DETAILED ACTION
This is the first Office action drafted on the merits of the subject application. Claims 1-15 are pending. Claims 1-15 are rejected as cited below.
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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. The following title is suggested: “SHOVEL FOR DEFINING SPACE ATTRIBUTES AND GENERATING ATTACHMENT MOVING PATHS.”
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)(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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)1 as being anticipated by NISHI (US Pub. 2021/0002852 A1; hereafter NISHI).
NISHI was cited in the IDS filed 12/24/2025.
Regarding claim 1, NISHI teaches:
A shovel (shovel 100) comprising:
a lower traveling body (a lower traveling body 1);
an upper swivel body (upper turning body 3) mounted on the lower traveling body capable of freely swiveling and including a space recognition device (object detector 70); and
arithmetic processing circuitry (a controller 30) configured to set an attribute to a space surrounding the shovel (At least ¶ [0048] “a predetermined region set in the vicinity of the shovel 100 …”) based on an output from the space recognition device (At least ¶ [0080] “the controller 30 derives the prohibited area ZA based on the output of a LIDAR serving as the object detector 70, which is an example of the surroundings monitoring device.” An area being prohibited is analogous to an attribute (e.g. prohibited) set to a space.), and to control the shovel based on the attribute set to the space (At least ¶ [0098] “When the controller 30 determines that the bucket 6 enters a prohibited area ZA if the bucket 6 is moved along the predicted trajectory of movement, the controller 30 stops the turning hydraulic motor 2A in a forcible and stepwise manner by outputting a control command to the pressure reducing valve 50L. In this way, the turning operation can be stopped before the bucket 6 enters the prohibited area ZA.”).
Regarding claim 2, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 1, further comprising an attachment attached to the upper swivel body (bucket 6), wherein the arithmetic processing circuitry is configured to generate a moving path for controlling at least one of the attachment or the lower traveling body based on the attribute set to the space (At least ¶ [0093] “The controller 30 may prevent contact between the excavation attachment AT and the dump truck 60 by predicting a trajectory of movement of the bucket 6.”).
Regarding claim 3, NISHI teaches
The shovel according to claim 2, wherein:
when an object is detected in the space based on an output from the space recognition device, a first permission attribute permitting movement of the shovel is set to the space based on the object detected (At least ¶ [0186] “The trajectory calculating part 30B calculates a target trajectory TR based on the output of the object detector 70 such that the bucket 6 is moved above the bed 61 of the dump truck 60 at the height Hd without contacting the bed 61 of the dump truck 60.” The “first permission attribute”, per Applicant specification may be “the movement permission space of the bucket 6”. Trajectory TR is a movement space of the bucket.); and
when the object is alternatively not detected in the space, a second permission attribute permitting movement of the shovel is set to the space (At least ¶ [0088] “An area surrounded by a dashed line indicates an area ZB that is excluded from the prohibited area ZA because the state of the dump truck 60 is changed.” Applicant specification describes a “second permission attribute” as any space where movement of the shovel is permitted. See “The movable space (an example of the second permission attribute) is a space where the movement of the shovel 100 is permitted.” Area ZB is an area where movement of the shovel is permitted.).
Regarding claim 4, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 3, wherein any one or more of an attribute indicating that the attachment is movable, an attribute indicating that a traveling movement is performable by the lower traveling body, and an attribute indicating that a load of the attachment is movable, are settable as the second permission attribute (At least ¶ [0088] “An area surrounded by a dashed line indicates an area ZB that is excluded from the prohibited area ZA because the state of the dump truck 60 is changed.” Applicant specification describes a “second permission attribute” as any space where movement of the shovel is permitted. See “The movable space (an example of the second permission attribute) is a space where the movement of the shovel 100 is permitted.” Area ZB is an area where a traveling movement of the shovel or bucket is performable).
Regarding claim 5, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 3, wherein an attribute indicating a load mounted on the attachment as being movable (At least ¶ [0094] “The bucket 6 loaded with the excavated material can follow two main patterns of a trajectory of movement in the loading operation. The first pattern is a trajectory of movement that follows a trajectory line K1.”), and permitting releasing of the load from the attachment is settable as the second permission attribute (At least ¶ [0094] “Then, the bucket 6 is moved to a soil discharging position (D) by clockwise turning of the upper turning body 3. At this time, the arm 5 is appropriately opened and closed.”).
Regarding claim 6, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 3, wherein the moving path is generated so as to pass through the space in which the second permission attribute is set (AT least ¶ [0197] “A dotted line indicates a target trajectory TR calculated by the controller 30 based on the output of the LIDAR. The controller 30 calculates the target trajectory TR such that the end of the excavation attachment AT does not extend over the guardrail GR to the road DW during a boom raising and turning operation. A solid circle is a virtual circle drawn with the current turning radius SR1 of the shovel 100. The moving path (TR) passes through space SR1. Space SR1 is the current moveable space of shovel 100.).
Regarding claim 7, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 6, wherein the moving path is a path for the lower traveling body to travel (At least ¶ [0159] “The shovel 100 may include a configuration in which the lower traveling body 1 automatically travels forward and backward.”).
Regarding claim 8, NISHI teaches:
The shovel according to claim 1, further comprising an attachment (bucket 6) attached to the upper swivel body,
wherein when an object (dump truck 60) is detected in the space by the output from the space recognition device, the attribute for restricting movement of the shovel is set based on the object detected (At least ¶ [0081] “the prohibited area ZA may be set as a space whose outline is larger than the outline of the dump truck 60 by a predetermined distance DS. That is, the prohibited area ZA may be set as a three-dimensional space whose outline is enlarged from the outline of the dump truck 60.”), or the attribute for restricting movement of the attachment is set based on information concerning construction of the space.
Regarding claim 9, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 8, wherein when a person is detected in the space, the attribute for restricting movement of the shovel is set to the space with a predetermined margin added to the space based on a position of the person (At least ¶ [0047] “Examples of the objects include people, animals, vehicles, work equipment, construction machines, buildings, walls, fences, and holes.” and ¶ [0081] “For example, the prohibited area ZA may be set as a space whose outline is larger than the outline of the dump truck 60 by a predetermined distance DS.” A person may be an object detected and have a predetermined margin (i.e. predetermined distance DS) surrounding them.).
Regarding claim 10, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 9, wherein when the person is detected in the space, the attribute for restricting movement of a load of the attachment is set to a space above the person (FIG. 3B shows prohibited area ZA being above the object, which may also be a person, per ¶ [0047] cited above for claim 9.).
Regarding claim 11, NISHI teaches
The shovel according to claim 2, wherein:
when earth is detected in the space based on an output from the space recognition device, the attribute permitting movement of the earth is set to an adjacent space adjacent to the space in which the earth is detected based on a position of the earth detected (At least ¶ [0221] “In the example of FIG. 14A, the work status display part 430 includes a graphic shape 431 of the shovel 100, a graphic shape 432 of the dump truck 60, a graphic shape 434 indicating an excavation completion position, a graphic shape 435 indicating a target trajectory, a graphic shape 436 indicating a soil discharging start position …”);
when excavation is performed using the attachment, the moving path of the attachment is generated so that the earth moved by the excavation without being loaded in the attachment is moved to the adjacent space (At least ¶ [0186] “The trajectory calculating part 30B calculates a target trajectory TR based on the output of the object detector 70 such that the bucket 6 is moved above the bed 61 of the dump truck 60 at the height Hd without contacting the bed 61 of the dump truck 60.” and ¶ [0189] “Then, the controller 30 performs a combined operation including an arm opening operation and a right turning operation until the shovel 100 is oriented as indicated by the dash-dot line, namely until the lower end of the bucket 6 reaches a point P3. The combined operation may include at least one of a boom lowering operation and an opening/closing operation of the bucket 6. In this manner, soil can be discharged at the front side (cabin side) of the bed 61 of the dump truck 60.” Additionally, see FIG 12A which shows the three positions and the earth being moved into the adjacent space (bed of dump truck).).
Regarding claim 12, NISHI teaches:
The shovel according to claim 2, wherein:
when earth is detected in the space based on an output from the space recognition device, the attribute permitting movement of the earth is set to an adjacent space adjacent to the space in which the earth is detected based on a position of the earth detected (At least ¶ [0221] “In the example of FIG. 14A, the work status display part 430 includes a graphic shape 431 of the shovel 100, a graphic shape 432 of the dump truck 60, a graphic shape 434 indicating an excavation completion position, a graphic shape 435 indicating a target trajectory, a graphic shape 436 indicating a soil discharging start position …”);
when a control of pushing away the earth is performed by using the attachment, the moving path of the attachment is generated so that the earth moved by the control of pushing away is moved to the adjacent space (At least ¶ [0194] “the controller 30 is configured to change the end position of the target trajectory TR based on information related to the dump truck 60, each time a boom raising and turning operation by means of autonomous control is performed. Accordingly, the operator of the shovel 100 can discharge soil into the bed of the dump truck 60 at an appropriate position by only performing a bucket opening operation each time a boom raising and turning operation by means of autonomous control is completed.” Pushing away soil to an adjacent space is analogous to discharging soil into the bed of the dump truck.).
Regarding claim 13, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 2, wherein the shovel is configured to be controlled so as to follow the moving path generated (At least ¶ [0191] “The controller 30 uses the calculated target trajectory TR to perform the boom raising and turning by means of autonomous control. Specifically, the controller 30 automatically turns the turning mechanism 2 clockwise, such that a trajectory of the lower end of the bucket 6 is moved along the target trajectory TR while automatically raising the boom 4.”).
Regarding claim 14, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 1, wherein the attribute is set based on a type of an object detected for each divided space in which the space surrounding the shovel is divided based on the object detected from the output from the space recognition device (See FIG. 4 which shows spaces ZCL and ZCR which are spaces which are divided from one another and part of the prohibited space ZA. The spaces ZCL and ZCR are based on the type of object (e.g. dump truck) due to the size and shape of the object.).
Regarding claim 15, NISHI teaches The shovel according to claim 1, wherein configurations of a plurality of attributes are settable to the space surrounding the shovel based on the output from the space recognition device (At least [0088] “An area surrounded by a dash-dot line indicates an area ZC that is newly included in the prohibited area ZA because the state of the dump truck 60 is changed. Specifically, the area ZB includes an area ZBL and an area ZBR. The area ZBL is excluded from the prohibited area ZA because the left cover 63L is closed, and the area ZBR is excluded from the prohibited area ZA because the right cover 63R is closed.” This citation shows the plurality of attributes being made into a configuration based on the position of the covers.).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Glasser et al. (US Pub. 2018/0119383 A1)
KIYOTA et al. (US Pub. 2019/0360177 A1)
KAMIMURA et al. (US Pub. 2021/0174660 A1)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jonathan E Reinert whose telephone number is (571)272-1260. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Thurs 7AM - 5PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James J Lee can be reached at (571) 270-5965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.E.R./Examiner, Art Unit 3668
/BRIAN P SWEENEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668
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