DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
This Office action is in response to the application filed 8/20/2025.
Claim Status
Claims 1-15 are pending.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 8/20/2025 complies with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 2 and 13 are objected to because of the following informalities:
the word “Obtaining” should be - - obtaining- - with a lower case letter. Similarly, claim 13 “Obtain” should be - - obtain- -.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen et al., US 2023/0320263 hereinafter “Chen”.
Claims 1, 8 and 15. Chen teaches a lawn mower control method based on a single joystick, wherein the mower control method is configured to control operations of the lawn mower through a virtual single joystick provided on an electronic device, the lawn mower control method comprises:
obtaining a first joystick value of the single joystick, wherein the first joystick value corresponds to a control capability of the joystick to the lawn mower ([0177] teaches “In order to facilitate inputting the first user instruction by the user, a virtual joystick for remotely controlling a direction can be displayed in the display interface of the remote terminal 200, so that the user can control a movement direction and a movement distance of the mowing apparatus by clicking and dragging the virtual joystick. The mowing apparatus moves according to the received first user instruction….”);
receiving a joystick value adjustment instruction for the single joystick, wherein the joystick value adjustment instruction includes a target joystick value adjustment parameter ([0221]—“If the movement path fails to satisfy the user expectations, the user can modify the movement path…”);
adjusting the first joystick value according to the target joystick value adjustment parameter to obtain a second joystick value ([0119]-[0120] along with [0197]-[0198] describes this element as such—“ It should be noted that the target ratio may be a ratio value predetermined based on historical data information. In other embodiments of the present disclosure, all mismatching regions are added and summed. If a ratio of the sum value to the target region is greater than the target ratio, the information of the partial boundary is considered to represent that the partial boundary is not clear; and if the ratio of the sum value to the target region is less than or equal to the target ratio, the information of the partial boundary is considered to represent that the partial boundary is clear….a second instruction message is sent to the remote terminal, such that the remote terminal displays a first movement control widget through the display interface according to the second instruction message, then receives a second control message sent from the remote terminal in response to triggering of the first movement control widget, moves according to the second control message, records position information of the to-be-controlled device during the movement according to the second control message, and generates a boundary of the to-be-processed region according to the recorded position information.”);
generating a control command based on the second joystick value, and sending the control command to the lawn mower, to control the lawn mower to work ([0097] along with [0199] describes this element as such— “[w]hen receiving the second control message, the to-be-controlled device switches from the autonomous movement mode to the remotely controlled movement mode, and moves according to the second control message. Specifically, the second control message includes a movement instruction generated by manually operating the first movement control widget, for example, the first movement control widget may be a virtual joystick, and the second control message may be a movement instruction generated by manually dragging the virtual joystick….It should be noted that in the remotely controlled movement mode or the autonomous movement mode, the mower may determine the boundary of the to-be-trimmed lawn based on a movement trajectory; or, in the autonomous movement mode, the mower may recognize a region of the to-be-trimmed lawn and the obstacle region in the to-be-recognized region based on the movement trajectory or using a semantic segmentation technology, thereby determining the boundary of the to-be-trimmed lawn.).
Claims 2 and 9. Chen teaches the lawn mower method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving a joystick value adjustment command for the single joystick comprises:
Obtaining a first touch control parameter for the single joystick ([0182]—“the user inputs his desired target movement position through a blank area in a touch screen”, [0208]—“touch remote controller”; [0217]— “virtual joystick”);
determining the target joystick value adjustment parameter corresponding to the first touch control parameter ([0217]—“The user can set the first user instruction by clicking or dragging the virtual joystick 29 for remotely controlling the direction to make the mowing apparatus 100, e.g., move forward, move backward, turn forward or turn left by 30 degrees. The user can further set a speed of the mowing apparatus 100 by clicking or dragging the virtual joystick 27 for remotely controlling the accelerator.”);
generating the joystick value adjustment instruction based on the target joystick value adjustment parameter ([0217]—“The display interface can enhance interaction between the user and the mowing apparatus, and provide the user with an option of making the mowing apparatus automatically enter an autonomous mapping mode, thereby minimizing user time for controlling the mowing apparatus to manually set a movement path of the mowing apparatus, improving user work efficiency, and improving the user experience.”).
Claims 3 and 10. Chen teaches the lawn mower control method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving the joystick value adjustment instruction for the single joystick comprises:
obtaining a target mowing task, wherein the target mowing task includes target attribute information of a to-be-operated target lawn ([0261]-[0262]— “For example, when the user ascertains according to the recognized boundary of the working range displayed on the remote terminal that: the mowing apparatus will fall when moving along a path that is distanced from the boundary of the working range by half a width of the mowing apparatus, for example, if the path runs through a steep slope, the user can guide the mowing apparatus to bypass the steep slope by inputting the first user instruction.”);
determining the target joystick value adjustment parameter corresponding to the target attribute information ([0271]—“When the overall virtual work boundary fails to satisfy user expectations, the user can manually control the movement path of the mowing apparatus. The display interface may further include a virtual joystick 29 for remotely controlling a direction and a virtual joystick 27 for remotely controlling an accelerator. The user can set the first user instruction by clicking or dragging the virtual joystick 29 for remotely controlling the direction to make the mowing apparatus 100, e.g., move forward, move backward, turn forward or turn left by 30 degrees.”);
generating the joystick value adjustment instruction based on the target joystick value adjustment parameter ([0271]—“[t]he user can further set a speed of the mowing apparatus 100 by clicking or dragging the virtual joystick 27 for remotely controlling the accelerator. The display interface may further include an environmental range 30 that can be currently sensed by an environmental information collection unit, an exit button 31, a back button 33 for erasing a historical trajectory, and a start switch 25 for automatically recognizing the boundary of the working range.”).
Claims 4 and 12. Chen teaches the lawn mower control method according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting the first joystick value based on the target joystick value adjustment parameter to obtain the second joystick value comprises:
adjusting the first joystick value according to the target joystick value adjustment parameter to obtain a first reference joystick value ([0256] reads on this element as such—“In order to facilitate inputting the first user instruction by the user, a virtual joystick for remotely controlling a direction can be displayed in the display interface of the remote terminal 200, so that the user can control a movement direction and a movement distance of the mowing apparatus by clicking and dragging the virtual joystick.”);
obtaining a target environment parameter; determining a first optimization coefficient corresponding to the target environment parameter ([0256] reads on this element as such—“Specifically, when whether the acquired environmental information includes the boundary of the working range of the mowing apparatus fails to be recognized using the recognition algorithm on the mowing apparatus or the server having the communication connection with the mowing apparatus, the user can intervene and input the first user instruction, for example, the user can input an instruction for making the mowing apparatus move forward, or move backward, or turn forward, or turn left by 30 degrees through a display interface of a remote terminal 200”, [0256] teaches a virtual joystick.);
optimizing the first reference joystick value according to the first optimization coefficient to obtain the second joystick value ([0197]-[0198] describe this element as such—a second instruction message is sent to the remote terminal, such that the remote terminal displays a first movement control widget through the display interface according to the second instruction message, then receives a second control message sent from the remote terminal in response to triggering of the first movement control widget, moves according to the second control message, records position information of the to-be-controlled device during the movement according to the second control message, and generates a boundary of the to-be-processed region according to the recorded position information).
Claims 5 and 11. the lawn mower control method according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting the first joystick value based on the target joystick value adjustment parameter to obtain the second joystick value comprises:
adjusting the first joystick value according to the target joystick value adjustment parameter to obtain a second reference joystick value (([0256] reads on this element as such—“In order to facilitate inputting the first user instruction by the user, a virtual joystick for remotely controlling a direction can be displayed in the display interface of the remote terminal 200, so that the user can control a movement direction and a movement distance of the mowing apparatus by clicking and dragging the virtual joystick.”);
obtaining a target device parameter of the lawn mower ([0083] teaches a scenario that reads on this element as such—“the to-be-controlled device may determine the boundary of the to-be-processed region by combining the autonomous movement mode and the remotely controlled movement mode, thereby greatly reducing manual operations, improving work efficiency, and reducing labor costs, compared with the boundary of the to-be-processed region determined under a single mode. In one possible implementation, when the to-be-controlled device is a mower, the to-be-processed region may refer to a to-be-trimmed lawn”);
determining a second optimization coefficient corresponding to the target device parameter ([0327] teaches a scenario that describes this element as such—“….an image may be recorded using a camera during interactive mapping, and then optimized visual three-dimensional reconstruction may be performed by integrated navigation to obtain the visual feature map; or, visual three-dimensional reconstruction may be first performed, and then a mower trajectory after the visual three-dimensional reconstruction may be aligned with a real-time kinematic (RTK) trajectory to obtain the visual feature map; where the mower trajectory is aligned with the RTK trajectory, such that a coordinate system of the visual feature map is consistent with a coordinate system for the integrated navigation, to ensure the accuracy of subsequent positioning.”);
optimizing the second reference joystick value according to the second optimization coefficient to obtain the second joystick value ([0197]-[0198] describe this element as such—a second instruction message is sent to the remote terminal, such that the remote terminal displays a first movement control widget through the display interface according to the second instruction message, then receives a second control message sent from the remote terminal in response to triggering of the first movement control widget, moves according to the second control message, records position information of the to-be-controlled device during the movement according to the second control message, and generates a boundary of the to-be-processed region according to the recorded position information).
Claims 6 and 13. Chen teaches the lawn mower control method according to claim 1, wherein the generating the control command based on the second joystick value comprises:
obtaining a second touch control parameter for the single joystick ([261]—“In the embodiment, even if the boundary of the working range of the mowing apparatus can be recognized from the environmental information, but if the user inputs his instruction through the remote terminal, for example, the user inputs his desired target movement position through a blank area in the touch screen, in this case, the mowing apparatus may move not according to the recognized boundary of the working range, but moves from the current position to the user-defined target movement position along a predefined path (for example, a straight line).”);
generating the control command based on the second touch control parameter and the second joystick value ([0182] describes this element as such—“the first user instruction is received, the mowing apparatus moves according to the received first user instruction, and records the position information of the mowing apparatus during the movement according to the first user instruction. In the embodiment, even if the boundary of the working range of the mowing apparatus can be recognized from the environmental information, but if the user inputs his instruction through the remote terminal, for example, the user inputs his desired target movement position through a blank area in a touch screen, in this case, the mowing apparatus may move not according to the recognized boundary of the working range, but moves from the current position to the user-defined target movement position along a predefined path (for example, a straight line).”).
Claims 7 and 14. Chen teaches the lawn mower control method according to claim 6, wherein the generating the control command based on the second touch control parameter and the second joystick value comprises:
determining a target control instruction type corresponding to the second joystick value ([0182] describes this element as such—“he first user instruction is received, the mowing apparatus moves according to the received first user instruction, and records the position information of the mowing apparatus during the movement according to the first user instruction. In the embodiment, even if the boundary of the working range of the mowing apparatus can be recognized from the environmental information, but if the user inputs his instruction through the remote terminal, for example, the user inputs his desired target movement position through a blank area in a touch screen, in this case, the mowing apparatus may move not according to the recognized boundary of the working range, but moves from the current position to the user-defined target movement position along a predefined path (for example, a straight line).”);
determining a target instruction control parameter corresponding to the second touch control parameter ([0261] reads on this element as such—“ In the embodiment, even if the boundary of the working range of the mowing apparatus can be recognized from the environmental information, but if the user inputs his instruction through the remote terminal, for example, the user inputs his desired target movement position through a blank area in the touch screen, in this case, the mowing apparatus may move not according to the recognized boundary of the working range, but moves from the current position to the user-defined target movement position along a predefined path (for example, a straight line).”);
generating the control command based on the target control instruction type and the target instruction control parameter ([0271] describes this element as such—“When the overall virtual work boundary fails to satisfy user expectations, the user can manually control the movement path of the mowing apparatus. The display interface may further include a virtual joystick 29 for remotely controlling a direction and a virtual joystick 27 for remotely controlling an accelerator. The user can set the first user instruction by clicking or dragging the virtual joystick 29 for remotely controlling the direction to make the mowing apparatus 100, e.g., move forward, move backward, turn forward or turn left by 30 degrees. The user can further set a speed of the mowing apparatus 100 by clicking or dragging the virtual joystick 27 for remotely controlling the accelerator.”).
Conclusion
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/A.D.T/Examiner, Art Unit 3661
/RUSSELL FREJD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661
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