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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed December 12, 2025 with respect to claims 1, 3-16 and 18-22 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
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, 3-4, 7, 13, 16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kopelman (US Patent Publication No: 2016/0256035 A1) in view of Richards (A guide to astrophotography stacking, BBC SkyatNight Magazine, https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/astrophoto-tips/a-guide-to-astrophotography-stacking, January 16, 2019), hereinafter Richards, further in view of reddit (How do i deselect a specific area?, https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshop/comments/9onv6s/how_do_i_deselect_a_specific_area/?rdt=62891, 2018), hereinafter reddit.
Regarding claim 1, Kopelman teaches an apparatus for generating a virtual model, the apparatus comprising: an intraoral scanner (During the intraoral scan session, a dental practitioner uses an intraoral scanner to create a set of intraoral images focused on a particular intraoral site [0065]) configured to acquire a continuous two-dimensional image within a measurement space (The image data may be provided in the form of intraoral image data sets
135A-135N, each of which may include 2D intraoral images and/or 3D intraoral images of particular teeth and/or regions of an intraoral site. [0027]); and a model generation unit (Fig. 1 125 Model Generation Module) configured to generate a three-dimensional virtual model by converting a two-dimensional image acquired from the intraoral scanner (FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a system 100 for performing intraoral scanning and/or generating a virtual three-dimensional model of an intraoral site. [0021]), wherein the model generation unit removes one area according to reliability of data from the three-dimensional virtual model (In one embodiment, after anomaly identifying module 115 identifies an anomaly, anomaly identifying module 115 may then determine whether there are any additional image data sets that include data covering the area at which the anomaly was identified. Anomaly identifying module 115 may compare this area from the one or more additional image data sets to the data of the locked image data set. Based on this comparison, anomaly identifying module 115 may determine that the data of the locked image data set covering the contour is to be replaced by data from another image data set. The portion of the other image data set that corresponds to an inside of the contour of the anomaly may then be used to replace the original data from the intraoral image data set for the anomaly. This data may then be added to the locked image data set. [0055]) and generates a final model based on the remaining areas (In one embodiment, after anomaly identifying module 115 identifies an anomaly, anomaly identifying module 115 may then determine whether there are any additional image data sets that include data covering the area at which the anomaly was identified. Anomaly identifying module 115 may compare this area from the one or more additional image data sets to the data of the locked image data set. Based on this comparison, anomaly identifying module 115 may determine that the data of the locked image data set covering the contour is to be replaced by data from another image data set. The portion of the other image data set that corresponds to an inside of the contour of the anomaly may then be used to replace the original data from the intraoral image data set for the anomaly. This data may then be added to the locked image data set. [0055]), wherein the model generation unit is configured to calculate a noise area where the reliability of the data is less than a preset reference value as the data density is low in the three-dimensional virtual model (Identifying of anomalies concerning missing and/or flawed scan data may involve the anomaly identifying module 115 performing direct analysis, for instance determining one or more pixels or other points to be missing from patient scan data and/or one or more virtual 3D models of the patient. [0051]. It is reasonable to construe that the missing pixels can be represented as a data density less than a preset reference value.), and generate the final model based on the remaining areas other than the noise area of three-dimensional virtual model by removing the noise area from the three-dimensional virtual model (In one embodiment, after anomaly identifying module 115 identifies an anomaly, anomaly identifying module 115 may then determine whether there are any additional image data sets that include data covering the area at which the anomaly was identified. Anomaly identifying module 115 may compare this area from the one or more additional image data sets to the data of the locked image data set. Based on this comparison, anomaly identifying module 115 may determine that the data of the locked image data set covering the contour is to be replaced by data from another image data set. The portion of the other image data set that corresponds to an inside of the contour of the anomaly may then be used to replace the original data from the intraoral image data set for the anomaly. This data may then be added to the locked image data set. [0055]).
Kopelman does not teach wherein in the area where image data acquired from the intraoral scanner is accumulated a data density is increased.
Richards teaches combine image data and thus increase data density to reduce noise (In astrophotography, stacking, also known as integration, is all about increasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of your images; in other words, increasing the signal that you do want and reducing the noise you don’t. Page 2 1st paragraph. Instead of long exposures, then, astro imagers shoot as many similar images of their target as they can and then combine them into a single image using stacking. Page 3 4th paragraph).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kopelman to incorporate the teachings of Richards to accumulate image data and increase data density to reduce noise.
The combination of Kopelman and Richards does not teach wherein the model generation unit releases a necessary area which includes an extracted tooth area in an area to be deleted from the area to be deleted so that the model generation unit removes a corrected area to be deleted from the three-dimensional virtual model and generates the final model.
reddit teaches to deselect an area in an already selected area (If you already have a selection and are using lasso, magic wand, quick select, etc: hold down opt/alt and the next step will subtract (shift for adding). Page 1 2nd paragraph).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of reddit for the model generation unit to deselect an area from an area selected to be deleted so that the model generation unit removes a corrected area to be deleted from the three-dimensional virtual model and generates the final model.
Regarding claim 3, Kopelman in the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a control unit configured to display the generated three-dimensional virtual model on a display screen (Fig. 8 810 Video display), and select the calculated area from the three-dimensional virtual model as the area to be deleted to display the calculated area on the display screen (Flagging module 118 may provide indications or indicators of anomalies. The indications may be presented ( e.g., via a user interface) to a user (e.g., a practitioner) in connection with and/or apart from one or more depictions of teeth and/or gingivae of a patient (e.g., in connection with one or more X-rays, 2D intraoral images, 3D intraoral images, 2D models, and/or virtual 3D models of the patient). Indication presentation in connection with depictions of patient teeth and/or gingivae may involve the indications being placed so as to correlate an indication with the corresponding portion of the teeth and/or gingivae. [0052]).
Claims 4, 7 and 13, unamended and are rejected based on the combination of Kopelman, in view of Richards, further in view of reddit, as applied to claim 1 above. The grounds of rejection established in the last Office Action is fully incorporated herein.
Method claims 16 and 18 are drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claims 1, 3 and 4. Therefore method claims 16 and 18 correspond to apparatus claims 1, 3 and 4 and are rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above.
Claims 5-6, 10-12 and 14-15, unamended and are rejected based on the combination of Kopelman (US Patent Publication No: 2016/0256035 A1), in view of Richards (A guide to astrophotography stacking, BBC SkyatNight Magazine, https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/astrophoto-tips/a-guide-to-astrophotography-stacking, January 16, 2019), further in view of reddit (How do i deselect a specific area?, https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshop/comments/9onv6s/how_do_i_deselect_a_specific_area/?rdt=62891, 2018), hereinafter reddit, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ye (US Patent Publication No: 2017 /0076443 A1), hereinafter Ye. The ground of rejection established in the last Office Action is fully incorporated herein.
Claims 8-9, 19-20 and 22, unamended and is rejected based on the combination of Kopelman (US Patent Publication No: 2016/0256035 A1), hereinafter Kopelman, in view of Richards (A guide to astrophotography stacking, BBC SkyatNight Magazine, https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/astrophoto-tips/a-guide-to-astrophotography-stacking, January 16, 2019), hereinafter Richards, further in view of reddit (How do i deselect a specific area?, https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshop/comments/9onv6s/how_do_i_deselect_a_specific_area/?rdt=62891, 2018), hereinafter reddit, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Scheepens (Visualization, Selection, and Analysis of Traffic Flows, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VISUALIZATION AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS, VOL. 22, NO. 1, JANUARY 2016), hereinafter Scheepens. The ground of rejection established in the last Office Action is fully incorporated herein.
Claim 21, unamended and is rejected based on the combination of Kopelman (US Patent Publication No: 2016/0256035 A1), hereinafter Kopelman, in view of Richards (A guide to astrophotography stacking, BBC SkyatNight Magazine, https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/astrophoto-tips/a-guide-to-astrophotography-stacking, January 16, 2019), hereinafter Richards, further in view of reddit (How do i deselect a specific area?, https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshop/comments/9onv6s/how_do_i_deselect_a_specific_area/?rdt=62891, 2018), hereinafter reddit, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Scheepens (Visualization, Selection, and Analysis of Traffic Flows, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VISUALIZATION AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS, VOL. 22, NO. 1, JANUARY 2016), hereinafter Scheepens, further in view of Ye (US Patent Publication No: 2017 /0076443 A1), hereinafter Ye. The ground of rejection established in the last Office Action is fully incorporated herein.
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.
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/LEI ZHAO/Examiner, Art Unit 2668
/VU LE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2668