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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 0 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-2, 5-6, and 9-10 are pending. Claims 3-4, 7-8, and 11-12 are canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see p. 8, filed 02/03/2026, with respect to the objection of Claim 5 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the objection of Claim 5 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see p. 8-11, filed 02/03/2026, with respect to the rejection of Claim 1-3, 5-7, and 9-10 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered but are moot because Applicant’s amendments of the independent claim has altered the scope of the claim, and therefore, necessitated new grounds of rejection which are presented below. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 5, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fleureau et al. (US 20200314449 A1) in view of Wu et al. (US 20180025529 A1) and Hoelscher et al. (US 20180130224 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Fleureau teaches " A three-dimensional data encoding method comprising: generating visibility information indicating whether a three-dimensional point cloud is visible from a plurality of predetermined directions, the visibility information including a first information item and a second information item"; (Fleureau, Abstract and Paras. 50-51, teaches a sequence of point clouds is encoded as a video by an encoder and transmitted to a decoder which retrieves the sequence of point clouds wherein location of a point is determined according to the depth information stored in the pixel, coordinates of the pixel in the image patch, and the patch data and wherein the angle relative to the point of view and the distance between the point and the point of view are determined and the point is placed in the point cloud in which a point cloud may be seen as a vector based structure wherein a vector may be defined by three-dimensional coordinates and each vector is defined by radial coordinates representing a three-dimensional direction relative to a point of view and distance/depth between the point of view and the point in which the surface of the point cloud is used to determine visibility of points from a point of view, i.e., 3D encoding method wherein visibility information is generated to indicate if a 3D point cloud is visible from a plurality of directions or points of view in which the visibility information includes a first and second information item such as the angle and depth/distance);
"and encoding point cloud data of the three-dimensional point cloud, the encoded point cloud data including the visibility information"; (Fleureau, Abstract, teaches a sequence of point clouds is encoded as a video by an encoder and transmitted to a decoder which retrieves the sequence of point clouds wherein visible points of a point cloud are iteratively projected on a projection map to determine a patch data item list in which the associated patch data item list are encoded in a stream, i.e., encoding point cloud data of the 3D point cloud in which the visibility of the point cloud is included);
"wherein the first information item is an angle parameter indicating (i) a plurality of predetermined orientations respectively corresponding to the plurality of predetermined directions"; (Fleureau, Paras. 50-51, teaches determining the angle relative to the point of view and the distance between the point and the point of view wherein the point cloud may be seen as a vector based structure with each point having a coordinate and wherein a vector is defined by radial coordinates which represent a three-dimensional direction relative to a point of view and the distance/depth between the point of view and the point, i.e., information item is an angle parameter that indicates a plurality of predetermined orientations that respectively correspond to a plurality of predetermined directions);
"";
"";
"the second information item includes a plurality of third information items in the predetermined sequence order indicated by the angle parameter"; (Fleureau, Paras. 49-51 and 67, teaches points of a point cloud of the sequence are iteratively projected on a projection map to determine patches wherein location of a point is determined according to depth information, coordinates of the pixel, and patch data wherein each patch comprises data corresponding to a space delimited by two portions of concentric spheres centered on the point of view and is characterized by an angular range and a depth range and wherein the point cloud is a vector based structure in which the vectors are defined by radial coordinates which represent a 3D direction relative to a point of view and the distance/depth between the point of view and the point, i.e., second information item being patch data includes a plurality of third information items in the iterative sequence of points in the point cloud being the angular range and depth range indicated by the angle parameter which is relative to the point of view and the distance between the point and point of view);
"a number of the plurality of third information items being the same as the number of the of the plurality of predetermined orientations indicated by the angle parameter"; (Fleureau, Paras. 49-51 and 67, teaches points of a point cloud of the sequence are iteratively projected on a projection map to determine patches wherein location of a point is determined according to depth information, coordinates of the pixel, and patch data wherein each patch comprises data corresponding to a space delimited by two portions of concentric spheres centered on the point of view and is characterized by an angular range and a depth range, i.e., a number of the third information items being the same as the number of orientations being the angular range and depth range is data corresponding to each point of view);
"the plurality of third information items respectively corresponding to the plurality of predetermined orientations"; (Fleureau, Paras. 49-51 and 67, teaches points of a point cloud of the sequence are iteratively projected on a projection map to determine patches wherein location of a point is determined according to depth information, coordinates of the pixel, and patch data wherein each patch comprises data corresponding to a space delimited by two portions of concentric spheres centered on the point of view and is characterized by an angular range and a depth range, i.e., third information items being the angular range and depth range is data corresponding to each point of view).
However, Fleureau does not explicitly teach "(ii) a number of the plurality of predetermined orientations, and (iii) a predetermined sequence order of the plurality of predetermined orientations; and each of the plurality of third information items indicates whether the three-dimensional point cloud is visible from the corresponding predetermined orientation".
In an analogous field of endeavor, Wu teaches "(ii) a number of the plurality of predetermined orientations"; (Wu, Paras. 58 and 66, teaches capturing a number of views of teeth and surrounding structures wherein the views are a set of views V from V1 to Vk with each view at a different pose and wherein pose for a particular view includes characteristics such as view distance and camera angle, i.e., angle parameter includes a number of the plurality of predetermined orientations);
"and (iii) a predetermined sequence order of the plurality of predetermined orientations"; (Wu, Paras. 58, 66, and 73, teaches illuminating teeth through an optical path in an ordered sequence for each view wherein views are captured in a set and include camera angle characteristics and wherein it is evaluated if each view has been processed and repeating processing for each view, i.e., angle parameter includes a predetermined sequence order of the orientations).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Fleureau by including the angle parameter indicating a number of orientations and an order of the orientations taught by Wu. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the references since it improves feature visualization (Wu, Para. 5, teaches the motivation of combination to be to improve definition of edges and more clearly visualize features).
However, the combination of references of Fleureau in view of Wu does not explicitly teach "and each of the plurality of third information items indicates whether the three-dimensional point cloud is visible from the corresponding predetermined orientation".
In an analogous field of endeavor, Hoelscher teaches "and each of the plurality of third information items indicates whether the three-dimensional point cloud is visible from the corresponding predetermined orientation"; (Hoelscher, Fig. 1 [122 and 180] and Paras. 12 and 66, teaches the 3D point cloud data comprising a plurality of orientations of view of the image data having differing directions, i.e., first information item includes a plurality of orientations with respect to the 3D point cloud wherein the directions are different, and wherein the orientation is used to determine visibility of points of the 3D point cloud, i.e., information items indicate whether the 3D point cloud is visible from one of the orientations).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Fleureau and Wu wherein there is a plurality of third information items by including the information items indicating visibility of the 3D point cloud from orientations taught by Hoelscher. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the references since it increases alignment of objects (Hoelscher, Para. 9, teaches the motivation of combination to be to increase performance of 3D alignment on objects that are partially occluded).
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date.
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of references of Fleureau in view of Wu and Hoelscher teaches "A three-dimensional data decoding method comprising: decoding point cloud data of a three-dimensional point cloud; and obtaining, from the decoded point cloud data, visibility information indicating whether the three-dimensional point cloud is visible from a plurality of predetermined directions, the visibility information including a first information item and a second information item"; (Fleureau, Abstract and Paras. 50-51, teaches a sequence of point clouds is encoded as a video by an encoder and transmitted to a decoder which retrieves the sequence of point clouds wherein location of a point is determined according to the depth information stored in the pixel, coordinates of the pixel in the image patch, and the patch data and wherein the angle relative to the point of view and the distance between the point and the point of view are determined and the point is placed in the point cloud in which a point cloud may be seen as a vector based structure wherein a vector may be defined by three-dimensional coordinates and each vector is defined by radial coordinates representing a three-dimensional direction relative to a point of view and distance/depth between the point of view and the point in which the surface of the point cloud is used to determine visibility of points from a point of view, i.e., 3D decoding method wherein visibility information is generated to indicate if a 3D point cloud is visible from a plurality of directions or points of view in which the visibility information includes a first and second information item such as the angle and depth/distance);
"wherein the first information item is an angle parameter indicating (i) a plurality of predetermined orientations respectively corresponding to the plurality of predetermined directions"; (Fleureau, Paras. 50-51, teaches determining the angle relative to the point of view and the distance between the point and the point of view wherein the point cloud may be seen as a vector based structure with each point having a coordinate and wherein a vector is defined by radial coordinates which represent a three-dimensional direction relative to a point of view and the distance/depth between the point of view and the point, i.e., information item is an angle parameter that indicates a plurality of predetermined orientations that respectively correspond to a plurality of predetermined directions);
"(ii) a number of the plurality of predetermined orientations"; (Wu, Paras. 58 and 66, teaches capturing a number of views of teeth and surrounding structures wherein the views are a set of views V from V1 to Vk with each view at a different pose and wherein pose for a particular view includes characteristics such as view distance and camera angle, i.e., angle parameter includes a number of the plurality of predetermined orientations);
"and (iii) a predetermined sequence order of the plurality of predetermined orientations"; (Wu, Paras. 58, 66, and 73, teaches illuminating teeth through an optical path in an ordered sequence for each view wherein views are captured in a set and include camera angle characteristics and wherein it is evaluated if each view has been processed and repeating processing for each view, i.e., angle parameter includes a predetermined sequence order of the orientations);
"the second information item includes a plurality of third information items in the predetermined sequence order indicated by the angle parameter"; (Fleureau, Paras. 49-51 and 67, teaches points of a point cloud of the sequence are iteratively projected on a projection map to determine patches wherein location of a point is determined according to depth information, coordinates of the pixel, and patch data wherein each patch comprises data corresponding to a space delimited by two portions of concentric spheres centered on the point of view and is characterized by an angular range and a depth range and wherein the point cloud is a vector based structure in which the vectors are defined by radial coordinates which represent a 3D direction relative to a point of view and the distance/depth between the point of view and the point, i.e., second information item being patch data includes a plurality of third information items in the iterative sequence of points in the point cloud being the angular range and depth range indicated by the angle parameter which is relative to the point of view and the distance between the point and point of view);
"a number of the plurality of third information items being the same as the number of the of the plurality of predetermined orientations indicated by the angle parameter"; (Fleureau, Paras. 49-51 and 67, teaches points of a point cloud of the sequence are iteratively projected on a projection map to determine patches wherein location of a point is determined according to depth information, coordinates of the pixel, and patch data wherein each patch comprises data corresponding to a space delimited by two portions of concentric spheres centered on the point of view and is characterized by an angular range and a depth range, i.e., a number of the third information items being the same as the number of orientations being the angular range and depth range is data corresponding to each point of view);
"the plurality of third information items respectively corresponding to the plurality of predetermined orientations"; (Fleureau, Paras. 49-51 and 67, teaches points of a point cloud of the sequence are iteratively projected on a projection map to determine patches wherein location of a point is determined according to depth information, coordinates of the pixel, and patch data wherein each patch comprises data corresponding to a space delimited by two portions of concentric spheres centered on the point of view and is characterized by an angular range and a depth range, i.e., third information items being the angular range and depth range is data corresponding to each point of view);
"and each of the plurality of third information items indicates whether the three-dimensional point cloud is visible from the corresponding predetermined orientation"; (Hoelscher, Fig. 1 [122 and 180] and Paras. 12 and 66, teaches the 3D point cloud data comprising a plurality of orientations of view of the image data having differing directions, i.e., first information item includes a plurality of orientations with respect to the 3D point cloud wherein the directions are different, and wherein the orientation is used to determine visibility of points of the 3D point cloud, i.e., information items indicate whether the 3D point cloud is visible from one of the orientations).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Fleureau, Wu, and Hoelscher references presented in the rejection of Claim 1, applies to claim 5. Thus, the method recited in claim 5 is met by Fleureau in view of Wu and Hoelscher.
Claim 9 recites a device with elements corresponding to the steps recited in Claim 1. Therefore, the recited elements of this claim are mapped to the proposed combination in the same manner as the corresponding steps in its corresponding method claim. Additionally, the rationale and motivation to combine the Fleureau, Wu, and Hoelscher references, presented in rejection of Claim 1, apply to this claim. Finally, the combination of the Fleureau, Wu, and Hoelscher references discloses a device comprising a processor and a memory, … (for example, see Fleureau, Paragraph 19).
Claim 10 recites a device with elements corresponding to the steps recited in Claim 5. Therefore, the recited elements of this claim are mapped to the proposed combination in the same manner as the corresponding steps in its corresponding method claim. Additionally, the rationale and motivation to combine the Fleureau, Wu, and Hoelscher references, presented in rejection of Claim 1, apply to this claim. Finally, the combination of the Fleureau, Wu, and Hoelscher references discloses a device comprising a processor and a memory, … (for example, see Fleureau, Paragraph 19).
Claims 2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fleureau in view of Wu, Hoelscher, and Kaza et al. (US 20190172249 A1).
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of references of Fleureau in view of Wu and Hoelscher does not explicitly teach "The three-dimensional data encoding method according to claim 1, wherein the angle parameter indicates an angle formed by a three-dimensional point within a space in which the three-dimensional point cloud is included and adjacent directions among the plurality of directions toward the three-dimensional point within the space".
In an analogous field of endeavor, Kaza teaches "The three-dimensional data encoding method according to claim 1, wherein the angle parameter indicates an angle formed by a three-dimensional point within a space in which the three-dimensional point cloud is included and adjacent directions among the plurality of directions toward the three-dimensional point within the space"; (Kaza, Fig. 2, Abstract, and Para. 4, teach the first information item including an estimation of an angle of visibility for each point of the point cloud wherein a plurality of adjacent directions for the point exists within the space).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Fleureau, Wu, and Hoelscher by including the indication of an angle formed by a 3D point in the point cloud with adjacent directions among the directions toward the 3D point in space taught by Kaza. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the references since it prevents unwanted regions growing near edges (Kaza, Para. 4, teaches the motivation of combination to be perform edge culling operations which prevent unwanted regions growing near edges).
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date.
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of references of Fleureau in view of Wu, Hoelscher, and Kaza teaches "The three-dimensional data decoding method according to claim 5, wherein the angel information indicates an angle formed by a three-dimensional point within a space in which the three-dimensional point cloud is included and adjacent directions among the plurality of directions toward the three-dimensional point within the space"; (Kaza, Fig. 2, Abstract, and Para. 4, teach the first information item including an estimation of an angle of visibility for each point of the point cloud wherein a plurality of adjacent directions for the point exists within the space).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Fleureau, Wu, Hoelscher, and Kaza references presented in the rejection of Claim 2, applies to claim 6. Thus, the method recited in claim 6 is met by Fleureau in view of Wu, Hoelscher, and Kaza.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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 ANDREW STEVEN BUDISALICH whose telephone number is (703)756-5568. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30am-5:00pm EST.
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, Amandeep Saini can be reached on (571) 272-3382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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.
/ANDREW S BUDISALICH/Examiner, Art Unit 2662
/AMANDEEP SAINI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2662