DETAILED ACTION
Remarks
This non-final office action is in response to the application filled on 05/27/2025. Claims 1-10 are pending and examined 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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a) ‐ (d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP 2024/0166048, filed on 11/20/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
As of date of this action, IDS filled has been annotated and considered.
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) 1-5, 7, 8 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2019/0193629 (“Zevenbergen”).
Regarding claim 1 (and similarly claim 10), Zevenbergen discloses a logistics automation device with a collision avoidance function comprising (see at least [0131], where “avoid a potential collision”; see also [0034], where “Autonomous robotic devices may be used to carry out tasks and actions in an environment such as a warehouse without the need for constant human control”):
a gripper robot gripping an object (see at least [0057], where “robotic system 100 may include physical members such robotic arm(s), wheel(s), track(s), linkage(s), and/or end effector(s)”; see also [0055], where “use mechanical components 110 to pick up and move the pallet”);
a projector displaying a monitoring area with collision risks based on the movement of the gripper robot (see at least [0003], where “a system is provided that includes a vehicle, a light projector connected to the vehicle…The control system is also configured to determine that the planned operating region is within a threshold distance of an object within the environment and, in response, determine a caution region to illuminate with the light projector near the object.”); and
a controller controlling an operation of the gripper robot and an operation of the projector (see at least [0003], where “The control system is further configured to cause the light projector to project an indication of the caution region near the object.”),
wherein the controller is configured to:
set the monitoring area dynamically according to the movement of the gripper robot (see at least see at least [0003], where “The control system is configured to determine a planned operating region for the vehicle within an environment…The projected indication remains fixed in relation to the object as the vehicle moves toward the planned operating region.”; see also [0035], where “The classification of the areas may be dynamic”; see also [0103] and [0118]), and
display the monitoring area through the projector (see at least fig 4B, where footprints are projected along path. The monitoring area (footprints) are projected for displaying).
Regarding claim 2, Zevenbergen further discloses a device wherein the projector is installed on the gripper robot (see at least fig 3B, where 366 is projector installed on the gripper (362) robot (360)), and
wherein the controller is configured to: display the monitoring area on ground through the projector while the projector moves with the gripper robot (see at least [0122], where “FIG. 7A shows, visual indication 702 may therefore be projected onto a surface (e.g., ground surface) within the environment around pallet 700 to inform occupants of the caution region.”; see also [0141]).
Regarding claim 3, Zevenbergen further discloses a device wherein the controller is configured to: control the light emitted from the projector dynamically according to the movement of the gripper robot to ensure that a position of the displayed monitoring area on the ground does not change (see at least [0118], where “The visual projections, on the other hand, do not experience any wear and allow the caution regions to be dynamically marked without any physical changes to the warehouse”; see also [0103], where “The threshold distances may be fixed, or may be dynamically sized based on a classification or type of object (e.g., whether the object is fixed, movable, or moving), a size of the object, a type of vehicle, or a speed with which the vehicle is traveling, among other factors.”; see also [0035]).
Regarding claim 4, Zevenbergen further discloses a device wherein the controller is configured to: establish a work plan for the gripper robot (see at least [0037], where “The planned operating region may be determined based on a plurality of vehicle footprints representing areas within the environment planned to be occupied by the vehicle as it moves along a path. The path may be determined for the vehicle by a control system on the vehicle”),
estimate a movement range of the gripper robot according to the work plan, and set the monitoring area for each task dynamically based on the movement range (see at least [0037], where “control system could both plan the path and control projection of the visual indications”; see also fig 4C, where operating region is 436).
Regarding claim 5, Zevenbergen further discloses a device wherein the controller is configured to: generate a path map in which movement paths of the gripper robot are overlapped, by simulating the movement of the gripper robot based on the work plan (see at least [0115], where “As vehicle 400 moves along path 508, current and future footprints of vehicle 400 may overlap with threshold area 438 around pallet rack 434.”; see also [0041]),
set the monitoring area to correspond with the path map (see at least [0084]), and
display the monitoring area through the projector (see at least [0097], where “Each of footprints 413-421 indicates the area within the environment, or within the map representing the environment, that is planned to be occupied by vehicle 400 when vehicle 400 (e.g., the centroid of vehicle 400) is at the respective position along path 401.”).
Regarding claim 7, Zevenbergen further discloses a device wherein the controller is configured to: set the monitoring area to correspond with the path map (see at least fig 4C, where monitoring area is based on the path of movement), and
control the light emitted from the projector in different colors for each of the multiple unit areas according to the risk level (see at least [0125], where “Visual indications 702, 704, and 706 may be visually distinct from one another, including different colors, patterns, images, or text. Such visual differences may be used to convey information about different levels of danger associated with occupying areas corresponding to or underlying each visual indication, or an amount of time remaining until the vehicle occupies the areas onto which the visual indications are projected.”).
Regarding claim 8, Zevenbergen further discloses a device wherein the controller is configured to: identify stacking location of the object gripped by the gripper robot based on the work plan (see at least [0093], where “FIG. 4A illustrates a top-down view of vehicle 400 and path 401 determined for vehicle 400 to follow through an environment. The environment includes therein pallet 422 and a pallet rack 434 onto which pallets 424, 426, 428, 430, and 432 are stacked.”), and
display expected stacking area in real-time at the stacking location through the projector (see at least [0094], where “Tines 402 and 404 may allow vehicle 400 to interact with pallets 422-432, or other storage structures, by placing the tines into slots within the pallet, thereby enabling pick-up, transportation, and drop-off of the pallet…Vehicle 400 may further include projector 408 for projecting visual indications onto the environment.”).
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) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0193629 (“Zevenbergen”), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 2017/0162049 (“Lee”).
Regarding claim 6, Zevenbergen further discloses a device wherein the controller is configured to: divide the path map into multiple unit areas of preset size (see at least [0099], where “The pose (i.e., position and orientation) of footprints 413-421 may be determined based on the physical size of vehicle 400”; see also [0106]);
(see at least fig 4B).
Zevenbergen does not disclose the following limitations:
count a number of movements, and
assign risk level to each of the multiple unit areas based on the counted number of the movement.
However, Lee discloses system wherein count a number of movements (see at least [0066], where “From a starting point of every predicted traveling route for the abnormal vehicle 6, the number in each grid is counted when the one or more predicted routes 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, and/or 606 are drawn on the grid map. Every grid of the grid map occupies a certain area. A probability value for every grid is accumulated, e.g. plus one, as one predicted route passes over. A final probability value for every grid can be calculated by counting the number of the routes passing every grid.”), and
assign risk level to each of the multiple unit areas based on the counted number of the movement (see at least [0072]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Zevenbergen to incorporate the teachings of Lee by including the above feature for avoiding collision by assigning risk level.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0193629 (“Zevenbergen”), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 2019/0261566 (“Robertson”).
Regarding claim 9, Zevenbergen further discloses a device wherein the controller is configured to: record the work plan as a future (see at least [0100], where “Planned operating region 436 may be defined by an area enclosed by the boundary and may represent regions likely to be occupied by vehicle 400 within a future time period.”),
divide the work plan into preset sections based on the future (see at least [0037], where “A planned operating region may include an area within the environment planned to be occupied by the vehicle within a future period of time (e.g., in the next 30 seconds).”; see also [0098]), and
set the monitoring area dynamically based on the estimated movement range of the gripper robot for each of the divided sections (see at least [0118]).
Zevenbergen does not explicitly disclose timestamp. However, Robertson discloses a system wherein pose information of a robot is provided with a timestamp, see at least [0170].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Zevenbergen to incorporate the teachings of Robertson by including the above feature for avoiding latency and desynchronization issues.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SOHANA TANJU KHAYER whose telephone number is (408)918-7597. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday, 7 am-5.30 pm, PT.
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/SOHANA TANJU KHAYER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3657
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