Appeal No. 2000-0431 Page 15
Application No. 08/789,127
Here, Kawakami’s mobile robot covers an entire accessible
surface of a floor. Specifically, “[w]ork route 41 of mobile
robot A 43 is set so as to clean the entire rectangular range 40
starting from the top left of rectangular range 40 by having
mobile robot A 43 zigzag in a vertical direction.” Col. 4,
ll. 10-13 (emphasis added). The reference also mentions that
“[i]f an obstacle detected in the work route is a stationary
obstacle, the work route is changed . . . and work continues
without stopping,” id. at ll. 29-31, and that “this method is
basically undesirable insofar as some residual work area remains
due to the avoidance operation.” Id. at ll. 31-33. Figure 4
shows that the aforementioned range 40, however, includes no such
stationary objects. When cleaning the range 40, therefore, the
mobile robot A 43 cleans the entire accessible surface of the
range.
In addition, the very problem that Nakamura seeks to solve
involves the prior art’s incomplete coverage of a surface of a
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