DETAILED ACTION
In view of the Appeal Brief filed on 04/19/2026, PROSECUTION IS HEREBY REOPENED. New grounds of rejection is set forth below.
To avoid abandonment of the application, appellant must exercise one of the following two options:
(1) file a reply under 37 CFR 1.111 (if this Office action is non-final) or a reply under 37 CFR 1.113 (if this Office action is final); or,
(2) initiate a new appeal by filing a notice of appeal under 37 CFR 41.31 followed by an appeal brief under 37 CFR 41.37. The previously paid notice of appeal fee and appeal brief fee can be applied to the new appeal. If, however, the appeal fees set forth in 37 CFR 41.20 have been increased since they were previously paid, then appellant must pay the difference between the increased fees and the amount previously paid.
A Supervisory Patent Examiner (SPE) has approved of reopening prosecution by signing below:
/ARLEEN M VAZQUEZ/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2857
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered. Specifically, the reference on Pixar studios and Apple’s USD and article from Plymouth should have been listed in IDS. The Examiner also requests the copy of the article from Plymouth as the Examiner could not find it.
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.
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 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Efland et al., US-PGPUB 2020/0309557 (hereinafter Efland) in views of Shah et al., US-PG-PGPUB 2017/0193434 (hereinafter Shah), Maus, US-PGPUB 2014/0247246 (hereinafter Maus), Blodow et al., US-PGPUB 2022/0392151 (hereinafter Blodow) and Tuukkanen, US-PGPUB 2018/0224291 (hereinafter Tuukkanen) and Applicant Admitted Prior Art (hereinafter AAPA).
Regarding Claims 1, 10 and 15. Effland discloses LiDAR enabled wayfinding system (Abstract), comprising:
a hand-held LIDAR equipped mapper mobile phone device (Paragraph [0059], [0065], smartphone), including a mapper processor, a mapper LiDAR module coupled to the processor, and a mapper memory coupled to the mapper processor the mapper mobile phone case provided with a mapper touchscreen on a front side (Paragraph [0065], touchscreen; Fig. 5A, Paragraph [0052], travel assist module, 502a; Paragraph [0031]; [0043]; [0048], lidar data associated with user, and provided by the mobile device carried by the user; [0050]), the mapper memory including code segments executable on the mapper mobile phone device in the form of a mapper app (Figs. 7-8; Paragraph [0048], lidar system provided associated with mobile device; Paragraph [0050]; Paragraph [0065], application installed on user’s device) to LIDAR-scan a region within a building to create a building 3D model comprising Universal Scene Description (USD) (Paragraphs [0043]-[0044], Paragraph [0050], point clouds including a collection of data points in space that provide 3D representation of environment or USD, which includes indoor environments as disclosed in Paragraph [0033]),
a management server, the management server including a management processor and a management memory coupled to the management processor, the management memory including code segments executable on the management processor (Fig. 7, 760, transportation management system, Paragraph [0062], transportation management server including servers) a management server receptive to the building USD previously developed by the mapper mobile phone (Paragraphs [0043]-[0044], preview utilizing 3-D graphical views, rendered on remote server),
and hand-held a LiDAR equipped user mobile phone device including a user processor, a user LiDAR module coupled to the user processor, and a user memory coupled to the user processor, the user mobile phone case provided with a user touchscreen on a front side (Paragraph [0065], touchscreen; Fig. 5A, Paragraph [0052], travel assist module, 502a; Paragraph [0031]; [0043]; [0048], lidar data associated with user, and provided by the mobile device carried by the user; [0050]), the user memory including code segments executable on the user mobile phone device in the form of a user app (Figs. 7-8, with plurality of users, different user mobile device, other than a LIDAR equipped mapper mobile device cited above; Paragraph [0065], user device with processor, memory; Paragraph [0048], lidar system provided associated with mobile device carried by a traveler) to LIDAR-scan a user location within the building and to develop a location 3D model, (Paragraph [0048], lidar data associated with traveler to determine position within his or her environment; Paragraph [0033], where the environment includes building; Paragraph [0043] usage of LIDAR and camera, Paragraph [0050], point clouds including a collection of data points in space that provide 3D representation of environment; Fig. 5C; Paragraph [0054]), and to provide directions for the user on the user touchscreen to navigate from the user location to a desired destination within the building (Paragraphs [0023]; [0028]);
Effland further discloses waypoint (Paragraphs [0037]; [0046]), and comparing features in image data with features for known objects in the scene and in map data, and determine position of the user within map data (Paragraph [0049]), and comparing 3-D representations with known layouts of the environment corresponding to the representations in the map data to determine position of a user riding a vehicle (Paragraph [0050]).
Effland does not explicitly disclose a mapper mobile phone and user mobile phone cases at least partially enclosing a mapper processor, and the mapper LiDAR module on a backside. Effland further does not disclose a building model comprising a building Universal Scene Description(USD), a user location USD, and a server operative to maintain a building bundle file including a plurality of waypoints associated with a corresponding plurality of waypoint fingerprints, and a user location fingerprint created by the hashing process that is compared to the plurality of waypoint fingerprints of the building bundle file previously developed by the management server to identify a waypoint proximate to the user location.
Maus discloses a touchscreen smartphone on the front side with phone case (Paragraph [0109], Figs. 1-2, 4, 7-8, 21; Fig. 13, 240; Abstract; Paragraph [0023], mapping) with mapping application (Paragraph [0161], mapping application; Paragraph [0190], Fig. 61)
Blodow discloses a touchscreen mobile phone (Paragraph [0089], touchscreen) with rear-facing LiDAR (Paragraph [0064]; Fig. 16)
Shah discloses a LIDAR equipped mapper mobile phone device in the form of a mapper app (Paragraph [0124], smartphone, integrated with application) adapted to LIDAR-scan within a building, and a LiDAR equipped user mobile device adapted to LIDAR-scan a robotic system location within the building to 3D (Fig. 4, robotic system; Paragraph [0017], robotic system with Lidar scanning system, transforming the Lidar data into 2D or 3D maps), a server operative to maintain a building bundle file including a plurality of waypoints associated with a corresponding plurality of waypoint fingerprints (Fig. 5; Paragraph [0017], waypoints and master map from a remote computer, eg., a server; Paragraphs [0021]; [0024]), and a Lidar equipped robotic mobile device adapted to Lidar-scan a robotic location within the building and to develop a robotic a robotic location fingerprint that is compared to the plurality of waypoint fingerprints to identify a waypoint proximate to the robotic location, and navigate to a position within the store (Paragraphs [0026]-[0027], comparing to the master map, previously generated, Paragraphs [0017], [0060])
Tuukkanen discloses navigation, including creating the waypoint using the hash function (Paragraphs [0054]-[0057]).
AAPA discloses creating USD and using hash functions to uniquely identify digital objects (Paragraphs [00034]-[00039] in the Applicant’s Specification, “USD is a framework developed by Pixar Studios first published in 2016”, “hash function” and “University of Plymouth article,”)
Although Shah discloses the location of the robotic system (instead of a user location) using the Lidar and waypoints, it would have been obvious to incorporate the teachings of Shah in Effland to determine the location of a user, since it merely involves substituting one object of interest with another. Additionally, Shah discloses comparing to the master map previously generated and stored in the server. Furthermore, usage of touchscreen with Lidar and mapping application is common. As such, at the time of the invention filed, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use the teachings of Maus, Blodow, Tuukkanen, AAPA and Shah in Effland and have a mapper mobile phone and user mobile phone cases at least partially enclosing a mapper processor, and the mapper LiDAR module on a backside, create a building 3D model comprising a USD and user location USD, and further have a server operative to maintain a building bundle file including a plurality of waypoints associated with a corresponding plurality of waypoint fingerprints, and a user location fingerprint created by the hashing process that is compared to the plurality of waypoint fingerprints of the building bundle file previously developed by the management server to accurately identify a waypoint proximate to the user location, and thereby enhance user navigation.
Regarding Claim 2. Shah discloses a manager station coupled to the management server to manage the building bundle (Paragraph [0017], waypoints and master map from a remote computer; Paragraphs [0021]; [0024]).
Regarding Claim 3. Shah discloses a building bundle file further includes a plurality segments connecting the plurality of waypoints (Paragraph [0017], waypoints and master map from a remote computer; Paragraphs [0029]-[0034], ranking waypoints)
Regarding Claim 4. Shah discloses the building bundle file further includes a plurality of routes including at least some of the | plurality of waypoints and the plurality of segments (Paragraph [0017]; Fig. 5)
Regarding Claim 5. Shah discloses the building bundle file further includes one or more points of interest (POI) Paragraph [0017]; Fig. 5; Paragraph [0010])
Regarding Claim 6. Efland discloses the building includes a plurality of rooms, and wherein the LIDAR equipped mapper mobile phone device is adapted to sequentially LiDAR-scan the plurality of rooms to at least partially create the building USD (Paragraphs [0032]-[0033], any points of interest, indoor and outdoor, including buildings, bathrooms)
Regarding Claim 7. Shah discloses the LIDAR equipped mapper mobile device includes at least one location sensor selected from the group: consisting essentially of a compass, an altimeter, a BLE Bluetooth receiver, a WiFi receiver, and a GPS device (Paragraph [0017])
Regarding Claim 9. Shah discloses performing a ranked correlation between the location fingerprint and the plurality of waypoint region fingerprints to develop a ranked list of waypoints that are proximate to the user (Paragraphs [0029]-[0034]; Fig. 5; [0065]). Note that while Shah uses robot, it would have been obvious to rank waypoints with respect to a user, since it merely involves substituting one object of interest with another, namely that of a robot with a user.
Regarding Claims 11 and 16. Efland discloses environment of the user in a plurality of directions and orientations (Paragraphs [0012]; [0038]; [0045])
Regarding Claims 12 and 17. Shah discloses LiDAR-scanning a plurality of regions within a building with a hand-held LiDAR equipped mapper mobile phone device using a mapper app, and creating a building USD from the LIDAR-scanning within the building, and developing a building bundle file including a plurality of waypoints within the building and a plurality of segments connecting the plurality of waypoints (Paragraph [0017], Lidar data into 2D or 3D maps; Paragraph [0017], waypoints and master map from a remote computer; Paragraphs [0021]; [0024]; Paragraph [0026])
Regarding Claims 13 and 18. Shah discloses the building USD includes at least one location parameter selected from the group consisting | essentially of a compass direction, an altitude, a beacon identifier and a GPS location (Paragraph [0017], gps)
Regarding Claims 14 and 19. Shah discloses performing a ranked correlation between the location fingerprint and the plurality of waypoint region fingerprints to develop a ranked list of waypoints that | are proximate to the user (Paragraphs [0029]-[0034])
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HYUN D PARK whose telephone number is (571)270-7922. The examiner can normally be reached 11-4.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arleen Vazquez can be reached at 571-272-2619. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HYUN D PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
Prosecution Insights