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 .
Status of claims:
Claims 1-20 are pending
Claims 1 and 13 are amended
Claims 2 and 14 are canceled
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.
Claim(s) 1, 11, 13, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US20190073825) and Qian et al. (CN 112862974).
Regarding claim 1.
Lee teaches:
An image processing method comprising:
obtaining three-dimensional (3D) scan data by scanning an object including a hole (Lee [0006] A 3D sensor coupled to a computing device captures one or more 3D scans of a physical object, including related pose information of the physical object, and one or more HD images corresponding to each 3D scan.);
obtaining data corresponding to the hole region, based on the scan data (Lee [0025] As shown in FIG. 2, the module 106 detects (204) missing geometry sections (e.g., holes) in the 3D point cloud, and uses the captured HD images and pose information to segment out (206) the missing geometry sections to the HD images.);
and displaying a final model representing a filled shape of the hole, based on the scan data and the data corresponding to the hole region (Lee [0025] Once the module 106 is finished, the module 106 generates (218) a final 3D model with the holes from the initial 3D model filled in—resulting in a more robust and accurate 3D model).
Lee fails to teach:
wherein the 3D scan data includes data obtained by scanning an inner region of the hole (Qian [Abstract] The invention claims a tooth surface model generating and thickness measuring method based on oral scanning point cloud, comprising the following steps: 1) the surgical dentition scanning model of the patient oral cavity,);
deleting data for the inner region of the hole from the scan data (Qian [Abstract] filling the hole of the reconstructed model surface;);
from which the data for inner region of the hole has been deleted with (Qian [Abstract] reconstructing the increment part of the tooth; filling the hole of the reconstructed model surface; obtaining the veneering three-dimensional model with smooth surface;)
Qian teaches:
wherein the 3D scan data includes data obtained by scanning an inner region of the hole (re1 [Abstract] The invention claims a tooth surface model generating and thickness measuring method based on oral scanning point cloud, comprising the following steps: 1) the surgical dentition scanning model of the patient oral cavity,);
deleting data for the inner region of the hole from the scan data (Qian [Abstract] filling the hole of the reconstructed model surface;);
from which the data for inner region of the hole has been deleted with (Qian [Abstract] reconstructing the increment part of the tooth; filling the hole of the reconstructed model surface; obtaining the veneering three-dimensional model with smooth surface;)
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee with Qian. Filling a hole data and making a reconstructed model without the hole, as in Qian, would benefit the Lee teachings by allowing for removing the data that is not beneficial. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, filling a hole data and making a reconstructed model without the hole, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 11.
Lee and Qian teach:
The image processing method of claim 1,
wherein the displaying of the final model comprises displaying a hole-filled region to be distinguished from the other region (Lee [0006] The computing device merges the initial 3D model and the generated 3D point cloud structures to generate a final 3D model with the one or more missing sections filled in.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee with Qian. Filling a hole data and making a reconstructed model without the hole, as in Qian, would benefit the Lee teachings by allowing for removing the data that is not beneficial. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, filling a hole data and making a reconstructed model without the hole, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 13.
Lee teaches:
An image processing apparatus comprising: a display (Lee [0043] To provide for interaction with a user, the above described techniques can be implemented on a computer in communication with a display device, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube), plasma, or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device, e.g., a mouse, a trackball, a touchpad, or a motion sensor, by which the user can provide input to the computer (e.g., interact with a user interface element).);
a memory storing one or more instructions (Lee [0042] Generally, a processor receives instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both.);
and a processor (Lee [0042] Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, by way of example, special purpose microprocessors.),
wherein the processor is configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory to: obtain three-dimensional (3D) scan data by scanning an object including a hole (Lee [0006] A 3D sensor coupled to a computing device captures one or more 3D scans of a physical object, including related pose information of the physical object, and one or more HD images corresponding to each 3D scan.);
obtain data corresponding to the hole region, based on the scan data (Lee [0025] As shown in FIG. 2, the module 106 detects (204) missing geometry sections (e.g., holes) in the 3D point cloud, and uses the captured HD images and pose information to segment out (206) the missing geometry sections to the HD images.);
and control the display to display a final model representing a filled shape of the hole, based on the scan data and the data corresponding to the hole region (Lee [0025] Once the module 106 is finished, the module 106 generates (218) a final 3D model with the holes from the initial 3D model filled in—resulting in a more robust and accurate 3D model).
Lee fails to teach:
wherein the 3D scan data includes data obtained by scanning an inner region of the hole (re1 [Abstract] The invention claims a tooth surface model generating and thickness measuring method based on oral scanning point cloud, comprising the following steps: 1) the surgical dentition scanning model of the patient oral cavity,);
deleting data for the inner region of the hole from the scan data (Qian [Abstract] filling the hole of the reconstructed model surface;);
from which the data for inner region of the hole has been deleted with (Qian [Abstract] reconstructing the increment part of the tooth; filling the hole of the reconstructed model surface; obtaining the veneering three-dimensional model with smooth surface;)
Qian teaches:
wherein the 3D scan data includes data obtained by scanning an inner region of the hole (re1 [Abstract] The invention claims a tooth surface model generating and thickness measuring method based on oral scanning point cloud, comprising the following steps: 1) the surgical dentition scanning model of the patient oral cavity,);
deleting data for the inner region of the hole from the scan data (Qian [Abstract] filling the hole of the reconstructed model surface;);
from which the data for inner region of the hole has been deleted with (Qian [Abstract] reconstructing the increment part of the tooth; filling the hole of the reconstructed model surface; obtaining the veneering three-dimensional model with smooth surface;)
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee with Qian. Filling a hole data and making a reconstructed model without the hole, as in Qian, would benefit the Lee teachings by allowing for removing the data that is not beneficial. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, filling a hole data and making a reconstructed model without the hole, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 20.
Lee and Qian teach:
The image processing apparatus of claim 13,
wherein the processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory to control the display to display the hole-filled region to be distinguished from the other region (Lee [0006] The computing device merges the initial 3D model and the generated 3D point cloud structures to generate a final 3D model with the one or more missing sections filled in.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee with Qian. Filling a hole data and making a reconstructed model without the hole, as in Qian, would benefit the Lee teachings by allowing for removing the data that is not beneficial. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, filling a hole data and making a reconstructed model without the hole, to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20190073825) in view of Qian et al. (CN 112862974) and Taubin et al. (US20190043254).
Regarding claim 3.
Lee and Qian teaches:
The image processing method of claim 1,
wherein the obtaining of the data corresponding to the hole region, based on the scan data, comprises: obtaining a 3D model surrounding the scan data (Lee [0003] 3D scanners (e.g., RGB+depth sensors) are used increasingly to generate digital 3D models of objects for animation, virtual reality, and e-commerce applications. In one example, computing devices track the pose of the RBG+depth sensor and then combine multiple point clouds derived from the depth map to generate the 3D model.);
Lee and Qian fails to teach:
obtaining mesh data corresponding to a surface of the object, based on the 3D model and the scan data (Taubin [0054] Even though large areas of missing data points and holes are filled because the output mesh is watertight (except for its intersection with boundaries of the bounding box), the algorithm not always fills holes in an intuitive manner, as can be observed in the figures.);
and obtaining the data corresponding to the hole region from the mesh data (Taubin [0009] In particular, the invention provides sampling a boundary surface of the object to obtain a data set.).
Taubin teaches:
obtaining mesh data corresponding to a surface of the object, based on the 3D model and the scan data (Taubin [0054] Even though large areas of missing data points and holes are filled because the output mesh is watertight (except for its intersection with boundaries of the bounding box), the algorithm not always fills holes in an intuitive manner, as can be observed in the figures.);
and obtaining the data corresponding to the hole region from the mesh data (Taubin [0009] In particular, the invention provides sampling a boundary surface of the object to obtain a data set.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee and Qian with Taubin. Using mesh data, as in Taubin, would benefit the Lee and Qian teachings by allowing for mesh data to represent the hole. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, having mesh data for a hole, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 4.
Lee, Qian, and Taubin teach:
The image processing method of claim 3,
wherein the 3D model includes a 3D convex hull for the scan data (Taubin [0034] Referring to FIG. 1, the results of the method for reconstructing a surface of the object are illustrated, herein explained further: A: A 2D oriented point cloud; B: A supporting linear half space for one of the oriented points; C: The oriented convex hull (OCH) of the point cloud;).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee and Qian with Taubin. Using mesh data, as in Taubin, would benefit the Lee and Qian teachings by allowing for mesh data to represent the hole. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, having mesh data for a hole, to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20190073825) in view of Qian et al. (CN 112862974), Taubin et al. (US20190043254) and Szabo et al. (WO 2020119842).
Regarding claim 5.
Lee, Qian, and Taubin teach:
The image processing method of claim 3,
wherein the obtaining of the mesh data corresponding to the surface of the object, based on the 3D model and the scan data, comprises: obtaining first mesh data, based on the 3D model (Taubin [0003] The invention further comprises approximating the zero level set of the non-convex hull signed distance function by a polygonal mesh using an isosurface algorithm to provide surface reconstruction of an object.) ;
Lee, Qian, and Taubin fail to teach:
and obtaining second mesh data, based on the first mesh data and the scan data, wherein a density of second meshes included in the second mesh data is greater than a density of first meshes included in the first mesh data (Szabo [Pg 5 Par 2] a transformation module for transforming the control polygon model into a first refined polygon model with a second density of the polygon mesh, wherein the second density is higher than the first density and for transforming the control polygon model into a second refined polygon model with a third density of the mesh, the third density being equal to or higher than the second density; g) an image output module for outputting image data of an overlay of the model with the one or more images of the head of the person, based on the first refined polygon model;).
Szabo teaches:
and obtaining second mesh data, based on the first mesh data and the scan data, wherein a density of second meshes included in the second mesh data is greater than a density of first meshes included in the first mesh data (Szabo [Pg 5 Par 2] a transformation module for transforming the control polygon model into a first refined polygon model with a second density of the polygon mesh, wherein the second density is higher than the first density and for transforming the control polygon model into a second refined polygon model with a third density of the mesh, the third density being equal to or higher than the second density; g) an image output module for outputting image data of an overlay of the model with the one or more images of the head of the person, based on the first refined polygon model;).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, and Taubin with Szabo. Comparing density, as in Szabo, would benefit the Lee, Qian, and Taubin teachings by allowing for a way to compare the different mesh data. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, comparing density data, to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20190073825) in view of Qian et al. (CN 112862974), Taubin et al. (US20190043254), Szabo et al. (WO 2020119842), Kim et al (KR 20150020953), and Shayani et al. (US20200051333).
Regarding claim 6.
Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo teach:
The image processing method of claim 5,
wherein the obtaining of the second mesh data, based on the first mesh data and the scan data, comprises: projecting the first meshes included in the first mesh data on third meshes included in the scan data (Szabo [Pg 5 Par 2] a transformation module for transforming the control polygon model into a first refined polygon model with a second density of the polygon mesh, wherein the second density is higher than the first density and for transforming the control polygon model into a second refined polygon model with a third density of the mesh, the third density being equal to or higher than the second density; g) an image output module for outputting image data of an overlay of the model with the one or more images of the head of the person, based on the first refined polygon model;);
Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo fail to teach:
subdividing the projected meshes (Kim [PG 7 Par 4] (S351) may be performed to generate a first divided image in which the color image projected from the mesh is divided into at least one or more regions. In other words, one divided area may contain only one vertex or virtual vertex, or may not contain either a correction or a virtual vertex.);
and generating the second meshes by shrinking the subdivided meshes (Shayani [0029] For instance, in some embodiments, the skeleton extraction engine 120 shrinks the input triangle mesh 106 to generate a shrunken mesh.).
Kim teaches:
subdividing the projected meshes (Kim [PG 7 Par 4] (S351) may be performed to generate a first divided image in which the color image projected from the mesh is divided into at least one or more regions. In other words, one divided area may contain only one vertex or virtual vertex, or may not contain either a correction or a virtual vertex.);
Shayani teaches:
and generating the second meshes by shrinking the subdivided meshes (Shayani [0029] For instance, in some embodiments, the skeleton extraction engine 120 shrinks the input triangle mesh 106 to generate a shrunken mesh.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo with Kim and Shayani. Subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, as in Kim and Shayani, would benefit the Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo teachings by allowing for mesh data to be divided. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 7.
Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo, Kim, and Shayani teach:
The image processing method of claim 6,
further comprising detecting an inner region of the hole from the scan data, wherein the projecting of the first meshes on the third meshes comprises projecting the first meshes on the third meshes, based on whether the first meshes correspond to the inner region of the hole (Kim [Pg 6 Par 9] Referring again to FIG. 13, a step S330 of detecting a hole area including at least one mesh including at least one discontinuity point among the projected meshes may be performed.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo with Kim and Shayani. Subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, as in Kim and Shayani, would benefit the Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo teachings by allowing for mesh data to be divided. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 8.
Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo, Kim, and Shayani teach:
The image processing method of claim 6,
wherein a difference between the density of the second meshes and a density of the third meshes included in the scan data is less than a preset value (Kim [Pg 4 Par 8] Therefore, the discontinuity can be determined by comparing the difference between the depth value of the first point and the depth value of the second point with the threshold value.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo with Kim and Shayani. Subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, as in Kim and Shayani, would benefit the Lee, Qian, Taubin, and Szabo teachings by allowing for mesh data to be divided. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 9, 10, 15 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20190073825) in view of Qian et al. (CN 112862974), Taubin et al. (US20190043254), and Takahashi et al. (US20180152578).
Regarding claim 9.
Lee, Qian, and Taubin teach:
The image processing method of claim 3,
Lee, Qian, and Taubin fail to teach:
wherein the obtaining of the data corresponding to the hole region from the mesh data comprises deleting mesh data overlapping the scan data from the mesh data (Takahashi [0005] Accurate detection of presence or absence of a hole in the document enables to easily delete an unnecessary part of the image data corresponding to the hole.).
Takahashi teaches:
wherein the obtaining of the data corresponding to the hole region from the mesh data comprises deleting mesh data overlapping the scan data from the mesh data (Takahashi [0005] Accurate detection of presence or absence of a hole in the document enables to easily delete an unnecessary part of the image data corresponding to the hole.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, and Taubin with Takahashi. Deleting the hole data, as in Takahashi, would benefit the Lee, Qian, and Taubin teachings by allowing for removing the data. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, deleting hole data, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 10.
Lee, Qian, and Taubin teach:
The image processing method of claim 3,
and displaying the final model obtained by synthesizing scan data from which the data for the inner region of the hole has been deleted with the data corresponding to the hole region (Lee [0025] Once the module 106 is finished, the module 106 generates (218) a final 3D model with the holes from the initial 3D model filled in—resulting in a more robust and accurate 3D model).
Lee, Qian, and Taubin fail to teach:
wherein the displaying of the final model comprises: detecting a boundary of a region where the mesh data and the scan data do not overlap, and deleting data for the inner region of the hole from the scan data, based on the boundary (Takahashi [0071] Next, on the basis of a result of the determination of pixels with document data and pixels without document data in the first image data, the data processing unit 9 recognizes a contour of the document (Step #23). In other words, the data processing unit 9 recognizes the boundary between pixels with document data and pixels without document data.);
Takahashi teaches:
wherein the displaying of the final model comprises: detecting a boundary of a region where the mesh data and the scan data do not overlap, and deleting data for the inner region of the hole from the scan data, based on the boundary (Takahashi [0071] Next, on the basis of a result of the determination of pixels with document data and pixels without document data in the first image data, the data processing unit 9 recognizes a contour of the document (Step #23). In other words, the data processing unit 9 recognizes the boundary between pixels with document data and pixels without document data.);
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, and Taubin with Takahashi. Deleting the hole data, as in Takahashi, would benefit the Lee, Qian, and Taubin teachings by allowing for removing the data. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, deleting hole data, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 15.
Lee and Qian teaches:
The image processing apparatus of claim 13,
wherein the processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory to: obtain a 3D model surrounding the scan data (Lee [0003] 3D scanners (e.g., RGB+depth sensors) are used increasingly to generate digital 3D models of objects for animation, virtual reality, and e-commerce applications. In one example, computing devices track the pose of the RBG+depth sensor and then combine multiple point clouds derived from the depth map to generate the 3D model.);
Lee and Qian fails to teach:
obtain mesh data corresponding to a surface of the object, based on the 3D model and the scan data (Taubin [0054] Even though large areas of missing data points and holes are filled because the output mesh is watertight (except for its intersection with boundaries of the bounding box), the algorithm not always fills holes in an intuitive manner, as can be observed in the figures.);
and obtain the data corresponding to the hole region by deleting mesh data overlapping the scan data from the mesh data (Takahashi [0005] Accurate detection of presence or absence of a hole in the document enables to easily delete an unnecessary part of the image data corresponding to the hole.).
Taubin teaches:
obtain mesh data corresponding to a surface of the object, based on the 3D model and the scan data (Taubin [0054] Even though large areas of missing data points and holes are filled because the output mesh is watertight (except for its intersection with boundaries of the bounding box), the algorithm not always fills holes in an intuitive manner, as can be observed in the figures.);
Takahashi teaches:
and obtain the data corresponding to the hole region by deleting mesh data overlapping the scan data from the mesh data (Takahashi [0005] Accurate detection of presence or absence of a hole in the document enables to easily delete an unnecessary part of the image data corresponding to the hole.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, and Taubin with Takahashi. Deleting the hole data, as in Takahashi, would benefit the Lee, Qian, and Taubin teachings by allowing for removing the data. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, deleting hole data, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 19.
Lee, Qian,and Taubin teach:
The image processing apparatus of claim 15,
and control the display to display the final model obtained by synthesizing scan data from which the data for the inner region of the hole has been deleted with the data corresponding to the hole region (Lee [0025] Once the module 106 is finished, the module 106 generates (218) a final 3D model with the holes from the initial 3D model filled in—resulting in a more robust and accurate 3D model).
Lee, Qian,and Taubin fail to teach:
wherein the processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory to: detect a boundary of a region where the mesh data and the scan data do not overlap, from the scan data, and delete data for the inner region of the hole from the scan data, based on the boundary (Takahashi [0071] Next, on the basis of a result of the determination of pixels with document data and pixels without document data in the first image data, the data processing unit 9 recognizes a contour of the document (Step #23). In other words, the data processing unit 9 recognizes the boundary between pixels with document data and pixels without document data.);
Takahashi teaches:
wherein the processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory to: detect a boundary of a region where the mesh data and the scan data do not overlap, from the scan data, and delete data for the inner region of the hole from the scan data, based on the boundary (Takahashi [0071] Next, on the basis of a result of the determination of pixels with document data and pixels without document data in the first image data, the data processing unit 9 recognizes a contour of the document (Step #23). In other words, the data processing unit 9 recognizes the boundary between pixels with document data and pixels without document data.);
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, and Taubin with Takahashi. Deleting the hole data, as in Takahashi, would benefit the Lee, Qian, and Taubin teachings by allowing for removing the data. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, deleting hole data, to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20190073825) in view of Qian et al. (CN 112862974) and Szabo et al. (WO 2020119842).
Regarding claim 12.
Lee and Qian teaches:
The image processing method of claim 1,
Lee and Qian fails to teach:
wherein the object includes an abutment including a screw hole (Szabo [Pg 12 Par 2] In addition, the geometric structures interacting with other elements (e.g. receiving openings, screw openings, etc.) often have to have a precisely predetermined geometry, so that an adaptation of these elements as part of the preceding adaptation process makes little sense anyway.).
Szabo teaches:
wherein the object includes an abutment including a screw hole (Szabo [Pg 12 Par 2] In addition, the geometric structures interacting with other elements (e.g. receiving openings, screw openings, etc.) often have to have a precisely predetermined geometry, so that an adaptation of these elements as part of the preceding adaptation process makes little sense anyway.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, and Taubin with Takahashi. Deleting the hole data, as in Takahashi, would benefit the Lee, Qian, and Taubin teachings by allowing for removing the data. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, deleting hole data, to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20190073825) in view of Qian et al. (CN 112862974), Takahashi et al. (US20180152578), Taubin et al. (US20190043254), and Szabo et al. (WO 2020119842).
Regarding claim 16.
Lee, Qian, Takahashi, and Taubin teach:
The image processing apparatus of claim 15,
wherein the processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory to: obtain first mesh data, based on the 3D model (Taubin [0003] The invention further comprises approximating the zero level set of the non-convex hull signed distance function by a polygonal mesh using an isosurface algorithm to provide surface reconstruction of an object.);
Lee, Qian, Takahashi, and Taubin fail to teach:
and obtain second mesh data, based on the first mesh data and the scan data, and a density of second meshes included in the second mesh data is greater than a density of first meshes included in the first mesh data (Szabo [Pg 5 Par 2] a transformation module for transforming the control polygon model into a first refined polygon model with a second density of the polygon mesh, wherein the second density is higher than the first density and for transforming the control polygon model into a second refined polygon model with a third density of the mesh, the third density being equal to or higher than the second density; g) an image output module for outputting image data of an overlay of the model with the one or more images of the head of the person, based on the first refined polygon model;).
Szabo teaches:
and obtain second mesh data, based on the first mesh data and the scan data, and a density of second meshes included in the second mesh data is greater than a density of first meshes included in the first mesh data (Szabo [Pg 5 Par 2] a transformation module for transforming the control polygon model into a first refined polygon model with a second density of the polygon mesh, wherein the second density is higher than the first density and for transforming the control polygon model into a second refined polygon model with a third density of the mesh, the third density being equal to or higher than the second density; g) an image output module for outputting image data of an overlay of the model with the one or more images of the head of the person, based on the first refined polygon model;).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, and Taubin with Takahashi. Deleting the hole data, as in Takahashi, would benefit the Lee, Qian, and Taubin teachings by allowing for removing the data. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, deleting hole data, to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 17 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20190073825) in view of Qian et al. (CN 112862974), Takahashi et al. (US20180152578), Taubin et al. (US20190043254), Szabo et al. (WO 2020119842), Kim et al. (KR20150020953), and Shayani et al. (US20200051333).
Regarding claim 17.
Lee, Qian, Takahashi, Taubin, and Szabo teach:
The image processing apparatus of claim 16,
wherein the processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory to: project the first meshes included in the first mesh data on third meshes included in the scan data (Szabo [Pg 5 Par 2] a transformation module for transforming the control polygon model into a first refined polygon model with a second density of the polygon mesh, wherein the second density is higher than the first density and for transforming the control polygon model into a second refined polygon model with a third density of the mesh, the third density being equal to or higher than the second density; g) an image output module for outputting image data of an overlay of the model with the one or more images of the head of the person, based on the first refined polygon model;);
Lee, Qian, Takahashi, Taubin, and Szabo fail to teach:
subdivide the projected meshes (Kim [PG 7 Par 4] (S351) may be performed to generate a first divided image in which the color image projected from the mesh is divided into at least one or more regions. In other words, one divided area may contain only one vertex or virtual vertex, or may not contain either a correction or a virtual vertex.);
and generate the second meshes by shrinking the subdivided meshes (Shayani [0029] For instance, in some embodiments, the skeleton extraction engine 120 shrinks the input triangle mesh 106 to generate a shrunken mesh.).
Kim teaches:
subdivide the projected meshes (Kim [PG 7 Par 4] (S351) may be performed to generate a first divided image in which the color image projected from the mesh is divided into at least one or more regions. In other words, one divided area may contain only one vertex or virtual vertex, or may not contain either a correction or a virtual vertex.);
Shayani teaches:
and generate the second meshes by shrinking the subdivided meshes (Shayani [0029] For instance, in some embodiments, the skeleton extraction engine 120 shrinks the input triangle mesh 106 to generate a shrunken mesh.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, Takahashi, Taubin, and Szabo with Kim and Shayani. Subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, as in Kim and Shayani, would benefit the Lee, Qian, Takahashi, Taubin, and Szabo teachings by allowing for mesh data to be divided. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 18.
Lee, Qian, Takahashi, Taubin, Szabo, Kim, and Shayani teach:
The image processing apparatus of claim 17,
wherein the processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory to: detect an inner region of the hole from the scan data (Kim [Pg 6 Par 9] Referring again to FIG. 13, a step S330 of detecting a hole area including at least one mesh including at least one discontinuity point among the projected meshes may be performed.);
and project the first meshes on the third meshes, based on whether the first meshes correspond to the inner region of the hole (Kim [Pg 6 Par 9] Referring again to FIG. 13, a step S330 of detecting a hole area including at least one mesh including at least one discontinuity point among the projected meshes may be performed.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Lee, Qian, Takahashi, Taubin, and Szabo with Kim and Shayani. Subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, as in Kim and Shayani, would benefit the Lee, Qian, Takahashi, Taubin, and Szabo teachings by allowing for mesh data to be divided. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, subdividing the mesh and shrinking the mesh, to yield predictable results.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/23/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The drawings filed November 7 2023 are accepted.
Applicant alleges:
“the cited references do not teach or suggest all the features of claim 1.
Lee discloses or suggests most features of claim 1 except for the above-amended feature of scanning an object including an actual hole and processing inner-region data of the hole.
In Lee, the filling process addresses missing areas resulting from incomplete scanning of a solid object. However, Lee does not handle objects having actual holes (e.g., screw holes of an abutment) and thus neither scans nor deletes any inner-surface data of such holes.
In contrast, the present invention deals with an object including an actual hole, deletes data corresponding to the hole's inner region from the 3D scan data, and generates a final model by synthesizing the remaining data with hole-region data - thereby achieving a filled shape of the hole.”
However, the Examiner replies - While Lee does not mention explicitly that it deletes the inner region of a hole it would be reasonable to assume that the inside of a hole data that is overwritten would be deleted or removed.
In the art a hole is also used to describe areas of a model that are not fully modeled. Therefore, the filling of a hole can be interpreted as filling in these holes in a 3d model.
However, to advance prosecution Qian has been added to teach the filling of an actual hole ([Abstract]). While Qian does not say it “deletes” the inner hole data it is stated the following “reconstructing the increment part of the tooth; filling the hole of the reconstructed model surface; obtaining the veneering three-dimensional model with smooth surface;”
The tooth may have holes such as cavities and it would be reasonable to assume that filling a hole would create the inside of the hole to be removed.
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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/DENIS VASILIY MINKO/Examiner, Art Unit 2612
/Said Broome/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2612
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