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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
IDS filed 10/30/23 is acknowledged, the references therein relating to the general background of applicant’s invention.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: the 3rd line appears to be missing the word “representation” between “three-dimensional” and “has”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. “A dental object” is defined multiple times in lines 1 and 3 and is then referred to as “the dental object” making it unclear as to which dental object is meant. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 2-21 are rejected because they incorporate the language of claim 1.
Claim 17 recites the limitation "the brightness level" in the 2nd line. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
NOTE: Claims 1-21 would be allowable if the rejections above were properly overcome without modifying the scope of the claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, the prior art does not contain a valid combination of references that disclose an intraoral scanning device for scanning a dental object comprising a projector that projects a pattern of light onto the dental object, an image sensor for acquiring images, processors for generating a 3D representation of the dental object based on scan patches, updating the 3D representation based on registration of new scan patches wherein the processors determine the amount of overlap between the 3D representation and the new scan patches, and the system provides auditory feedback correlating with the overlap, wherein the feedback comprises a plurality of sound pulses separated by a time delay wherein the delay is adjusted based on the overlap. Similar prior art such as U.S. patent application publication 2015/0221084 by Adamson discloses determining overlap of image patches in a dental scan while U.S. patent application publication 2022/0241056 by Salah et al. discloses changing a beeping frequency depending on the positioning of a camera, however the prior art fails to disclose changing a time delay of sound pulses based upon a determined overlap of new scan patches added to a 3D image.
Claims 2-21 would be allowable because they depend upon claim 1.
Conclusion
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BENJAMIN O. DULANEY
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2676
/BENJAMIN O DULANEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683