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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11-25-2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to applicant’s argument that the prior art of Pincus does not provide the phase elimination, the examiner respectfully disagrees. As noted in the applicant’s specification, ¶27, the phase elimination is to fix the height variability of the returns.
Pincus, section 1, ¶5, speaks to the use of SAR tomography to produce an image “that is 3D in the sense that it is steered to one height, with scattering contributions from other heights suppressed”. The suppression of the other heights in the tomography is through elimination of the offset phases as determined by the phase centers of each one as seen in Fig. 1. So while Pincus fails to use the terminology “phase elimination”, the examiner submits that it is what is being done to match heights as described by Pincus and the applicant.
Examiner’s Note: For applicant’s benefit portions of the cited reference(s) have been cited to aid in the review of the rejection(s). While every attempt has been made to be thorough and consistent within the rejection it is noted that the PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS. See MPEP 2141.02 VI.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pincus, et. al., “3D SAR coherent change detection for monitoring the ground under a forest canopy”, STIC, 2019.
As per claims 1, 6 and 11, Pincus discloses a change detection device comprising:
a memory storing software instructions, and one or more processors configured to execute the software instructions to three-dimensional structure reconstruction means for reconstructing reconstruct a three-dimensional structure of a predetermined area in an observed area (Pincus, section 1, ¶5);
phase elimination means for eliminating eliminate phase signals in the predetermined area in multiple SAR images in which the observed area is taken, using the three-dimensional structure (Pincus, section 2, ¶1);
and change detection to generate a coherence image from a SAR image pair from which the phase signals are eliminated and detecting change in the observed area based on coherence values of pixels constituting the coherence image (Pincus, section 9 and description of Fig. 19).
As per claims 2, 7 and 12, Pincus further discloses the change detection device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the software instructions to estimate three-dimensional point cloud data including intensity and phase information using SAR tomography, as the three- dimensional structure (Pincus, section 1, ¶5).
As per claims 3 and 8, Pincus further discloses the change detection device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the software instructions to
As per claims 4 and 9, Pincus further discloses the device according to claim 1 wherein he one or more processors configured to execute the software instructions to eliminate the phase signal of the pixel whose intensity is greater than a predetermined intensity value in the SAR image (Pincus, section 2, ¶4 and Fig. 3).
As per claims 5 and 10, Pincus further discloses the device according to claim 1 wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the software instructions to estimate three-dimensional point cloud data including intensity and phase information using data including three- dimensional information (Pincus, section 1, ¶5-7 using phase and intensity).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is provided on form PTO-892.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS E WINDRICH whose telephone number is (571)272-6417. The examiner can normally be reached M-F ~7-3:30.
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, Jack Keith can be reached at 5712726878. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARCUS E WINDRICH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
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