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 October 5, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 1,
(1) applicant states that “Xie does not disclose "determining whether plant disease exists in the plurality of plants based on the multispectral aerial images and the one or more template images"”. Examiner disagrees with this statement. Xie teaches determining whether plant disease exists in the plurality of plants based on the multispectral aerial images (Preferably, the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying multi-spectral camera shooting litchi canopy blade remote sensing image. Page 4 6th paragraph) and the one or more template images (obtaining the litchi crown layer blade remote sensing image, comprising a healthy blade and different plant diseases and insect pests blade; extracting the characteristic of the litchi crown layer blade remote sensing image, calculating the vegetation index and texture characteristic corresponding to the remote sensing image of the litchi canopy blade, obtaining the optimum of the CNN structure based on the whale optimization algorithm; taking the CNN optimum parameter as CNN model parameter, and inputting the vegetation index and texture feature into the CNN model optimum the CNN structure parameter, after training, judging whether the litchi leaves disease and suffering type. Abstract). Xie utilizes a machine learning model to determine whether plant disease exists, based on the multispectral aerial images and the one or more template images. The claim language does not exclude using a machine learning model in making the determination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 9-13 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xie (Chinese Patent Pub. No.: CN 115731464 A).
Regarding claim 1, Xie teaches an apparatus for detecting plant disease in an area, the apparatus comprising: a memory storing instructions (The claimed memory is considered inherent in the computer system disclosed by Xie because it is a necessary component in conventional computer systems.); and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform operations (The claimed processor is considered inherent in the computer system disclosed by Xie because it is a necessary component in conventional computer systems.) comprising: obtaining a plurality of multispectral aerial images corresponding to a plurality of plants (Preferably, the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying multi-spectral camera shooting litchi canopy blade remote sensing image. Page 4 6th paragraph); obtaining one or more template images of one or more sample plants (obtaining the litchi crown layer blade remote sensing image, comprising a healthy blade and different plant diseases and insect pests blade. Abstract); and determining whether plant disease exists in the plurality of plants based on the multispectral aerial images (Preferably, the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying multi-spectral camera shooting litchi canopy blade remote sensing image. Page 4 6th paragraph) and the one or more template images (obtaining the litchi crown layer blade remote sensing image, comprising a healthy blade and different plant diseases and insect pests blade; extracting the characteristic of the litchi crown layer blade remote sensing image, calculating the vegetation index and texture characteristic corresponding to the remote sensing image of the litchi canopy blade, obtaining the optimum of the CNN structure based on the whale optimization algorithm; taking the CNN optimum parameter as CNN model parameter, and inputting the vegetation index and texture feature into the CNN model optimum the CNN structure parameter, after training, judging whether the litchi leaves disease and suffering type. Abstract).
Claims 2-4, 9, 10-13, 18 and 19-20, unamended and are rejected based on Xie. The grounds of rejection established in the last Office Action is fully incorporated herein.
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 5, 8, 14 and 17, unamended and are rejected based on the combination of Xie (Chinese Patent Pub. No.: CN 115731464 A), hereinafter Xie, in view of Cui (Image processing methods for quantitatively detecting soybean rust from multispectral images, Biosystems Engineering, Volume 107, Issue 3, November 2010, Pages 186-193), hereinafter Cui. The ground of rejection established in the last Office Action is fully incorporated herein.
Claims 6 and 15 , unamended and are rejected based on the combination of Xie (Chinese Patent Pub. No.: CN 115731464 A), hereinafter Xie, in view of Cui (Image processing methods for quantitatively detecting soybean rust from multispectral images, Biosystems Engineering, Volume 107, Issue 3, November 2010, Pages 186-193), hereinafter Cui, further in view of Honkavaara (USING MULTITEMPORAL HYPER- AND MULTISPECTRAL UAV IMAGING FOR DETECTING BARK BEETLE INFESTATION ON NORWAY SPRUCE, The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLIII-B3-2020, 2020), hereinafter Honkavaara. The ground of rejection established in the last Office Action is fully incorporated herein.
Claims 7 and 16, unamended and are rejected based on the combination of Xie (Chinese Patent Pub. No.: CN 115731464 A), hereinafter Xie, in view of Cui (Image processing methods for quantitatively detecting soybean rust from multispectral images, Biosystems Engineering, Volume 107, Issue 3, November 2010, Pages 186-193), hereinafter Cui, further in view of Honkavaara (USING MULTITEMPORAL HYPER- AND MULTISPECTRAL UAV IMAGING FOR DETECTING BARK BEETLE INFESTATION ON NORWAY SPRUCE, The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLIII-B3-2020, 2020), hereinafter Honkavaara, further in view of Husin (Application of Ground-Based LiDAR for Analysing Oil Palm Canopy Properties on the Occurrence of Basal Stem Rot (BSR) Disease, Scientific Reports (2020) 10:6464), hereinafter Husin. The ground of rejection established in the last Office Action is fully incorporated herein.
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 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