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 .
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.
Background
The Amendments to the Claims in the Applicant’s Preliminary Amendment, filed on 04/10/25, have been entered.
According to the Amendment, claims 1-20 have been canceled. Claims 21-40 have been added and are now pending.
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.
Claims 21-23, 29, 34-36, 38-40 are rejected under § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Pat. No. 5,042,667 to Keough (Keough). For claim 21, Keough discloses a control system (30) configured for use with sorting articles to a plurality of delivery routes, the control system comprising:
a memory (34); and
a processor (32),
the control system configured for:
sequencing a plurality of delivery stops within each of a plurality of routes based on a predefined criterion (see col. 9, ll. 10-40 for providing a computer system including a processor and storage media, the system being configured to generate a mail carrier walk sequence where mail items are temporarily loaded in receptacles inside a storage bin before being deposited into sorting bins corresponding to the their delivery stop);
directing transport of articles associated with a first delivery stop of each route to a first sequence container (9:10-40); and,
directing transport of articles from the first sequence container to a respective route container of a plurality of route containers, each route container associated with a route (9:10-40).
In regards to claim 22, Keough further discloses that the control system is further configured for directing transport of articles associated with a second delivery stop of each route to a second sequence container. See 4:35-65 (transporting mail items from the receptacles of the storage bin into a sorting bin associated with a second delivery stop).
In regards to claim 23, Keough further discloses that the control system is further configured for directing transport of articles from the second sequence container to the respective route container of the plurality of route containers. See 4:35-65.
In regards to claims 29 and 40, Keough further discloses that at least one route container of the plurality of route containers comprises one or more of a chute, a gaylord, a receptacle, a gravity conveyor, a bin and a bag. See Fig. 1 (showing a plurality of sorting bins for storing sorted mail).
In regards to claim 34, Keough further discloses that the predefined criterion is one or more of: delivery route optimization, delivery vehicle characteristic optimization, delivery vehicle driver work shift optimization, delivery distance optimization, delivery time optimization, delivery route fuel usage optimization, time of day optimization, traffic optimization, network carbon footprint optimization, total network cost optimization, and article condition optimization. See 5:30-6:5 (sorting mail items according to a mail carrier walk sequence).
In regards to claim 35, Keough further discloses that the control system is further configured for one or more of determining and assigning a delivery stop and a route for each of the articles. See 4:25-35 (determining delivery stops in a mail carrier walk sequence).
In regards to claim 36, Keough further discloses that control system is further configured to: determine a destination address for an article, and assign a route and a delivery stop on the route for delivery of the article based on the destination address for the article. See 9:10-40.
In regards to claim 38, Keough further discloses that the control system further comprises an article sequencing engine configured for sequencing the plurality of delivery stops within each of the plurality of routes. See 4:15-40 (configuring the computer system to generate a carrier walk sequence based on mail received into the sorting system.
Claims 39 and 40 are rejected under § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Keough, supra. For claim 39, Keough discloses a control system (30) configured for use with sorting articles to a plurality of delivery routes, the control system comprising:
a memory (34); and
a processor (32),
the control system configured for:
sequencing a plurality of delivery stops within each of a plurality of routes based on a predefined criterion (see 9:10-40);
directing transport of articles associated with a first delivery stop of each route to a first sequence container (see 9:10-40); and,
directing transport of articles from the first sequence container to a respective route container of a plurality of route containers, each route container associated with a route (see 9:10-40),
wherein the transport is performed by one or more of: a linear sorter and a loop sorter (see 4:35-65 for describing a circulating means for circulating mail items within storage bin before proceeding to sort containers).
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 27, 28, and 30-33 are rejected under § 103 as being unpatentable over Keough, supra, as applied to claims 21,27,21,21,31, and 32, in view of US Pub. No. 2017/0183158 to Zhu et al. (Zhu). In regards to claim 27, Zhu discloses all limitations of the claimed invention but for transport vehicles.
Although Keough does not explicitly disclose that limitation, such a feature is found in the prior art. In fact, Zhu teaches a parcel and article sorting system wherein the transport is performed by computer-controlled transport vehicles. See Fig. 6 (showing a plurality of mobile transport devices for transporting mail items from the induction station to storage devices underneath parcel outlets).
Thus, it would have been obvious at the time of filing to modify the system of Keough with the mobile transport devices of Zhu in order to provide an alternative means for moving mail such as parcels to sorting bins.
In regards to claim 28, Zhu further discloses that the computer-controlled transport vehicles traverse a platform, wherein the platform includes two lanes for the computer-controlled transport vehicles to traverse therethrough. See Fig. 6.
In regards to claim 30, Zhu further discloses that a first lane is configured for a computer-controlled transport vehicle to travel proximal a sequence container or a route container, and wherein a second lane is configured for the computer-controlled transport vehicle to divert an article transported by the computer-controlled transport vehicle onto the sequence container or a route container. See Fig. 6 (showing mobile transport devices traveling across a platform to deposit mail items into parcel outlets and sort containers).
In regards to claim 31, Zhu further discloses that the system further comprises an induction station (104) wherein an information acquisition device (200) interacts with an identifier associated with a selected article. See ¶¶ [0030-0032] (providing information acquisition devices at parcel inlets in the parcel sorting system).
In regards to claim 32, Zhu further discloses that the information acquisition device is configured for imaging a destination address for the selected article, the destination address corresponding to the first delivery stop. See ¶ [0033] & [0058] (collecting images of identifiers affixed to mail items).
In regards to claim 33, Zhu further discloses that the imaging is compared with a database comprising a plurality of street addresses associated with a local market. See ¶ [0080] (comparing captured image data with an address database).
Claim 37 is rejected under § 103 as being unpatentable over Keough, supra, as applied to claim 21, in view of US Pub. No. 2019/0377360 to Kim et al. (Kim). In regards to claim 37, Zhu discloses all limitations of the claimed invention but for delivery vehicles.
Although Keough does not explicitly disclose that limitation, such a feature is found in the prior art. In fact, Kim teaches mail delivery system wherein the control system is further configured for directing delivery of the article at the first delivery stop with a delivery vehicle. See Abstract (delivering a mail item using an autonomous driving vehicle).
Thus, it would have been obvious at the time of filing to modify the system of Keough with the automated delivery of Kim in order to fully automate mail processing and delivery.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 24-26 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.
Relevant Prior Art
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Pub. No. 2019/0105687 to Bombaugh discloses a system and method for sorting and sequencing articles in a processing facility are disclosed. Delivery endpoints are divided and grouped into stop groups. A first sorter sorts items according to stop group and outputs the items to trays. The output trays from the first sorter are loaded to a second sorter in stop group order. The second sorter can then sort the items into output bins in delivery sequence order.
US Pub. No. 2009/0223877 to Karnin et al. discloses an automated mail sorting system including a display for displaying the image of an item of mail belonging to a carrier route, and input device for associating the image with any of a plurality of stations in a walking sequence of the carrier route, and a sorter having a reader for identifying the item of mail, to sorter for placing the item of mail in a location corresponding to the station in the walking sequence.
US Pub. No. 2003/0155282 to Kechel discloses a method of sorting and bundling mail for delivery to a plurality of delivery points includes sorting the mail pieces in one or more passes through an automated sorting machine using destination codes associated with the mail pieces that are scanned and stored by a computer so that the mail pieces are ordered such that a final sort to a plurality of locations using at least part of the destination codes will place the mail pieces in delivery order and transferring and feeding the mail pieces to a plurality of bundling machines as a singulated stream and sorting the mail pieces to the bundling machines so that mail pieces having the same destination code are sorted to the same machine where the mail pieces are bundled by destination code for delivery.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYLE LOGAN whose telephone number is 571.270.7769. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 9-5 PM.
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/KYLE O LOGAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655