of the image pickup device.
Figure 10, 12, Pars. 0046, 0055-0056, 0080 discloses determine whether to change a relation in position and posture between the observation device and the workpiece based on at least information about observation device, information about the workpiece e.g. The image pickup device 50 is adapted to change a position and a posture thereof in conjunction with the movement of the robot 100}.
determining whether the observation device is allowed to observe the workpiece
{see at least figure 4B, 4C, 5C.par. 0058 e.g. The judgment unit 18 has a function of judging whether or not the image pickup device 50 can capture a full image of the target portion X, based on the visual field area VA designated by the visual field designation unit 16 and the position of the image pickup device 50 determined by the position determination unit 20. For this purpose, for example, when the target portion of the workpiece 60 is a line or a plane, the target portion is converted into a group of points and the judgment unit 18 executes the above judgment processing, based on whether or not each point corresponding to the target portion X is included in the range of the visual field area Val; and figure 10, step 6, pars. 0073-0074};
and outputting, based on a result of determination by the second processing means, plan information for executing the objective task {see at least figures 9A-9B, 10 and pars. 0064-0067, 0078 e.g. the image pickup program creation unit 24 creates an image pickup program for the robot 100 based on the position of the image pickup device 50 stored at step S9. The created image pickup program is sent to the control device 110 (FIG. 1) for controlling the robot 100} and a controller for controlling the controlled device based on the plan information {see at least figures 7A-14}.
As for claim 2, ATOHIRA discloses wherein the at least one processer is configured to execute the instructions to perform: outputting the result of determination based on an abstraction state in a work space in which the objective task is executed {see at least pars. 0051-0053, 0055}.
As for claim 3, ATOHIRA discloses wherein at least one processer is configured to execute the instructions to perform: outputting the plan information based on an abstraction state in a workspace in which the objective task is executed and a temporal or spatial change in the abstraction state {see at least figure 10, pars. 0045-0046, 0051-0053, 0055, 0064-0067, 0078}.
As for claim 8, ATOHIRA discloses an evaluation device that outputs an evaluation result of observation information acquired by the observation device, wherein the at least one processer is configured to execute the instructions to perform: making the determination whether the observation device is allowed to observe the workpiece based on the evaluation result {see at least figure 2, 7A-7B, 10 (step 7) judgment unit 18, pars. 0014, 0058, 0060-0061, 0075}.
As for claims 9-10, the limitations of these claims have been noted in claim 1 rejection above. They are therefore rejected for the same reason sets forth the rejected claim 1 above.
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.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ATOHIRA as applied to claims above and in view of OYAMA (US 2022/0355475).
As for claim 4, ATOHIRA discloses claimed invention as indicated above except for outputting the plan information in units of subtasks by associating a change in an abstraction state in a work space in which the objective task is executed with a subtask based on a subtask in which an operation necessary for completing an objective task is decomposed, and the controller controls the controlled device in units of the subtasks. However, such robot controlled by a sequence of subtask are suggested in AYAMA reference at least in pars. 0026-0027, 0030-0031, 0024, 0047, 0050, 0124-0126. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective of filing date to incorporate the teachings of AYAMA into the system of ATOHIRA with a reasonable expectation of success in order to provide the system with outputting the plan information in units of subtasks for completing an object task more efficient.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Aparicio Ojea et al (US 2024/0335941): determine or plan a sequence of motions for fulfilling a task, an autonomous system that includes a robot can perform object recognition, pose estimation, affordance analysis, decision-making, probabilistic task or motion planning, and object manipulation.
Kawai et al (US 2024/0157567): a workpiece posture calculator that calculates postures of workpieces from captured image data acquired from an imager, selects a workpiece to be picked, and determines a gripping position and an angle; a robot that grips and takes out the selected workpiece, on the basis of the determination by the workpiece posture calculator; a posture changing device that changes the posture of a grasped member.
Ando et al (US 2023/0302634): A robot system including an articulated robot equipped with a tool attached to a distal-end wrist axis, a sensor that detects a position and an orientation of the workpiece, and a controller configured to control the robot based on an operation program.
Sun et al (US 2022/0289501): A robotic singulation system is disclosed. In various embodiments, sensor data image data associated with a plurality of items present in a workspace is received. The sensor data is used to determine and implement a plan to autonomously operate a robotic structure to pick one or more items from the workspace and place each item singly in a corresponding location in a singulation conveyance structure. The plan includes performing an active measure to change or adapt to a detected state or condition associated with one or more items in the workspace.
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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