DETAILED ACTION
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 .
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.
Claims 1, 5-8, 10, and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Weise et al (DE102020118814A1; for citation purposes the equivalent of US 20220021807 A1 is used; hereinafter referred to as Weise) in view of Lu et al (US 20230140956 A1, hereinafter referred to as Lu) and further in view of Rizo et al (US20180136129A1; hereinafter referred to as Rizo).
Regarding Claim 1, Weise discloses a method for the stereo endoscopic measurement of fluorescence in a tissue to which a fluorescent agent has been added wherein a stereo-optical system of a stereo video endoscope is directed toward a region of the tissue to be investigated and the fluorescent agent is excited by means of an excitation light to emit florescent light that is detected by the stereo-optical system of the stereo video endoscope in a pair of stereoscopic images, or a sequence of pairs of stereoscopic images, the method comprising (“The stereo-endoscope described above can preferably be used for generating improved stereoscopic images of tissue samples, wherein a first monoscopic image I s generated by the detection of fluorescence signals in the infrared region, preferably such signals generated by the ICG dye, and a second monoscopic image is generated by the detection of a hyperspectral image, wherein the first and the second monoscopic image will be taken into account in an image processing operation for enhancing the contrast, and/or increasing the intensity, of the stereoscopic image [0029], ”In the simplest case, the illuminating device or means comprise a single light source, e.g., an LED, but preferably several light sources which are preferably tuned to the manipulating means. If, for example, one intends to excite fluorescence, the light source needs to radiate light by which fluorescence can be excited.” [0013], “The stereo-endoscope described above can preferably be used for generating improved stereoscopic images of tissue samples, wherein a first monoscopic image is generated by the detection of fluorescence signals in the infrared region, preferably such signals generated by the ICG dye, and a second monoscopic image is generated by the detection of a hyperspectral image, wherein the first and the second monoscopic image will be taken into account in an image processing operation for enhancing the contrast, and/or increasing the intensity, of the stereoscopic image” [0029]):
Weise does not specifically disclose using an optical disparity of at least one pattern arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs, determining a distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system by using a stereo base and a stereo angle of the stereo-optical system of the stereo videoendoscope, calculate a normalization factor as a ratio of a square of the determined distance to a square of a standard distance such that a brightness of a fluorescence signal is adjusted locally to represent an observed brightness distribution as if all structures of the tissue emitting the fluorescence light were at a same distance from the stereo-optical system; and generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system; normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance; and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map
However in the similar field of optimizing 3D stereoscopic imaging, Lu teaches a stereoscopic imaging system (“A system for automatically optimizing 3D stereoscopic perception” [0026])
using an optical disparity of at least one pattern arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs (“calculating a stereo disparity of given current left and right images to generate a disparity map” [0011])
determining a distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system by using a stereo base and a stereo angle of the stereo-optical system of the stereo videoendoscope (“In the step 2, a calculation formula of the depth value may be:
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[0054], “where f is the focal length of a camera, Tx is the center distance between left and right cameras, and (x,y) is a current pixel position.” [0055], “In the step 3, the average value, median value or maximum value of the depth values corresponding to all pixels in the entire image or a region of interest (ROI) is calculated as the depth distance of the target to be observed.” [0056])
It would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Weise as outlined above with the use of an optical disparity of at least one pattern arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs, determining a distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system by using a stereo base and a stereo angle of the stereo-optical system of the stereo videoendoscope as taught by Lu, because this makes it possible for the user to obtain a better 3D reconstruction effect after the target to be observed shall be in a certain depth range [Lu 0009].
Weise in view of Lu does not specifically teach to generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system; normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance; and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map.
However in the similar field of normalizing fluorescent signals, Rizo teaches a method for correcting a fluorescence image of an object [Abstract].
Rizo also teaches generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system (“the inventors propose to apply a correction function fd that is dependent on said distance d to each fluorescence image. This function corrects the fluorescence image so as to obtain a corrected fluorescence image such that: Md corresponding to an illuminance image produced by the light source 11 at the distance d. This illuminance image is representative of the spatial distribution of the luminance produced by the excitation source in a plane located at a distance d from the latter.” [0075], “With each distance d is associated an illuminance image Md, the latter being determined during a calibration phase,” [0077], “As many illuminance images Md as distances d considered are then stored in memory.” [0078], “Use of such an illuminance image Md has the advantage of taking into account, during the application of the correction function, the spatial distribution of the illuminance, but also the variation in the illuminance as a function of the distance d between the excitation source and the object.” [0087]).
normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance (“the fluorescence image is acquired in an exposure time and the correction function is also able to normalize the fluorescence image with respect to a reference exposure time; the correction function takes into account the square of the measured distance and the square of a reference distance;” [0016]);
and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map (“The ratio Ifluo/Md implies that the brightness of each pixel of coordinate (r) of the fluorescence image Ifluo is divided by the brightness of a pixel of the same coordinate of the illuminance image Md. In other words, it is a question of a term-by-term ratio between two matrices such that the value of each pixel r of the corrected image is:” [0077])
It would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Weise and Lu as outlined above with the system generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system; normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance; and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map as taught by Rizo, because it corrects for spatially nonuniform illuminance of the fluorescent signal [0073-0075].
Regarding Claim 5, Weise in view of Lu and further in view of Rizo teaches that the determining of the distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system comprises, determining, for several points of the tissue, and one of linearly or nonlinearly interpolating a three-dimensional area for the several points, or approximating the three-dimensional area with splines (“a pre-generated lookup table unit configured to place a target to be observed at different positions between 10 mm and 100 mm in front of a camera at an interval of 10 mm respectively, adjust the left and right image displacement at each position until obtaining a 3D reconstruction effect desired by an observer, and record information about each position and corresponding image displacement values to generate a lookup table;” [Lu 0034], “an image displacement value acquisition unit configured to obtain an image displacement value corresponding to the current depth distance by using linear interpolation according to the lookup table when a current depth distance is between 10 mm and 100 mm;” [Lu 0035]).
Regarding Claim 6, Weise in view of Lu and further in view of Rizo teaches a stereoscopic imaging system further comprising converting the three-dimensional area into a distance map that contains specific distances for specific pixels or pixel regions of at least one of the stereoscopic images (“In the step 3, the average value, median value or maximum value of the depth values corresponding to all pixels in the entire image or a region of interest (ROI) is calculated as the depth distance of the target to be observed.” [Lu 0056], “a disparity map acquisition unit configured to calculate a stereo disparity of given current left and right images to generate a disparity map;” [Lu 0027]).
Regarding Claim 7, Weise in view of Lu and further in view of Rizo teaches a stereoscopic imaging system further comprising determining the distance to the stereo-optical system for a predefined or adjustable measuring field of the stereoscopic image, wherein the determined distance is used to determine the normalization factor for an entirety of the stereoscopic images (“a step of generating a lookup table in advance: placing a target to be observed at different positions between 10 mm and 100 mm in front of a camera at an interval of 10 mm respectively, adjusting the left and right image displacement at each position until obtaining a 3D reconstruction effect desired by an observer, and recording information about each position and corresponding image displacement values to generate a lookup table” [Lu 0058]).
Regarding Claim 8, Weise in view of Lu and further in view of Rizo teaches that the predefined or the adjustable measuring field of the stereoscopic image is a central measuring field of the stereoscopic image (“a step of generating a lookup table in advance: placing a target to be observed at different positions between 10 mm and 100 mm in front of a camera at an interval of 10 mm respectively, adjusting the left and right image displacement at each position until obtaining a 3D reconstruction effect desired by an observer, and recording information about each position and corresponding image displacement values to generate a lookup table” [Lu 0058]).
Regarding Claim 10, Weise in view of Lu and further in view of Rizo teaches that the method further comprises determining a distance of at least one predefined or selectable region of interest of the tissue to the system, and a reference distance of a predefined or selectable reference range of the tissue to the system (“ the method also includes a step of measuring a distance between the excitation source and the object, the correction function being dependent on this distance since it uses an illuminance image associated with said measured distance.” [Lu 0015])
Regarding Claim 13, Weise discloses A processor for stereoendoscopic measurement of fluorescence in a tissue to which a fluorescent agent has been added in a system comprising a stereo videoendoscope having a stereo-optical system configured to form a pair of stereoscopic images, or a sequence of pairs of stereoscopic images and an excitation light source configured to emit excitation light from the fluorescent agent; (“The stereo-endoscope described above can preferably be used for generating improved stereoscopic images of tissue samples, wherein a first monoscopic image I s generated by the detection of fluorescence signals in the infrared region, preferably such signals generated by the ICG dye, and a second monoscopic image is generated by the detection of a hyperspectral image, wherein the first and the second monoscopic image will be taken into account in an image processing operation for enhancing the contrast, and/or increasing the intensity, of the stereoscopic image [0029], ”In the simplest case, the illuminating device or means comprise a single light source, e.g., an LED, but preferably several light sources which are preferably tuned to the manipulating means. If, for example, one intends to excite fluorescence, the light source needs to radiate light by which fluorescence can be excited.” [0013], “The stereo-endoscope described above can preferably be used for generating improved stereoscopic images of tissue samples, wherein a first monoscopic image is generated by the detection of fluorescence signals in the infrared region, preferably such signals generated by the ICG dye, and a second monoscopic image is generated by the detection of a hyperspectral image, wherein the first and the second monoscopic image will be taken into account in an image processing operation for enhancing the contrast, and/or increasing the intensity, of the stereoscopic image” [0029])
Weise does not specifically disclose the processor being configured to use an optical disparity of at least one pattern arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs; determining a distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system by using a stereo base and a stereo angle of the stereo-optical system of the stereo videoendoscope; and generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system; normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance; and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map.
However in the similar field of optimizing 3D stereoscopic imaging, Lu teaches a stereoscopic imaging system (“A system for automatically optimizing 3D stereoscopic perception” [0026])
using an optical disparity of at least one pattern arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs (“calculating a stereo disparity of given current left and right images to generate a disparity map” [0011])
determining a distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system by using a stereo base and a stereo angle of the stereo-optical system of the stereo videoendoscope (“In the step 2, a calculation formula of the depth value may be:
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[0054], “where f is the focal length of a camera, Tx is the center distance between left and right cameras, and (x,y) is a current pixel position.” [0055], “In the step 3, the average value, median value or maximum value of the depth values corresponding to all pixels in the entire image or a region of interest (ROI) is calculated as the depth distance of the target to be observed.” [0056])
It would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Weise as outlined above with the use of an optical disparity of at least one pattern arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs, determining a distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system by using a stereo base and a stereo angle of the stereo-optical system of the stereo videoendoscope as taught by Lu, because this makes it possible for the user to obtain a better 3D reconstruction effect after the target to be observed shall be in a certain depth range [Lu 0009].
Weise in view of Lu does not specifically teach to generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system; normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance; and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map.
However in the similar field of normalizing fluorescent signals, Rizo teaches A method for correcting a fluorescence image of an object [Abstract].
Rizo also teaches generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system (“the inventors propose to apply a correction function fd that is dependent on said distance d to each fluorescence image. This function corrects the fluorescence image so as to obtain a corrected fluorescence image such that: Md corresponding to an illuminance image produced by the light source 11 at the distance d. This illuminance image is representative of the spatial distribution of the luminance produced by the excitation source in a plane located at a distance d from the latter.” [0076], “With each distance d is associated an illuminance image Md, the latter being determined during a calibration phase,” [0077], “As many illuminance images Md as distances d considered are then stored in memory.” [0078], “Use of such an illuminance image Md has the advantage of taking into account, during the application of the correction function, the spatial distribution of the illuminance, but also the variation in the illuminance as a function of the distance d between the excitation source and the object.” [0087]).
normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance (“the fluorescence image is acquired in an exposure time and the correction function is also able to normalize the fluorescence image with respect to a reference exposure time; the correction function takes into account the square of the measured distance and the square of a reference distance;” [0016]);
and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map (“The ratio Ifluo/Md implies that the brightness of each pixel of coordinate (r) of the fluorescence image Ifluo is divided by the brightness of a pixel of the same coordinate of the illuminance image Md. In other words, it is a question of a term-by-term ratio between two matrices such that the value of each pixel r of the corrected image is:” [0077])
It would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Weise and Lu as outlined above with the system generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system; normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance; and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map as taught by Rizo, because it corrects for spatially nonuniform illuminance of the fluorescent signal [0073-0075].
Regarding Claim 14, Weise discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for the stereo endoscopic measurement of fluorescence in a tissue to which a fluorescent agent has been added wherein a stereo-optical system of a stereo video endoscope is directed toward a region of the tissue to be investigated and the fluorescent agent is excited by means of an excitation light to emit florescent light that is detected by the stereo-optical system of the stereo video endoscope in a pair of stereoscopic images, or a sequence of pairs of stereoscopic images, the method comprising (“The stereo-endoscope described above can preferably be used for generating improved stereoscopic images of tissue samples, wherein a first monoscopic image I s generated by the detection of fluorescence signals in the infrared region, preferably such signals generated by the ICG dye, and a second monoscopic image is generated by the detection of a hyperspectral image, wherein the first and the second monoscopic image will be taken into account in an image processing operation for enhancing the contrast, and/or increasing the intensity, of the stereoscopic image [0029], ”In the simplest case, the illuminating device or means comprise a single light source, e.g., an LED, but preferably several light sources which are preferably tuned to the manipulating means. If, for example, one intends to excite fluorescence, the light source needs to radiate light by which fluorescence can be excited.” [0013], “The stereo-endoscope described above can preferably be used for generating improved stereoscopic images of tissue samples, wherein a first monoscopic image is generated by the detection of fluorescence signals in the infrared region, preferably such signals generated by the ICG dye, and a second monoscopic image is generated by the detection of a hyperspectral image, wherein the first and the second monoscopic image will be taken into account in an image processing operation for enhancing the contrast, and/or increasing the intensity, of the stereoscopic image” [0029]):
Weise does not specifically disclose that the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is storing instructions that use an optical disparity of at least one pattern arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs; determining a distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system by using a stereo base and a stereo angle of the stereo-optical system of the stereo videoendoscope; and generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system; normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance; and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map.
However, in the similar field of optimizing 3D stereoscopic imaging, Lu teaches a stereoscopic imaging system (“A system for automatically optimizing 3D stereoscopic perception” [0026])
using an optical disparity of at least one pattern arising in the stereoscopic image pair or the stereoscopic image pairs (“calculating a stereo disparity of given current left and right images to generate a disparity map” [0011])
determining a distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system by using a stereo base and a stereo angle of the stereo-optical system of the stereo videoendoscope (“In the step 2, a calculation formula of the depth value may be:
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[0054], “where f is the focal length of a camera, Tx is the center distance between left and right cameras, and (x,y) is a current pixel position.” [0055], “In the step 3, the average value, median value or maximum value of the depth values corresponding to all pixels in the entire image or a region of interest (ROI) is calculated as the depth distance of the target to be observed.” [0056])
It would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Weise as outlined above with the use of an optical disparity of at least one pattern arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs, determining a distance of the tissue from the stereo-optical system by using a stereo base and a stereo angle of the stereo-optical system of the stereo videoendoscope as taught by Lu, because this makes it possible for the user to obtain a better 3D reconstruction effect after the target to be observed shall be in a certain depth range [Lu 0009].
Lu does not specifically teach to calculate a normalization factor as a ratio of a square of the determined distance to a square of a standard distance such that a brightness of a fluorescence signal is adjusted locally to represent an observed brightness distribution as if all structures of the tissue emitting the fluorescence light were at a same distance from the stereo-optical system; and normalize an intensity of the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor.
Weise in view of Lu does not specifically teach to generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system; normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance; and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map.
However in the similar field of normalizing fluorescent signals, Rizo teaches A method for correcting a fluorescence image of an object [Abstract].
Rizo also teaches generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system (“the inventors propose to apply a correction function fd that is dependent on said distance d to each fluorescence image. This function corrects the fluorescence image so as to obtain a corrected fluorescence image such that: Md corresponding to an illuminance image produced by the light source 11 at the distance d. This illuminance image is representative of the spatial distribution of the luminance produced by the excitation source in a plane located at a distance d from the latter.” [0076], “As many illuminance images Md as distances d considered are then stored in memory.” [0078], “With each distance d is associated an illuminance image Md, the latter being determined during a calibration phase,” [0077], “Use of such an illuminance image Md has the advantage of taking into account, during the application of the correction function, the spatial distribution of the illuminance, but also the variation in the illuminance as a function of the distance d between the excitation source and the object.” [0087]).
normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance (“the fluorescence image is acquired in an exposure time and the correction function is also able to normalize the fluorescence image with respect to a reference exposure time; the correction function takes into account the square of the measured distance and the square of a reference distance;” [0016]);
and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map (“The ratio Ifluo/Md implies that the brightness of each pixel of coordinate (r) of the fluorescence image Ifluo is divided by the brightness of a pixel of the same coordinate of the illuminance image Md. In other words, it is a question of a term-by-term ratio between two matrices such that the value of each pixel r of the corrected image is:” [0077])
It would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Weise and Lu as outlined above with the system generating a reference map indicating a variable illumination strength over a field of view of the stereo video endoscope, the generating taking place by measuring after the production of the video endoscope or during a calibration step at the beginning of a medical intervention, and saving the reference map in a memory of the endoscopic video system; normalizing the fluorescence signal with the normalization factor depending on the determined distance; and further normalizing the fluorescence signal with an illumination intensity distribution by multiplying a brightness of a pixel, a pixel region or a measuring region with a correction factor taken from the saved reference map as taught by Rizo, because it corrects for spatially nonuniform illuminance of the fluorescent signal [0073-0075].
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Weise in view of Lu further in view of Rizo as applied to Claim 7 above, and further in view of Reiche et al (US 20160379066 A1, hereinafter referred to as Reiche).
Regarding Claim 9; Weise in view of Lu further in view of Rizo teaches the at least one pattern arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs comprises several recognized patterns arising in each stereoscopic image pair or in each of the stereoscopic image pairs in a central region, and an average of the distances determined for the several patterns is used (“a step of generating a lookup table in advance: placing a target to be observed at different positions between 10 mm and 100 mm in front of a camera at an interval of 10 mm respectively, adjusting the left and right image displacement at each position until obtaining a 3D reconstruction effect desired by an observer, and recording information about each position and corresponding image displacement values to generate a lookup table” [Lu 0058]).
Weise in view of Lu further in view of Rizo does not specifically teach that one or more of the measuring field has a linear extent of between 1% and 10% of the image height.
However, in the similar field of distance mapping visualization system, Reiche teaches a distance mapping stereoscopic camera system (“a camera system for the distance measurement of objects from a vehicle using at least two cameras, which capture different and yet at least partially overlapping image regions” [0008])
wherein one or more of the measuring field has a linear extent of between 1% and 10% of the image height (“The imaging laws of the two cameras 101, 102 are assumed in this example to be approximately linear, with the slope of the focal length f 404. Camera 1 101 here has a maximum object angle 110 of 25°, camera 2 102 has a maximum object angle of 50°. The different image heights plotted over the angle 302, 304 of the two cameras 101, 102 are illustrated in FIG. 3. The image height 302 here corresponds to the image height of the camera 1 101 and correspondingly the image height 304 to the camera 2 102. In addition, the corresponding image heights of an ideal image according to a pinhole camera h_s=f*tanΩ are illustrated in dashed lines 301, 303, wherein h_s represents the image height of the pinhole camera image” [0044])
It would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Weise in view of Lu further in view of Rizo as outlined above wherein one or more of the measuring field has a linear extent of between 1% and 10% of the image height, as taught by Reiche, because this makes it possible to determine, from the disparity D of a feature on the images captured by the cameras or image sensors, the distance g to the object that is associated with the feature [0005].
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Weise in view of Lu further in view of Rizo as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Daures et al (FR 3073049 A1; for citation purposes the equivalent of WO2019081849A1 is used, hereinafter referred to as Daures).
Regarding Claim 12, Weise in view of Lu and further in view Rizo does not specifically teach that this further comprises using corrected images or fluorescence values to determine one or more of a maximum fluorescence, a maximum relative fluorescence, a time until reaching a maximum fluorescence, a maximum relative fluorescence, and a fraction thereof.
However in the similar field of normalizing fluorescent signals, Daures teaches that this further comprises using corrected images or fluorescence values to determine one or more of a maximum fluorescence, a maximum relative fluorescence, a time until reaching a maximum fluorescence, maximum relative fluorescence, and a fraction thereof (“The software then determines a maximum value of the intensity of the fluorescence signal for all the fluorescence images Ii. This maximum intensity value can be chosen by using an .sup.xth percentile, x% of the maximum value and / or smoothing the fluorescence images II to avoid point artifacts on each of these fluorescence images II. Step 5: The software then normalizes each fluorescence image Ii with respect to the maximum determined in the previous step. Then, the software colors the fluorescence images II thus standardized using a specific color conversion table.“ [0058], “To be able to compare fluorescence images Ii with each other, it is necessary for the fluorescence images Ii to be recalibrated so that the pixels correspond between the different fluorescence images Ii. Thus, the difference between the images (or more generally the operation that makes it possible to compare the images with one another) can be calculated pixel by pixel.” [0063])
It would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Weise as outlined above that using corrected images or fluorescence values to determine one or more of a maximum fluorescence, a maximum relative fluorescence, a time until reaching a maximum fluorescence, a maximum relative fluorescence, and a fraction thereof, as taught by Daures, because that makes it possible to compare the images with one another [0063].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 5-10, and 12-14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN MALDONADO whose telephone number is 703-756-1421. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am-4:00 pm PST M-Th Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at
http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Koharski can be reached on (571) 272-7230. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Steven Maldonado/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3797
/Oommen Jacob/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797
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