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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communications filed on 6/27/2025. Accordingly, claims 1- 20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1- 20—in particular Independent claims 1, 9 & 16—are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims recite receiving, determining, detecting and sending data (as recited in independent claims 1 & 16), and receiving, determining, creating, detecting and sending data (as recited in independent claim 9). These limitations, as drafted, are processes that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitations in the mind. But for the computing device, memory and sensor language, the claims encompass a user simply comparing the collected data to a predetermined/configurable threshold in his/her mind. The mere nominal recitation of a generic bus, processor and memory does not take the claim limitation out of the mental processes grouping. Thus, the claims recite a mental process which is an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. The claims recite the elements of receiving, determining, creating, detecting and sending and that a generic computer preform these steps. The receiving, determining and/or creating steps are recited at a high level of generality (i.e., as a general means of receiving/transmitting and storing data for use in the detecting and sending steps), and as such they amount to mere data gathering, which is a form of insignificant extra-solution activity. The processor that performs the detecting and sending steps is recited at a high level of generality, and merely automates the detecting and sending steps. Each of the additional limitations are no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component (the processor). The combination of these additional elements are no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component (the processor). Accordingly, even in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. The claims are directed to an abstract idea.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed with respect to Step 2A Prong Two, the additional elements in the claim amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. The same analysis applies here in 2B and does not provide an inventive concept.
For the receiving, determining, creating, detecting and sending steps were considered extra-solution activity in Step 2A, this has been re-evaluated in Step 2B and determined to be well-understood, routine, conventional activity in the field. The background does not provide any indication that the processor is anything other than a generic, off-the-shelf computer component, and the Symantec, TLI, and OIP Techs. court decisions (MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)) indicate that mere collection or receipt of data over a network is a well‐understood, routine, and conventional function when it is claimed in a merely generic manner (as it is here). For these reasons, there is no inventive concept. The claim is not patent eligible.
As per claims 2-8, 10 -15 & 17-20 they all depend from claims 1, 9 and 16 and as such they have the same deficiencies as those presented above with respect to claims 1, 9 & 16.
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 1- 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Estep et al. (US 2022/0108613 A1).
Estep discloses:
1: A system for location-based field shaping comprising:
a materials handling vehicle in a covered environment that includes a vehicle transceiver for receiving a communication from a plurality of transceiver anchors that are affixed to stationary objects within the covered environment, wherein the materials handling vehicle further includes at least one sensor for detecting a characteristic of operation of the materials handling vehicle (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 42-43; materials handling vehicle [100] in industrial environment, [100] with UWB system [150] mounted on vehicle, UWB with antennas and anchors); and
a computing device that includes a processor and a memory component, the memory component storing logic that, when executed by the processor, causes the system to perform the following (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 2 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 46-49; processors [202], database [28] and [208,210, 216]):
receive location data via at least one of the plurality of transceiver anchors, the data related to a location of the materials handling vehicle in the covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 33-34; localization systems use to localize and/or navigate 100 in warehouse environment);
receive sensor data from the at least one sensor related to the characteristic of operation of the materials handling vehicle (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-4 and 7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; enforcing speed limit and determining pose of vehicle 100);
determine, from the location data, a first location of the materials handling vehicle in the covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A & 3-4 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 33-34; localization systems use to localize and/or navigate 100 in warehouse environment);
determine, from the sensor data, a vector of movement of the materials handling vehicle, wherein the vector of movement includes an orientation of the materials handling vehicle (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-4 and 7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; enforcing speed limit and determining pose of vehicle 100);
determine a shaped detection field for the materials handling vehicle from the vector of movement of the materials handling vehicle and the first location of the materials handling vehicle, wherein the shaped detection field is configured for monitoring an area that is defined based on a probability of the materials handling vehicle moving into the area (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones);
detect an object that encroaches on the shaped detection field (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 41, 65-76; determining risk of collision and collision avoidance); and
send information to the materials handling vehicle to alter operation of the materials handling vehicle to reduce a likelihood of collision with the object (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 41, 65-76 & 83; determining risk of collision and collision avoidance).
2: wherein the logic is further configured to perform at least the following: determine a second location of the materials handling vehicle in the covered environment; determine that the second location is in a different location of the covered environment than the first location; and adjust the shaped detection field based on the different sector of the covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A & 3-8 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 33-34; localization systems use to localize and/or navigate 100 in warehouse environment).
3: wherein the logic further causes the system to perform at least the following: determine that the location is identified as providing a zone that provides zone-based shaped detection field; and implement the zone-based shaped detection field while the materials handling vehicle is located in the zone (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones).
4: wherein the shaped detection field is selected from a plurality of preconfigured shaped detection fields based on at least one of the following: space, traffic, vehicle type, or operator (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones).
5: wherein the logic further causes the system to provide a live map to an administrator, wherein the live map provides a representation of at least one of the following: the materials handling vehicle, the orientation, or the shaped detection field (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 2-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 50-76; warehouse map, awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones).
6: wherein the plurality of transceiver anchors are ultra-wide band (UWB) antennas (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 42-43; materials handling vehicle [100] in industrial environment, [100] with UWB system [150] mounted on vehicle, UWB with antennas and anchors).
7: wherein the object includes at least one of the following: a second vehicle, a pedestrian, or a zone (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 41, 65-76 & 83; determining risk of collision and collision avoidance).
8: wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of the following: a light radar (LiDAR), a steering wheel sensor, an odometer, a wireline sensor, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a magnet, a single UWB transceiver, or an onboard inertial measurement unit (IMU) (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 42-54; lidar, UWB and inertial sensors etc.).
9: A method for location-based field shaping comprising:
receiving, by a computing device, location data related to a location of the materials handling vehicle in a covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 33-34; localization systems use to localize and/or navigate 100 in warehouse environment);
receiving, by the computing device, sensor data from a sensor on the materials handling vehicle related to a characteristic of operation of the materials handling vehicle (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-4 and 7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; enforcing speed limit and determining pose of vehicle 100);
determining, by the computing device, from the location data, a first location of the materials handling vehicle in the covered environment; determining, by the computing device, from the sensor data, a vector of movement, wherein the vector of movement includes an orientation of the materials handling vehicle (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A & 3-4 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 33-34; localization systems use to localize and/or navigate 100 in warehouse environment);
creating, by the computing device, a shaped detection field for the materials handling vehicle from the vector of movement of the materials handling vehicle and the first location of the materials handling vehicle, wherein the shaped detection field is configured for monitoring an area that is defined based on a probability of the materials handling vehicle moving into the area (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones);
detecting, by the computing device, an object that encroaches on the shaped detection field (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 41, 65-76; determining risk of collision and collision avoidance); and
sending, by the computing device, information to the materials handling vehicle to alter operation of the materials handling vehicle to reduce a likelihood of collision with the object (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 41, 65-76 & 83; determining risk of collision and collision avoidance).
10: further comprising: determining a second location of the materials handling vehicle in the covered environment; determining that the second location is in a different location of the covered environment than the first location; and adjusting the shaped detection field based on the different location of the covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A & 3-8 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 33-34; localization systems use to localize and/or navigate 100 in warehouse environment).
11: further comprising: determine that the location is identified as a zone that provides a zone-based shaped detection field; and implement the zone-based shaped detection field while the materials handling vehicle is located in the location (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones).
12: wherein the shaped detection field is selected from a plurality of preconfigured shaped detection fields based on at least one of the following: space, traffic, vehicle type, or operator (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones).
13: further comprising providing a live map to an administrator, wherein the live map provides a representation of at least one of the following: the materials handling vehicle, the orientation, or the shaped detection field (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 2-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 50-76; warehouse map, awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones).
14: wherein the object includes at least one of the following: a second vehicle, a pedestrian, or a zone (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 41, 65-76 & 83; determining risk of collision and collision avoidance).
15: wherein the sensor includes at least one of the following: a light radar (LiDAR), a steering wheel sensor, an odometer, a wireline sensor, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a magnet, a single UWB transceiver, or an onboard inertial measurement unit (IMU) (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 42-54; lidar, UWB and inertial sensors etc.).
16: A system for location-based field shaping comprising:
a materials handling vehicle for traversing a covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 42-43; materials handling vehicle [100] in industrial environment, [100] with UWB system [150] mounted on vehicle, UWB with antennas and anchors);
at least one vehicle sensor on the materials handling vehicle for detecting a characteristic of operation of the materials handling vehicle (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 42-43; materials handling vehicle [100] in industrial environment, [100] with UWB system [150] mounted on vehicle, UWB with antennas and anchors);
a vehicle transceiver on the materials handling vehicle for communicating with a plurality of transceiver anchors that are placed on respective stationary objects within the covered environment for detecting a location of the materials handling vehicle in the covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 42-43; materials handling vehicle [100] in industrial environment, [100] with UWB system [150] mounted on vehicle, UWB with antennas and anchors); and
a computing device that includes a processor and a memory component, the memory component storing logic that, when executed by the processor, causes the system to perform the following (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 2 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 46-49; processors [202], database [28] and [208,210, 216]):
receive location data from the materials handling vehicle via the vehicle transceiver, the location data related to a location of the materials handling vehicle in the covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 33-34; localization systems use to localize and/or navigate 100 in warehouse environment);
receive sensor data from the at least one vehicle sensor related to the characteristic of operation of the materials handling vehicle (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-4 and 7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; enforcing speed limit and determining pose of vehicle 100);
determine, from the location data, a first location of the materials handling vehicle in the covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A & 3-4 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 33-34; localization systems use to localize and/or navigate 100 in warehouse environment);
determine, from the sensor data, a vector of movement of the materials handling vehicle, wherein the vector of movement includes an orientation of the materials handling vehicle (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-4 and 7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; enforcing speed limit and determining pose of vehicle 100);
determine a shaped detection field for the materials handling vehicle from the vector of movement of the materials handling vehicle and the first location of the materials handling vehicle, wherein the shaped detection field is configured for monitoring an area that is defined based on a probability of the materials handling vehicle moving into the area (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones);
detect an object that encroaches on the shaped detection field (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 41, 65-76; determining risk of collision and collision avoidance); and
send information to the materials handling vehicle to alter operation of the materials handling vehicle to reduce a likelihood of collision with the object (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 41, 65-76 & 83; determining risk of collision and collision avoidance).
17: wherein the logic is further configured to perform at least the following: determine a second location of the materials handling vehicle in the covered environment; determine that the second location is in a different location of the covered environment than the first location; and adjust the shaped detection field based on the different location of the covered environment (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A & 3-8 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 33-34; localization systems use to localize and/or navigate 100 in warehouse environment).
18: wherein the shaped detection field is selected from a plurality of preconfigured shaped detection fields based on at least one of the following: space, traffic, vehicle type, or operator (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 3-7 and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 65-76; awareness zone, declaration zone, limiting zone and control zones).
19: wherein the plurality of transceiver anchors are ultra-wide band (UWB) transceivers (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 42-43; materials handling vehicle [100] in industrial environment, [100] with UWB system [150] mounted on vehicle, UWB with antennas and anchors).
20: wherein the at least one vehicle sensor includes at least one of the following: a light radar (LiDAR), a steering wheel sensor, an odometer, a wireline sensor, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a magnet, a single UWB transceiver, or an onboard inertial measurement unit (IMU) (see Estep at least fig. 1-15B and in particular fig. 1-1A and Abstract & Summary and ¶ 42-54; lidar, UWB and inertial sensors etc.).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MACEEH ANWARI whose telephone number is 571-272-7591. The examiner can normally be reached on 9-9:30.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Ortiz can be reached on 571-272-1206. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
MACEEH . ANWARI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3663
/MACEEH ANWARI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3663
Prosecution Insights